Table 1 Description of the selected organisations and of the development of their strategic plan

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

United States

National research agency; it is an operating division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, organised in 27 theme-based institutes, centres and programme offices (ICOs); ICOs cover all fields of health research from basic research to applied research.

The NIH-Wide strategic plan

Turning Discovery into Health Fiscal year 2016–2020

In 2015 and 2016, a legal basis for the overall NIH strategic planning was introduced; it requires NIH to produce a 5-year-wide strategic plan and provides some directions for selected contents (e.g. rare diseases) and the process to produce the NIH overall strategy (e.g. criteria to be considered, analysis of research landscape); it also stipulates that the NIH-coordinated strategy has to inform individual strategic plans of ICOs.

The first NIH-wide strategic plan was produced according to the new legal basis and published in 2016; the NIH Director and the Deputy Director developed a ‘framework’ for the strategic plan, designed with the purpose to identify major NIH cross-cutting areas of research and to set out principles (‘unifying principles’) to guide the NIH research effort.

The development of the NIH-wide strategic plan involved extensive internal and external consultations throughout the process; internal consultation involved the ad hoc committee NIH-wide Strategic Plan Working Group with representatives of all 27 ICOs; the framework received input from the NIH governing: the Advisory Committee to the Director, composed of experts in the fields of research within the NIH mission, representatives of the research community (academia and private sector) and of the general public, and the National Advisory Councils of the IOCs; comments and suggestions on the framework were solicited in an external consultation process from a wide array of stakeholders such as representatives of patient advocacy organisations, professional associations, private hospitals or companies, academic institutions, government or private citizens (please see the 'case studies' paragraph below for more information on the actors and development process of NIH).

Medical Research Council (MRC)

United Kingdom

National funding agency dedicated to improving human health by supporting research in universities and hospitals, in MRC units, centres and institutes in the United Kingdom; the MRC is a committee body of the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) alongside eight other committees, the ‘Councils’, representing various research sectors.

Inserm 2020 Strategic Plan

A recent law established the UKRI; the agency is funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy with the responsibility of developing a national research strategy; the formation of UKRI is aimed at linking across disciplines and a better prioritisation of resources.

The law stipulates that the MRC has to be part of the UKRI, as a committee body alongside the Councils, representing research sectors of science and humanities.

The MRC governing bodies develop the strategic plan; these are the Executive Chair, the Council, the Management Board and the Strategy Board

In 2017, under the Higher Education and Research Act, the UKRI was established; according to the new law, in 2018, the MRC became a committee body of the UKRI alongside the Councils, representing research sectors of science and humanities.

As described in the UKRI Framework document, UKRI became the responsible body for the development of a coherent UKRI strategy, balancing the allocation of funding across different disciplines; the Secretary of State has to approve the strategy.

In addition, the MRC is required to develop a strategic plan that is coherent with the strategic objectives set by UKRI; the MRC strategic plan should be submitted for approval to the Board of UKRI, which is the governing body responsible for ensuring coherence among the Council plans and the UKRI strategy.

Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm)

France

Inserm is a public scientific and technological institute that operates under the joint authority of the French Ministry of Health and the French Ministry of Research; it is organised in theme-based institutes and regional offices; the institute covers all fields of health research from basic research to applied research.

Inserm 2020 Strategic Plan

The law provides the basic requirements for the development and approval process of the plan; it names the governing bodies of Inserm, the stakeholders and the institutions to be involved.

The Administrative Council of Inserm (Le Conseil d’administration) should devise the research plan; it is composed of internal and external stakeholders and chaired by the President of the Institute; internal stakeholders are representatives of researchers, technicians and administrative staff of the Institute; a wide array of external stakeholders are involved in the process, including representatives for government (ministries of health, education, research, industry, budget), senior officials from research, healthcare organisations, academia and world of work, experts in economics, social sciences and biomedicine fields, and public health researchers.

The Scientific Advisory Board (Le Conseil scientifique) provides input to the research plan; it includes internal stakeholders nominated by the staff of Inserm and members nominated by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Research; in the plan, it is stated that the strategic priorities are aligned with France Europe 2020, the national strategic agenda for research transfer and innovation as well as with the national health plan and thematic national plans (national plan for rare diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases); some priorities of the strategic plan are also from input of the Ministry of Health (e.g. genome medicine, programme to control bacterial resistance to antibiotics, translational and clinical research); the plan is signed off by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Research.

