Susan Mowbray is a partner at MNP. Photo by Jennifer Friesen,
The chandeliers of the Fairmont Hotel in Edmonton cast a glow over a room filled with researchers, executives, and investors.
Two large screens flanked the stage as BioAlberta released its 2025 State of the Industry report. It was the sector’s regularly scheduled snapshot, released every two years, and the growth it captures tells a story of rising scale and shifting expectations.
Susan Mowbray, practice lead of custom research and economic insights at MNP, laid out the details.
The Alberta sector now spans more than 1,900 organizations across biotechnology, medical technology, diagnostics, and related services. Together, they support tens of thousands of jobs and contribute billions to the province’s economy.
“The sector has grown substantially, has a substantial impact, and is contributing to the diversification of the Alberta economy, but it’s also really well positioned going forward,” Mowbray said.
“There was definitely a biotech hangover following all of the investment that came in to support companies during COVID,” said Robb Stoddard, president and CEO of BioAlberta. “When we talk to investors and other agencies, we hadn’t anticipated it to stay flat through 2025 the way it has. Having said that, we’re starting to see what that path looks like coming out. We’re a small sector. We are an emerging sector. But we’re not an unnoticeable sector anymore.”
Her presentation traced how companies are beginning to attract private capital, build commercialization capacity, and prepare for international markets. The data painted a picture of steady growth, but also of a sector facing structural hurdles that could slow its ability to scale.
Those hurdles are where the conversation around the report sharpened. Behind the optimism was a familiar warning. The science is moving quickly, but the paperwork is not.
The report says the sector contributed $4.8 billion to GDP in 2024, and now supports more than 34,000 fulltime equivalent jobs. Together, these companies contributed more than $1 billion to government revenues last year and employ a workforce that is, on average, 80% postsecondary educated.
But in the same report, there’s a warning that these gains may not translate into scale.
Surveyed companies flagged regulatory clarity, investment, and skilled talent as the conditions most critical for growth. These challenges are not unique to Alberta but reflect gaps seen across Canada.
Alberta’s companies are pushing forward, but the report suggests they’re doing so within systems that might also be lagging.
Growth, but with constraints
More than half of the companies surveyed are in a growth phase, and most expect to add staff this year.
Companies raised $147 million in 2024 and expect to need $380 million in 2025. That optimism is real, but it’s tempered by two persistent challenges: talent and capital.
Twothirds of companies reported difficulty hiring for executive and midlevel roles, especially in sales, commercialization, and regulatory functions.
“On one hand, we have a good pipeline of young talent coming up,” Mowbray said. “On the other hand, at that more senior level, there continue to be challenges.”
The most common gap was in executive sales (21.6%), followed by business development, clinical, and compliance roles.
Capital remains fragile. More than half of firms are seeking investment, but most are still in early stages of funding (seed or Series A rounds) to build prototypes, validate products, and prepare for market entry.
Mowbray also acknowledged the sector’s scale can look modest next to Alberta’s dominant industry.
“I always get nervous talking to an audience in Alberta, because in the background is oil and gas with its crazy numbers,” she said. “Nobody wants to compare themselves to oil and gas. But this is actually really good for a small, growing sector.”
In 2024, biotechnology companies raised an average of $4.3 million, while medical technology firms raised an average of $2.9 million. Nearly twothirds relied on government programs, fewer than one in five accessed venture capital, and only 6.8% secured institutional investment.
This capital gap has sparked broader questions about investor expectations. During Life Sciences Week 2024, Nobel laureate Sir Michael Houghton urged Canadian venture capital firms to reconsider their approach to evaluating opportunities in the sector, advocating for a more longterm perspective and a deeper understanding of the timelines involved in health innovation.
Public funding continues to play an essential role in supporting earlystage innovation. But gaps emerge as companies approach commercialization. The structures that helped launch these firms are not always built to carry them through scaleup.
What’s changed since 2023?
