- +1 (416) 597-3422 ext.7800
- kite@uhn.ca
It is my sincere pleasure to extend an invitation to you to the inaugural International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation (ICAIR) in Toronto, Canada on Monday, May 25, 2020. This unique event is designed to drive cross-collaboration across multiple disciplines by attracting the world’s leading scientific, health-care, engineering and entrepreneurial minds.
As our populations age, health systems in Canada and around the world must plan for an incoming tidal wave of demand for health services and treatments. We also have a duty to develop new treatments, cures and solutions that can help those living with disease and disability. Doing so has the potential to improve quality of life and help people live in their homes longer.
The ICAIR organizing committee is dedicated to helping advance the development of new products, services, treatments and research that can significantly enhance the lives of the disabled, elderly and those living with long-term illness. We invite you to join us in Toronto at the meeting point of care, research and education as we investigate new frontiers for the treatment of Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation.
Dr. Milos R. Popovic
Chair, ICAIR organizing committee
The International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation (ICAIR) is an important cross-disciplinary event that brings together the leading researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs currently working to improve the lives of people around the world who live each day with the impacts of illness, disability and aging.
Why Attend
ICAIR is a unique conference destination designed to help researchers, academics, students, entrepreneurs and other innovators share research and academic success stories, build and foster relationships across disciplines, and encourage cross-pollination of communication, research and ideas.
Your Host
ICAIR is being hosted jointly by The KITE Research Institute at the University Health Network (UHN) and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI) at the University of Toronto and includes significant input and participation from other clinical, and research institutions and hospitals.
For Authors
The International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation (ICAIR) will showcase cutting edge research from Toronto and around the world.
Here’s what to expect when you submit a poster for consideration:
- Every trainee(student)/post-doctoral fellow registrant will have the option of submitting a poster, which will be reviewed by the ICAIR scientific advisory committee. Only one, first authored poster can be submitted per person and only trainees are eligible to present. Selected posters will receive notification of acceptance.
- Individuals submitting posters will also be asked to indicate if they would like to be considered for a three minute talk on the main stage. To qualify for a talk, you must submit an extended abstract along with your poster.
- Lastly, you will be asked to indicate if you would like your research to be considered for publication in a Special interdisciplinary Issue of the Journal of BioMedical Engineering Online. Your submission will require approval from your academic advisor and will be peer reviewed by the ICAIR scientific advisory committee. To qualify for a manuscript submission, you must also submit an extended abstract along with your poster.
We look forward to receiving your submissions. Please contact Majid Janidarmian at majid.janidarmian@uhn.ca if you have any further questions.
ICAIR Scientific Committee
Milos Popovic, Ph.D., PEng (General Chair)
Jenny Campos, Ph.D.
Nora Cullen, BSc, MSc, MD, FRCPC
Majid Janidarmian, Ph.D.
Mohit Kapoor, Ph.D.
Pia Kontos, Ph.D.
Sri Krishnan, Ph.D.
Bridgette Murphy
Larry Robinson, MD, FABPMR
Kate Sellen, Ph.D.
Taufik Valiante, MD, Ph.D., FRCSC
Yana Yunusova, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
ICAIR Keynote Speakers
Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Princeton University Bio
Title: Beyond Buzzwords: Innovation, Inequity, and Imagination in 21st Century
Abstract
From precision medicine to predictive algorithms, science, medicine, and technology seek to address a variety of human problems by producing data and designing tools to help us understand our world and ourselves. But without careful consideration of the social dimensions of innovation, we risk reinforcing longstanding forms of inequality and injustice, and even producing new forms of discrimination that are hidden behind a veneer of technological neutrality. In this talk, Ruha Benjamin examines a range of contemporary issues at the nexus of data and democracy, so that we can think together about the social values embedded in these platforms and systems, and expand our collective vision around who gets to design the future.
Elise Roy, J.D., MA Social Design Bio
Title: Different Is the New Normal: Why Everyone Benefits When We Design for Disability
Abstract
Different Is the New Normal: How Designing for Difference Helps Everyone Thrive As a lawyer, Elise was always advocating for people with disabilities to be treated the same. In her new career, as an inclusive design strategist, she says to heck with that. We are different and difference is what makes us valuable.
Organizations are discovering that in designing strategies, services, products or other innovations, looking to average no longer works. Instead, we should be designing for extremes - and people with disabilities are great examples of extreme users. The audio books that you listen to on your commute to work, the keyboard that you type on, emails that you send by the minute, the captions that you view while watching Facebook videos, were all originally designed for disability but are loved by everyone. This is because when we design for disability, we create the superpowers that we all want – to do more, to hear more, to see more, and to go further. We learn how to create ability in the absence of natural, human ability.
