Three companies get Supercluster funding for COVID-19 projects

HAMILTON — Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) has announced $6 million in funding to three companies for projects dedicated to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

The not-for-profit that leads Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster has committed $50 million to support companies supplying critically needed technologies, equipment and medical devices.

Cloud DX, a developer of health data technology based in Kitchener, Ont., has received $1.75 million, half the $3.5 million project cost to develop Pulsewave 2.0.

The digital tech will remotely monitor COVID-19 patients with non-acute symptoms who have been sent home from the hospital but may require virtual care to fully recover.

Exacad, a manufacturer of plastic injection moulds based in Boisbriand, Que., has received $1.8 million covering the total project cost of purchasing new equipment that will help increase production of advanced plastic medical moulds.

They’ll be used to produce plastic consumables needed for rapid diagnostics related to COVID-19.

Myant, based in Toronto, has received $2.5 million for an almost $5 million project, to manufacture and deploy the company’s textile-based wearable health monitoring system (called Skiin).

Myant knits sensors and actuators into everyday textiles that sense and react to the human body. The system will enable remote detection and triaging of COVID-19 symptoms, provide patients who have limited connection to care with access to telemedicine, and minimize risk to front-line healthcare workers.

NGen launched its Rapid Response Funding Program from the Innovation Superclusters Initiative in March. So far, 19 projects amounting to $27 million in funding are on the go.