Rare Disease Day 2016 Conference March 9-10: Day 1

1. Enhancing Collaboration Under The
Federal Genomics R&D Initiative
Through An Innovation Management
Strategy
Dave Wilkinson, Public Health Agency of Canada
CORD Conference March 9, 2016

2. Genomics R&D Initiative:
Shared Priority Projects
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• GRDI program created in 1999 as the genomics
funding counterpart to Genome Canada for
federal scientists.
• 8 science-based departments and agencies
(AAFC, CFIA, DFO, EC, HC, NRC, NRCan, PHAC)
• Shared Priority Projects: High impact solutions
to cross-cutting issues designed for economic,
social, and environmental benefits
§ food and water safety, quarantine and
invasive alien species
§ biodiversity, antimicrobial resistance

3. Project Challenges
• End user engagement:
§ Need to do a better job of identifying
specific end users for potential
research outputs
§ End users need to be identified at the
beginning of the project, then informed
and consulted throughout
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• Rights to access/transfer samples coming from a variety
of sources
• Data sharing - right to access/share data (within GRDI
and externally); as widely as possible; inter-operability,
acknowledgement of contributions; etc.
• Clarity on IP issues, including open source software and
collaborative agreements
• Authorship and publication guidance

4. Innovation Management Strategy (IMS)
Goals:
1. Enhance knowledge mobilization and
technology transfer
2. Facilitate interdepartmental collaboration
Mechanisms:
1. Policy framework
2. Community of Experts
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5. IMS Development
• Creation of Community of Experts
• Development of overarching principles then
development of subject-specific guidance in line
with principles
• Discussions with departmental experts and
researchers to come up with policy framework
• Iterative development of guidance documents
with research staff and subject matter experts
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6. End User Engagement
• Consult with end users to identify requirements
• Liaise with end users to discuss project
developments to ensure outputs are still in line with
needs
• Work with end users to develop deployment paths
to ensure outputs will be taken up
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• Identify specific contacts
within end user
organisations and
communities

7. Intellectual Property
• Control of IP rests with the departments whose
employees made a creative, inventive, or intellectual
contribution to it
• Joint IP “owners” agree among themselves how it
will be administered
• All IP may be used by all Project participants to
achieve project goals
• IP only provided to a third party with permission of
“owners”
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8. Data Sharing and
Open Science
• Establish a centralised repository for GRDI Data
• Distinctions drawn between internal sharing for
project and non-project use, and internal versus
external sharing
• Must acknowledge contributions to creation of the
data at time of sharing
• Commitment to abide by Open Science requirements
set forth by Treasury Board
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• Commitment to share as much
data as quickly and as broadly
as possible

9. Material Transfer
• Identify materials to be used as soon as possible –
ensuring consider any restrictions on use
• Interdepartmental Material Transfer Understanding
drafted to facilitate exchange of materials among
GRDI Members
• Generator of the material owns it
• Can’t be shared unless owner agrees
• Need to acknowledge source of all materials in any
publication
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10. Community of Experts
• Subject matter experts within each
department who can provide advice; “on
call” to provide support within departments
• Organized into “groups” of particular
expertise – can be discussion group if an
issue should arise
• Possibly play a “conflict resolution” role – but
with IMS and guidance document potential
for conflict should be significantly reduced
• Continue to provide feedback and develop
guidance
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grdi-irdg.collaboration.gc.ca