Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation

What Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation does

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) is a provincial Crown corporation established in 2003 and headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It operates as the designated provincial funding agency for health research, funding, supporting, and promoting research that aligns with Saskatchewan health priorities. SHRF serves health researchers, academic institutions, community organizations, Indigenous communities, healthcare providers, and national partner organizations through a portfolio of competitive grant programs including the Align Grant (up to $10,000 per project, established 2022), Mobilize Grant (up to $10,000 over one year), the Solutions Program with four thematic Hubs (Brain Health, Virtual Care, Child & Youth Health, Substance Use & Addictions) offering innovation grants up to $50,000, the Connections Program for emerging collaborations, and the Health System Impact Fellowship co-funded with CIHR.

The organization's underlying operational technology is the SmartSimple RMS online grant management portal, which handles application submission and peer review rather than proprietary research tooling. SHRF does not develop technology products; its function is to allocate capital and convene partners across the Saskatchewan health research ecosystem. Grant applications undergo peer review, and funded projects are required to engage in knowledge mobilization activities.

SHRF's funding model is structured as a publicly-funded provincial agency: revenue derives primarily from Government of Saskatchewan appropriations supplemented by matched contributions from national health organizations including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, MS Canada, Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada, and Alzheimer Society Canada. Notable outputs include 95 Align Grant projects funded over three years generating $2.26 million in follow-on funding (a 441% return on investment), 231 collaborators engaged across community, healthcare, and non-profit partners, and 317 knowledge-sharing activities reaching audiences beyond academia. The foundation is led by CEO Patrick Odnokon and operates with a small staff of 11-50 employees.

Name

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation

Legal name

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation

Website

https://shrf.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) is a provincial Crown corporation that funds, supports, and promotes health research in Saskatchewan through competitive grant programs, fellowships, and partnerships with researchers, academic institutions, community organizations, and national health agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Health Research Funding

NAICS

Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

akta.pro primary industry

Health Research Funding Agencies (Public/Quasi-Public) (HLAJALAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL)

Keywords

• Health research funding
• Research grant programs
• Provincial funding agency
• Knowledge mobilization
• Health innovation funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Saskatoon

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Health Research Funding: SHRF operates as the provincial funding agency that distributes funds to support health research in Saskatchewan. They manage various grant programs including Align Grants, Mobilize Grants, and partnership funding initiatives. Funding comes from provincial government allocation and partnership contributions with organizations like CIHR, Alzheimer Society Canada, and Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) is the provincial funding agency for health research in Saskatchewan. It funds, supports, and promotes the impact of health research by distributing grants through competitive programs such as the Align Grant, Mobilize Grant, Solutions Program, Health System Impact Fellowships, and Connections Program, and by recognizing research contributions through the annual Santé Awards.

Product overview

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) is a provincial funding agency that funds, supports, and promotes the impact of health research that matters to Saskatchewan. SHRF operates as a platform of grant programs and funding mechanisms rather than a single unified product, offering the Align Grant (up to $10,000 for stakeholder-aligned research), the Mobilize Grant (up to $10,000 for knowledge mobilization), Health System Impact Fellowships (matching funding for embedded researchers), the Solutions Program (innovation grants through Solutions Hubs including Brain Health, Virtual Care, Child & Youth Health, and Substance Use & Addictions), Connections Program funding, and the annual Santé Awards. These programs work together to strengthen research capacity, increase investment in health research, and align research with provincial stakeholder needs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SHRF Solutions Program: Program bringing together researchers and health system partners to develop and implement innovations addressing priority health needs
• Align Grant
• Mobilize Grant
• Santé Awards
• Recognizing Connections Awards
• Brain Health Hub
• Virtual Care Hub
• Child & Youth Health Hub
• Substance Use & Addictions Hub

Products and services

• Align Grant Provides up to $10,000 per project for Saskatchewan-based health researchers to connect with communities, co-develop research ideas, and align projects with stakeholder needs; designed to bridge a funding gap for small but impactful ideas that can grow into larger peer-reviewed grants.
• Mobilize Grant

