DIAGNOS and ÉTS announce $1M+ federal investment for retinal AI research

DIAGNOS and ÉTS said federal support exceeds CAD 1 million for a multi-year retinal AI research program; the funding package and company contributions will support eight graduate and postdoctoral researchers.

DIAGNOS Inc. and the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) announced federal funding exceeding CAD 1 million to support research on AI-based retinal image analysis. The multi-year project, titled "Towards the Next Generation of Deep Learning Algorithms for Retinal Image Analysis," aims to advance accuracy, robustness, and clinical relevance of retinal disease detection. Public agencies and the company are sharing funding and resources, and the program includes training for graduate and postdoctoral researchers. The project is entering its second semester and researcher onboarding is reported to be nearing completion. Key details: - The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) committed CAD 725,734 over five years through an Alliance Grant. - Mitacs will contribute CAD 293,331 to fund Accelerate internships linked to the project. - DIAGNOS is providing CAD 500,000 over five years in financial and in-kind contributions and is establishing an industrial research Chair at ÉTS. - The funding supports eight Highly Qualified Personnel: five graduate students and three postdoctoral researchers. - The research program focuses on next-generation deep learning methods for retinal image analysis and on translating academic advances into algorithms for clinical use. Summary: The announced funding combines federal grants, Mitacs internships, and DIAGNOS contributions to support algorithm development and talent training in retinal AI. The partners report that the collaboration will continue into a multi-year program with researcher onboarding nearing completion and efforts to translate research toward clinical deployment.