Studies on knowledge transfer and innovation processes often come across the idea of “the valley of death”, which is the critical phase where one step of the innovation process ends and a new one begins. In this perspective, one of the roles of partnerships is to bridge this valley of death by linking excellent research with technology and solution-minded business undertakings hence generating virtuous cycles of research and innovation.

The authors selected three partnerships TRANSCAN, EJP on Rare Diseases and the Innovative Health Initiative to investigate how partnerships navigate the process of translating research activities into medical and health innovations for the benefit of patients, the European health systems and society. The variety of partnerships in the European medical and health system is a valuable asset for policy and for the health sector research and innovation.

The policy brief can be downloaded here: Translating Research into Innovation: Lessons from 3 Case Studies in Health Partnerships