Vaughan, Ontario – Sterling Industries announced a partnership with York Region’s ventureLab to build and house a MedTech innovation lab to support made-in-Ontario medical solutions. The lab will play a central role in ventureLab’s newly-established MedTech incubator stream within its Hardware Catalyst Initiative, designed to support the growth of Ontario’s MedTech sector and expand the province’s capacity to respond to COVID-19 and future medical challenges.
The new lab is part of a larger funding announcement from the Ontario Together Fund, supported by both the Ontario and Federal governments, targeting the region’s growing medical innovation ecosystem. The lab — complete with specialized equipment — will support the growth of Ontario-based MedTech companies, creating high-quality jobs and building new Ontario-based technologies, innovations, and intellectual property.
ventureLab selected Sterling Industries to house the lab at their advanced medical device manufacturing facilities in Vaughan, based on their broad and deep medical device manufacturing and proven engineering expertise.
“Establishing a thriving MedTech sector requires investing in technology, top engineering talent, and a commitment to providing resources and mentorship to emerging companies looking to scale,” says David Van Slingerland, CEO of Sterling Industries. “We immediately recognized the value in ventureLAB’s new MedTech program because it ticks all of those boxes. If we want to move beyond COVID-19, and be better prepared for the next health emergency, we need to start building the foundation now.”
“Launching a dedicated MedTech stream and establishing a high-technology innovation lab means that a new generation of homegrown companies will be able to innovate, scale, and commercialize their breakthrough medical solutions here in Ontario — right where we need them most,” explains Melissa Chee, President and CEO of ventureLAB.
About Sterling Industries
Established in 1984, Sterling Industries provides end-to-end contract manufacturing and assembly of medical devices and components to Fortune 100 OEMs, as well as mid-size medical device OEMs and fast-growing “scale-ups.” Registered with the U.S. FDA and Health Canada, Sterling helps clients deliver successful products through its vertical integration, managing the entire process, including the supply chain, manufacturing, assembly, testing, labelling, packaging and shipping. The company operates from facilities in the Toronto, Ontario area (Concord and Woodbridge) and Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sterling manufactures success.
About ventureLab
ventureLAB is a leading global founder community for hardware technology and enterprise software companies in Canada, located at the heart of Ontario’s innovation corridor in York Region. With initiatives focused on raising capital, talent retention, commercializing technology and IP, and customer acquisition, ventureLab has enabled thousands of companies to create over 4,500 jobs and raise more than $200 million in investment capital.
ventureLAB’s Hardware Catalyst Initiative is Canada’s only lab and incubator for founders building hardware and semiconductor-focused products, enabling the creation of transformative technologies that will power our products of tomorrow. Funded in part by the Government of Canada, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), the Hardware Catalyst helps tech companies accelerate their time to market, enabling Canadian hardware and semiconductor companies to grow and scale locally, and compete globally.