Health Innovation Plan 2030: a budgetary effort, a risk of increased complexity of the organization of research – National Academy of Medicine

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Press release from the National Academy of Medicine

July 21, 2021

On the occasion of the work of the Strategic Council of Health Industries (CSIS), the President of the Republic announced on June 29, 2021 the launch of a five-year investment plan of several billion euros of public funds and to support health research and innovation by 2030. The National Academy of Medicine can only welcome the government’s awareness of the crying budgetary needs of research in biology and health.[1]The Academy has quantified the dramatic decline in funding for research in this area[2], but also underlined the urgency of simplifying its organization and governance

. The budgetary action programmed in the Plan will have to be made sustainable. It would not be enough to provide France with strong research in biology and health, to reposition it in international competition and to attract the talents and investors necessary to strengthen its innovation capacities. In the absence of a global reorganization of the national system, the landscape of research in biology and health will only become more complex by the creation of agencies with often redundant perimeters.

To practice a relevant innovation policy, the Academy stresses the importance of:– Simplify

: simplify the current organization of research in biology and health; coordinate the policy of the various ministries covering research and the strategy of the multiple national agencies and organizations in biology and health; identify a limited number of university hospital research centers, heads of regional networks centered on CHUs with international visibility in research; integrate the university component of research, innovation and training into the governance of CHUs, as in neighboring countries;– Support

: support upstream research, known as fundamental, often at the origin of disruptive innovations; restore continuity from basic research to clinical research and better integrate university hospital research into innovation clusters; reinvest in infrastructure and medium-heavy equipment dedicated to biology and health; ensure the freedom of researchers to explore innovative research avenues, outside of an administrative straitjacket that continues to grow; invest in scientific fields which, for want of media coverage, are essential to prevention strategies without which improving the quality of life during aging will be out of reach; reform the mechanisms for allocating clinical research resources by the Ministry of Solidarity and Health;– Promote public-private links

: facilitate collaborations between public research and healthcare companies, by clarifying the scope of intervention of the valuation offices between the local and national levels.

[1] Press release from the Academy’s Rapid Communication Platform validated by the members of the Board of Directors on July 21, 2021.

[2]

-https://www.academie-medecine.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RAPPORT-1-R%C3%A9former-la-recherche.pdf

https://www.academie-medecine.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/R%C3%A9former-la-recherche-BON-II.pdf