How important are your people to your company’s success? What if they felt  they had reasons to confront you in a court of law? How might you fare then?

How does your company’s human resources practices measure up to the latest federal and provincial employment standards? Should a serious HR conflict arise in, what would be your company’s rights and obligations? How much could a law suit cost? And, should things really go sour, what could you do to contain the damage?

As a lawyer specializing in labour and employment law with the prestigious firm of Miller Thomson LLP, Stuart Rudner was just the kind of expert TMTA members needed to talk to about this topic. Here are more of the issues Stuart explores with us on December 7, at TMTA’s last quarterly meeting of 2010.
-          The do’s and don’t of terminations
-          Harassment and violence in the workplace
-          Absenteeism and attendance management
-          Social media opportunities and pitfalls
-          The Human Rights Tribunal: threat or much-needed institution?

While it may be on everyone’s lips this summer, South Africa is actually a lot more than just a great host country for the World Cup. Endowed with a world class financial system, an excellent transportation network and an advanced logistical infrastructure, South Africa is the largest economy in all of Africa. It is also the gateway to the continent’s 200 million consumers. Yet South Africa’s healthcare market remains mostly untapped. Find out why and explore the reasons why South Africa should probably be on your list in the coming months.

Click here to access a pdf version of a summary of the June 21 presentation on South Africa.

TMTA members should consider adding Australia to their list of target markets because:
• The Australian medical device market totals $2 billion.
• More than 85% of Australian devices are imported.
• Canada and Australia’s regulatory authorities have had a MOU in place since 2007.
• A single audit can cover the quality system requirements of both Canada and Australia.
• Canadian manufacturers can reduce their audit costs by using local auditors.

Click here to access a pdf version of a summary of the June 21 presentation on Australia.
 

Most of us understand the importance of “going global” as a way of commercializing our products or services. But fewer of us have caught on to the importance of reaching out to the international community for help with our R&D efforts.

Going Global Innovation
This is why our main topic at our upcoming March 9 quarterly meeting will feature a presentation from the DFAIT branch entitled “Going Global Innovation”. The objective of “Going Global Innovation” is to promote and enhance Canada's international innovation efforts by supporting Canadian companies and/or researchers in pursuing international R&D collaborative opportunities through the development of partnerships with key players in other countries.

The presenters
”Going Clobal Innovation” will be presented by Pratima Rao and Amona Lukawiecki-Vydelingum. As Trade Commissioner with the Ontario Regional Office of DFAIT, Pratima covers innovation, science and technology projects. Postings in New York and Washington DC have given Pratima experience in dealing with questions from firms developing international R&D partnerships. Amona is also a Trade Commissioner in the Region Office and covers the medical device sector. Prior to joining DFAIT, Amona was researcher in radiological sciences at Guy’s Hospital at the University of London in England.

Two more “global advantages”
This upcoming meeting offers two further reinforcements of our “going global” theme. One  features a presentation by Dan Lynch who will be outlining funding and resouces offered by HTX.

Our other “global” reinforcement comes from the fact that the meeting is taking place at the facilities of Global Advantage, a TMTA associate member. The company has graciously offered to host the meeting. Our host, Larry Cook will be familiar to those of us who frequently attend TMTA meetings. Global Advantage offers are range of testing capabilities which could prove quite useful to many TMTA members some day.

Agenda for March 9
As usual, our upcoming meeting has quite a full agenda:
09:30      Registrations
10:00      Introduction by TMTA chairman, Christian Dubé
10:10      Welcome to Global Advantage by Larry Cook
10:15      Going Global Innovation by Pratima Rao and Amona Lukawiecki-Vydelingum from DFAIT
10:45      Q&A about Going Global Innovation
11:00      News on the Regulatory front, by Bill Whittington
11:20      Funding and resources from HTX by Dan Lynch
12:00      Networking luncheon

RASIG meeting
As is often the case, a meeting on Regulatory issues will take place simultaneously. This meeting will be chaired by Jeff Solate and Chris Newman. The topic is “Medical device reporting and corrective action with reference to USA QSR, Canada’s ISO and Global harmonization standards”. Jeff Solate is a regulatory compliance specialist with over 25 years experience in the US and Canadian medical device and pharmaceutical industry. He is currently writing 2 books in the pharmamedical fields. JTS & Associates specializes in regulatory compliance training, FDA PMA, EU C E Mark, Health Canada’s CMDCAS, regulatory submissions, post-design, clinical, regulatory clearance for medical device, pharmaceutical, hospital & cosmetic products.