In this talk Elise challenges us to shift our thinking about the value of those with differing abilities. This group, which has traditionally been excluded from the innovation realm because society is so used to designing around average, has proven to be one of the most valuable assets to the innovation process. Learn why companies are looking to difference to help them stimulate new thinking and develop groundbreaking innovations.
Stanisa Raspopovic, PhD, Swiss Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) Bio
Title: Walk again, but with feeling
Abstract
Leg amputation, especially above knee, destroys the communication between the brain and environment, leading to several important issues. Amputees walk slower, with less confidence, suffer pain, fatigue, and they have to be focused even during the simple action as the stair climbing. Fresh from our lab and recent clinical study, I will show a new method, combining the electrical stimulation of the nerves and robotic leg sensors-that restored the neural communication lost after amputation. This helped the body to walk better, and brain to accept the bionic limb as a proper part. See how it works in detail.
Power Play
The healthcare industry has enormous potential to leverage innovative and disruptive technologies and strategies in order to deliver insightful, meaningful and affordable care.
Toronto Rehab Foundation, in partnership with the KITE Research Institute, will host the second Power Play Pitch Competition to help accelerate innovation and commercial success.
The research arm of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, KITE, is a world leader in complex rehabilitation science and is dedicated to improving the lives of people living with the effects of disability, illness and aging. The Toronto Rehab Foundation, through the philanthropy of its donors, plays a vital role in turning the ideas of KITE’s clinicians and scientists into home, community and hospital-based advancements and innovation.
With $100,000 available in total prizes, the stakes are higher than ever. Don’t miss your chance to build the future of healthcare!
We are looking for energetic, innovative and passionate healthcare innovators who can address an unmet need in the healthcare industry, through preventative healthcare solutions, treatment and management of disabling injuries and illnesses, restorative assistive devices to help restore function, diagnostic tools, digital health, and others.
We welcome innovators involved in all stages of product and technology development, from concepts and prototypes to finished products and services and start-up companies, and who need capital to help bring their innovations to the next stage.
For more information, please visit POWER PLAY page.
This event is taking place at the end of ICAIR's main program. If you haven't registered for ICAIR and you'd like to attend Kite PowerPlay only, please register below (space is limited). If you've signed up for ICAIR, you've automatically been registered for Power Play.
Attendance Registration
Aging
- Treatments for Pain and Physical Decline
- Promotion of Mobility
- Support of Independent Living
- Study of Disease Areas
- Investigation of Illness and Frailty
- Examination of Dementia and Memory
- Study of Neural and Physical Decline
- Falls and Injury Prevention
Innovation
- Identification of New Technologies
- Neuromodulation and Brain Tech (implants/interfaces)
- Innovative Designs and the Development of Wearable Technologies, Smart Textiles, Robotic Systems
- Robotics for Therapy, Social Interaction and Care
- Artificial Intelligence
- Disruptive Technologies and Business Models
- Fostering Invention
- Research Commercialization
- Drug Discovery for Neuro, Muscular and Bone Diseases
Rehabilitation
- Telerehabilitation
- Restoration of Function
- Prevention of Injury and Infection
- Deployment of New Treatments
- Promotion of Independence
- Advocacy of Reintegration and Active Living
- Improvements in Pediatric, Geriatric, Musculoskeletal and Cardiac Care
- Improved Participation
- Treatment of Age-Related Diseases (Neurodegeneration, Arthritis)
Key Dates
Registration Fees
Our early bird deadline is May 11th. After this date, general registration fee will increase by $150.
SIGN UP
SIGN IN
Program
The schedule of events at ICAIR includes keynote remarks, TED-talk like programs, poster viewing and judging, elevator pitch sessions for up-and-coming scientists, and an entrepreneurial pitch competition that includes sizeable monetary prizes. The program details will be released in March 2020.
ICAIR Venue
For Sponsors and Exhibitors
The International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation (ICAIR) is an important cross-disciplinary event that brings together the leading researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs currently working to improve the lives of people around the world who live with the impacts of illness, disability and aging.
