‘Onderzoek Nederland’, a biweekly newsletter on scientific research and technological innovation, has published an interview with Gerrit Meijer, co-chair of the Health-RI steering committee.
In the interview, Meijer explains why Health-RI is needed to improve the data infrastructure for health research and what is needed from our government and other stakeholders. “Many biomedical research results do not make it to the clinic because there is not enough proof for a clinical application. With Health-RI, we want to bridge this innovation gap by defragmenting data, rules, and initiatives. By collaborating, we can develop a high quality research infrastructure, where users do not have to collect data that have already been collected.”
Stakeholders regard Health-RI as essential for future research on personalised health & medicine. At present, the initiative is supported by more than 70 stakeholders, including universities, research institutes, healthcare funds, existing biobanks, ZonMw, and the industry. Meijer emphasises the need for funding to bring the initiative further: “We ask the government for structural funding of 15 million Euros per year. Health-RI will lead to a better return on investment of the 500 million Euros that are available for health research every year.”
Read the full interview (in Dutch) here.