The Kirby Commission and the Romanow Commission both recognized the value of health research in terms of health benefits, with the latter also pointing to the economic spin-off to the national economy as a result of health research.3,4 Recent policy developments have highlighted the importance of demonstrating the value of investments in research and innovation.ii Government initiatives and docume [...] A small group from the Canadian academic community and senior levels of the federal government were invited to attend a meeting in February, 2005 to review the state of knowledge about ROI in health research and to provide advice on the development of a conceptual framework to measure ROI. [...] International Panel Discussion The purpose of the international panel was to review evaluation activities of funding agencies in the UK, Australia and Canada and to gain insight about the challenges in moving from performance evaluation to measuring the impact of research investment on a national level. [...] In response to the review the Australian government doubled the NHMRC budget over the next five years and specified that there should be 'significant improvements in the quality and effectiveness of health and medical research, and measurable benefits to the health and wealth of Australia.' The NHMRC developed a performance measurement framework in order to demonstrate the positive results of its [...] Page 8 Framework to Measure the Impact of Health Research September, 2005 Academic Presentations The purpose of the academic presentations was to assist in understanding current approaches to measuring the impact of health research funding.