With a focus on medical imaging, digital health, biomaterials and biomechanics, the event, promoting knowledge sharing and B2B meetings, took place on May 15 and 16 in Paris
Medicen Paris Region, the French Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (Alliance française pour les sciences de la vie et de la santé – Aviesan), MEDTEQ and Polytechnique Montréal and TransMedTech, alongside several French and Quebecois partners, declared the second edition of the FFQIS a great success.
In total, close to 150 participants from France and Quebec (Canada), as well as from other Francophone countries such as Belgium, Switzerland and Algeria, assembled at the Institute of the Brain and the Spinal Cord (Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, ICM) for two days full of opportunities to exchange information and meet other participants.
Six thematic roundtables were organized in two streams (one French, one Quebecois) to discuss the approaches and opinions of industry, academia and clinicians on the two respective health innovation ecosystems.
Close to 100 B2B meetings took place over the two days, maximizing opportunities to form partnerships, in particular for the thirty-strong Quebecois delegation.
Two site visits were also organized for participants, with trips to the ICM’s CENIR (Center for NeuroImaging Research) platform and Fab Lab.
The Ministry for Economy, Science and Innovation, with the assistance of the General Delegation of Québec in Paris and the Medicen Paris Region cluster set up a week-long complementary program. This allowed the Quebecois participants to talk in more detail with both French and Quebecois stakeholders from the medical technology sector. The attendees met with representatives from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris university hospital trust, and visited NeuroSpin, a research center for innovation in cerebral imaging and the Curie Institute, one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world.
“We would like to highlight the involvement of our partners and the exceptional efforts by all the Quebecois stakeholders who contributed greatly to the success of this second edition. Going forward, the focus needs to be on making these projects a reality,” said Christian Lajoux, president of Medicen Paris Region.
“The FFQIS II was incredible! The participants shared their knowledge, explored the strengths of our two ecosystems and discussed mutually beneficial collaborations. This second edition was a great success. Together with Polytechnique Montréal and the TransMedTech Institute, MEDTEQ is already working on a third Franco-Quebec meeting that will take place in Montreal next year,” said Diane Côté, CEO at MEDTEQ.