On Aug. 31, 2022, a new front-door to the University of Victoria opened to advance health and life sciences innovation, in partnership with Vancouver Island Life Sciences.

The UVic BioInnovation Hub is a collaborative workspace in Saanich where entrepreneurs and life sciences organizations can connect with UVic researchers, access equipment and tools, share resources, showcase new technologies, and explore opportunities for collaboration.

Located in the Saanich Plaza retail mall (across from Uptown, above Soccerworld and adjacent to Save-on-Foods) the Hub provides short-term incubator space for early-stage start-ups and hot desk capacity. Other occupants and users of the 1,188-square-foot space include private firms and professional-services companies in the life sciences and biotech sector, including PharmaBioSource and the Victoria Hand Project. UVic’s Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technology will also have a presence onsite to help facilitate university-industry connections and access to on-campus resources such as Biomedical Core for equipment, facilities, research talent and technical expertise.

The UVic BioInnovation Hub is part of a series of community-based innovation hubs connected to UVic’s broader Innovation Network, which seeks to raise the university’s profile as a catalyst for regional social and economic development and collaborative, interdisciplinary problem-solving.

Over the past decade, nearly 400 UVic researchers working in life sciences and medicine have published more than 3,000 papers and been cited over 75,000 times. Over half of these papers were co-authored with researchers in another country, demonstrating the impact of the work on a global scale.