Established in 2019 with a federal investment of $49 million, the Digital Health & Discovery Platform (DHDP) is a pan-Canadian consortium that combines Canada’s strengths in artificial intelligence and precision medicine to advance healthcare innovation. Initially spearheaded by the Terry Fox Research Institute in partnership with Montreal-based AI company Imagia, the DHDP has grown into a national network of roughly 100 partner organizations across nine provinces, including healthcare institutions, universities, research foundations, industry players and all four of Canada’s major AI research labs. This broad coalition is developing a cutting-edge, cloud-enabled health data platform that allows distributed access and analysis of data while respecting privacy, effectively creating a federated ecosystem where members can share datasets, tools and knowledge on an unprecedented scale. While the platform’s initial focus is on oncology (notably providing core infrastructure for the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres network), its design allows expansion to other disease areas such as neuroscience, enabling the spread of personalized medicine approaches across various health domains.
As a 21st-century digital health infrastructure, the DHDP builds both advanced technological tools and forward-looking policy frameworks to facilitate secure data sharing and AI-driven research collaboration nationwide. Founded on three pillars – science, technology and policy – the platform convenes clinicians, data and AI scientists, and industry partners in a collaborative ecosystem at the intersection of healthcare and machine learning. The DHDP’s mission is to unlock data-driven discoveries by breaking down silos between institutions, integrating AI solutions into clinical practice, and nurturing a new generation of researchers capable of innovating in complex, cross-disciplinary environments. In addition to its core research platform role, the DHDP also serves as a delivery agent for major national funding programs that support innovative digital health projects. These funding initiatives align with the platform’s strategic priorities by emphasizing areas such as precision medicine applied to cancer and neurological diseases, and by promoting solutions that leverage big data, machine learning and AI. Projects supported through the DHDP’s programs are typically collaborative, multi-sector efforts – for example, requiring the participation of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises alongside academic and clinical partners – and are geared toward translating scientific breakthroughs into real-world applications for patients and the healthcare system.
The DHDP is led and governed by an Executive Committee that includes the Terry Fox Research Institute’s senior leadership and an independent chair, and member institutions are represented in the platform’s governance structure through designated institutional leads. Day-to-day operations and development are supported by a dedicated team at TFRI in Vancouver, and the initiative actively engages technical partners specializing in data privacy, federated learning and cloud computing to build its secure infrastructure. With its extensive pan-Canadian network encompassing stakeholders from the academic, clinical, government, and private sectors, the DHDP capitalizes on a powerful network effect to accelerate innovation and drive the commercialization of new digital health solutions that contribute to Canada’s knowledge economy. The platform helps fuel scientific discoveries through rigorous peer-reviewed projects, provides training and highly skilled jobs for the next generation of talent, and supports the growth of Canadian health-tech companies, thereby boosting economic development and Canada’s global competitiveness in AI and health research. Ultimately, the DHDP aims to improve patient outcomes by accelerating the development and adoption of personalized treatments, and to solidify Canada’s position as a world leader in the realm of digital health and AI-driven medicine.
