The Clinic Effect is a new series, where we highlight current and past IP Innovation Clinic clients from our 15-year history of helping advance IP sophistication and support in Ontario and across Canada.

Hip and knee replacements are among the most common surgeries¹,��making��advancements in join replacement care widely meaningful. ��Andre Hladio, Co-Founder and CTO of��Intellijoint��Surgical Inc.,��is committed��to improving that experience.��Drawing on his background��in engineering from the University��of Waterloo and a passion for MedTech��innovation,��he focuses on technologies that enhance patient mobility and support surgeons in the operating room.��

The Innovation  

Intellijoint Surgical’s mission is to improve patients’ lives by providing every surgeon with effective and easy-to-use technology. The company develops surgical navigation and planning products that support orthopedic surgeons performing hip and knee replacements.  

Andre describes the company’s work as an ongoing effort to create solutions that: 

• Help surgeons provide superior care����

• Align with the realities of today’s highly constrained healthcare system��

• Offer��viable��business economics����

“In short, the problem we are solving is a clinical one (i.e. improving patient outcomes), within a broader healthcare system and business context. Anything less than that would be��an impediment��to scaling, and thus at odds with our mission”��

- Andre Hladio

The Impact 

Intellijoint��prioritizes meaningful improvements to patient outcomes delivered in a cost-effective and responsible way. The company evaluates value in terms patient outcomes per dollar, taking a systemic approach to healthcare costs.

According to Andre,��Intellijoint��competes��with robotic technologies, which differ significantly from��the company’s��values.����He��argues that robotic systems tend to be “bulky, expensive, add time to surgical procedures and create significantly more surgical waste than Intellijoint." Meanwhile,��Intellijoint��offers an alternative that reflects its��commitment��to responsible, scalable innovation.��

Achievements & Milestones

To date,��Intellijoint��technology has been used for over��80,000 patients.��Andre notes this as his proudest accomplishment, emphasizing the company’s role in improving the lives of thousands of patients.����

Their key products include:  

• Intellijoint��VIEW®:��A web-based tool for planning hip and knee surgeries, including cup placement, implant templating, and aligning planning, all without needing Ct imaging.��

• Intellijoint��HIP®: Provides real-time measurements during surgery to support primary and revision total hip replacements.��

• Intellijoint��KNEE®: Assists surgeons during knee replacement by guiding measurements, instrument alignment, and bone cuts.��

The IP  

Andre offers clear advice for anyone beginning their own IP journey: start with the purpose. He emphasizes that understanding your broader��objective��is essential to��determining��the right IP priorities.��������

��“Excellence in product development and IP generation are intrinsically linked. In the��very early��days of product ideation and prototyping, we��sought��to get patent coverage and understand our patent landscape. We worked with the IP Innovation Clinic to help us get started on our IP journey.”��

_{-Andre Hladio}

The Company

To learn more about the company, visit their����and��follow them��on��.��

1. ��Inspira Health Network, “Top 10 Most Common Surgeries: What You Need to Know,” April 11, 2025.�� ︎

The post Intellijoint��Surgical: Advancing Orthopedic Care Through Accessible Surgical Technology�� appeared first on IP Innovation Clinic.

The Clinic Effect is a new series, where we highlight current and past IP Innovation Clinic clients from our 15-year history of helping advance IP sophistication and support in Ontario and across Canada.

When you think of public art, what comes to mind? If you did not say carbon capture, you would not be alone. Yet that is exactly what Vladimir Kanic, a PhD student at �첥��Ƶ, is developing. A transdisciplinary artist and the founder of Algyy Cleantech, Vladimir is redefining art’s role in society by creating living systems that clean the air we breathe.  

“My work bridges art, science, and biotechnology, addressing environmental challenges through carbon-capturing public art installations and carbon-negative construction materials.” 

- Vladimir Kanic 

The Innovation  

Vladimir’s latest project, “Growing Smart Cities with Living Algae Systems”, transforms public spaces into carbon-capturing ecosystems through living algae sculptures. They serve as functional artwork that can convert atmospheric carbon into breathable oxygen.  Vladimir also developed algal bioconcrete, a carbon-negative construction material using algae that turns atmospheric carbon into a stone-like substance. 