- ICAIR will feature TED-style talks by renowned players in the rehab space
- ICAIR will feature educational keynote speeches by top rehabilitation engineers, scientists and clinicians
- ICAIR is the first research-based conference of its scale and style hosted by the Kite Research Institute at UHN
- ICAIR provides a platform for rehabilitation professionals to exchange their ideas, get inspired and form research partnerships
- At ICAIR, you will reach over 1000 of the world’s leading minds in rehabilitation research and technology
- ICAIR will feature a pitch competition that will attract top entrepreneurs, innovators and start-ups with $100,000 in available prizes
- ICAIR offers competitive sponsorship packages for industry partners to become an integral part of the conference
Our sponsorship and exhibitor package is available for download below. To support ICAIR and for any further inquiries, please contact Sophia (Yue) Li or Anthony Palma.
Contact
If you have any questions about ICAIR conference, please contact us at kite@uhn.ca. Please make sure that the conference acronym is clearly specified in your message.Home
Welcome
It is my sincere pleasure to extend an invitation to you to the inaugural International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation (ICAIR) in Toronto, Canada on Monday, May 25, 2020. This unique event is designed to drive cross-collaboration across multiple disciplines by attracting the world’s leading scientific, health-care, engineering and entrepreneurial minds.
As our populations age, health systems in Canada and around the world must plan for an incoming tidal wave of demand for health services and treatments. We also have a duty to develop new treatments, cures and solutions that can help those living with disease and disability. Doing so has the potential to improve quality of life and help people live in their homes longer.
The ICAIR organizing committee is dedicated to helping advance the development of new products, services, treatments and research that can significantly enhance the lives of the disabled, elderly and those living with long-term illness. We invite you to join us in Toronto at the meeting point of care, research and education as we investigate new frontiers for the treatment of Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation.
Dr. Milos R. Popovic
Chair, ICAIR organizing committee
About ICAIR
The International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation (ICAIR) is an important cross-disciplinary event that brings together the leading researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs currently working to improve the lives of people around the world who live each day with the impacts of illness, disability and aging.
Why Attend
ICAIR is a unique conference destination designed to help researchers, academics, students, entrepreneurs and other innovators share research and academic success stories, build and foster relationships across disciplines, and encourage cross-pollination of communication, research and ideas.
Your Host
ICAIR is being hosted jointly by The KITE Research Institute at the University Health Network (UHN) and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI) at the University of Toronto and includes significant input and participation from other clinical, and research institutions and hospitals.
Areas of Focus
Aging
- Treatments for Pain and Physical Decline
- Promotion of Mobility
- Support of Independent Living
- Study of Disease Areas
- Investigation of Illness and Frailty
- Examination of Dementia and Memory
- Study of Neural and Physical Decline
- Falls and Injury Prevention
Innovation
- Identification of New Technologies
- Neuromodulation and Brain Tech (implants/interfaces)
- Innovative Designs and the Development of Wearable Technologies, Smart Textiles, Robotic Systems
- Robotics for Therapy, Social Interaction and Care
- Artificial Intelligence
- Disruptive Technologies and Business Models
- Fostering Invention
- Research Commercialization
- Drug Discovery for Neuro, Muscular and Bone Diseases
Rehabilitation
- Telerehabilitation
- Restoration of Function
- Prevention of Injury and Infection
- Deployment of New Treatments
- Promotion of Independence
- Advocacy of Reintegration and Active Living
- Improvements in Pediatric, Geriatric, Musculoskeletal and Cardiac Care
- Improved Participation
- Treatment of Age-Related Diseases (Neurodegeneration, Arthritis)
ICAIR Scientific Committee
Milos Popovic, Ph.D., PEng (General Chair)
Jenny Campos, Ph.D.
Nora Cullen, BSc, MSc, MD, FRCPC
Majid Janidarmian, Ph.D.
Mohit Kapoor, Ph.D.
Pia Kontos, Ph.D.
Sri Krishnan, Ph.D.
Bridgette Murphy
Larry Robinson, MD, FABPMR
Kate Sellen, Ph.D.
Taufik Valiante, MD, Ph.D., FRCSC
Yana Yunusova, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Princeton University Bio
Title: Beyond Buzzwords: Innovation, Inequity, and Imagination in 21st Century
Abstract
From precision medicine to predictive algorithms, science, medicine, and technology seek to address a variety of human problems by producing data and designing tools to help us understand our world and ourselves. But without careful consideration of the social dimensions of innovation, we risk reinforcing longstanding forms of inequality and injustice, and even producing new forms of discrimination that are hidden behind a veneer of technological neutrality. In this talk, Ruha Benjamin examines a range of contemporary issues at the nexus of data and democracy, so that we can think together about the social values embedded in these platforms and systems, and expand our collective vision around who gets to design the future.
