Innovation challenges

What is an Innovation Challenge?

An innovation challenge is a public call for ideas, solutions, or technologies that invites a wide range of people, individuals, teams, organizations, or communities to help solve a specific problem. At the Canadian Cancer Society, we use innovation challenges as a way to crowdsource creative, practical, and community driven solutions to complex health issues, such as improving access to cancer screening in rural and remote areas.

These challenges are designed to open the door to new voices and perspectives. We welcome contributions from healthcare professionals, technologists, community leaders, and researchers. This approach helps us reach communities that are often underserved and ensures that solutions are grounded in real world experience.

Rural and Remote Community Cancer Screening Challenge

Watch this video to learn more

A diverse group of people sit in a circle in a community centre, engaged in a pleasant discussion.

The Canadian Cancer Society has partnered with MaRS Discovery District to launch the Rural and Remote Community Cancer Screening Challenge, a nationwide initiative aimed at identifying and supporting community designed solutions to increase participation in cancer screening across rural and remote communities in Canada.

People living in these communities face real and persistent barriers to accessing cancer screening from fewer healthcare providers and limited infrastructure to longer travel times and higher costs. These challenges contribute to later diagnoses and lower survival rates compared to those in urban areas.

This initiative will award a total of $175,000 across two phases to support bold, practical solutions that help more people get screened earlier and more often so we can save more lives.

Launched on May 8, the challenge invites researchers, innovators, public sector leaders, students, universities, rural and remote advocates, and technology experts to participate.

Our Grand Prize Winner and Finalists

The Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH) was named the grand prize winner of the Rural and Remote Community Cancer Screening Challenge and awarded $100,000 to support the scaling and implementation of its Integrated Rural Screening Initiative. Designed to normalize cancer screening conversations in public, non-clinical settings, the initiative embeds breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening education into active, community-centred programming. During its pilot, the initiative delivered targeted screening education at 10 community events, reaching more than 450 rural residents over five months.

Gateway CERH was one of five finalists selected from across Canada to pilot solutions designed to improve cancer screening participation in rural and remote communities. Representing innovators, health leaders, non-profit organizations, researchers and community organizations, the finalists brought forward a range of approaches to better inform, educate and engage people on the importance of cancer screening. The solutions spanned both technological and non-technological approaches, from culturally relevant communication tools to new process improvements and partnership models.

Each finalist received $15,000 to begin implementing their solution in their community. Learn more about our five finalists.

Learn more about our grand prize winner

Previous challenge spotlight

The Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Challenge

Meet the Winner: Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre

The Canadian Cancer Society’s first innovation challenge, in partnership with MaRS, called on innovators to develop solutions that meaningfully engage underserved populations and address barriers that prevent or hinder the early detection of colorectal cancer.

The grand prize was awarded to the Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre for its outstanding community based approach. As a trusted organization supporting newcomers, low income, and marginalized communities in the Niagara and St. Catharines region, the Centre created a solution that blends cultural connection with health education.

Winners of The Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Challenge, Niagara Folk Arts Centre

[A women sitting in a room appears on screen. As she speaks, images of a washroom and the Niagara Folk Art Centre appear on screen. The words “Monitoring Health: Insider and Out” appear on screen.]

Emily: I think that there’s a bit of stigma attached to talking about our bodily habits, specifically in various newcomer communities. This may be a taboo subject.

[Words on screen: “Emily Kovacs, Executive Director/CEO, Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre.”]

Emily: We at Niagara Folk Arts are beyond thrilled to be the grand prizes winners of The Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Challenge.

[Words on screen: Everybody eats, everybody poops]

Emily: We created a tagline called “everybody eats, everybody poops” to demystify the idea that we have to talk about our eating habits and that our stool samples can say a lot about our eating habits and what we can do so we’re trying to get to that problem by working with peers and knowing that early intervention is the best.

[Words on screen: Colorectal cancer is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada. This year, approximately 24, 300 new cases will be diagnosed.]

[A photo of a group of people holding awards appears on screen. Various images of food and meal preparation appear on screen as Emily speaks.]

Emily: We’ve been reasonably successful in graduating 54 international educated health professional as health navigators, so we’d like to leverage their skill sets to be able to act as leaders in the community. So our plan is to host at least eight magnet events serving about roughly twenty-four hundred newcomers who are specifically older, racialized community members who will be able to have dinners who are specifically catered for a colorectal cancer-friendly meal, and we’re going to talk about prevention and give out kits and using and leveraging the idea of culturally sensitive peers to act as ambassadors to talk about health prevention, specifically about colorectal cancer prevention.

[Words on screen: The five year survival rate for colorectal cancer increases to 90% when diagnosed early. Various images of people preparing food continue to appear on screen as Emily speaks.]

Emily: And then we finally also thought about giving out these fresh meal packages to the individuals who are participants again to model behaviour about practicing good eating habits and also making sure that individuals follow through with their colorectal cancer screening kits. So we’re hopeful that the friendly atmosphere, the meals that we provide and the linguistically appropriate peers will be able to bridge that stigma and will be able to also overcome individuals fear or resistance to actually having colorectal cancer screening done and now preventable it is if you have early detection.

[The MaRS and Canadian Cancer Society logos appear on screen.]

[Words on screen: Innovating for Everyone: The Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Challenge.]

Through Multicultural Community Kitchen Events, community members come together to cook, share meals, and learn about colon cancer prevention and screening through food education and healthy recipes. More than 50 internationally trained medical professionals are helping deliver this vital information. The Centre aims to reach thousands of people and increase participation in colorectal cancer screening.

Contact us

To learn more, contact Erin Bussin (erin.bussin@cancer.ca) and Julia Nordlund (julia.nordlund@cancer.ca).

This program is organized by the Canadian Cancer Society and the MaRS Discovery District.

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Innovation Challenges