htx.ca - The Health Technology Exchange
In partnership with
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Research Translation Programs

Request for Applications

Table of Contents

Background
Partners
Objectives and Relevant Research Areas
Eligibility
Allowable Costs
Peer Review Process and Evaluation Criteria
General CIHR Guidelines
Conditions of Funding
Communications Requirements
Monitoring, Performance Measurement and Evaluation
How to Apply
Contact Information

Background

The mandate of HTX is to strengthen Ontario's medical and assistive technologies sector by supporting commercialization of medical and assistive devices emerging out of Ontario's public research institutions, development of start-up companies, growth of small to medium sized enterprises (SME's), and expansion of export markets for Ontario's medical and assistive device products. The emphasis of the HTX R&D Program is on transforming innovations to products for commercialization. The approach for this competition is consistent with the Ontario Government's plan to ensure that patients are treated sooner and with the Federal Government's plans to encourage the adoption of methods and tools to better manage wait times.

CIHR is partnering on this initiative through its Commercialization and Innovation strategy comprised of four complementary and synergistic themes - Research, Talent, Capital and Linkages. This strategy is designed to help fill a funding gap in the commercialization and innovation pipeline, promoting the successful exploitation of health research in Canada and generating economic and health advantage for Canadians.

Proposals are invited from appropriately qualified researchers or teams in Ontario relating to the development and commercialization of innovative medical and assistive technologies and the development of innovative commercializable technologies demonstrating more expeditious diagnoses and/or treatments with potential for reducing waiting times for services including treatments or enhancing the throughput of patients and/or biological materials for diagnostic testing while providing high quality care. The focus of proposals should relate predominantly to the devices involved.

Partners

Htx.ca - The Health Technology Exchange (HTX) was incorporated in 2004 as a not-for-profit organization funded by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI). HTX is dedicated to identifying and developing collaborations with other CIHR institute(s), branch(es) or office(s), funding organizations and stakeholders to enhance the availability of funding for this strategic initiative and others, and to create, where appropriate, opportunities for knowledge exchange and translation related to the scope of this particular initiative. Applicants are invited to visit the HTX web portal: http://www.htx.ca/.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is Canada's premier federal funding agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. CIHR's Research Translation Programs are designed to fuel and catalyze the development of new products and technologies to improve the health of Canadians, strengthen the health system, and contribute to the growth of Canada's economy.

Objectives and Relevant Research Areas

The specific objectives of this initiative are:

• To promote the development and commercialization of innovative medical and assistive technologies leading to more expeditious processes of diagnosis or treatments.
• To strengthen collaborations between researchers, technology developers and industry relating to Medical and assistive technologies and the tools that enable these technologies.
• To reduce wait times without compromising quality of the treatment.
• To expedite the commercial and social impact of research in medical and assistive technologies.
• To improve upon existing medical and assistive devices processes or systems.

Relevant research areas include:

• Medical Technologies
• Assistive Technologies

For further information, please refer to the Medical and Assistive Technology definitions on The Health Technology Exchange Website [ PPT (74 KB) | Help ].

CIHR and HTX will only consider funding applications that are in alignment with the objectives and research priority areas of this Request for Applications. Examples of research that might be conducted under this Request for Applications are provided below. These examples are not intended to be exhaustive and there is no intent to imply that applications in these research areas would be more successful than those in other research areas.

• Advancing point of care capabilities through innovative "lab-on-a-chip" hand-held devices
• Development and exploitation of microarray and microfluidic technologies for diagnostics.
• Minimization of treatment times for cancer patients without compromise in relation to existing treatments.
• Enhancing connectivity of diagnostic and monitoring equipment with institutional information systems.
• Advancing and exploiting new materials or processes to expedite the fitting of prosthetic or orthotic devices.
• Utilization of virtual reality devices to expedite physical rehabilitation.
• Usability tests for human factors considerations towards eliminating operator errors in the use of monitoring and drug delivery devices.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria for all CIHR research funding programs apply. The business office of the institution of an eligible Nominated Principal Applicant generally administers CIHR funds. Please refer to the Eligibility Requirements for CIHR Grants and Awards regarding the eligibility requirements for individuals and institutions. CIHR can only contribute to applications meeting these requirements for applicant and institution eligibility.