Elise Roy, J.D., MA Social Design Bio
Title: Different Is the New Normal: Why Everyone Benefits When We Design for Disability
Abstract
Different Is the New Normal: How Designing for Difference Helps Everyone Thrive As a lawyer, Elise was always advocating for people with disabilities to be treated the same. In her new career, as an inclusive design strategist, she says to heck with that. We are different and difference is what makes us valuable.
Organizations are discovering that in designing strategies, services, products or other innovations, looking to average no longer works. Instead, we should be designing for extremes - and people with disabilities are great examples of extreme users. The audio books that you listen to on your commute to work, the keyboard that you type on, emails that you send by the minute, the captions that you view while watching Facebook videos, were all originally designed for disability but are loved by everyone. This is because when we design for disability, we create the superpowers that we all want – to do more, to hear more, to see more, and to go further. We learn how to create ability in the absence of natural, human ability.
In this talk Elise challenges us to shift our thinking about the value of those with differing abilities. This group, which has traditionally been excluded from the innovation realm because society is so used to designing around average, has proven to be one of the most valuable assets to the innovation process. Learn why companies are looking to difference to help them stimulate new thinking and develop groundbreaking innovations.
Stanisa Raspopovic, PhD, Swiss Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) Bio
Title: Walk again, but with feeling
Abstract
Leg amputation, especially above knee, destroys the communication between the brain and environment, leading to several important issues. Amputees walk slower, with less confidence, suffer pain, fatigue, and they have to be focused even during the simple action as the stair climbing. Fresh from our lab and recent clinical study, I will show a new method, combining the electrical stimulation of the nerves and robotic leg sensors-that restored the neural communication lost after amputation. This helped the body to walk better, and brain to accept the bionic limb as a proper part. See how it works in detail.
For Authors
The International Conference on Aging, Innovation and Rehabilitation (ICAIR) will showcase cutting edge research from Toronto and around the world.
Here’s what to expect when you submit a poster for consideration:
- Every trainee(student)/post-doctoral fellow registrant will have the option of submitting a poster, which will be reviewed by the ICAIR scientific advisory committee. Only one, first authored poster can be submitted per person and only trainees are eligible to present. Selected posters will receive notification of acceptance.
- Individuals submitting posters will also be asked to indicate if they would like to be considered for a three minute talk on the main stage. To qualify for a talk, you must submit an extended abstract along with your poster.
- Lastly, you will be asked to indicate if you would like your research to be considered for publication in a Special interdisciplinary Issue of the Journal of BioMedical Engineering Online. Your submission will require approval from your academic advisor and will be peer reviewed by the ICAIR scientific advisory committee. To qualify for a manuscript submission, you must also submit an extended abstract along with your poster.
We look forward to receiving your submissions. Please contact Majid Janidarmian at majid.janidarmian@uhn.ca if you have any further questions.
Power Play
The healthcare industry has enormous potential to leverage innovative and disruptive technologies and strategies in order to deliver insightful, meaningful and affordable care.
Toronto Rehab Foundation, in partnership with the KITE Research Institute, will host the second Power Play Pitch Competition to help accelerate innovation and commercial success.
The research arm of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, KITE, is a world leader in complex rehabilitation science and is dedicated to improving the lives of people living with the effects of disability, illness and aging. The Toronto Rehab Foundation, through the philanthropy of its donors, plays a vital role in turning the ideas of KITE’s clinicians and scientists into home, community and hospital-based advancements and innovation.
With $100,000 available in total prizes, the stakes are higher than ever. Don’t miss your chance to build the future of healthcare!
We are looking for energetic, innovative and passionate healthcare innovators who can address an unmet need in the healthcare industry, through preventative healthcare solutions, treatment and management of disabling injuries and illnesses, restorative assistive devices to help restore function, diagnostic tools, digital health, and others.
We welcome innovators involved in all stages of product and technology development, from concepts and prototypes to finished products and services and start-up companies, and who need capital to help bring their innovations to the next stage.
For more information, please visit POWER PLAY page.
This event is taking place at the end of ICAIR's main program. If you haven't registered for ICAIR and you'd like to attend Kite PowerPlay only, please register below (space is limited). If you've signed up for ICAIR, you've automatically been registered for Power Play.
Attendance Registration
Key Dates
Submission and Registration
Registration Fees
Our early bird deadline is May 11th. After this date, general registration fee will increase by $150.
SIGN UP
SIGN IN
Program
ICAIR Venue
For Sponsors and Exhibitors
Our sponsorship and exhibitor package is available for download below. To support ICAIR and for any further inquiries, please contact Sophia (Yue) Li or Anthony Palma.