A Message from the Organizing Committee

The MedTech-NB Summit is a social innovation forum designed to inform and connect stakeholders seeking to confront the cultural, organizational, and behavioural barriers that prevent innovation and technology adoption in New Brunswick’s healthcare ecosystem.

While technology advances rapidly, the system’s ability to adapt is limited by deeply rooted social factors: siloed structures, rigid workplace cultures, reliance on outdated workarounds, weak cross-sector collaboration, and a lack of authority or confidence among individuals to drive change. These are human and organizational challenges, not technical ones. Resistance is often rooted in fear, uncertainty, perceived increases in workload, and limited understanding of social return on investment and economic viability.

Social innovation does not emerge naturally in a system designed to be reactive. To tackle this challenge, the Summit convenes seven key branches of the ecosystem; researchers, clinicians and patients, governance bodies, industry, funders, incubators, and health authorities, to foster collaboration, cultural transformation, and early adoption. Through panel discussions that unpack current barriers, rapid-pitch sessions that present collaboration opportunities, technology showcases that highlight potential solutions, and a keynote that frames expectations, participants will experience the conditions required for meaningful stakeholder alignment and sustainable innovation.

The goal is to generate a shared roadmap that supports cultural change, reduces resistance to new approaches, and empowers early adopters to model collaborative, agile behaviour. The MedTech-NB Summit is an outcome-driven initiative dedicated to shifting culture, strengthening collaboration, and transforming innovation practices by demonstrating what successful change looks like in practice.