ARCHIVED - RPP 2007-2008
Canadian Institutes of Health Research

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Section II - Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

Analysis by Program Activity

This section summarizes and identifies CIHR's planned programs and activities within each of its three strategic outcome areas.

1. Strategic Outcome: Outstanding Research
CIHR supports the development of new knowledge through health research across all disciplines that are relevant to health. Throughout 2007-2008 and beyond, CIHR will continue to support outstanding health research in order to create health knowledge responding to opportunities and priorities.

1.1. Program Activity: Fund Health Research

Financial Resources: (in millions)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
$493.5	$500.7	$487.6

Human Resources:

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
230	232	229

Program Summary:

Program Activity Description Plan, launch and manage competitions and programs for grant funds to facilitate and enable the conduct of outstanding health research including collaborative programs in investigator-framed and Institute-framed initiatives.
Expected Results Effective and efficient funding programs that enable ethical health research, responding to opportunities and priorities.	Indicators Success of CIHR-funded research programs including results, awareness and satisfaction levels. Extent to which Institutes have appropriately influenced the research, policy and/or practice agendas in their communities.
Link to Priority Priority #1: Research - Advance health knowledge, through excellent and ethical research, across disciplines, sectors, and geography.

Description of Key Programs and Services
CIHR supports the development of new knowledge through health research across all disciplines that are relevant to health. In order to effectively fund this research, CIHR provides grants for both investigator-initiated and strategic research through competitions and requests for applications (RFAs) in conjunction with many partners.

Funding Excellence in Health Research
Research driven by the creativity of individuals and teams lies at the heart of Canada's health research enterprise. CIHR encourages and promotes excellence in research, as judged by peers, recognizing that innovative research drives progress and ensures a continuous flow of fresh insights. Over the next three years, CIHR will reinforce its commitment to research excellence through directing approximately 70% of its base budget to grants and awards in support of investigator-initiated research programs that address significant questions in biomedical and clinical research as well as in the areas of health systems and population and public health research. CIHR is committing approximately 30% of its grants and awards base budget to its various strategic research initiatives.

Funding Excellence in Health Research: CIHR's Open Operating Grants Program
The Open Operating Grants Program represents CIHR's single largest investment, with a 2007-2008 program budget accounting for more than half of CIHR's grants and awards budget. This "untargeted" or "unstructured" research support program encourages Canadian health researchers to pursue their very best ideas, define and pursue the mode of research best suited to advance those ideas, and to pursue the opportunities most likely to maximize the impact of their work. This program recognizes the reality that the pursuit of excellence in research, as judged by peers, is a powerful source of inspiration. This program is an important part of CIHR's mandate and has been applauded by governments and research funding agencies worldwide. In 2007-2008 CIHR will continue to reinforce its long-term commitment to the Open Operating Grants Program through maintaining a program budget of at least $347 million making improvements to the peer review process that supports it, and improving multi-year planning to ensure that new ideas and new researchers are given the opportunity to flourish with each annual competition cycle.

Supporting Strategic Research through Institutes
CIHR's broad-based approach brings together researchers across disciplinary and geographic boundaries through its 13 Institutes, each of which addresses an area of health research that is of importance to Canadians. Each Institute is headed by a Scientific Director who is a leader in their field, and is guided by an Institute Advisory Board comprising volunteers from the health research community.

Each Institute has worked closely with its partners, including other research funders, those who carry out the research, and those who use its findings, to develop strategic plans which identify research priority themes. These themes are highly relevant to government priorities such as: Aboriginal health; access to quality health care; health and the environment; and solidifying Canada's place in the world.

Examples of the Institute's strategic research themes and funded research in 2007-2008 include:

