Toronto is home to many digital companies. Among those, there is INVIVO Communications Inc., which develops high quality visual communicational and educational content with cutting-edge digital technologies including VR and AR for the healthcare industry. The power and potential of animation as a communication and education tool are represented in their 3D medical animations, in which we had a privilege to experience as a part of the Media Tour. To learn more about their activities, we had an email interview with Andrea Bielecki, the president of INVIVO, after the tour. Bielecki shares how they utilize the best technology for their content, and the benefits of being based in Toronto.
[row][column size='1/2']
[/column]
[column size='1/2']
[/column]
[/row]
Interview with Andrea Bielecki
Hideki Nagaishi (HN): Could you please introduce your company with its brief history?
Andrea Bielecki (AB): INVIVO Communications Inc. is a specialized digital healthcare agency that began as a medical animation company in 1998. We work exclusively with the global healthcare industry, such as pharmaceutical and medical device companies, hospitals and academic institutions. Our mission is to improve the quality of life by accelerating the understanding of science, and we do this through the use of medical animation, educational games, mobile apps and VR and AR experiences. From our inception, we’ve pioneered the integration of technology and visualization into engaging communication solutions, that has garnered us over 100 global industry awards and counting.
HN: Could you please let us know the characteristics of your company?
AB: Our team works closely with our clients to ensure we bring their vision to life for any type of audience, ranging from patients to doctors. All of our work is created in-house, which ensures agile and efficient production.
Through our collaborative process, we can effectively communicate their story, whether it’s the mechanism of the action of a drug, a disease, or the simulation of a new surgical procedure or medical device. With our team of medical animators, certified medical illustrators, and medical writers, we ensure all of the science and anatomy we visualize is accurate and relevant.
We believe that science is beautiful and that we can communicate it accurately, in any style, in order to ensure the viewer understands and is left with a lasting impression. With our experience and talent in medical 3D animation and gaming, it was an easy transition into the world of virtual and augmented reality. We first began creating virtual reality experiences when the Oculus Rift came out in 2015 and we currently develop on every platform including the HTC Vive, Samsung GearVR, and the Microsoft HoloLens.
Whether we’re creating a guided experience, or one driven by self discovery, we believe our immersive, multi-sensory VR or AR experiences engage and educate users like no other platform.
HN: Why are you based in Toronto? What benefits are you finding by being located in Toronto?
AB: We are based in Toronto because it is a vibrant, multicultural city with a large pool of talent in the creative, scientific, animation, and digital media fields. Also, it is because we employ many graduates from the esteemed Master of Science in Biomedical Communications program at the University of Toronto, one of only four accredited programs in the visual communication of science, medicine and health in North America. Lastly, it is because our founders were born and raised in Toronto, so it is home!
