In partnership with the Future Makers Collaborative – an ongoing collaboration between City, academic and community thought leaders – KITE is engaging a hybrid community of researchers, health entrepreneurs and creatives to explore intersections between creative technology and health innovation. Our inaugural activation on Oct. 10, 2024, offered public tours of KITE Labs and a panel talk that showcased story-driven experiences that fuse interactive technology, clinical insights, and user-centric narrative design. Industry creators Alison Humphery (Shadowpox: Citizen Science Fiction) and Dave Evans (The Vale) discussed their projects and perspectives on the future of games and reimagining play.

For ICAIR 2025, KITE’s annual scientific and health innovation conference, we continued the conversation with a featured panel on gaming and healthcare with Anthea Foyer, Director of the City of Toronto’s Creative Technology Office and Dr. Elaine Biddiss, Senior Scientist at Holland Bloorview’s PEARL Lab. The panel marked growing recognition of the power of interdisciplinary partnerships, where projects like PEARL Lab’s Bootle Blast offer a compelling model for combining user-centred design, clinical insights and game development to create more accessible and engaging healthcare interventions.  

KITE Creates has also supported multiple projects through the Creators Circle venture development program, including Deena Al-Sammak and Rooaa Shanshal’s Power of Play and Tamer Shahin’s Hiro, two projects fusing fun with pediatric rehabilitation in addition to Tony Walsh’s Phantom Compass, which is pushing the limits of accessible game design, and ABoot Studios’ Alzheimer's Awareness Experience.

Read More: https://www.kite-uhn.com/news/icair-panelist-shares