The MedTech Lab anticipates opening later this year. Applications for the Hardware Catalyst Initiative Cohort 5 are now open. To apply, please click here.
ventureLAB, and medical device contract manufacturer, Sterling Industries, have announced a new State-of-the-Art MedTech Lab at the Sterling’s location in Vaughan. This announcement, first made March 2022, was highlighted on June 22, 2022 at the Collision Conference in Toronto by Julian Scarfe, Head of Marketing at Sterling Industries and Matt Skynner, COO of ventureLAB at, an event described as the “olympics of tech” by Politico. Building on the success of ventureLAB’s Hardware Catalyst Initiative and its prototype and testing lab, this partnership will open a first-of-its-kind innovation lab in Vaughan, focused on the unique hardware and semiconductor needs of healthcare companies. For Canada, this means the ability to experiment, prototype, and bring to market cutting-edge medical devices, equipment, wearables, and other medical hardware necessary to propel Canada as a leader in medical innovation and supply, keeping the country competitive with the global demands for medtech hardware and semiconductor innovation.
Sterling Industries has been growing rapidly in recent years, working with an increasing number of MedTech late-stage, scaling startups looking for help producing their innovative products, at scale. As an experienced contract manufacturer, Sterling not only manufactures and assembles their clients’ products, but can also help refine them for cost-effective manufacturing, source materials, and handle critical services like lot tracking, sterilization and more.
“Canada’s MedTech sector is beginning to blossom, and we want to foster and lead that growth,” says Julian Scarfe, Head of Marketing at Sterling Industries. “We want to contribute by bringing medical device manufacturing expertise & experience to scaling start-ups. ventureLAB’s new MedTech program is a great fit, and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
Since its launch in 2020, ventureLAB’s Hardware Catalyst Initiative has supported 24 hardware and semiconductor companies that have raised millions of dollars in investment capital, created new jobs, and generated valuable intellectual property. To establish an IP-rich semiconductor industry in Ontario that will generate a wealth of economic and employment opportunities. With this new development in the MedTech sector, this two-year project will result in high-quality employment opportunities as well as a range of made-in-Ontario technologies, innovations and intellectual property.
Working together to advance MedTech innovation will prepare Canada to be able to react quickly to any future unforeseen healthcare emergencies like COVID-19 and compete on the world stage. This joint MedTech Lab and partnership will propel Canada into the future of what is possible at the intersection of MedTech and Hardware.
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, ventureLAB is part of one of the biggest and most diverse tech communities in Canada. Our initiatives focused on raising capital, talent retention, commercializing technology and IP, and customer acquisition have enabled thousands of companies to create over 4,700 jobs and raise more than $250 million in investment capital. At ventureLAB, we grow globally competitive tech titans that build-to-scale in Canada, for global markets.
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 in a sector that normally incurs lengthy entry and scale times, enabling Canadian hardware and semiconductor companies to grow and scale locally, and compete globally.
About Sterling Industries
Sterling Industries, based in Vaughan, has decades of medtech product development and production expertise, and a wide range of manufacturing capabilities. As an end-to-end contract manufacturer and assembler of medical devices and components, Sterling Industries is a proven industry leader with facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Working with both established OEMs and late-stage medtech startups, Sterling uses their wealth of experience, technology and expertise to bring their clients’ innovative medical devices to market, at scale.