Quantifiable outcome

• 441% return on investment with $2.26M follow-on funding from 95 Align projects over 3 years
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Alzheimer Society CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 June 2026SHRF partners with Alzheimer Society Canada Research Program to fund exceptional dementia research in Saskatchewan. The program funds dementia research through four award categories: Doctoral Award, Postdoctoral Award, New Investigator Grant and Proof of Concept Grant, in 8 priority areas. In 2026, Heather Alford received a Doctoral Award co-funded by SHRF for research on nutrition in long-term care for dementia patients.
• Prostate Cancer Foundation CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 May 2025Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada (PCFC) is providing matched funding to SHRF to advance prostate cancer research and improve care across Saskatchewan. A total of $100,000 in combined funding is available for prostate cancer research under this partnership. Innovation grants of up to $50,000 per project will support one-year initiatives focused on developing new approaches to care, detection, and patient support through SHRF's Solutions Program.
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSHRF provides matching funding for CIHR Health System Impact Fellowships in Saskatchewan. CIHR places the next generation of health researchers inside health system organizations to solve real-world challenges. For the 2025 cycle, CIHR is supporting 42 PhD and postdoctoral researchers nationally, with SHRF supporting Saskatchewan-based fellowships.
• Lung SaskatchewanmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLung Saskatchewan is a host partner organization for the Health System Impact Fellowship, with PhD Fellow Hayley Pelletier developing an evidence-based vaping cessation strategy for Indigenous youth in Saskatchewan, co-funded by CIHR and SHRF.
• MS CanadamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMS Canada and SHRF partnered to fund the first ever Canadian Clinical Best Practice Guideline for Multiple Sclerosis Rehabilitation, investing $300,000.
• Genome Prairie (GenTrac Initiative)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGenTrac Initiative is a four-year, $4 million regional funding initiative to encourage collaborations between for-profit organizations in Manitoba or Saskatchewan and academic researchers. SHRF is included in genomics projects including a Saskatchewan-based precision oncology platform.
• Saskatchewan Pain Society Inc. (SaskPain)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSaskPain is a non-profit organization that supports community-based research for people living with pain in Saskatchewan. Through participant recruitment, fostering research partnerships, and knowledge mobilization, SaskPain helps ensure studies are relevant and accessible to those living with chronic pain.
• Saskatchewan Cancer AgencymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSaskatchewan Cancer Agency partnered with University of Saskatchewan researchers on cancer cell behavior modeling project co-funded through SHRF Align Grant.
• AGE-WELLminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPIC-AT is a national training platform powered by AGE-WELL and hosted at the University of Toronto, preparing graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to be future leaders in digital health solutions for older adults.
• Métis Nation SaskatchewanmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Métis Nation Saskatchewan to co-develop a Métis youth-centered vaping cessation strategy through the Health System Impact Fellowship, leveraging existing working relationships.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Genome Canada: National funder for genomics and precision health research in Canada. Comparable as a large-scale federal research funder; SHRF partners with Genome Prairie on GenTrac, a regional genomics funding initiative.
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR): Canada's national health research funding agency and primary federal counterpart to SHRF. Acts as both a partner (co-funding Health System Impact Fellowships with SHRF) and an incumbent that competes for the same provincial research talent at much larger grant sizes.

Direct peers

• Michael Smith Health Research BC: Provincial health research funding agency in British Columbia that distributes grants, fellowships, and training awards to BC-based researchers. Directly comparable to SHRF as another provincial Canadian health research funder with similar mandate, grant programs, and knowledge translation focus.
• Alberta Innovates: Alberta's provincially mandated research and innovation funding agency, including health research portfolios. Comparable to SHRF as a Crown corporation funding health research aligned with provincial priorities, offering competitive grants and partnership programs.
• Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS): Quebec's provincial health research funding agency. Functionally analogous to SHRF as a provincial funder operating competitive grant and training programs aligned with provincial health research priorities.
• Research Manitoba: Manitoba's provincial research funding organization supporting health, natural sciences, and social sciences research. Directly comparable as a neighbouring Prairie province agency with health research funding, training awards, and knowledge mobilization functions.
• New Brunswick Health Research Foundation: Provincial health research funding agency for New Brunswick, supporting researchers, students, and health system innovation. Comparable to SHRF in mandate, scale, and program structure as a small-province health research funder.

Emerging players

• MS Canada: National charitable funder of multiple sclerosis research that partnered with SHRF on a $300K Canadian MS Rehabilitation Clinical Best Practice Guideline. Comparable as a disease-specific research grantmaking organization that uses matched-funding partnerships with provincial agencies like SHRF.
• Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada: National charitable funder of prostate cancer research. Comparable as a disease-specific partner organization providing matched funding ($100K) to SHRF for prostate cancer innovation grants under the Solutions Program.
• Alzheimer Society Canada: National charitable funder of dementia research operating the Alzheimer Society Research Program. Directly comparable as a research grantmaking partner that co-funds doctoral, postdoctoral, and proof-of-concept awards through SHRF in Saskatchewan.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/_shrf_
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCrcIp1AoSKnL_SPsRTcb__w
• Facebookfacebook.com/SaskHealthResearch
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/saskatchewan-health-research-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation