The Canadian federal government has invested substantially in research since 1997, including through the creation of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Although the benefits of research have been widely recognized, there has been growing interest in measuring and valuing the impacts of research and innovation. In 2004, CIHR's Blueprint identified a commitment to "develop and implement a framework that enables the evaluation of the organization's performance and the value of its programs of research support".
Therefore, in 2004/05, CIHR brought together an international panel of experts, as well as a group of Canadian decision makers, to develop a framework for measuring the impacts of health research. Now known as the Impacts of Health Research Framework, this tool creates a common framework for developing measures of the impact of investments in health research. Building on international best practices, the framework discusses five categories of health research impact: knowledge production, research targeting and capacity, informing policy, health and health sector benefits, and economic benefits.
In the coming year, CIHR will continue work with other interested parties to refine these categories and develop and implement specific measures of the impact of health research.