CIHR's refreshed strategic plan emphasizes collaboration and investigator-driven research

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is putting the finishing touches on a strategic plan in which health innovation driven by large-scale collaborative projects in consensus-driven priorities areas will drive the agency's investments for the next five years. The plan, which will be approved by CIHR's governing council in June, will keep the same structure as the existing plan but will be updated to reflect the changing scientific environment and include developments that have moved forcefully onto the radar of health research and healthcare delivery.

Details of the new plan aren't public until they're approved by governing council, but in an interview with CIHR president Dr Alain Beaudet, he shared the broad thrust of the expected changes.

"We changed slightly the structure. We also saw that there were things that are almost not mentioned in the last strategic plan," says Beaudet. "We didn't say much about big data which is a huge issue. We didn't talk about data access and repeating data. We didn't talk about e-health or e-records and their use for research. And we didn't talk about apps … So that's what I mean by refresh."

The new strategic plan — which takes effect this June — was conceived based on a broad orientation provided by governing council. Beaudet says council was adamant that the plan be based on the maintenance of a strong basic research capacity. To that end, it directed CIHR to add $10 million a year over the next five years to the Open Operating Grants envelope (renamed Investigator-Driven Research) irrespective of whether the government provided additional funding. The intent is not to increase the success rate of its core basic research program but to maintain the current success rate of about 20%.

"Just in the past year the Canadian dollar has lost 10%. Most of the expendables that we buy for labs come from the (United) States so the cost of research has increased. We have to factor that in so we had to increase the size of the grant. We're trying to maintain the same number of grants," says Beaudet. "The reason we're adding money isn't only to account for inflation. It's necessary to ensure a smooth transition between the old system and the new system. It always takes a little grease to do that."

The concept of Investigator-Driven Research in a select number of priority areas and linked to impacts is another key concept driving the refreshed plan. Another is the move towards larger-scale projects that involve a significant level of collaboration.

"We were told (by Council) in no uncertain terms that they want us to partner. It makes no sense if your priority-driven initiatives are not partnered," says Beaudet. "The partners are there and you can really help decrease waste and duplication and increase impact. The provinces are the best example."

Collaboration with the private sector, not-for-profits and foundations will also be emphasized. CIHR recently launched Transformational Research in Adolescent Mental Health projects in collaboration with the Graham Boeckh Foundation, with each side contributing $12.5 million.

In a similar vein, CIHR will continue to expand its efforts and resources for its highly toutly Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) and the roll-out of SPOR SUPPORT Units across Canada.

Alberta was the first to team with CIHR to form a SPOR SUPPORT Unit (R$, November 26/13) followed last week by Manitoba. Ontario and the Maritime provinces will be announced in the coming weeks and other provinces are on track to submit their business plans later this year.

"The provinces have responded in a way that was totally unexpected. We will match what they invest as long as it is within the framework we are trying to achieve and would pass muster in the evaluation," says Beaudet. "Not only have they sent us very good business plans but they're putting a lot of money into it. It's putting a lot of stress on our planning (but) this is the area where the federal government has reinvested in CIHR ... It's slowly changing the landscape."

Beaudet adds that CIHR's enhanced emphasis on evidence-driven research is also helping to reduce costs. New research shows that 25% of medical interventions and 30% of medical tests are useless. The same applies for technology. If it works, you scale it up. If it doesn't work, you should stop doing it."

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