The EU Commission conducted a large public consultation on the past, present and future of European Framework Programs for Research and Innovation for the years 2014 - 2027. In total, more than 2000 responses were received.
A first summary has now been published in the Synopsis Report, which contains the results of the consultation section on the Strategic Plan for Horizon Europe (2025 - 2027). The following topics were considered for the first summary:

• Identification of priorities and societal challenges for the future,
• Expected impacts of the six clusters,
• Synergies and complements,
• EU Missions and European Partnerships.

In addition, 108 position papers were taken into account for the evaluation, 40 of which were written by universities or research institutions.
The synopsis report can be found on the European Commission's website.

Take a look at the Synopsis Report

The EU Commission has updated the Template "Information on Clinical Studies" in order to include complex trials and a reference to the mandatory use of the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS).
The new version will be used in the submission system of forthcoming topics and is currently published on the F&T portal: 
Template on "INFORMATION ON CLINICAL STUDIES"

A frequently asked question about the mandatory use of CTIS has been published on the F&T Portal: FAQ on CTI

HNN 3.0 will soon provide further support material on this subject.

The EU Commission has published the submission figures for the calls in the Horizon Europe Cluster Health with a submission deadline on April 13, 2023, and in the Cancer Mission with a submission deadline on April 12, 2023,.

The EU Commission will probably inform the applicants about the results of the assessment on August 4, 2023, at the earliest.

You can find the numbers for submitted applications under the individual call for proposals, in the “Topic updates” section (Health Cluster) or in the “Call updates” section (Cancer Mission) on the Funding and Tenders Portal.

Funding and Tenders Portal

The Horizon Europe-funded project Procure4Health has opened a Call for Twinning applications with 660.000 € to support Twinnings activities in Health & Social care in order to share knowledge, build capacities of procurers, define common needs and advance innovation procurement in the EU.
Deadline to apply is 31 May 2023.

Procure4Health Call

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Health has published a "Call for Experts". Experts with extensive experience in health innovation, entrepreneurship, business, health data and technologies and other fields are sought. The following tasks can be taken over for compensation:

• Analysis of applications,
• Preparation of reports on applications,
• advice and exchange,
• Assessment of the quality of applications.

EIT Health website

The "Blind Evaluation" is a pilot for the anonymous appraisal of short applications (stage 1) in the two-stage application process. Part B of the short application must not contain any information that give information on the identity of the applicant. Otherwise the application is considered inadmissible.
This anonymous application assessment is used in all two-stage application procedures in the 2023/2024 calls for proposals in Clusters 1 Health. Since only single-stage tenders are planned for 2023 in the health cluster, this applies to all two-stage tenders for 2024.
The EU Commission has now updated the application form for the short application and added information on "blind evaluation". The updated application form can be found on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

The UK is currently still in negotiations with the EU for association with Horizon Europe. Institutions from the UK can therefore currently participate in Horizon Europe applications, but will not receive any EU funding, if the UK has not been associated by the time the grant agreement is signed.
The UK government has extended the funding guarantee from national funds. The guarantee commitment covers all calls in Horizon Europe with a submission deadline before or on June 30, 2023. The Cluster Health calls have a deadline in April and are therefore covered by the funding guarantee.

Website UK Research Office

Various Indian ministries, including the Ministry of Biotechnology, have provided co-financing for Indian institutions for a total of eleven call topics of the Horizon Europe program. The following three calls originate from the health cluster:

1. HORIZON-HLTH-2023-DISEASE-03-04: Pandemic preparedness and response: Broad spectrum anti-viral therapeutics for infectious diseases with epidemic potential
2. HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-03-13-two-stage: Validation of fluid-derived biomarkers for the prediction and prevention of brain disorders
3. HORIZON-HLTH2024-DISEASE-08-20: Pandemic preparedness and response: Host-pathogen interactions of infectious diseases with epidemic potential

Background: Indian institutions can participate in all Horizon Europe calls, but usually do not receive any EU funding.

More information can be found on the EURAXESS website.

On 3 February 2023, EMA, the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) and the European Commission (EC) have launched a public consultation on the establishment of a multi-stakeholder platform to improve clinical trials in the European Union (EU). The multi-stakeholder platform is a deliverable of the joint initiative Accelerating Clinical Trials in the EU (ACT EU).

Public consultation on a multi-stakeholder platform to improve clinical trials in the EU

The call topic ‘Tackling high-burden for patients, under-researched medical conditions’ (HLTH-2024-DISEASE-03-14) of the Work Programme 2023-2024 of Cluster 1 makes reference to an independent scoping study that the European Commission commissioned.
The exploratory study was aimed at helping to identify high-burden under-researched medical conditions and define the type of research and/or research priorities to better address the different needs of patients with these conditions.

The study is completed and a ‘Discussion paper’ has just been published.

The EU Commission and the New Zealand government have successfully concluded the association negotiations for the Horizon Europe program under Pillar II "Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness". The signing of the association agreement is expected soon. This means that New Zealand institutions and scientists can then receive standard funding within the framework of calls for proposals from Pillar II of Horizon Europe, including the "Health" cluster, and also coordinate projects.

Further information

The HealthData@EU pilot is a two-year long European project bringing together 17 partners including national health data platforms and permit authorities, European agencies and research infrastructures, co-financed by the EU4Health program. It will build a pilot version of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) for the secondary use of health data “HealthData@EU” which will serve research, innovation, policy making and regulatory purposes.

Open call for experts to participate in the HealthData@EU pilot External Advisory Board

Deadline for submission of applications: 13 January 2023

The EU Joint Program - Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) is looking for scientists who would like to participate in an expert group on the following topic: "Concepts for health and social care research for neurodegenerative diseases".
Find further information on the JPND website.
The submission deadline is December 13, 2022.

On December 6, 2022, the EU Commission published the final version of the Horizon Europe Work Programme with the calls for proposals for 2023 and 2024. The Work Programme for Cluster 1 "Health" can be found in the Funding and Tenders Portal.

1st of December 2022 the European Commission launched an extensive public consultation on the past, present and future of the EU Framework Programs for Research and Innovation in the years 2014-2027.

The consultation consists of three elements:

• the final evaluation of Horizon 2020 (2014-2020)
• the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe (2021-2027)
• the design of the second strategic plan for Horizon Europe (2025-2027)

You are invited to give their opinion on the positive aspects and deficits of Horizon 2020 and the implementation of Horizon Europe so far and to help shape the strategic guidelines and priorities for the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan for the years 2025-2027.

Public consultation on Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 (open until 23. February 2023)

The EU Commission has pre-published several Horizon Europe work programs with calls for funding for 2023-2024, including the work program for the health cluster and the work program for the EU missions, including the cancer mission. You can find these on the website of the EU Commission.
We would like to point out that this is a pre-release and changes are therefore still possible.

In preparation for the planned European Partnership for Personalized Medicine, EP PerMed (probably 2024-2030), the EP PerMed Drafting Group is currently conducting an online consultation. The results are to be incorporated into the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), the further preparation of EP PerMed and the development of activities and calls for proposals within EP PerMed.
For more information and to participate in the online consultation until December 21, 2022, visit the consultation website.

The EU Commission has put a preliminary versions of the Horizon Europe work programs with calls for 2023-2024 online in its comitology register. It can be found here: Comitology register - work program for health.

The work program was submitted to the EU Member States for approval and adopted. In addition to the call texts, you will also find the provisional submission deadlines and budget framework in the document. The official work programs are expected to be published at the end of November 2022.