BioAlberta publishes the last State of the Industry report every two years, and the 2025 edition reflects a larger sector than before.
Part of the growth comes from changes in definition. The 2025 report reorganized companies into three subsectors (biotechnology, medical technology, and diagnostics) and for the first time included medical labs and veterinary services. That shift added jobs and activity not captured in 2023 when the last report was issued.
Beneath those adjustments lies a more significant shift in the companies themselves.
The report says the “share of firms reporting annual revenues above $1 million more than doubled, rising from 15% in 2023 to 34% in 2025” and “the share of companies with 20 or more employees increased from 11% to 19%.”
In life sciences, those thresholds matter. They show firms moving from research to commercialization and starting to build the capacity to manufacture, validate, and distribute technologies.
Expectations have also become more measured.
In 2023, 44% of companies projected employment growth. This year, only 16% did. The drop does reflect caution, but also the realities of scaling regulated products, running trials, gaining approvals, and securing longterm capital.
Meanwhile, the innovation lens is widening.
Artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and “One Health” principles (which aim to integrate human, animal, and environmental health) are now influencing product development strategies that were previously centred on traditional biotech or medtech approaches. Alberta’s ecosystem is still young, but its companies are beginning to show the behavioural shifts that mark the transition from science to scale.
Mowbray also connected the life sciences space to growth in defence, saying the industry should think about the opportunities that it creates.
“We have some really great companies that are making strides in research here in Canada… but we also suddenly have a need to start increasing our overall defense spending,” she said. “It’s not just guns, it’s also bio products that we need. Part of the strategy going forward is to make investments in shoring up our defence by developing companies, technologies and products that support our civilian population, but can also be used for defense. There’s a huge opportunity.”
National implications
The Alberta data shows a regional economy preparing to compete globally, but the pressure points are national. Slow regulation, shortages in commercialization talent, and limited latestage capital are challenges across Canada.
A recent report from MaRS, Vital signs: Canada’s health tech sector is at a critical juncture, found Canada’s share of global health tech investment has fallen to 0.5% (half of what it was five years ago). Fewer than 4% of Canadian firms reported more than $10 million in revenue. Like Alberta, many are strong on research but constrained in scaling, exporting, and navigating procurement.
The BioAlberta survey found 67% of companies focused on domestic markets, while more than 40% are preparing to expand internationally.
Regulatory readiness is lagging. More than half of firms lack approvals, only a quarter report Health Canada clearance, and 14% have reached the FDA.
That gap between ambition and readiness points directly to national policy.
“With a highly educated workforce and a strong emphasis on research and development, Alberta’s life sciences companies are wellpositioned to lead the way in addressing complex health challenges and driving economic prosperity,” said Mowbray.
The data support that view. Companies reported average annual R&D spending of nearly $800,000 and said they have roughly 12 months of cash on hand to support innovation efforts. Most expect their lead products to move into full commercialization by 2026.
But to get there, they’ll need regulatory, financial, and logistical systems that are designed to support globalscale commercialization from within Canada.
What’s at stake
Alberta has built a foundation for life sciences as a longterm driver of innovation and growth. The sector is maturing, the talent is here, and infrastructure from advanced manufacturing to supply chains is helping Alberta establish a complementary role to other regions.
What remains uncertain is whether national frameworks can evolve at the same pace.
No single region, company, or technology will decide Canada’s global competitiveness. It will depend on how the entire system performs, from research and regulation to investment and export readiness.
Focusing on systems, not just firms, is what will determine whether scientific progress leads to commercial success.
Final shots
- Discovery alone is not enough. Canada’s competitiveness will hinge on building the systems that turn science into marketready solutions.o here
- Alberta’s $4.8 billion sector is growing, but longterm success depends on national systems, not provincial wins.
- Rising revenues and headcounts show maturity, yet most firms are still climbing the steepest part of the commercialization curve.
- Heavy reliance on government programs signals a weak private capital market, especially at the scaleup stage.
