Academic collaborative centres for health promotion in the Netherlands: building bridges between research, policy and practice

There is considerable and widespread enthusiasm about the establishment of ACCs in the Netherlands. Experiences from the first 5 years of collaboration between research, policy and practice within the ACCs, however, shows research to still have the dominant position. The different groups of stakeholders in the public health infrastructure are also shown to perceive and appreciate the current infrastructure rather differently. These findings are similar to results found in the USA. The predominance of research has recently led the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) to impose stricter criteria and guidelines for the funding of such centres. These measures are aimed at eliciting a shift of power from science to practice. They seem to be a promising contribution to bridging the gap between research, policy and practice.