Institute	Select examples of strategic research themes
Aboriginal Peoples' Health	Aboriginal Health Determinants Chronic Disease and Indigenous Peoples Health Services and Aboriginal Peoples
Aging	Mobility in Aging Cognitive Impairment in Aging Determinants of Healthy and Successful Aging
Cancer Research	Access to Quality Cancer Care Colorectal Cancer Screening
Circulatory and Respiratory Health	Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes Clinical Imaging Clinical Research Initiative
Gender and Health	Gender and Health Across the Lifespan Access and Equity for Vulnerable Populations Gender and Global Health
Genetics	Proteomics & Bioinformatics Genes to Genomic Medicine
Health Services and Policy Research	Sustainable Financing & Funding in Health Care Addressing Health Care and Health Policy Challenges
Human Development, Child and Youth Health	Child Health Indicators Pediatric Rehabilitation
Infection and Immunity	Pandemic Preparedness Research Antibiotic Resistance
Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis	Physical Activity, Mobility and Health Tissue Injury, Repair Replacement Pain, Disability Chronic Diseases
Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction	Co-morbidity and co-occurrence of brain disorders with other health problems Research in Addiction
Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes	Intervention research on healthy living and chronic disease programs Measures, prevention, and/or treatment of obesity and healthy body weight
Population and Public Health	Population-level intervention research to improve the evidence base underlying policies and programs intended to protect, promote and improve the public's health; health disparities; strengthening public health research capacity; global health research

Developing National Research Platforms and Initiatives
CIHR's Strategic Plan, Blueprint, calls upon the organization to develop national research platforms and initiatives. CIHR's Governing Council has identified a number of partnered, long-term strategic initiatives to pursue in order to address Canada's health research priorities. These include:

1. The Global Health Research Initiative which will support research to inform practical solutions to address the health and health system problems of low- and middle-income countries. (in conjunction with Canadian International Development Agency, International Development Research Centre and Health Canada);
2. The Clinical Research Initiative (CRI) will strengthen Clinical Research in Canada in order to accelerate the translation of clinical research discoveries into improved and cost-effective approaches to maintaining health and treating illness, and to provide evidence for sound health policies and an efficient health care system. (planned in conjunction with Canadian Foundation for Innovation);
3. The Regenerative Medicine and Nanotechnology Initiative which will harness the full potential of a number of new technologies, and examine their impact on society and the health care system (in conjunction with Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, National Research Council Canada, Heart and Stroke Foundation and others); and
4. The Canadian Lifelong Health Initiative (CLHI) is a groundbreaking set of large cohort studies targeting birth, chronic disease and aging, that will track the health of thousands of Canadians over many years and generate new knowledge of how environmental, social, life-style, genetic, and behavioural factors affect health across the lifespan.

The scale to which these three initiatives are implemented is contingent on the availability of finances and contributing partners.

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Risks and Challenges
In delivering results related to Strategic Outcome #1, Outstanding Research, CIHR faces the following challenges:

• Making allocation decisions in a situation where the number of high quality proposals far exceeds the amount of available funding;
• Responding to the unprecedented expansion of health research capacity across Canada;
• Ensuring that new investigators who are at the beginning of their careers receive the support they need to establish their research programs;
• Supporting a broad spectrum of research areas of importance to Canadians; and
• Achieving the right balance between number of projects funded and size of individual grants.

The risk of not adequately addressing these challenges is that we may fall short of providing the strong and diverse research base that is needed for maintaining and improving health and health care in Canada.

CIHR addresses these challenges and mitigates these risks with the following strategies:

• Conducting a rigorous, competitive granting process in which applications for funding are evaluated by experts from Canada and around the world;
• Informing the research community of funding opportunities through Institute Advisory Boards, delegates in each University and a regular e-bulletin for researchers;
• Regularly considering the balance between the number of grants and awards and the average amount of funding; and
• Launching strategic research initiatives, primarily through the 13 Institutes, that encompass the full spectrum of health issues.

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2. Strategic Outcome: Outstanding Researchers in Innovative Environments

CIHR is committed to strengthening Canada's health research communities by continuing to broaden, deepen and sustain health research excellence. CIHR will continue to support interdisciplinary and multisectoral teams of researchers. CIHR will ensure that it supports an appropriate balance and mix of health researchers to realize its mandate and strategic objectives. CIHR recognizes the importance of new investigators to the Canadian health research enterprise. Throughout 2007-2008 and beyond, CIHR will work to ensure a strong Canadian health research community that is able to undertake outstanding research.

2.1. Program Activity: Fund Health Researchers and Trainees.

Financial Resources: (in millions)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
$203.6	$204.3	$204.0

Human Resources:

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
95	95	95

Program Summary:

Program Activity Description Plan, launch and manage competitions and programs for both salary awards to enable health researchers to devote more time to their research, as well as competitions for training awards to develop future health researchers.
Expected Results Effective and efficient funding programs that ensure a supply of highly qualified health researchers and trainees are available to conduct outstanding research.	Indicators Success of CIHR-funded salary and training programs including results, awareness and satisfaction levels. Level and success of Institute activity in creating opportunities for capacity development based on successful initial and ongoing identification and targeting of research domains in need of capacity development.
Link to Priority Priority #2: Researchers - Develop and sustain Canada's health researchers in vibrant, innovative and stable research environments.

