Part V: Key Planning Principles

Through a broadly consultative process, B.C.'s research community has developed a consensus plan for strategic investment in health research infrastructure that is based on these planning principles:

• Transforming the B.C. Health Research Foundation (BCHRF), to create a new organizational and governance framework to provide leadership in realizing a new vision and plan for health research in British Columbia. Among key characteristics: arms length governance, high level board of directors and charitable status.
• Significantly increasing provincial investment in health research (through a renewed B.C. Health Research Foundation) to a level that will restore and maintain the competitiveness of our research community; replacing the current practice of annual fluctuating allocations (to BCHRF) with multi-year funding to facilitate effective long term planning.
• In the short term, increasing the number of funding sources within government (e.g. inter-ministry collaboration); in the long term, working with partners in all sectors to create a permanent and stable research funding source (build a health research endowment - e.g. a B.C. Legacy Fund).
• Balancing funding across and within the four key elements needed to build research capacity:
  • human resource development
  • institutional infrastructure and networking support
  • new opportunities/regional development programs
  • research space development.
• Balancing funding across and within health research sectors:
  • basic
  • clinical
  • health services
  • population and community health.