Canada is establishing sovereign self-reliance in its biomedical sector. Nearly two years ago, ISED had established Health Emergency Readiness Canada (HERC) as the internal cross-agency convening body for health emergency response.  Its new expanded mandate links academic research, industrial capacity, and national defence readiness under the Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy (BLSS) and the federal Defence Industrial Strategy. 

Canada excels at early-stage biomedical and engineering innovation and R&D but lacks the domestic capacity to manufacture biological products at scale. Previous BLSS investments enabled more biotech and biomanufacturing capacity. However, the recent drop in research funding in Canada and the U.S. stagnated biotech development and scaled up development of biomedical countermeasures.  In addition, sterile GMP cleanrooms require complex compliance standards and specialized workforce. The sector currently faces severe, ongoing specialized labour shortages and Canada cannot hit its growth targets through manual labour alone. To resolve these commercialization gaps, the federal AI for All strategy targets raising business AI adoption from 12% to 60% by 2034, backed by a $200-million AI Healthcare Mission to deploy AI workflows and robotics directly into critical health infrastructure. Canada’s new Defence Industrial Strategy lists life sciences, biodefense and medical countermeasures as well as robotic technologies as key targeted areas for development and investment for economic and national security. 

The primary focus is to ensure production of critical innovative medicines and medical supplies that can quickly pivot to emergency surge capacity during a public health or supply chain crisis. Because HERC must deliver its formal Commercialization Action Plan to Minister Melanie Joly in September, this session provides a timely opportunity for stakeholders to co-coordinate and submit practical recommendations as well as shape strategic deployment of follow-on federal investments.

• Canada's leading robotics companies and system integrators serve multiple industrial markets. What is our core global competencies in precision, agile process, sterile-environment automation, and how do we leverage them for critical biomedical manufacturing?
• To sustain biomanufacturing infrastructure during non-emergency periods, how can automation built for cleanrooms—such as fluid-handling and computer vision inspection systems—be adapted to capture therapeutics for non-communicable diseases, or new commercial volume in food and beverage processing prioritized under the new Food Security Strategy?
• What bi-directional mechanisms can help multi-market integrators "spin-in" IP from adjacent commercial sectors to de-risk and scale automation for both robotics innovators and smaller biotech firms?

• Ontario holds some of the most comprehensive patient health data footprints globally, which is critical for clinical trials, yet rigid data-sharing boundaries limit industrial utility. How can the newly announced Health Sector Data Space platform be safely put to work with industry to anchor domestic biomanufacturing investments?
• As contract manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) advance through phase 3 and 4 clinical trials, data ownership is a primary friction point. Within automated, connected production lines, how do we protect proprietary tech and processes, and how do we clarify the boundaries of data ownership between contract manufacturers and startups to enable shared infrastructure use?

• HERC and the federal Defence Industrial Strategy introduces the Life Sciences Fund and prioritizes domestic procurement. Moreover, ISED is actively reforming the Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) policy, which now lists "Personnel Protection: Medical Counter Measures" as a key sovereign capability. How can Canadian life sciences automation and robotics firms navigate and leverage the ITB reform window—specifically the proposed "Strategic Investment Transactions" frameworks—to secure federal contracts, scale manufacturing output, and expand domestic regional adoption hubs?
• What new mechanisms should the federal government put in place to truly enable academic-industry collaborations and partnerships that advance and de-risk commercialization?

• HERC Commercialization Action Brief: Immediate recommendations delivered to HERC detailing how the Life Sciences Fund can support industry-startup automation partnerships and cross-sector technology spin-ins to meet 2034 adoption targets.
• Biomedical ITB Value Proposition Recommendations: A high-level brief outlining how ISED can incorporate automation and robotics-enabled performance metrics into federal defence procurement frameworks for critical biomanufacturing contracts.
• Statement of Principles on Biotech Data Boundaries: An initial consensus framework aligned with AI for All data sovereignty targets, focused on clarifying data ownership boundaries between CDMOs and biotech innovators to protect proprietary automated lines.
• Establishment of a Biosecurity Automation Working Group: A standing committee of key participants to build a preliminary capability framework, mapping where Canadian integrators excel in sterile process automation, highlighting infrastructure gaps, and maintaining a registry of qualified automation partners for the new federal frameworks, including the AI Health Mission. Would also include discussions on requirements for cybersecurity to enable biodefense implementation