Enabling Better Health through Artificial Intelligence (AI-Better Health)

Eligibility

Principal Investigators (PIs)

• Open to researchers at Alberta-based post-secondary institutions.
• The project must include key opinion leaders across healthcare and government for collaborative research projects that address critical issues for enabling better health through artificial intelligence.

Projects

Applications must be aligned to one or more eligible theme areas:

1. Data: Addressing challenges (technical and/or human factors) associated with data access and quality, model training and accuracy, and the integration of disparate data sets towards complex areas of precision medicine, preventative health care, and social determinants of health
2. Development: Understanding and addressing critical elements for artificial intelligence to enable better health, including ethical, privacy, legal, policy, and societal requirements. These non-technical (or, human factor) elements are vital to address for the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence.
3. Efficiency: Applying artificial intelligence towards increasing health system efficiency, including non-clinical process improvement, decision making, care provision, workforce scheduling and assistance (e.g., free text abstraction)
4. Point-of-Care: Utilizing artificial intelligence to support a learning health system, including timely and informed decision making, change management, talent management, and adoption.

In addition to alignment with the themes listed above, PIs are expected to engage and list relevant stakeholders as project collaborators to ensure that all design, development, and implementation considerations are incorporated. PIs must also identify existing data sources to be used in their project and provide a clearly articulated process for data access. While the projects do not need to address every theme area, all projects must consider ethical, policy, privacy, and regulatory compliance (including Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), Draft guidance: Pre-market guidance for machine learning-enabled medical devices, and other applicable regulations) and any other issues related to the project topic. Finally, all projects must describe the Pathway to Implementation to ensure there is a line-of-sight of the proposal to a wholesome consideration of barriers, challenges, and environment (organizational/provincial) for the newly digitized health technologies, processes, and practice.

Summary

The Enabling Better Health through Artificial Intelligence (AI-Better Health) Program aims to support demonstration projects that will help shorten the gap between the promise and the reality for AI to enable better health for Albertans. Understanding the data-associated bottlenecks encountered by innovators within the health ecosystem can assist in identifying the knowledge, skills, capabilities, capacity, and supportive environment to best address the issues and needs. Technical challenges are not the only limiting factors for realizing the benefits of AI – it is a combination of technical barriers and human factors (e.g., policy, legislation, adoption, etc.) that limit the deployment of responsible AI. It is expected the AI-Better Health Program will strengthen Alberta's reputation as an international AI leader while demonstrating how AI can drive healthcare transformation.

The objectives of the AI-Better Health Program are to:

• Understand the innovation required to address data quality, access, and privacy issues facing the implementation of AI technology to enable better health.
• Elucidate the technical enablers and human factors (i.e. policy, reimbursement, accountability) for the responsible deployment of AI towards enabling better health.
• Identify the ethical, regulatory, legal, and societal implications to be addressed for intelligently designing AI solutions that enable better health.
• Define ancillary factors and elements (e.g., stakeholder requirements) for development, adoption, implementation, and/or commercialization of AI technologies that will enable better health.

The AI-Better Health Program will provide individual project funding up to a maximum of $800,000 over 3 years.

It is expected this Program will strengthen Alberta’s reputation as an international AI leader while demonstrating how artificial intelligence can drive healthcare transformation.

Webinar

Alberta Innovates will hold an informational webinar on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at 10:00 AM MDT. Register here.

Submission Process

This competition will be part of the Research Management System (RMS), and approvals will be obtained electronically. Research Funding Application Approvals (RFAA) forms are not required as approvals are collected electronically in RMS.

Note: You must first contact Alberta Innovates to assess project alignment with the goals of the AI-Better Health Program.

• AI Program Contact: Ryan Mercer, Director, Clinical Research Innovation Health Platforms, Ryan.Mercer@albertainnovates.ca

Full Application

The Full Application, plus approval in the Research Management System (RMS) via a Pre-Award/Application record, must be submitted to the RSO by November 21, 2023 at 12:00 pm.Please be sure to select 'Submitted for approval' (under Save & Progress) in RMS in good time to allow for approvals from your Department Head and/or ADR prior to the RSO internal deadline. Consult your department and faculty for more information on their approval processes and timelines.

Do not submit to the agency until RSO's approval has been granted in RMS. Once the institutional signature has been obtained, the Principal Investigator will receive an automated message from RMS to their @ucalgary email address. You can then proceed with submitting your application via the Alberta Innovates SmartSimple portal by November 24, 2023 at 4:00 pm (MT).

Resources

• AI-Better Health Program Guide
• AI Program Contact: Ryan Mercer, Director, Clinical Research Innovation Health Platforms, Ryan.Mercer@albertainnovates.ca

Overhead

N/A

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.