Often, the best ideas for improving health outcomes or the quality of life for older adults come from individuals working at the point-of-care, but their ideas languish without a way to bring them forward. The Spark Program, launched in September 2016 to address this unmet need, is specifically designed to nurture and develop early-stage, grassroots ideas created by point-of-care and service delivery staff. CABHI provides a unique funding opportunity of up to $50,000 CAD per project to support proof of concept testing of ideas within our associated healthcare delivery and service provider organizations.
Response to our first call significantly exceeded expectations, confirming there is a significant need to help point-of-care innovators bring their solutions to life. We received 124 expressions of interest and invited 78 to submit full applications. On February 3, 2017, The Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health for the Government of Canada, and the Honourable Reza Moridi, Minister of Research, Innovation & Science for the Government of Ontario, announced total Spark Program funding of $1.5 million for 31 award recipients at an event held at Baycrest Health Sciences.
We are thrilled to see these projects get underway. Read highlights about selected projects in the Innovation to Impact section of this report. Our second Spark Program call for innovation is planned for September 2017.