Request for information - Demonstration site for remote healthcare technologies

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is assessing the interest and capacity of Canadian organizations in the establishment of demonstration site(s) for the evaluation of healthcare technologies.

These technologies will be:

 relevant to deep space exploration missions while fully realizing the simultaneous benefits for remote communities on Earth;

 used and improved on Earth to prepare the products for space application.

The demonstration site is one component of CSA’s Health Beyond Initiative’s (HBI) innovation process, or pipeline, for new technology. This innovation pipeline will guide technology development, provide feedback to technology developers, measure progress on deliverables, and validate products in analogous conditions. A hallmark of this innovation pipeline will be the ability to provide standardized and rigorous testing at various stages of development.

For the purposes of this document, note the following definitions:

i. Remote healthcare technology: Innovation aimed at overcoming barriers faced by remote communities.

ii. Remote community: A community located five hours or more from tertiary hospital services by ground transportation, or one reachable by air transportation only.

The HBI team will be looking for collaborators/contractors to help in the establishment of demonstration and technology testing capabilities to support innovation in the healthcare sector for the benefits of remote populations, whether in space or on Earth. This could also include the development of, or use of, collaborators’ facilities to serve as a technology testing site for the establishment of a demonstration hub. An option could be a first phase of demonstration and technology testing at the CSA with local collaborators and eventually multiple hubs located remotely. CSA is seeking input from organisations that may offer all or some of those services.