Ufonia: breaking into the Canadian market

As part of the DigitalHealth.London Global programme, we hear from Dr Nick Prinsloo of DigitalHealth.London Accelerator alumni company Ufonia about their experiences successfully establishing a commercial foothold in Canada.

Interested in learning more about international opportunities for expansion? Find out about the DigitalHealth.London Global webinar programme.

At Ufonia, we believe that talking with patients is the foundation for all healthcare, and our mission is to improve these conversations through the use of technology. Specifically, we use AI to automate some of the routine clinical conversations that doctors, nurses and other health professionals have – freeing up time and headspace for the complex conversations where they really add value.

We’ve built a product – Dora – that works safely and effectively in the UK, and our tools have managed more than 100,000 clinical conversations, helping to triple capacity in some of the clinics we work in.
Of course, the use case for our technology is by no means specific to the NHS or the UK, and so perhaps it was inevitable that at some point we would look at some form of international expansion.

Of course, the use case for our technology is by no means specific to the NHS or the UK, and so perhaps it was inevitable that at some point we would look at some form of international expansion.

From serendipity to seizing an opportunity

Our initial exposure to Canada as a market came about largely through chance. We presented some of our ongoing work at an international conference, and subsequently we received an enquiry from a private health clinic in Canada who felt Ufonia could support their needs.

Over the past 18 months, we’ve been working with that clinic and their academic partners at the University of Toronto to validate Dora and create evidence about its effectiveness within Canadian settings.

A lot of the underlying challenges that we’re trying to use our technology to solve for our partners in Canada are very similar to those we see in the UK – high levels of demand for services, growing backlogs and overstretched staff. There is a familiarity which makes it easier to build working relationships based on shared understanding.

We’ve also had a really positive and collaborative experience working with colleagues on Canada to navigate our regulatory journey. Getting approval through Regulatory Ethics Boards (REBs), which are the equivalent of Research Ethics Committees (RECs) in the UK, has been a much smoother and process than we expected.

One of our next steps is setting up as a legal entity in Canada. Through our existing collaborative relationships and support from UK and Canadian government, we feel like we are in a good position as we head towards that milestone.

Advice for other innovators

Our feeling is that many UK-based health innovations have a lot to offer to Canada. Beyond language, cultural and contextual similarities, Canada also has a well-developed digital health ecosystem and good support structures for innovators.

One critical consideration for any innovator seriously considering Canada as a market for expansion is making sure you choose your target province (or territory) carefully, as there is a huge level of variation between each region.

For example, Ontario (where we’ve been working) is primarily English speaking and most of the population live in metropolitan areas. The health system in Ontario arguably shares more in common with the UK than it does with the health system for Nunavut or one of the other northern territories of Canada, where the incredibly distributed population and focus on indigenous health present a very different set of challenges.

This variation also extends to commissioning and digital health infrastructure, with significant differences at a regional level in terms of key considerations such as Electronic Patient Record systems for integration.

French-English bilingualism, which is a requirement for medical device certification in Canada, also requires some consideration. However, given the UK is a highly multicultural country already, making these kinds of adaptations to your technology might prove less challenging or unfamiliar than it sounds.

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