“My living art assumes an unusual function; it moves beyond aesthetics to operate as environmental technology, redefining the role of art as a living system, a tool for repair, and a model for regenerative design.” 

- Vladimir Kanic

The Problem 

Cities generate over 70% of global carbon emissions¹, and the existing carbon capture technologies only remove 0.01% of these emissions.² Currently, methods such as tree planting require vast tracts of land and decades to be effective, making them impractical for urban environments. Algae, however, are the planet’s principal carbon-capturing biotech.³ They can grow rapidly anywhere, and cities have many underutilized public spaces that could be transformed into algae farms or carbon-capturing art sites. 

The Impact 

Vladimir’s work has the potential to improve urban air quality and support climate-resilient infrastructure by transforming public spaces and architecture into carbon-capturing systems. This innovation advances multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, including climate action, sustainable cities, and green innovation.  According to Vladimir, the primary audience for this work includes cities, real-estate developers, sustainable corporations, and city residents impacted by air pollution and climate-related threats.  

“Cities benefit by gaining practical, visually appealing solutions that transform urban pollution into sustainable resources, creating healthier communities, increased resilience against climate impacts, and opportunities for generating carbon credits and passive revenue.” 

^{_{-Vladimir Kanic}}

The IP  

For Vladimir, the IP Innovation Clinic at �첥��Ƶ has played a crucial role in supporting his journey. He refers to the Clinic as an “essential platform that benefits every student involved in research and innovation.”  

 “[The IP Innovation Clinic] has clarified complex intellectual property matters, strategized my patent filing approach, significantly eased the administrative and financial burden, allowing me to focus on innovation and research. ” 

_{-Vladimir Kanic}

The Next Steps... 

Vladimir and Algyy Cleantech are currently seeking:  

• Collaborators 

• Sustainability-focused investors  

• Research institutions and urban policymakers  

As the work expands, it could create green jobs in algae cultivation, biofabrication, and system maintenance, while generating long-term revenue through carbon credits, licensing, and public commissions.  

To learn more or connect, please reach out to idea@vladimirkanic.com. You can view Vladimir’s work on   and .   

1. World Economic Forum.��Net Zero Carbon Cities: Home. World Economic Forum Initiative. Retrieved January 13, 2026, from��. ︎
2. ��David Suzuki Foundation,��Why Carbon Capture and Storage Is Not a Real Climate Solution, January 2026. ︎
3. Käse, Laura and��Geuer, Jana K., Phytoplankton Responses to Marine Climate Change – An Introduction, 2018.���� ︎

The post Algyy��Cleantech:��Public Art That Can Clear Your Air���� appeared first on IP Innovation Clinic.

The Clinic Effect is a new series, where we highlight current and past IP Innovation Clinic clients from our 15-year history of helping advance IP sophistication and support in Ontario and across Canada.

From the increasingly commonplace use of wearable devices that monitoring vital signs to emerging breakthroughs in early disease detection, wearable technologies have the potential to transform how people engage with their health through individualized health monitoring and diagnostic capabilities. Amongst, these innovations in wearable technologies are Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), systems that translate brain activity into actionable data. Promising applications of this type of technology range form using brainwave patterns to anticipate seizures to interpreting intended movements of individuals with impaired mobility.

However, the effectiveness of BCIs hinges on the quality of the brainwave data. Thus far, it is very difficult to collect accurate and actionable data outside of controlled clinical settings. Everyday movements, including blinking or speaking, introduce “noise” into the recordings, making it difficult to obtain usable signals. This limitation has slowed the progress of non-invasive BCI applications, including non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) headsets and headbands, in real world settings.  

The Innovation  

Recognizing this gap, Dr. Hossein Kassiri, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering, and �첥��Ƶ alumnus Dr. Alireza Dabbaghian (PhD,’24), have developed a novel solution: An active digital EEG electrode designed to maintain high-quality brainwave recordings in everyday settings. Each electrode integrates low-noise amplification and on-electrode digitization, so the signal is converted to robust digital data directly at the scalp, greatly reducing artefacts from motion, cables, and the electrode–skin interface. Simply put, it is a sensor that turns brain signals into clean data right on your scalp, so recordings stay clear if even if you move around. Importantly, the electrode can be used for non-invasive EEG headsets and headbands.  

