The IHU (University Hospital Institutes) are places of scientific and medical excellence for inventing tomorrow's medicine, future treatments and new practices.
Within a University Hospital, each IHU brings together teams of researchers, caregivers and companies around a unique clinical theme (infectious diseases, rare diseases, nervous system diseases, etc.).
Each IHU is built on 4 pillars:
Research
Care
Training
Industrial valorization
The aim of IHUs is to foster the development of translational research that directly benefits patients.
They enable us to concentrate all our strengths around a single theme and bring them together on a single site to promote developments in the field of medical research - in our case, the child's brain.
The Instituts hospitalo-universitaires (IHU) were born out of the reflection on the CHU (University Hospitals), on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the decree of December 30, 1958 which established the latter.
Initially recommended by the Commission on the Future of University Hospitals in 2010, chaired by Professor Marescaux, the creation of IHUs was intended to "breathe new life into biomedical research in France, particularly translational research and the upstream research that enriches it".
The aim of these structures is to:
- provide France with centers of excellence on par with the best international institutions in terms of research, care and training
- stimulate long-term competitiveness in France by promoting the development of the biomedical industrial sector (raising the profile of this sector, irrigating its economic fabric, evolving mindsets to encourage partnerships, particularly between the public and private sectors)
- boost research beyond the perimeter of IHUs by encouraging research efforts to be structured around these emblematic centers
A first call for projects, organized by the ANR (French National Research Agency) as part of the first Future Investments Program (PIA 1), resulted in the emergence of six IHUs, which were allocated 349.3 million euros for an 8-year period. In 2017, as part of PIA 3, a second call for projects resulted in the selection of a 7th IHU, allocated 50 million euros over 10 years.
In less than 10 years, IHUs have achieved concrete results: more than 320 patents filed, 18,000 scientific publications, 1,000 new clinical trials, 45 start-ups created, more than 600 million euros in co-financing raised and induced economic development in excess of 1 billion euros, while State investments represent 277 million euros, i.e. a leverage effect of 5 to 7.
To find out more about the IHU network in France: https://www.ihu-france.org/fr/