Description of Key Programs and Services
CIHR provides various training and salary programs, to support and nurture Canada's health research community. Other activities include CIHR's participation in the Canada Research Chairs and Canada Graduate Scholarships programs. CIHR will continue to evaluate and simplify its numerous program tools to become more efficient in program delivery and make it easier for researchers to access the support they need.

Training the Next Generation of Researchers
Training the next generation of researchers is crucial to the future of health research in Canada. Demographic trends indicate an increasing need for young researchers. In turn, the health care system depends on research for continual improvements. Trainees not only replenish the ranks of independent investigators, but also help to fill the needs of industry for high quality personnel (HQP), and provide health professionals, financial managers, and policy decision-makers with a research background.

CIHR's regular training awards support more than 2,400 individuals, including undergraduates, masters and doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows. CIHR's single largest source of support for research training continues to be its regular research grant programs. With the growth in number and size of these in recent years, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of trainees supported from grants held by researchers, with the current total being more than 4,700. CIHR will continue to explore ways of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of these programs.

Cutting edge discoveries are made at the intersection of research disciplines. CIHR encourages and supports training programs that prepare young researchers to work effectively with a team of colleagues from various disciplines able to focus multiple talents on a single health issue. CIHR took a bold step in 2001 in an effort to improve the health research training environment and increase health research capacity by launching the Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research (STIHR). STIHR provides funding to innovative, interdisciplinary training programs and currently supports more than 1,000 trainees at different levels through training centres across the country. The consensus for the need for this type of training is shown by the large number of external partners that were part of the STIHR launch. CIHR will continue funding this innovative program and at the same time evaluating its effectiveness. For example, in 2007-2008, the STIHR program evaluation will be completed.

Clinician-investigators in all the health professions are a key element in the transfer of new knowledge to applications in the health care system, and CIHR's Clinical Research Initiative is helping to ensure that those clinicians with a commitment to research have an opportunity to pursue their interests. CIHR will continue to increase capacity in clinical research by providing additional training and salary awards to clinician-investigators through dedicated funding.

Supporting Research Careers
One of CIHR's core objectives is to provide leadership in building capacity within Canada's health research community. This is done through the training and development of researchers, and by fostering the development and ongoing support of scientific careers in health research. In 2005, CIHR formed a Task Force on Career Support to advise its Governing Council on an appropriate niche for CIHR in the area of salary support. Following delivery of the final Task Force report, CIHR designed a revised portfolio of career support programs through broad consultation with all stakeholders. The new portfolio addresses the issues raised by the Task Force, including program sustainability. Roll-out of the newly designed programs, intended to complement support provided through the Canada Research Chairs program, will begin as funding becomes available.

In addition to providing trainees and independent investigators with salary support, CIHR is committed to helping them develop the skills they require to succeed in the modern research environment. Several Institutes provide their trainees and new investigators interdisciplinary networking opportunities as well as workshops on topics such as building and managing a research team, how to write effective grant proposals, and time management.

Building Research Capacity in Universities
In collaboration with the federal funding agencies (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) CIHR will continue to invest in research capacity building through the Canada Research Chairs program and the Canada Graduate Scholarships program in 2007-2008 and beyond. For example, CIHR will lead for the tri-agency evaluation of the Canada Graduate Scholarships program, which supports both masters and doctoral students. This evaluation will be completed in 2007-2008.

Institute-led Capacity Building
A key role of CIHR's Institutes is capacity building. Several initiatives will continue in 2007-2008 and beyond, including:

• The Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health will support a collaborative Network Environment for Aboriginal Health Research (NEAHR) through development of centres across Canada that will be dedicated to improving First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples' health through community-based and scientifically excellent research. The NEAHR centres will sustain and evolve the existing eight Aboriginal Capacity and Developmental Research Environments (ACADRE) centres to facilitate the development of Aboriginal capacity in health research;
• Through the Capacity for Applied and Developmental Research and Evaluation in Health Services and Nursing (CADRE) Program, the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research, in partnership with the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, will continue to fund research chairs, regional training centres, postdoctoral fellowships, and career reorientation awards to develop increased capacity in applied health services and policy research, including nursing management and organization issues; and
• The Institute of Cancer Research has developed the Emerging Team Grant for Colorectal Cancer Screening Program and will establish new teams of investigators to undertake research in the field of cancer screening that will lead to a reduction in colorectal cancer mortality in Canada, as well as training and establishing new investigators in the area of population-based colorectal cancer screening.

