KITE Research Institute, Toronto – Research and Rehabilitation

The KITE Research Institute is the research arm of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute at the University Health Network located in Toronto. KITE is home to WinterLab, which originally opened as part of the IDAPT (Intelligent Design for Adaptation, Participation and Technology) Centre for Rehabilitation. The KITE Research Institute began the process of retiring the iDAPT name and brand in 2019.

KITE works with a broad range of clinicians, engineers, scientists, researchers, students and more to find practical solutions to common problems. We care about slips, trips and falls and their impact on a person’s mobility and quality of life.

The researchers at KITE had a vision and a belief: we believe that choosing the right footwear can reduce and prevent unintentional slips and falls. And like all great scientists, we researched to understand more about the problem and tackled it to find a solution. The outcome? The world’s only human oriented slip resistant testing method done in a real winter environment – our Maximum Achievable Angle (MAA) Test.

The KITE Research Institute at UHN is a world leader in complex rehabilitation science and is dedicated to improving the lives of people living with the effects of disability, illness and aging. KITE’s areas of focus include injury prevention, restoration of function, independent living and community integration.

KITE is the research arm of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. KITE is home to 127 scientists, 187 scientific trainees and 56,000-square feet of research space spread across five sites in Toronto. The mission of KITE is to be a trailblazer in research, education, knowledge translation and clinical application.

Our researchers are actively engaged in developing new treatments, devices and products as well as gathering evidence that guides changes to policy and public opinion. KITE is one of the principal research enterprises at the University Health Network (UHN), Canada’s top medical research hospital with more than 1,194 principal investigators and $539-million in total annual research expenditures (2023).