Registering for the meeting
TMTA meetings are open to regular and associate members.  Non-members may also attend one meeting a year. Since meetings include a luncheon which must be ordered ahead of time, attendance is limited to confirmed guests. Anyone wishing to attend must confirm by filling out a registration form and email it to marcel@tmta.ca
Fees for non-members: $40.00 Fees for members: $20.00

Meeting location
Global Advantage is located at 190 Brodie Drive, Unit 2, in Richmond Hill. Phone: (905) 883-3919 ; 416-616-7781

Was 2009 the best or the worst year ever?
Of course, the answer to that question depends on which side of the ledger your firm is closing its books.

For many, 2009 was a tough year with much financial uncertainty
and a lot of expansion plans put on hold. But not everyone suffered.

In the medical technology industry, overall progress was spotty.
Some of us profited while others shrank or even disappeared.

How did TMTA members fare as a whole?
Who did well and who experienced bumps on the road?

What strategies failed and which succeeded?
Most of all, how do those strategies apply to the coming year?

As a new year approaches, the foolish man laments his losses
while the wise man learns from his actions and plans ahead.

Join us from 10:00AM to 1:00PM on Monday, December 7
in the York Room of the Markham Civic Centre
for a lively exchange with your peers.

As usual, there is no charge for TMTA members who attend the meeting
but a charge of $30.00 applies for the luncheon.

Non members can also attend the meeting.
A charge of $80.00 applies ($40 for the meeting + $40 for the luncheon).

To reserve your spot, please email me at marcel@tmta.ca.
You can also phone me at 905-888-1273 x331

Because food for the luncheon has to be ordered ahead of time
only confirmed registrations will be honoured.

Would venturing into China be a good move for your company?

Although traditional Chinese art and buildings are still around to impress tourists,
modern China is a thoroughly modern country with avant-garde cities, leading edge technologies
and a fast-growing population which promises to become the leading market of the coming decades.

 But would doing business in China be a worthwhile inverstment for your company?
What are the actual prospects for medical technology firms?What cities and regions are the most promising?

Join us on September 1, 2009 at the Eatonville library in Etobicoke for a compelling presentation by John Liang, the Business Development Director the MAA Group, a TMTA member-company which specializes in advising Canadian-Chinese business partnerships.

As an expert on Asian markets, John will trace back the history of Canada’s relations with China, provide us with up-to-minute information on key Chinese markets, tell us about emerging trends and tell us about Canadian success stories in Hong Kong and China.

Also on the agenda on Sept 1, a meeting with a special delegation of Chinese medical technology manufacturers
and Chinese government officals visiting the GTA to establish business contacts with Canadian firms.  

 Intrigued? Then commit to being there with us on Tuesday, Sept 1, 2009 from 10 am to 1 pm. 
As with all TMTA meetings, this meeting includes a morning session followed by a luncheon
with your colleagues in the medical technology industry. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet and mingle with other individuals who have made medical technology their life quest.

What would it actually take to significantly speed things up for your enterprise?

More accreditations? More money? Additional resources? More people?
Different people? A different point of view? All of the above?

 These are the intriguing questions, are they not? They are questions we challenged TMTA members to ask themselves at TMTA’s latest quarterly meeting.  As with many other challenges in life, such questions have more than one answer. Which is why we had invited 2 guest speakers to explore alternatives.

Fittingly, our June 10 meeting included two graduate students who are interested in working in the medical technology. Seen here (from left to right): York Tsai and Rasika Iyer. Everyone at the meeting was quite impressed with their eagerness to learn and their enthusiasm to participate. Resumes for both will soon be found posted on our career page.

Our thanks go out to Baylis Medical who has graciously offered its board room as a location for our March 11 gathering, our first quarterly meeting of 2008.