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2.2. Program Activity: Fund research resources, collaboration and other grants to strengthen the health research community.

Financial Resources: (in millions)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
$70.0	$70.0	$70.0

Human Resources:

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
33	32	33

Program Summary:

Program Activity Description Plan, launch and manage competitions and programs for grant funds for research-enabling activities, such as networking, provision of new equipment, databases and/or specialized resources. Encourage participation and involvement of stakeholders in the public and private sectors through collaborative, enabling programs and competitions.
Expected Results Effective and efficient partnerships and funding programs that lead to a dynamic research environment and enable outstanding research.	Indicators Success of CIHR-funded research resources and collaboration programs including results, awareness and satisfaction levels. Expenditure levels and distribution. Level of Institute leadership, activity and success in strengthening research infrastructure/environment.
Link to Priority Priority #2: Researchers - Develop and sustain Canada's health researchers in vibrant, innovative and stable research environments.

Description of Key Programs and Services
CIHR contributes funding to a number of team-related programs as part of its strategy to strengthen the research environment and enable outstanding research.

Advancing Multidisciplinary Research
In 2004, CIHR introduced the Team Grant program. It is designed to bring together researchers from across multiple disciplines in order to harness their collective expertise to solve complex, multi-facetted, health challenges. In 2007-2008, through the second annual call for proposals CIHR will fund approximately 10 new teams focused on resolving health issues of high importance to Canadians. A third annual competition is underway with bi-annual competitions planned thereafter. In addition to the open or "untargeted" team grant program, targeted competitions for teams and emerging teams continue to be launched to encourage researchers to join together into unique teams to focus on resolving some of the most difficult and complex problems, including health and the environment, mental health and cancer

Advancing Research that is Relevant to Official Language Minority Communities
CIHR is committed to supporting health research related issues facing official language minority communities (OLMC) and thus has included the OLMC initiative as one of the CIHR multi-Institute strategic initiatives. Furthermore, CIHR's financial support for the next three fiscal years will result in increased funding opportunities for research projects focusing on health issues pertinent to OLMC in Canada. In compliance with the Official Languages Act, CIHR will continue to collaborate with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and its representatives by having an official observer present at all consultative committee meetings. Plans for 2007-2008 include further defining the domain of OLMC as it relates to health, funding research in three major relevant research areas identified by the members of official language minority communities. Furthermore, CIHR plans to create a network of researchers while promoting training of new investigators and addressing knowledge translation issues relevant to OLMC communities. Plans for 2007-2008 also include the creation of partnerships with other government and non-governmental organizations to maximize funding of OLMC research activities in Canada.

Regional Partnerships Program (RPP)
CIHR's Regional Partnerships Program (RPP) promotes health research in provinces that traditionally are not considered as being major centres of health research in Canada. CIHR, together with partners in these regions, will co-fund applications submitted to CIHR which are shown to be fundable through CIHR's peer review process, but are below the funding capacity of various CIHR competitions. CIHR's current commitment to the program is $4 million per annum. In response to a program evaluation conducted in 2005, a project has been initiated to update and renew the program objectives, eligibility criteria and partnership framework. It is anticipated that the revised program will be announced in the summer of 2007.

