NorCRIN (Norwegian Clinical Research Infrastructure) was initiated in 2010 by the six university hospitals in Norway, with a common secretariat established in 2012. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Health and Care Services (HOD), and NorCRIN has become a significant tool in achieving the goals of Norway's strategy for health, research, and innovation (Helse Omsorg-21). NorCRIN represents the Norwegian node in ECRIN (European Clinical Research Infrastructure), the European infrastructure supporting multinational clinical research projects, related to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap. ECRIN contributes to enabling researchers across Europe to access a common infrastructure for capacity building and best practices in planning and conducting multinational academic clinical studies. NorCRIN's active participation in ECRIN strengthens European collaboration and promotes Norway's involvement in key international research networks. The objectives of NorCRIN are to develop strong research environments with highly competent research personnel to stimulate more high-quality clinical studies in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of health challenges. Nationally, the NorCRIN network enhances research collaboration among university hospitals, in addition to further developing cooperation on clinical studies with non-university hospitals, primary health care services, user organizations, and industrial manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. NorCRIN’s deliverables are developed collaboratively among partners through dedicated work packages, and consist of four main pillars: 1) operational research support from specialized research units at each of the six university hospitals, 2) standard operating procedures (SOP’s) for planning and conducting clinical studies in accordance with national and international regulations, 3) training/courses for researchers, study nurses, monitors, and other research personnel, and 4) a communication platform for sharing information, templates, and SOPs for free use via our website norcrin.no.
The Norwegian Clinical Research Infrastructure Network “NorCRIN” was established in 2012 by the six university hospitals in Norway. The initiative was strongly supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services, and was outlined as a key element in the Norwegian Strategy for Health, Research and Innovation (HelseOmsorg21). NorCRIN has since the start of the 5-year funding period (RCN 2015), through work packages (WPs) on practicalities such as Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs) also for trials beyond the pharmaceutical ones, monitoring, e-CRF, industry collaboration and requirement for early phase research facilities, been an important national infrastructure supporting clinical research. NorCRIN’ s partners have further developed NorCRIN in a new project, NorCRIN 2, within the established organization with secretariat (originally situated at St. Olavs hospital, relocated to Helse-Bergen 1. Jan 2022) and local nodes at each partner, the six university hospitals in Norway. New WPs in NorCRIN 2 include data management, statistics and advanced clinical trial methodology, pragmatic trial/register based RCTs, internationalization, and patient and public involvement. Thus, major challenges related to state-of-the-art aspects of clinical and translational medical research are addressed. To meet these and to be able to serve the clinical researchers adequately, NorCRIN 2 has further advanced and broadened its capacity in each partner and the consortium as a network for harmonization and collaboration nationwide. NorCRIN 2 addresses specific needs in clinical research, corresponding to the goal of the call: to give the Norwegian research community access to relevant state-of-the-art infrastructures that contributes to and supports research of high quality.
