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Home > About > News > Empowering health innovation through strategic partnerships
November 18, 2024
Health innovation experts Nancy Walter and Muna Sabouny discuss Alberta Innovates' role in transforming healthcare.
Transforming Alberta’s health system requires more than funding – a holistic, interconnected approach to health innovation is required. Recently, two of our health innovation experts, Nancy Walter and Muna Sabouny, joined Alberta Health Services' i4 Insights podcast hosted by Joshua McCutcheon to discuss Alberta Innovates' role in transforming healthcare through partnerships, collaboration, and strategic initiatives.
Listen to the entire episode by clicking here.
Muna Sabouny (left) and Nancy Walter (right)
Nancy opened by explaining that Alberta Innovates is a key player in Alberta’s innovation ecosystem, having done so for over a century. Today, we drive research and development in five focus areas: digital health, clean resources, smart agriculture, artificial intelligence, and entrepreneurial investments. This cross-sectoral approach stimulates economic growth in Alberta while also tackling complex global challenges.
Nancy and Muna are part of Alberta Innovates’ Health Innovation team, which operates within four main portfolios which manage around 180 active projects, with $30 million invested last fiscal year. These projects, all work toward strengthening Alberta’s competitiveness and enhancing well-being for the people of Alberta.
Alberta Innovates’ Health System Transformation team supports health innovation through two flagship programs: the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Health System (PRIHS) and the Digital4Health program.
PRIHS Program: Through a long-standing partnership with Alberta Health Services, PRIHS enables researchers and clinicians affiliated with an Alberta-based post-secondary institution to implement new care models that enhance patient health and create health system benefits, such as cost savings. Since its inception in 2014, PRIHS has successfully funded over eight project cycles, with recent efforts focused on integrating digital health solutions into Alberta’s healthcare system.
Digital4Health: This program brings health service delivery partners and technology solution providers together to develop and test digital health solutions to address critical and data-informed health system challenges. Recent partnerships with Alberta Blue Cross and the Glenrose Hospital Foundation exemplify the program’s role in fostering solutions across the continuum of care that are both innovative and tailored to real-world needs.
Muna emphasized that partnerships are the backbone of Alberta Innovates' health initiatives. Effective partnerships, she noted, rely on aligned goals, open communication, and a commitment to mutual success. Alberta Blue Cross and the Glenrose Hospital Foundation exemplify the importance of partners bringing sector-specific knowledge, infrastructure, and resources to help tackle some of Alberta’s key health system challenges.
Addressing difficult problems—complex, systemic issues that require comprehensive solutions—is critical to transforming health care. By combining data-driven approaches with community feedback, Alberta Innovates targets these pressing needs. For example, the Creating the Future of Rehabilitation Care initiative with the Glenrose Hospital Foundation seeks to improve equitable access to rehabilitation care for communities in rural and remote Alberta. Insights gathered from over 100 stakeholders through a multifaceted engagement approach are helping Alberta Innovates shape strategic investment opportunities that truly reflect the needs of Albertans.
As Alberta embraces the concept of a “learning health system,” there’s an opportunity to use Alberta’s wealth of health system data and insights to continuously reimagine how we deliver and receive care to help us realize improved well-being of the people of Alberta. However, achieving this goal requires sustained partnerships, strategic investments, and a commitment to long-term, human-centered health system transformation.
To learn more about Alberta Innovates’ health initiatives or to explore partnership opportunities, visit our website or connect with us directly. Together, we can address Alberta’s healthcare challenges and unlock new possibilities for sustainable, innovative care across the province.