Welcome to NIREB – National Integrated Research Ethics Base.
As a research ethics administrator myself, the daily task of keeping track of every detail in a research project is time consuming – and it is even more time consuming when you have to share the details each day, back and forth, with counterparts from collaborating institutions.
We are always constantly searching for a solution that is efficient and effective, but it also low-cost (the biggest issue by far).
Enter NIREB, a database where all research ethics administrators in Canada can login to find all details, network, and more.
Hi Emma,
This is an interesting idea. Great work on putting together your pitch, very professional, organized and easy to navigate. For your investment request, and the cost of access being based on institution – might the size of institution or the complexity of the data being shared be a consideration and change the scope of the fees?
I was thinking this would be a great tool for the healthcare system, especially when patients are being transferred from different clinics. This would bring up the issue of securing this data, do you have thoughts on how the data being shared would be able to remain secure while accessible to those working on it?
Hello Emma,
Although this realm isn’t my own, I am somewhat familiar with it as my close friend has worked in the health care for more than a decade and is a PHD student in Health informatics. She talks about these challenges of information flow in healthcare and her passion is to better the patient experience in regards to information flow.
I see that you have pitched this as a Canadian venture. Would there be a potential to expand it globally or would there be too much red tape between countries? Could there be a North American venture? I ask because my friend is based in Vancouver but has projects in Europe and in the USA as well.
Thanks!
Maurice
Hi Emma, this looks like a promising idea, though I am not familair with research ethics apart from what I learned in ETEC 500. Your pitch is put together masterfully and looks very professional. It’s incredible that there are no competitors for your venture! Have you thought about why that is? I am also wondering how you will obtain databases from institutions who are selling them for $40,000 a year and what those costs would be.
Roger
Hi Emma, I think that you did a great job explaining what the problem is and how efficient the solution is. It is easy for me, someone who is not familiar with research ethics at all, to understand the concept and I think it is a big win for a venture pitch. Well done!
Hi Emma,
I think your idea is so unique! I like that you focus on collaboration as one of your main components and I think it’s interesting that you denoted that there is currently no method for streamlined communication across research ethics administrators. Your pitch really well outlines step by step the problem, the solution, and how this venture could really complement institutions across Canada.
I was also slightly surprised to hear that there were no other competitors in your space and I wonder why that is? Is there a possibility that there are confidentiality issues or perhaps significant differences across provinces that would prevent the scale/growth of your venture? I briefly worked for Toronto Public Health and we always had access to information on a provincial level but it was ALWAYS so terribly challenging getting in contact/communicating with other provinces. The wait times for getting information from other healthcare departments could sometimes take days if not weeks! So, I see how something like this could really hinder the growth, if ethics administrators are limited by a geographical space.
Loved the slides too, I think the slides really speak to me because they are what I would expect to see in a pitch at a conference!