Institute-led collaboration
A key role of CIHR's Institutes is collaboration within and across their research communities. Several initiatives will continue in 2007-2008 and beyond, including:

• The Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health has developed the New Frontiers Program, which supports workshops, consensus conferences, opportunities for research collaboration and similar activities that lead to the identification of research priorities and the development of successful new research proposals. Recent focus is on clinical imaging, and the cardiovascular complications of diabetes.
• The Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis has developed a National Research Partnership in Inflammatory Joint Diseases (IJD) with its partners (Canadian Arthritis Network, The Arthritis Society and the Institute in infection and Immunity) to integrate different research disciplines and thereby build and create multidisciplinary, inter-institutional and trans-provincial research teams in IJD. This program provides researchers with a building block for future research applications, and creates training environments to meet future research capacity requirements in IJD.
• The Institute of Aging has developed the Cognitive Impairment in Aging (CIA) partnership, a collaboration among more than 15 voluntary, public and private sector organizations with expertise in this area. Through the networking of researchers, this initiative will support research aimed at improving prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation for older people with cognitive impairment. In 2007-2008, the CIA Partnership will fund an innovative Research to Action Program In Dementia (RAPID) initiative.

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2.3. Program Activity: Develop and support a strong health research community through national and international alliances and priority setting.

Financial Resources: (in millions)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
$28.1	$28.1	$28.1

Human Resources:

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
13	13	13

Program Summary:

Program Activity Description Plan, launch and manage both Institute Support Grants that enable Institute activities such as the development of strategic health research priorities and development of alliances, as well as competitions and programs for grant funds for both national and international partnered programs.
Expected Results National and international health research agendas are formulated and implemented.	Indicators Success of CIHR-funded partnership research programs including results, awareness and satisfaction levels. Number, diversity and scope of linkages, exchanges, alliances and partnerships with other organizations including health policy-makers at all levels of government (especially provincial governments) compared to baseline. Includes willingness of stakeholders to support research in Institute domains and number and size of funding flows through jointly-funded partnership programs where relevant.
Link to Priority Priority #2: Researchers - Develop and sustain Canada's health researchers in vibrant, innovative and stable research environments.

Description of Key Programs and Services
CIHR continues to work towards the development of innovative national and international partnerships to increase the quality and quantity of research, as well as to provide operational support, tools and resources to the Institutes to work with their partners in a consistent and transparent manner.

Building and Cultivating Partnerships for Health Research
Partnerships are increasingly the way that health research stakeholders do business, and they are a key to CIHR's success in achieving its vision for the future. Since its inception, CIHR has developed strategic partnerships with a range of organizations, including other federal government departments and agencies, provincial research funding agencies and relevant provincial and territorial departments, health charities, professional associations, other non-governmental organizations, and industry. CIHR's partners help set research priorities, share best practices in research and peer review, build research capacity, leverage knowledge translation efforts and make more effective use of resources for research. CIHR will continue to expand its partnership base by reaching out to stakeholders to ensure it responds to the needs of the health research community.

Enhancing International Collaboration
Canadians learned first-hand from the SARS outbreak that disease knows no borders. This has underlined the importance of a global perspective in collectively addressing health priorities through research, policy and collective action. CIHR has developed an International Framework that aims to stimulate and facilitate effective Canadian international involvement in health research. The Framework identifies five priorities areas to guide CIHR in its pivotal contributions to the international advancement of health research. The five priority areas are: research; talent; global health; safety and security; and organizational best practices. CIHR will continue to build international partnerships and alliances to support international research collaborations and training schemes over the next three to five years to ensure that Canada is on the leading edge of health research developments.

Institute Support Grants
CIHR provides each of its 13 Institutes with a $1 million support grant annually to facilitate and develop national research networks that link researchers. These grants also engage other stakeholders across the country in pursuit of common health research objectives. The Institutes will continue to seek out opportunities to form alliances and networks over the next three years, and will continue to form international partnerships that address the research agendas they have established with their communities.

Stakeholder and Partnership Forum
The President's Voluntary Health Sector Committee is an important tool to strengthen and build the relationship between CIHR and voluntary sector partners, including the health charities. The Forum of Health Research Funders is a new initiative.The goal of this forum is to discuss issues of common concern, share information on best practices, communicate new initiatives and identify opportunities for potential collaboration.

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2.4. Program Activity: Inform research, clinical practice and public policy on ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) related to health and health research.

