[EQ] A Policy Road Map for Canad a=?iso-2022-jp?Q?=1B$B!G=1B(Bs?= Health Research, Innovation & Commercialization Enterprise

Our Paths to Prosperity…A Policy Road Map for Canada's Health Research, Innovation and Commercialization Enterprise

 

The Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations (ACAHO), the national voice of Teaching Hospitals, Regional Health Authorities and their Research Institutes (known as Research Hospitals) – April 2008

 

Available online at: http://www.acaho.org/docs/pdf_2008_april_sandt_response_en.pdf

"…..The Brief is builds on the Science and Technology Strategy "Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage" that was released by the federal government in 2007. ACAHO has identified 10 recommendations for the health research community and governments to consider. These recommendations focus on the country's health research, innovation and commercialization enterprise.

 

……Considered as essential building blocks, these principles should be reflected in any future policy framework that is focused on the country's health research, innovation and commercialization enterprise:

 

-    Excellence-Based: The starting point for all health research – is that we must focus on the principle of excellence. Embedded in this principle is the critical role that the peer-review process does play in identifying leading-edge research projects that merit support, and produce world-class results.

 

 

-    Collaboration and Partnership: There are many interlocking pieces associated with the health research, innovation and commercialization enterprise that need to be functioning at an optimal level if we, collectively, are to harness their full benefits. With this in mind, it is critical that all components of the research spectrum (e.g., federal and provincial governments, and their respective funding agencies; the private sector, members of ACAHO, Universities and Health Charities) work collaboratively, in partnership so that the sum that flows from research, innovation and commercialization is significantly greater than its component parts.

 

 

-    Accountability: Understanding that members of ACAHO reflect some of the most important public institutions in the country, it is a necessary and sufficient condition that they be accountable and transparent for the manner in which they set their strategic priorities, invest in the health research, innovation and commercialization enterprise, and to the extent possible, identify anticipated outcomes and impacts.

 

 

-   Value-for-Money: If we are to continue to grow Canada's health research, innovation and commercialization enterprise, we must continually strive for new methods in which we can effectively capture and communicate the different ways in which new discoveries, as well as products and services contribute to the advancement of Canadian society and the larger global community.

 

 

-   Integration: It is essential that the health research, innovation and commercialization enterprise, from early-stage, discovery-based research, to knowledge creation and translation, to the process of development, commercialization and market access, be considered within an over-arching integrated framework (i.e., health research eco-system). To maximize our overall "return-on-investment", we must ensure that all policy levers, wherever possible, are mutually reinforcing, and moving in the same direction.

 

 

-          Values-Driven: Any discussion about the research, innovation and commercialization enterprise must be consistent with the core values that Canadians hold. The view of ACAHO is that health research, innovation and commercialization builds on the publicly-funded platform of Medicare, and looks to improve the health of Canadians, the cost-effective manner in which health services are delivered, and how we can contribute to sustained economic prosperity. In short, it is about better health and health care, and a vision for nation-building. …."

 

Eureka! World First Discoveries and Other Major Medical Breakthrough in ACAHO Member Institutions
http://www.acaho.org/docs/pdf_2008_mar_eureka_en.pdf

 

Eureka! focuses on the essential role that Canada's Research Hospitals play in creating the knowledge that comes from investments in health research. As a result, many world first discoveries have revolutionized the way in which cost-effective quality health services are delivered to Canadians, and the rest of the world. Some of the discoveries include:

● The discovery of insulin in 1922

● The first artificial kidney machine in 1948

● The first use of the "cobalt bomb" to treat cancer in 1951

● Discovered the gene defect responsible for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in 1987

● Discovered the gene that causes cystic fibrosis in 1989

● The first physical map of the human genome in 1995

● Sequencing of the SARS genome in 2003

● Performed first hospital-to-hospital telerobotic assisted surgery more than 400 kms away in 2003

● Identified nine factors that can predict heart attacks in 2003

● Treating prostate cancer using 3-D image guided radiation therapy in 2005

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