WATERLOO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 11/25/09 -- Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic imaging solutions, today introduced the Agfa HealthCare Institute - a new initiative leveraging collaborative partnerships with world-class vendors, academic institutions, government and healthcare providers throughout North America to help facilitate innovation in the healthcare technology space. With a focus on new product innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization, the Agfa HealthCare Institute is dedicated to solving today's healthcare IT challenges and improving patient care in Canada.

"We saw an opportunity to tap into new resources and expand into areas outside of our traditional products and services," said Jeff Nesbitt, Head of Government Relations and Strategic Programs, Agfa HealthCare. "The key to the Agfa HealthCare Institute is collaboration, and with our expertise in the healthcare industry and the strengths of our community partners, we are opening up new opportunities in healthcare IT."

The Agfa HealthCare Institute was created to support the rapid growth of Canada's health informatics industry and provide a fully integrated healthcare IT network across the continuum of care within Canada. With a number of projects well under way, Agfa is working with several strategic partners within the Agfa HealthCare Institute, including:

- University of Waterloo - The Scientist-in-Residence program will foster new relationships between the healthcare IT industry and Canadian universities to drive innovation and the commercialization of new products in the field of health informatics.

- National Research Council of Canada - The Dose Registry and Radiation Exposure Monitor project is an industry-leading research initiative among Agfa HealthCare, Medical Imaging Informatics Research Centre at McMaster (MIIRC@M), Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and the National Research Council to create a national dose registry to help ensure Canadians are receiving a safe dose of radiation. The project will help healthcare professionals track radiation exposure in patients undergoing diagnostic imaging.

- Canadian Digital Media Network - The Digital Media and Mobile Network is a national network of researchers, digital influencers and entrepreneurs focused on collaboration to accelerate the creation of successful digital media businesses, new jobs and contribute to the health of Canada's digital economy.

"To ensure Canada is in a position to rank higher on the global scale than we have in the past, the call for progressive innovation in the healthcare IT industry is critical, and we see the use of digital media as a means to help by bringing real-time information to the fingertips of healthcare providers," said Dr. Kevin Tuer, Managing Director, Canadian Digital Media Network. "This is why helping to establish the Agfa HealthCare Institute is so important to us - not just so we can keep up with, but so we can surpass the rest of the world in how we use digital media to advance patient care in Canada."

About Agfa

The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging and information technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare) and film related products and specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,401 million Euro in 2006.

About Agfa HealthCare

Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and image management solutions, and state-of-the-art systems for capturing, processing and printing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities. The company has over a century of experience in diagnostic imaging and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Agfa HealthCare today employs 5,700 staff members, with sales offices and representatives in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2006 were 1,452 million Euro, accounting for 43% of total group sales. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfa.com/healthcare.