This opens the door to transformative applications in neurorehabilitation and personalized healthcare. For example, when combined with appropriate algorithms and interfaces, BCI wearables could support stroke survivors in regaining motor function by thinking about movement or enable more reliable EEG-based seizure prediction and monitoring in epilepsy. 

“Non-invasive BCIs live or die by signal quality. Our active digital EEG electrodes move the critical electronics right to the scalp, so each electrode becomes an intelligent sensor instead of a passive metal disk. That helps preserve tiny brain signals in the real world, not only in a quiet hospital room, and is essential if we want reliable BCIs in people’s homes, workplaces, and rehab settings.” 

- Prof. Hossein Kassiri

The Impact   

Recent market analyses placed the global electroencephalography (EEG) devices market in the range of approximately US$1.4–1.7 billion in 2024, with long-term projections indicating expansion to roughly US$3.5–4.7 billion by 2034, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 9.5–10.2%¹²³. Within this broader market, wearable EEG systems represent a rapidly growing sub-segment and are forecast to increase from approximately US$396 million in 2024 to nearly US$696 million by 2031, reflecting a CAGR of ~8.7%⁴.  Beyond EEG specifically, the global brain–computer interface (BCI) market is projected to exceed US$12 billion by 2034, highlighting accelerating commercial and clinical interest in technologies that translate neural activity into actionable information across healthcare, assistive technologies, and related domains⁵⁶. Collectively, these trends underscore both a substantial clinical need and a growing commercial opportunity for EEG solutions capable of delivering high-quality neural measurements in real-world, everyday environments. 

While EEG has long been used in hospitals to monitor brain activity, wearable BCIs could be game changers for collecting this data more broadly, allowing for continuous, real-time monitoring in homes and small community settings. Such devices can help reduce wait times and reliance on specialist care as well as help support early intervention. They also have the potential to ease pressures on healthcare systems while empowering individuals to take a more active role in managing their health.  

“If we can capture near-clinical-quality EEG outside the hospital, we open the door to much earlier and more continuous monitoring for conditions like epilepsy, stroke, and other neurological disorders. Instead of waiting months for a short hospital study, patients could be monitored over days or weeks in their usual environment, which is better for them and ultimately lighter on the health-care system.” 

- Prof. Hossein Kassiri

There also broader positive implications for Canadian society and beyond. Innovations, such as this from Professor Kassiri and Dr. Dabbaghian, contribute to a growing health tech sector while improving community health outcomes. 

The IP  

The IP Innovation Clinic, at Osgoode Hall Law School, along with the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, at �첥��Ƶ, aided Professor Kassiri and Dr. Dabbaghian in their commercialization journey. Through pro bono IP assistance services, the team received assistance with patent searches, market research, and patent filing strategies, helping the inventors filing for patent protection. This IP groundwork supported the team’s successful application for a $125,000 Idea to Innovation grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).  

“The IP Innovation Clinic and York’s research office were instrumental in turning this from a lab prototype into protectable technology. They helped us understand the patent landscape, refine our claims, and time our filings around publications. That support let us focus on the engineering while building an IP foundation that is credible for partners, investors, and public funders.” 

-Prof. Hossein Kassiri

Professor Kassiri and his team have also been connected with Ontario-based industry leaders and clinicians interested in piloting the technology. These collaborations are paving the way for real-world testing and integration of the electrode into existing medical devices.  

The Next Steps...  

The team has already partnered with neurologists to translate this technology into an ambulatory EEG device for epilepsy, and development of the full wearable headset is well underway. While these clinical and engineering efforts are progressing, they welcome collaborations that can strengthen validation, accelerate adoption, or extend the technology into new application areas. 