United States Department of Defense – Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (DoD-CDMRP)

United States

DoD-CDMRP is located within the United States Army Medical Research and Development Command; it funds a variety of theme-based health research programmes; the majority of DoD funds for health research are executed through the funds for CDMRP.

DoD CDMRP has strategic plans specific for each research programme

Currently, there is not an official legal basis for strategic planning;

CDMRP recently reviewed the management of the research programmes and produced strategic plans upon the recommendations of the ad hoc Committee from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which were assembled at the request of the Senate.

The Committee recommended the development of a strategic plan that should start from an analysis of a funding landscape across diverse agencies and organisations, should identify short-term and long-term research needs and opportunities, and find ways to coordinate with research priorities of other United States organisations.

Each CDMRP research programme has its own investment strategy; in order to devise the research strategy, the manager of each CDMRP programme organises a ‘vision-setting’ meeting, which defines investment strategy and award mechanisms.

It involves the programmatic panel composed of scientists, clinicians, members of other federal agencies, experts in the specific health area and consumers (patients, caregivers).

Programmatic panel decisions are supported by information on current state of science and knowledge gaps collected by the programme manager (literature review, consultation with other agencies and of the Federal RePORTER database of United States research projects).

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Canada

CIHR is the health investment agency of the Government of Canada; it supports from fundamental to biomedical to applied research; it is composed of 13 theme-based institutes.

CIHR strategic plan 2014–15/2018–19

While there is no formal requirement for the publication of a strategic plan, CIHR produces and publishes a multi-year strategic plan on the official website.

The law provides names of the governing bodies involved in the process for developing the strategic goals of the organisation.

It requires the CIHR to submit, to the Ministry of Health, an annual report on activities in that fiscal year and its strategic directions and goals, with financial statements.

The CIHR governing bodies devise the strategic plan: the Governing Council, the Science Council and the Executive Management team.

The Governing Council is composed of the president of CHIR, the Deputy Minister of the Department of Health (both non-voting members) and 18 members from academia and research institutes; it has a chair and vice-chair.

The Science Council is chaired by the President and composed of scientific Directors of all 13 institutes and Directors/Chiefs of other CIHR governing bodies.

The current strategic plan is based on the previous plan of 2009, when a national external consultation of research community was undertaken; in the plan, it is stated that a research landscape analysis was undertaken to support decision-making.

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Australia

It is the health research funding agency under the authority of the Australian Government Ministry for Health and Ageing.

National Health and Medical Research Council (2019); NHMRC Corporate Plan 2019–20

There is an official legal basis for the development of the strategic plan of the organisation.

The legal framework defines some elements of the process, including naming the governing bodies of the organisation as well as those who are allowed to participate in the process.

Under the NHMRC Act, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) sets major national health issues likely to arise during the 4-year period covered by the plan.

The CEO devises the strategy in consultation with the Minister and the NHMRC governing bodies, namely the Council and the Research Committees; members of the Council are external stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, a person with expertise in consumer issues and an expert in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health needs; the Research Committee consists of experts in various research fields and healthcare professionals, a consumer representative and a member of the Australian Health Ethics Committee.

By law, the CEO has the power to establish the Working Committee to help carry out NHMRC functions; to this end, the Community and Consumer Advisory Group was established, a Working Committee with the functions to provide advice on health matters and on health and medical research matters from a consumer and community perspective; it is comprised of 11 consumers and community leaders in Australia; the Ministry of Health provides guidance on NHMRC’s strategic priorities and approves or revises the plan.

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

France

CNRS is a public multidisciplinary research institution under the authority of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research; it conducts research in all areas of science, technology and society; research areas are grouped into 10 scientific institutes.

Éléments de prospective

There is an official legal basis for the strategic plan.

The law defines the process for development of the strategic plan, including naming the governing bodies of the organisation as well as those who are allowed to participate in the process.

The Administrative Council (Le Conseil d’ Administration) is the CNRS governing body that devises the research plan; the Administrative Council is chaired by the President of the institute and is composed of internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are represented by research, technical and administrative staff of the Institute; external stakeholders are representative from the Government (ministries of health, education, research, and finance) from research organisations, academia and world work; there are also experts in the economics and social sciences fields and in the field of science and technology.

