CIHR has a mandate to create knowledge and to translate the results into improved health for Canadians, more effective services and products and a strengthened Canadian healthcare system. We cannot meet this mandate on our own. It is only through co-operation with stakeholders in the heath research community that we can carry out our mandate and create benefits for Canadians. A commitment to partnership activity has been integrated into CIHR's legislative, institutional, and performance evaluation frameworks. Partnership language is also embedded in our legislative authority, the CIHR Act (Bill C-13) where it states that our objective will be reached through: "exercising leadership within the Canadian research community and fostering collaboration with the provinces and with individuals and organizations in or outside Canada that have an interest in health or health research." Finally, our strategic plan, the Blueprint, identifies partnerships as one of the key enabling factors underlying our strategic direction.
From its beginning, CIHR has developed a very broad, inclusive approach to partnership. The multidisciplinary research environment we encourage helps to bring together a wide variety of organizations. Partner organizations include other federal government departments and agencies, provincial funding agencies and relevant provincial and territorial departments, health charities, non-governmental organizations, industry, as well as international organizations. (For a sample of our current partners, please see Current CIHR Partners). Partnerships are mostly formed by CIHR's institutes, however, there are a number which involve CIHR central programs. Partnerships can include both financial and non-financial contributions. Non-financial contributions can include access to professional networks, areas of expertise, shared tools and documentation and in-kind resources. Whatever the contribution, CIHR partnerships are true collaborations - driven by shared goals and a desire to improve health and quality of life.