They are open to:  
• Clinical groups interested in outpatient or home-based EEG studies 
• Industry partners developing EEG headsets or BCI systems who see value in integrating on-electrode digitization 
• Strategic partners and early-stage investors aligned with scaling, regulatory planning, and manufacturing 

To learn more or explore collaboration opportunities, please visit the Neuro-IC Lab website () or contact Professor Kassiri at kassiri@yorku.ca. 

1. Transparency Market Research,��EEG Devices Market—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2024–2034, Transparency Market Research, Wilmington, DE, USA, 2024. ︎
2. ��Polaris Market Research,��Electroencephalography (EEG) Devices Market: By Type, End Use, and Region—Forecast to 2034, Polaris Market Research, Pune, India, 2024.��
   �� ︎
3. Precedence Research,��Electroencephalography (EEG) Devices Market Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2024–2034, Precedence Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada, 2024.�� ︎
4. The Insight Partners,��Wearable EEG Device Market Forecast to 2031, The Insight Partners, New York, NY, USA, 2024. ︎
5. Precedence Research,��Brain–Computer Interface Market Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2024–2034, Precedence Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada, 2024.�� ︎
6. Towards Healthcare,��Brain–Computer Interface Market—Global Forecast to 2034, Towards Healthcare, Pune, India, 2024. ︎

The post BCI Breakthrough: Advancing High-Quality Brainwave Recording Outside Clinical Settings���� appeared first on IP Innovation Clinic.

The Clinic Effect is a new series, where we highlight current and past IP Innovation Clinic clients from our 15-year history of helping advance IP sophistication and support in Ontario and across Canada.

Kay Boamah sees a critical disconnect in traditional marketing: brands often use top-down strategies that can lack authenticity or relevance for the intended audience. Meanwhile, trusted community groups, including educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and artist collectives, are under-resourced and often excluded from major marketing opportunities. Boamah and his co-founders Daniel Mohanrao and Mike Hong launched Swiirl, a brand-tech platform promoting “community marketing” to address this. 

The Innovation  

Swiirl is a two-sided platform connecting brands and agencies with high-trust community organizations and educational institutions. Brands are matched with groups based on their marketing needs and goals. The team developed their community engagement model, Swiirl Pulse, where brands use conversational AI Agents to join real community conversations. If the AI agent is given permission to enter a conversation to gain authentic insights, the group leading the conversation is compensated. These interactions, then, inform the co-creation of purpose-driven campaigns, including artwork and social media content. Creators have full control over which projects they choose to participate in.   

“Swiirl is building a more equitable and effective creative economy.” 

- Kay Boamah

The Impact   

Boamah calls Swiirl’s impact “profound,” citing the creation of sustainable revenue streams that support local programs including arts and financial literacy efforts. One major initiative is the   financial literacy campaign created in collaboration with former NBA player Jerome Williams. The campaign, powered by Swiirl Pulse, began with a 40-city North American tour starting in  on November 1, 2025. The initiative is backed by major sponsors, including banks, lifestyle brands, and the local professional sports teams in each city. 

According to Boamah, Swiirl’s primary clients are marketing and engagement teams seeking authentic connections. Community partners serve as the “insight and creative engine” behind campaigns. 

"We are so excited to partner with a platform that engages communities directly in creating content—capturing authentic stories of financial freedom through mini-documentaries, ads, and more.” 

- Jerome Williams    

The IP  

Swiirl received pro bono intellectual property assistance from the IP Innovation Clinic including patent and trademark searches and due diligence. This support helped the team determine how to protect their innovation. 

The broader �첥��Ƶ innovation ecosystem has also played a key role in Swiirl’s commercialization journey. The company recently completed the YSpace Technology Accelerator and continues to benefit from YSpace resources. Additionally, the  provided early support through its Venture Catalyst program.   

“The IP Innovation Clinic has been a pivotal resource. YSpace at �첥��Ƶ was a catalyst for us, connecting us to vital resources like the IP Innovation Clinic. We simply did not know what we did not know, and the ecosystem these programs build around founders is a critical accelerator to success.” 

- Kay Boamah 

The Next Steps...  

