Jerónimo Pachón, Regional Ministry of Health of Andalusia

 

A plan to improve and sustain the Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) in Health was initiated in 2006 by the Regional Ministry of Health of Andalusia. This aimed to improve the competitiveness of the research groups, to increase the number of health researchers, to acquire research funding from international and national agencies and to orientated research towards transferable results, in terms of quality of care and intellectual and industrial patents. The implementation of this plan has led to the creation of monographic centres of biomedical research, hospital-based institutes of health research, the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies and the boosting of RDI activities in hospitals and primary-care centres. These actions were taken in collaboration with other departments of the Regional Government of Andalusia including the Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science of Andalusia, Andalusian Universities, and Spanish institutions such as the Health Institute Carlos III and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the pharmaceutical industry.