SPEC Labs is a not-for-profit organization in Mississauga, Ontario that provides shared, ready-to-use wet lab space for life sciences startups in need of room to grow. Their all-inclusive model is designed to remove one of the biggest barriers facing Canadian biotech companies: access to affordable lab infrastructure.

In this episode, host Jim Wilson speaks with founder and CEO Doris Qamar about how a frustrating gap in the Canadian market sparked an idea that took years to bring to life. What started as a search for scalable lab space for a small biotech company became a 20,000 square foot facility in Sheridan Research Park, now open and welcoming its first clients.

Doris also makes a passionate case for why keeping innovation and intellectual property in Canada matters now more than ever.