A collaborative project between Garden Loft and the Dr. Barrie Strafford Centre for Learning, Innovation & Quality (CLIQ) has received national recognition, with Garden Loft named an IDC CIO Awards Canada 2026 winner for the Enabling Aging in Place through Passive Monitoring and Health Data Integration in Garden Loft Homes project.

The award recognizes Canadian organizations that leverage technology in innovative ways to deliver measurable business value through digital transformation. 

CLIQ is honoured to serve as the innovation, research, and evaluation partner on this collaborative initiative, working alongside Garden Loft and with support from Alberta Innovates to explore how a supported residential environment, digital services platforms, passive monitoring, integrated health data, and community-based housing can transform aging in place. 

The project combines advanced architectural safety features, integrated digital services and supports, home-embedded sensor technology, integrated health data infrastructure, and real-time analytics to identify subtle changes in health and daily routines before they escalate into more serious health events. By translating passive behavioural and environmental data into actionable insights, the initiative aims to support earlier interventions, reduce caregiver burden, improve resident safety, and help older adults remain safely and independently in their communities for longer. 

As the project's innovation, research, and evaluation partner, CLIQ has been the primary collaborator in the development of the evaluation framework, behavioural indicators, implementation planning, and knowledge mobilization strategy. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of Garden Loft’s integrated physical and digital supports through its impact on healthcare utilization, resident outcomes, caregiver experiences, workflow integration, and broader health system impacts, including cost-benefit and social return on investment analyses. 

This recognition reflects the value of cross-sector collaboration in addressing complex challenges facing healthcare and aging. By bringing together expertise in prefabricated housing, integrated digital support and services platforms, healthcare, technology, implementation science, and evaluation, the partnership is generating evidence to support more proactive, data-informed models of community-based care. 

CLIQ congratulates Garden Loft on this well-deserved national recognition and looks forward to continuing this collaboration to advance scalable, evidence-informed innovations that improve quality of life for older adults, support caregivers, and strengthen the sustainability of our healthcare system.