Conference & Meetings World Supplements Canada Supplement | Page 5

Canada opportunities, arrange living lab tours and help promote business events to their membership, growing conference attendance in the process. Creating content that matters to delegates With hot spots for cancer research, radiation therapies, regenerative treatments, brain and vascular health from coast to coast, multinational organisations recognise that life-changing advancements in patient care are happening in Canada. Developing opportunities to showcase local advancements to visiting delegations is one means of creating content that’s meaningful to delegates and beneficial to conference organisers. In the lead-up to the 2018 International Mesothelioma Interest Group conference in Ottawa, for example, organisers connected with researchers at the University of Ottawa to help organise, develop and promote the meeting to their worldwide network. Their efforts resulted in increased submission of abstracts, which translated to an increased number of conference delegates. At the University of Saskatchewan the One Reproductive Healthcare programme studies animal and human reproductive health issues and helped draw experts from a diverse range of specialties to the One Health World Congress in 2018. Vikram Misra, a University of Saskatchewan Professor of Microbiology in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine also helped lead these efforts. Toronto is acclaimed worldwide for the cutting-edge work being done in cancer research. The IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer hosted its conference in the city and set records for attendance (7,433 from across the globe), as well as delivering a lasting impact on delegates. When the 35th International Conference of International Society of Blood Transfusion was hosted in Toronto organisers ran tours of transfusion labs and research centres at St Michael’s and Toronto General Hospitals. In fact, there were so many parallel sessions, the 2,400+ delegates had a hard time choosing which session to attend. Cross-sector connections Canada is on the forefront of new technologies and innovations across sectors that impact Life Sciences. The country’s lead in developing Artificial Intelligence has led to advancements in deep learning and reinforcement learning technologies that are steering the future of medtech, including robot-assisted surgeries and medical manufacturing. Future proofing Business Events Canada has not only changed the discussion in terms of the value of meeting in Canada, but its pan-Canada approach enables mid-size cities to compete for business, and offers decision-makers more choice of host destinations. By leveraging Canada’s intellectual capital in the Life Sciences, Canada is future- proofing its meetings and events industry. CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD 5