The Scientific Advisory Board (Le Conseil Scientifique) provides input; it is composed of internal and external stakeholders; among the external stakeholders, eight members are non-French scientists.

Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Japan

It is an independent funding organisation established with the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science in the fields of the natural, biomedical, social sciences and humanities fields; it funds a wide spectrum of Japan’s scientific and academic research programmes.

JSPS 2017–2018

Not reported

The JSPS’s overall programme is set by internal leadership with the support of the Research Center for Science Systems; within the Center, eight programme groups are established, composed of scientists from various research areas selected every 3 years to ensure gender equity and balance among research institutions.

The recommendations for research of the Research Center for Science Systems are based on the information collected through local and global research activities and analysed by the Center for Global Science Information and the Center for Science Information Analysis.

The Italian Ministry of Health (MoH)

Italy

The MoH is the main institution responsible for public health at the national level; within the MoH, the Directorate of the Health Research and Innovation has functions related to promotion and coordination of health research, including the planning and the management of funds for health research.

Programma Nazionale della Ricerca Sanitaria PNRS 2017–2019

There is an official legal basis for the strategic plan; the legal framework defines the process for developing the plan, including naming the committee and those who are allowed to participate in the process; it identifies the types of research interest (mainly clinical and health service research) and the award mechanisms; it specifies that the National health plan should be considered in developing the research plan.

The MoH takes the lead in health research planning through the 3-year national health research programme; the MoH develops the national health research programme in consultation with the Health Research Section of the Health Technical Committee whose members are nominated by Decree of the Minister of Health.

The Health Research Section consists of internal stakeholders of the MoH; external stakeholders are nominated by the MoH, Ministry of Research and Ministry of Foreign Affair and by the Standing Conference on the Relations between the State, the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces; they are scientists and recognised experts in the field of health research; representatives of research agencies and institutions, which are entitled to receive MoH funding (e.g. the Italian National Institute of Health and the National Institutes for Scientific Research -research and healthcare provider institutions), might also be invited to participate at the meetings of the Health Research Section to provide their perspectives.

The national health research programme is then adopted by the MoH in agreement with the Standing Conference on the Relations between the State, the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces.

Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)

Spain

ISCIII is a public national organisation that funds and carries out health research; it is organised in centres, units, schools, and foundations and is under the authority of the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness through the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation.

Planes Estatales de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2017–2020

In 2011, a legal framework for the investments in science and innovation was introduced; it aims to ensure accountability and responsiveness to science and societal needs of research organisations; it establishes the ‘State Plans’ as planning tools of the administration of the State for the implementation of the national government strategic actions.

The law names the responsible organisations for devising both the national research strategy and the State Plan.

ISCIII manages the health research priorities as they are set out in the Strategic Action for Health (Acción estratégica en Salud) within the programmes of the State Plan 2017–2020 for Science, Innovation and Technology, in turn aligned to the National Spanish Strategy for Science, Innovation and Technology (Estrategia española de ciencia y tecnología y de innovación 2013–2020).

By law, the Secretary of State for Research, Development, and Innovation of the Ministry of Finance (El Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad) takes the lead in developing the State Plan; the Advisory Committee for Science Technology and Innovation (Consejo Asesor de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación) within the Ministry of Science and Innovation provides advice.

The development of the State Plan 2017–2020 involved experts from academia, industry, scientific societies and research organisations as well as experts in development of policies for research and development at national and international level and those responsible for programming investments of the General State Administration.

The newly created Agency of Research (Agencia, Estatal de Investigacion) also participated; its main responsibility, however, is the financing and supervision of some of the programs of the State Plan, including the Strategic Action for Health.

Singapore National Medical Research Council (NMRC)

Singapore

It is one of the major government funders of biomedical and health research, under the authority of the Ministry of Health.

Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 plan

Not reported

The NMRC refers to the strategic plan developed by the National Research Foundation a department within the Prime Minister’s Office.

In the field of health and biomedical sciences, the strategic plan focuses on five therapeutic areas of focus: cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, infectious disease, and neurological and sense disorders based on factors such as disease impact, scientific excellence in Singapore and national needs

NMRC establishes task forces for developing disease-based research strategy; these are made publicly available with a description of the priority-setting exercises; research priorities are used to inform NMRC fund grants (see Case Study).