Grant: Operating Grant

The goal of this five-year research program is to examine, from a health care perspective, the ways in which knowledge, preferences and norms of designers, R and D funders, users, regulators and media shape the design of new health technologies. More specifically, we are interested in understanding the extent to which the strategic decisions made during the R and Dprocess address health care system challenges, such as access, equity and sustainability. The program builds on one Core Research Project, around which Satellite Studies will be developed throughout the five-year timeframe. The Core Project consists in examining the development of three award-winning innovations: a catheter-based cryotherapeutic treatment for cardiac diseases, a decision-support software for delivery monitoring and a home-based clinical monitoring system for patients with chronic diseases. We will do interviews with designers, interviews and focus groups with stakeholders (R and D funders, health care providers, patient representatives, journalists, etc.) and document analysis. By bridging two perspectives that rarely cross-fertilize each other --the industry and the health care system-- this research program will inform health innovation design and policy, research on knowledge transfer and qualitative research methods.