Financial Resources: (in millions)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
$6.3	$6.3	$6.3

Human Resources:

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
3	3	3

Program Summary:

Program Activity Description Undertake consultations to enable inclusive dialogue across sectors, disciplines and communities to lead to greater public engagement, improved knowledge and understanding of the ethical, legal and social issues in the context of health and health research. As well, plan, launch and manage competitions and programs for grant funds to create new knowledge and provide grant funds that enable effective insights pertaining to the ethical, legal and social issues in the context of health and health research.
Expected Results Uptake and application of ethics knowledge as an integral part of decision-making in health practice, research and policy.	Indicators Success of CIHR's ELSI activities, for example, changes in the number of ethics-related incidents that arise from health practice, research, and policies. Number of publications resulting from ELSI research. Number of public policies influenced by ELSI principles. Opinions of health researchers, and policy-makers regarding their success in uptake and application of new ethical knowledge.
Link to Priority Priority #2: Researchers - Develop and sustain Canada's health researchers in vibrant, innovative and stable research environments.

Description of Key Programs and Services
CIHR funds research on ELSI related to health and health research. In addition, CIHR engages in inclusive dialogue across sectors, disciplines and communities and pursues public engagement to improve knowledge and understanding of ELSI in the context of health and health research.

Promoting Research on ELSI Related to Health and Health Research
CIHR and multiple partners promote research on cross-cutting ELSI as an integral part of the national health research agenda. In 2007-2008, CIHR will provide a research fund of approximately $1.5 million to serve as a minimum base amount to support strategic initiatives in this area. CIHR will also support additional research in this area through its open funding competitions, and a number of Institute-sponsored initiatives. By providing this fund, CIHR has signaled a commitment to build capacity among investigators who are poised to conduct research and translate new knowledge in strategically important research areas related to ELSI. Ultimately, this CIHR initiative will further its mandate to promote, assist and undertake research that meets the highest international scientific standards of excellence and ethics, and enhance Canada's reputation for producing cutting-edge research in ELSI.

Contributing to Broader Health Policy Debate
CIHR is committed to promoting health research that meets the highest international standards of excellence and ethics. CIHR works collaboratively with many partners to develop the highest ethical standards for health research and to see to their application in practice. This includes funding the Canadian Council on Animal Care, in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the National Council on Ethics of Human Research in partnership with Health Canada. In addition, CIHR will continue to build on the work done to date in relevant public policy areas:

• The launch of the initial implementation phase for CIHR's Best Practices for Protecting Privacy in Health Research, along with ongoing contribution to policy and legislative initiatives at the federal and national level relevant to health research and privacy issues;
• The implementation of a national policy respecting the appropriate use of placebos in randomized controlled trials;
• The development of conflict of interest guidelines for CIHR-funded institutions and the broader community; and
• The launch of national ethics guidelines for research involving Aboriginal peoples.

Addressing Allegations of Non-Compliance with Research Policies
CIHR's Research Integrity Committee (RIC), which has been in place since February 2005, is mandated to address allegations of non-compliance with CIHR research policies, decide on the most appropriate courses of action, according to the CIHR Procedure for Addressing Allegations of Non-Compliance with Research Policies. Membership on the RIC includes individuals external to CIHR, and CIHR staff. The CIHR's Ethics Office serves as the secretariat to RIC.

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Risks and Challenges
In delivering results related to Strategic Outcome #2, Outstanding Researchers in Innovative Environments, CIHR is presented with the following challenge:

• Given the surge in retirements among researchers and increasing demand for researchers around the world, Canada faces potential shortages in research personnel.

The risk of not adequately addressing this challenge is that we may lack the intellectual capital to conduct the research needed to support improvements in the health of Canadians and their health care system. A shortage of personnel for conducting research, and for developing research findings into new health products and services, also places Canadian economic competitiveness at risk.

To mitigate this risk, CIHR has made research capacity development a priority and has launched strategic health research training programs to address capacity gaps.

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3. Strategic Outcome: Transforming Health Research into Action

CIHR's knowledge translation strategy aims to accelerate the transformation of research results into health benefits for Canadians and an improved health care system. This includes funding knowledge translation research, exchange and synthesis activities and building knowledge translation networks. CIHR also plays a role in helping to move promising new research breakthroughs toward potential commercial applications. Throughout 2007-2008 and beyond, CIHR will work to ensure that relevant health research is adopted into practice, programs and policies for a productive health system, and to stimulate economic development through discovery and innovation.

3.1. Program Activity: Support activities on knowledge translation, exchange, use and strategies to strengthen the health system.

