The CIC-IT, Nancy
An outstanding clinical research centre
focusing on technological innovation in medicine
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The CIC-IT, Nancy
In the beginning
En 1992, clinical investigation centres (CIC) were set up by INSERM (the National Institute for Health and Medical Research) and the Ministry of Health through the DHOS (Department for Hospitalisation and Organisation of Healthcare) in order to encourage the development of clinical research in university teaching hospitals (CHU).
These clinical investigation units are completely devoted to increasing knowledge of diseases, their treatment and their prevention. Forty-six general and specialised CICs (clinical trials and biotherapy) were set up.
The initial concept of the CICs specialising in IT arises from the CITs (centres of innovative technology) which sprung up as an experiment in 2001 after discussions between the Ministries for research, industry and health. They were the equivalent of the CICs in the area of health technology and medical devices.
In conjunction with the centre in Besançon, the Nancy CIC-IT was instituted in January 2007 through the mutual wish of INSERM and the DHOS to associate medical innovation, whether diagnostic or technological, with care. In parallel six existing CITs were transformed and their names changed to CIC-IT: Bordeaux, Garches, Grenoble, Lille, Rennes, and Tours.
The acronym CIC-IT stands for clinical investigation centres (CIC) dedicated to innovative technology (IT), particularly to clinical research on medical equipment and devices.
Our tasks
The main role of the CIC-IT is to help an innovation progress into the development of industrial products.
That could consist in:
giving investigators or partners advice as they start out on an innovative approach (anticipating the process to be mastered for the project to succeed while taking into account the regulations, cost assessment, protocols etc.);
making (human and material) technical resources appropriate for their projects available to them, along with the methodological tools necessary for evaluating them; undertaking industrial or institutional research projects respecting the provisions of bioethical laws.
