COVID-19 The race to build more ventilators
Wednesday, 01 April 2020 06:18.PM
- Canadian startups are playing a vital role, quickly pivoting to ramp up production of much-needed medical equipment.. -
The various teams at startup TransPod are normally busily working on aerospace engineering, designing high-speed vehicles that will travel over 1,000 km/h. But, after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted colleagues in France, Italy and Sweden, the Toronto-based company decided to shift its focus to helping with the manufacturing and producing of low-cost ventilators.
TransPod’s engineers in Sweden were particularly eager to contribute to the fight as that country has one of the lowest proportions of intensive care beds in Europe. As co-founder Rick Janzen says, its team is multi-disciplinary with engineering skills that can be transferred to the medical field. “For a lot of people, it strikes home,” says Janzen. “There is an emotional aspect to doing this.”
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SOURCE: MaRS