Nova Scotia Health’s Innovation Hub is dipping its toe into the startup support ecosystem with a new co-working space for healthtech and medtech startups, along with a Network of Innovators that will offer funding and training services.

The Innovation Hub was created by the provincial government in an attempt to bring high-tech solutions to bear on Nova Scotia’s faltering healthcare system. The Hub partners with companies like Halifax medical device-maker NovaResp Technologies and California radiology giant Varian Medical Systems on initiatives ranging from research, to clinical trials, to rolling out their technology in the provincial health system.

The Network of Innovators will offer member startups access to multiple funding streams to offset research costs, employ graduate students and develop new ideas, although a Nova Scotia Health statement did not clarify how much money is on offer. Entrepreneurship training is also available.

“It can be a challenge to lead change in a large and complex organization,” said NS Health Vice-President of Research, Innovation and Discovery Gail Tomblin Murphy in the statement. “The Network of Innovators wraps resources around innovators who have fantastic ideas and helps bring those ideas to market so they can benefit patients right here in Nova Scotia and beyond.”