Financial Resources: (in millions)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
$40.7	$40.7	$40.7

Human Resources:

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
19	19	19

Program Summary:

Program Activity Description Implement strategies to enable the effective dissemination, exchange, synthesis and application of health research results that will lead to improvements in the Canadian health system. As well, plan, launch and manage competitions and programs for grant funds designed to create new knowledge, strengthen Canadian capacity and networks, and together with our partners undertake effective research and knowledge translation of health research.
Expected Results Effective dissemination, exchange, synthesis and application of research results take place to create new knowledge, strengthen Canadian capacity and networks, and together with our partners, enable effective research and knowledge translation of health research.	Indicators Success of CIHR-funded research programs including results, awareness and satisfaction levels. Increased number, scope and diversity of knowledge translation activities supported by CIHR (and its partners where relevant) or resulting from CIHR activities (for example, synthesis papers, briefs, participation in policy task forces) compared to baseline. Identification of and initial communication with key knowledge translation stakeholders, followed by increased number of inputs (driven by research evidence) to stakeholders' decision processes.
Link to Priority Priority #3: Knowledge Translation - Catalyze health innovation in order to strengthen health and the health care system and contribute to the growth of Canada's economy.

Description of Key Programs and Services
CIHR supports dissemination and use of research knowledge through funding research on knowledge translation and developing tools, programs and strategies.

Knowledge Translation
A key part of CIHR's mandate, knowledge translation (KT) is about knowledge to action: turning the knowledge gained through health research into improved health for Canadians, more effective services and products, and a strengthened health system. CIHR's KT Strategy is designed to further expand and increase its ongoing efforts in this area. The strategy is a multi-year plan based on Blueprint, and identifies planned activities in the following four areas:

1. Supporting research on KT concepts and processes;
2. Contributing to building networks of researchers and end-users;
3. Improving capability to support KT research at CIHR and with partners; and
4. Supporting and recognizing KT excellence.

KT efforts at CIHR aim to fund KT research, facilitate partnerships which accelerate KT, and evaluate KT efforts by assessing impact. In order to strengthen health and the health care system and contribute to the growth of Canada's economy, CIHR will build on its first KT strategic plan with revisions planned for 2008 and beyond. Throughout 2007-2008, CIHR will fund KT research and KT researchers; support journalism and biomedical communications students seeking to interpret new knowledge and disseminate findings to a variety of audiences; fund teams of researchers and decision makers working together to explore new ways of delivering health care efficiently; and fund research syntheses. CIHR will also fund Knowledge to Action grants and the KT Award, and a KT Casebook will be developed. In addition, CIHR institutes, in various strategic initiatives, will fund KT through engagement of end-users in the research endeavour.

Helping Canada Innovate
CIHR will continue to administer $27.5 million annually in the Networks of Centres of Excellence Program, in collaboration with Industry Canada and the federal granting councils (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada). Networks of Centres of Excellence are unique partnerships among universities, industry, government and not-for-profit organizations aimed at turning Canadian research and entrepreneurial talent into economic and social benefits for all Canadians. These nation-wide, multidisciplinary and multisectoral research partnerships connect excellent research with industrial know-how and strategic investment. In 2007-2008, an international advisory committee will provide advice on the niche, future directions, and opportunities for the program. The committee will bring an international perspective that will serve to enhance ongoing discussions about the future of the program.

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3.2. Program Activity: Support national efforts to capture the economic value for Canada of health research advances made at Canadian institutions.

Financial Resources: (in millions)

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
$27.3	$27.3	$27.3

Human Resources:

2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
13	13	13

Program Summary:

Program Activity Description Implement strategies to enable the effective development and commercialization of health research that will lead to a better quality of life for Canadians through improvements in the Canadian health system, products and economy. As well, plan, launch and manage competitions and programs for grant funds to create and transfer new knowledge, strengthen Canadian capacity and networks, and undertake effective commercialization of health research.
Expected Results Mobilizing research to improve health services, products, a strengthened healthcare system and the economy.	Indicators Success of CIHR-funded research programs including results, awareness and satisfaction levels. Number and nature of patents, spin-off companies and licenses for intellectual property (IP) generated from CIHR-funded research.
Link to Priority Priority #3: Knowledge Translation - Catalyze health innovation in order to strengthen health and the health care system and contribute to the growth of Canada's economy.