Specific Eligibility Requirements

Eligibility requirements specific to this Request for Applications include the following:

• The Nominated Principal Applicant must be a faculty member of an Ontario university or hold an appropriate appointment in a publicly funded organization. HTX funding alone is possible for applicants from publicly funded institutions that do not meet CIHR criteria.
• The applicant's R&D background/capabilities must be in the area of medical and/or assistive technology.
• The Nominated Principal Applicant must demonstrate leadership in his/her field of endeavour.
• The Nominated Principal Applicant/team must have pertinent partnership relationships and plans for commercialization. The industry/technology development partner must contribute financially to the proposed project in cash and/or kind. A commitment of 50% cash or in-kind by partners is expected.
• The Nominated Principal Applicant/team must have a history of meaningful collaboration with industry/technology development partners, with demonstrable outcomes such as patents, licence transfers or spin-off enterprises.
• Demonstrated relevant networking capability.
• Technology transfer to Ontario is particularly encouraged.

Allowable Costs

Applicants should review Use of Grant Funds and Eligibility of Expenses, Employment under Grants within the General Guidelines for All Research Grants for a complete listing and description of allowable costs and activities.

The full application must provide a detailed justification of all costs from all sources contributing to this grant.

Note: Overhead and costs relating to Intellectual Property protection are ineligible.

Peer Review Process and Evaluation Criteria

Letters of Intent:
Letters of Intent will be used to screen for relevance to the Objectives and Relevant Research Areas of this Request for Applications and to set up the appropriate expertise on the peer-review panel. The partnering organizations will identify representatives to perform the relevancy review of LOIs submitted in response to the RFA. Proposals deemed relevant will be invited to submit a full application to this program. This relevancy review will have no impact on the peer review process and funding decisions will be based on the scientific merit of the proposed research.

Full Application:
A peer review committee will evaluate the full applications. The committee may be drawn from one of CIHR's pre-existing committees or may be created specifically for this Request for Applications. Committee members are selected based on suggestions from many sources including the institute(s) / portfolio(s) and partner(s), following CIHR's Policy on Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest and Privacy Issues in Peer and Relevance Review (CCIP). For information on CIHR's peer review process in general, see Peer Review.

Peer review will be conducted in accordance with The CIHR Peer Review Process: Policies and Responsibilities of Grants Committee Members.

The evaluation of the full applications will be based on the criteria listed below. CIHR and HTX recognize that applications will emphasize different approaches to research and to knowledge translation, therefore reviewers and committees are expected to weight criteria such as these differently from one application to another.

• Appropriateness of the expertise of the applicant(s) and skills to accomplish the work proposed.
• Strength of the Nominated Principal Applicant's and co-applicants past and current collaborative industrial relationships.
• Scientific merit of the research proposal.
• Feasibility of the research proposal, appropriateness of the methodologies and likelihood of successful completion of the proposed research.
• Demonstrated familiarity with literature in the field, and current competitive, or emerging technologies.
• Importance and originality of the technology - What are the benefits of the new technology vs. the current technology within the intended markets?
• Assessment of the market for the technology to be developed. For instance, have the applicants anticipated difficulties in their approach and considered alternatives?
• Translational potential and appropriateness of proposed commercialization strategy.
• Impact of the proposed technology on the health of Ontarians and Canadians.

General CIHR Guidelines

This Request for Applications will follow the General Guidelines for All Research Funding Grants.

Please note that CIHR can only contribute to applications that are consistent with the mandate of CIHR described above under "Partners".