As��Swiirl��continues to scale up, they welcome brands, agencies, community organizations, and platform partners to join the��movement,��“transforming insight into authentic advocacy and empowering communities to lead the conversation.”����

To learn more or connect, please visit  or email partnerships@swiirl.io 

The post Swiirl: Powering Community-Driven Marketing���� appeared first on IP Innovation Clinic.

In the first of our new series, The Clinic Effect, we highlight current and past IP Innovation Clinic clients from our 15-year history of helping advance IP sophistication and support in Ontario and across Canada.

What does your sweat reveal about you? According to , Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Lassonde School of Engineering, �첥��Ƶ, quite a lot. Neda and the team she leads at LAB-HA (Laboratory of Advanced Biotechnologies for Health Assessment) have developed , a wearable biosensing platform that analyzes sweat to detect early-stage biomarkers of diseases such as autoimmune disorders, breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy.  

The Innovation  

With a background in biomedical engineering, Neda specializes in wearable biosensors, microfluidic diagnostics, and AI-integrated health monitoring systems designed to address real-world healthcare challenges through translational innovation.  

Neda created WearDOXX to address the lack of accessible, non-invasive, and proactive screening tools for early detection of chronic and cancer/neurological diseases. Conventional diagnostics often rely on costly, invasive procedures, such as imaging, EEGs, or spinal taps, that are not available to many people, especially those in rural or underserved communities.   

The WearDOXX platform combines microfluidic colorimetric sensing—a process that uses color change in a solution to detect the presence of certain substances—with AI-enabled smartphone analysis. The platform provides a non-invasive, real-time solution for early disease detection that can be used in home and community settings.    

"WearDOXX enables individuals to monitor their health with a simple, wearable patch, democratizing access to early screening.” - Dr. Neda Salahandish  

The Impact   

The global market size for the wearable device industry, which WearDOXX falls into, was valued at an estimated $45 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $151.8 billion by the end of 2029.¹ That is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.5%, driven primarily by the rising prevalence of chronic conditions, such as respiratory diseases, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.   

Neda believes that WearDOXX can contribute to job creation and social betterment in Canada through enabling early detection outside of clinical settings. This will, in turn, help reduce healthcare disparities, lower system costs, and improve health outcomes, particularly for marginalized populations. Neda adds, “Socially, this empowers individuals to take control of their health; economically, it helps decrease the burden of late-stage disease care while contributing to Canada’s innovation economy through health tech commercialization and job creation.”  

WearDOXX’s targeted demographic includes,   

• Patients and caregivers in need of easy, proactive monitoring tools  

• Clinicians and healthcare systems looking to expand preventive care  

• Public health organizations focused on equitable access to diagnostics  

WearDOXX helps these groups by offering a cost-effective, user-friendly alternative to traditional diagnostics, making early screening more inclusive and scalable. The platform has received “highly positive” feedback from clinicians, engineers, and stakeholders, who are also highlighting this innovation’s potential to “close diagnostic gaps and increase accessibility.” Neda says there is strong interest from individuals who want to participate in user studies and future clinical pilots, particularly those working in community healthcare.   

The IP  

Neda learned about the IP Innovation Clinic’s services through our collaboration with the Lassonde School of Engineering. According to her, “The Clinic has provided invaluable guidance on navigating intellectual property strategy—from initial patent scoping to understanding IP protections for our wearable system and AI software. Their support has helped us protect our innovation and plan confidently for future commercialization.”   

“Engage with IP experts early in the process. Protect your work before publishing or pitching externally, and take time to understand the different types of IP protections available. The support of clinics like the IP Innovation Clinic can make a big difference in aligning your IP strategy with your long-term goals.” - Dr. Neda Salahandish   

The Next Steps...  

There are a lot of exciting things happening for the WearDOXX team, and they are open to collaborations of all kinds. Neda and her team are currently seeking:   

• Clinical collaborators for pilot testing and validation  

• Strategic partners and early-stage investors to scale the technology and move toward regulatory approval  

• Public health and community organizations to support implementation in real-world care environments  

To learn more or connect, please visit and or email Neda at raziehs@yorku.ca or neda@weardoxx.com.����

1. BCC Publishing, Wearable Medical Devices: Technologies and Global Markets, HLC192D, July 2024 ︎

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