Description of Key Programs and Services
Commercialization is an integral part of CIHR's mandate. CIHR provides various funding programs in support of implementation of its commercialization and innovation strategy, which are focused in four areas: research, talent, capital and linkages. CIHR's strategy focuses on the early stages of commercialization, where there is a growing gap between a promising initial concept and its exploitation for health and economic advantage. CIHR's initiatives encourage and better enable universities and teaching hospitals to interact with partners from the public and private sectors that do late-stage development and ultimately deliver the benefits of health research. More information on the strategy can be found at: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/30162.html.

Mobilizing Research
Through this strategy, CIHR will recruit the private sector and implement new national platforms and initiatives to support clinical research, technology and drug development programs. The clinical research related programs will develop centres, platforms and expertise in specialized areas of clinical research. Technology programs and drug development programs will promote and facilitate the advancement of new research tools and techniques, and identify promising drug compounds discovered in academia respectively. In 2007-2008, focus groups comprised of health innovation strategic investors, with expertise in the translation of strategic health research initiatives, will evaluate the latest trends and work with CIHR to develop and reprofile initiatives where necessary to maximize the effectiveness and impact of commercial translation of CIHR derived innovations.

Developing People and Careers
In 2007-2008 CIHR will continue to build on its successful pilot designed to enhance the capacity of people who possess scientific, managerial and entrepreneurial skills within the Canadian health innovation landscape. More specifically, CIHR offers initiatives such as the Science to Business (S2B) program to engage Canadian business schools at universities in providing support for qualified PhDs in health research to enroll in MBA programs with a focus on health sciences and biotechnology. Similar initiatives offer MBA and research trainees work placements to develop skills in commercialization management and intellectual property mobilization. CIHR will develop complementary skill building initiatives further addressing this critical element to the establishment of a thriving health industry

Capital - Facilitating Growth
CIHR will continue its successful Proof of Principle (PoP) program, designed to advance discoveries/inventions towards commercializable technologies, through 2007-2008 and beyond. Given that this program reduces risk, CIHR expects the private sector to assume an increasing share of related costs as product discoveries and innovations proceed through the complex development process. In addition, CIHR will help innovation by strengthening the abilities of research institutions to manage the intellectual property of their health research discoveries through the Intellectual Property Mobilization (IPM) program, and by increasing awareness among current and future stakeholders of the commercialization potential of health research.

Building Partnerships
CIHR will continue its efforts promoting linkages within and between the private sector, finance and health research communities. Partnerships within these sectors facilitate strategic collaborative projects and strengthen capacity and impact of all elements of the Commercialization Strategy. Successful programs that demonstrate the value of these linkages include:

• The CIHR/Rx&D Collaborative Research Program with Canada's research based pharmaceutical companies enhancing research opportunities in Canada's research institutions and development of health research personnel stimulating jobs and growth in the Canadian economy; and
• The CIHR/Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Research Program with Canada's developing biopharmaceutical community encourages and strengthens the health research programs of start-ups, university spin-offs, and SMEs, and strengthens intellectual property (IP) portfolios in partnership with Canadian biotech companies.

Conscious of the issues that may arise from the academic/industry interface and the potential for ethical conflict between profit and the public good, CIHR will be leading an industry/university effort to review and propose standards for ethical conduct of projects in the commercialization and innovation arena.

Partnerships are not limited to the private sector. Successful development of heath innovations requires multidisciplinary collaborations. CIHR will further develop its successful collaborations with federal and provincial organizations (such as the CIHR/NSERC Collaborative Health Research Program, and medical device consortiums respectively).

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Risks and Challenges
In achieving results in Strategic Outcome #3, Transforming Health Research into Action, CIHR is challenged by the need to work with a multitude of players involved in the process of innovation and the relative shortage of Canadians specialized in knowledge translation. The risk of inadequately addressing these challenges is that Canadians would not benefit as fully or as quickly as they should from the new knowledge produced through research.

CIHR is responding to these challenges and risks through:

• Reports that synthesize research findings, symposia that bring researchers and policy makers together and collaboration with stakeholders in the development of research funding initiatives;
• Recognizing KT activities in its evaluation processes for grants and awards, for example, by beginning to require that plans for dissemination and exchange of research findings are components of applications for funding;
• Increasing support for programs that have a strong KT component, i.e., a direct application to health practices, policies or commercialization of health research findings;
• Supporting research into the art and science of knowledge translation; and
• Developing innovative funding schemes and partnerships that focus on KT.

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