Conditions of Funding

All conditions specified in CIHR General Grants and Awards Policies shall apply to applications funded through this Request for Applications. Conditions cover areas such as Applicant and Institutional Responsibilities, Ethics, Official language policy, Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Acknowledgement of CIHR and HTX Support. Successful applicants will be informed of any special financial conditions prior to the release of funds or when they receive the Authorization for Funding (AFF) document.

In addition to CIHR and HTX standard guidelines and requirements, the following special conditions shall apply:

• The Nominated Principal Applicant is required to submit financial reports to HTX at the end of each quarter and Milestone reports with Performance indicators at six month intervals. Reporting on CIHR financial contributions must be in accordance to the CIHR financial administration of funds guidelines
• A final report, summarizing the results, particularly relating to commercialization; and, describing how the grant funds were used will be requested approximately 6 months after the completion of funding. A standard form will be provided.

Recipients of funds will be expected to sign a Research Participation Agreement with HTX containing provisions concerning foreground and background Intellectual Property (IP) including ownership, licence rights, and IP protection and commercialization. Key principles relate to ensuring benefits to the health of people in Ontario. Essentially, it is to be understood that:

• IP arising from research conducted under the program is owned by its inventor(s), and is subject to any existing obligations under relevant policies of the recipient institution.
• The recipient institution retains the right to use the IP for research and educational purposes.
• The inventor(s) may publish and disclose the IP and research results, subject to providing reasonable notice and opportunity to protect the IP if desired.
• HTX is available to work in partnership with the inventor and the academic institution to facilitate commercialization of any resulting IP if appropriate.
• Funded researchers should be willing to act as an "HTX advocate," serving as a vital point of contact within their department and institution.

Access to Information Act and Privacy Act, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)

All personal information collected by CIHR and HTX about applicants is used to review applications, to administer and monitor grants and awards, to compile statistics, and to promote and support health research in Canada. Consistent with these purposes, applicants should also expect that information collected by CIHR may be shared as described in Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to CIHR for Peer Review.

CIHR as a federal entity is subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, therefore the requirements of these two statutes will apply to all information located in CIHR's premises including, without limitation, cost-sharing agreements related to this Request for Applications and all matters pertaining thereto.

While respecting the application of the Privacy Act to federal entities, all signing parties involved in a collaborative agreement will also be bound by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). All personal information (as identified by the PIPEDA) collected, used or disclosed in the course of any commercial activity under collaborative agreements related to the Request for Applications will be collected, used and disclosed in compliance with the PIPEDA.

Communications Requirements

Grant recipients are required to acknowledge HTX, CIHR, its institutes and partners in any communication or publication related to the project. See CIHR General Grants and Awards Policies, Acknowledgement of CIHR's Support for details on CIHR's communication requirements. The contributing institutes / partners will be identified on the Authorization for Funding and decision letter.

Monitoring, Performance Measurement and Evaluation

HTX and CIHR are committed to demonstrating results to Canadians for the money invested in health research. Therefore, processes for monitoring progress and appropriate use of funds, as well as for performance measurement and program evaluation are in place. As a result, funding recipients must:

• contribute to the monitoring, review and evaluation of CIHR and HTX programs, policies and processes by participating in evaluation studies, surveys, workshops, audits and providing data or reports as required for the purpose of collecting information to assess progress and results;
• encourage their associates, trainees and administration to participate in the monitoring, review and evaluation of CIHR and HTX programs, policies and processes as required.

How to Apply

The application process is comprised of two steps: 1) Letter of Intent (LOI), and 2) Full Application.

1) Letter of Intent (LOI)

In the first step of the application process the Nominated Principal Applicant is required to submit a Letter of Intent. Full applications without letters of intent will not be considered.

