Innovators Dilemma or Delight: Trials and Tribulations of Knowledge Translation

Abstract

Beyond creating a new knowledge through better understanding of underlying disease biology and nature, it has become increasingly important in all public and healthcare sectors to have tangible and accountable outcomes or translation of this knowledge creation. There is an urgent and critical need in Canada to transform our research and scientific culture to invest and to embrace this 'disruptive' cultural change. Over the past seven years, we have established a new paradigm and a national center (www.cigiti.com) in Toronto to develop the next generation of technologies and techniques to fundamentally change how surgical care is delivered for children. The goal of such an innovation center is not only to create new knowledge but to translate this knowledge into reality in real-time while building human capacity and economic capacity in the society. The remaining challenge beyond establishing these 'incubators' is to build an ecosystem that fosters both the culture and needed resources to sustain such endeavors. This is the crucial element in maintaining Canada's position in global competitiveness and for the future.