The Letter of Intent should include:

a) A cover page (maximum one page) indicating:

• Title of the Project;
• Name, title, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the Nominated Principal Applicant, all co-applicants, and Industry/Technology Development Partner(s);
• Amount requested and anticipated partner contributions (cash and in-kind);
• A statement indicating which publicly funded institution will administer the funds;
• A list of suggested external referees to assist the evaluation of your full application.

b) A two-page summary of the research proposal, including the relevance to the population(s) of concern, innovative aspects and likely commercialization and social impacts and how the proposed research addresses the objectives and relevant research areas of the program as described above.

c) One page describing how the applicant(s) meet the eligibility criteria of the program.

d) Attachments:

• A brief curriculum vitae (maximum two pages) for each Applicant. The CV must include information on current grants requested or held, relevant publications from the last five years, and expertise keywords. Full CVs will not be considered;
• A short bibliography (one page) of any references cited in the Letter of Intent;
• A list of the areas of expertise of the applicant(s).

Applicants are advised to follow the instructions on the Acceptable Application Module Formats page, which outlines formatting requirements for attachments. Failure to follow these instructions may result in the administrative withdrawal of the application.

Any additional material will be discarded and not sent to the review committee; this includes letters of support, updates on publications, updates on other support received, letters confirming academic appointment, reprints, etc.

Send the Letter of Intent by Courier to:

Submit one original and six (6) copies of the Letter of Intent to the address below, by the deadline date indicated at the beginning of this Request for Applications.

RE: HTX R&D Program 2006-2007
htx.ca - The Health Technology Exchange
1380 Rodick Road, Suite 100
Markham, Ontario L3R 4G5

2) Full Application

Selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application by the deadline date.

Please submit your application on the following CIHR forms:
1) Research Module, including research proposal as outlined below;
2) Operating Budget Module;
3) Industrial Partnership Module;
4) Common CV for all applicants.

Applications must be made using the CIHR online Web Forms. Nominated Principal Applicants must have a CIHR PIN number to access the Web Forms.

1) Research Module:

Specific Guidelines for completion:

• Once logged into the web forms, create a new application and choose "Operating" under "Research Funding Programs";
• Complete all sections as required for Operating Grants;
• In the Research Funding Program section of the Research Module (page 7 of the web form printed report), select "Strategic Initiative/RFA" and enter the title of this RFA.

Text to be attached:

Only page 12, Research Proposal, must be completed. Applicants are encouraged to address the following criteria while referring to the items listed under "Peer Review Process and Evaluation Criteria" above as these will be used in the evaluation of the proposal. Please note that a maximum of 10 pages may be submitted (numbered 12a-j). Figures and references are not included in page limitations.

• Background of the technology;
• Research and Methodologies - present hypotheses and experimental plan to test them;
• Expertise of the applicant(s) in relation to the research proposed and history of collaboration with industry/technology development partners;
• Summary of the relevant literature;
• Impact of the proposed innovation on the target population;
• Assessment of the market for the technology to be developed, including the advantages and limitations of the IP, identification of current and emerging competitive technologies;
• Strategy to commercialize the technology, including IP protection;
• Potential hurdles and how they will be addressed;
• Time lines - milestones and deliverables for the research and commercialization strategy during the term of the project;
• If the technology is proposed to be commercialized through an industry/technology development partner outside of Ontario, explain the rationale for this decision.

Send one original and nine (9) copies of the Full Application by Courier to:

RE: HTX R&D Program 2006-2007
htx.ca - The Health Technology Exchange
1380 Rodick Road, Suite 100
Markham, Ontario L3R 4G5

Contact Information

For questions on CIHR and HTX funding guidelines, peer review process and for questions about this initiative and research objectives, contact:

Jennifer Woods
Co-ordinator
htx.ca - The Health Technology Exchange

Telephone: (905) 248-2732
Fax: (905) 479-2055
E-mail: jwoods@htx.ca

For questions on how to apply or how to complete the CIHR forms, contact:

Kristina Harris
Program Delivery Officer
Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Tel: 613-952-4256
Fax: 613-954-1800
E-mail: kharris@cihr-irsc.gc.ca