On 20 December, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd confirmed the completion of negotiations on a broad package of agreements that aim to deepen and expand the EU-Switzerland relationship.

The broad package includes a wide range of elements:

• The update of five agreements which already give Switzerland access to the EU internal market – air transport, land transport, the free movement of persons, conformity assessment and trade in agricultural products. Bringing these agreements to a modern standard will enable citizens and businesses on both sides to fully benefit from the rights they provide and will create a level playing field for business.

EC website
Swiss website

The Commission would like to hear your views.

Feedback period:
12 December 2024 - 21 March 2025  (midnight Brussels time)

Feedback received will be published on this site and therefore must adhere to the feedback rules.

Regulations 2017/745 and 2017/746 on medical devices and in vitro diagnostics aim to ensure the availability of safe and effective devices. This should protect patient safety and public health while making the sector more competitive and supporting innovation.

The targeted evaluation will help the Commission take stock and assess whether the rules:

• are effective, efficient and proportionate
• meet current and emerging needs
• align with other actions
• have EU added value.

EU website

Ekaterina Zaharieva is the new Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation and oversees the Directorate General for Education and Research and the Joint Research Center.

The Commission President emphasizes that Ekaterina Zaharieva will play a crucial role in closing the innovation gap with the US and China by strengthening Europe's competitiveness. Research, innovation, science and technology should be placed at the heart of the economy and it should be ensured that small companies and startups in Europe can also develop in order to bring more groundbreaking technologies from the laboratory to the market.

More on EC Website

Conect4children is a pan-European network with the aim of supporting the development of new therapies for the pediatric population in Europe. The network advocates for children's health by providing strategic feasibility advice to pharmaceutical companies and academic consortia involved in pediatric drug research.

Conect4children has been building a network of experts for six years, including from the areas of methodology, clinics and patients/parents, in order to process specific inquiries from the pharmaceutical industry and academic projects. Additional clinical pediatric experts are currently being sought. Through their membership in the c4c network, the experts will contribute to strategic feasibility advice and ensure that new therapies are well suited for the pediatric population. Interested experts in pediatric drug research can submit their applications by November 8, 2024.

Conect4children Website

The European Commission has published the second report on "Performance of the European Partnerships: Biennial Monitoring Report 2024 on Partnerships in Horizon Europe" (BMR). The BMR aims to provide a solid evidence base for the implementation of partnerships and support strategic discussions on the effectiveness of partnerships within Horizon Europe. 

The BMR summarizes how European Partnerships mobilize significant co-investments and promote additional activities in support of European goals such as the Green Deal, digital transformations and resilience. European partnerships rely on increased transparency and openness to promote the participation of all relevant actors and new participants. Since the last BMR 2022, the focus has shifted from planning to implementing synergies, with several examples of collaboration between European partnerships and between them and EU missions and other EU programs. 

The full report can be found on the European Union website.

The TRANSVAC Academy of the European infrastructure project TRANSVAC2 offers researchers in the field of vaccine development various training courses to support vaccine development. 
The following training courses are offered: 

1. Vaccine Process Development and Scale-up 
2. Statistics for Preclinical Vaccine Research
3. Statistics for Vaccine Clinical Trials

The registration fee is 900 euros, but scholarships are also available. The registration deadline ends on October 21, 2024. 
Further information can be found on the TRANSVAC website.

The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) has announced its plans to trial a novel, applicant-driven approach in the next Call 9 (single-stage). Applicants can largely define their own topics, as long as they stay within the framework of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). There will be five themes corresponding to the SRIA's specific objectives.

The draft topics for the 9th call are expected to be published in mid-October 2024 and the call is expected to open in early 2025. There was an information event about the call on October 10, 2024; The recording can be found on the IHI website.

A brokerage event to find a partner will take place on November 12th and 13th, 2024 in Brussels. There will also be pitching and poster sessions to give research organizations, patient groups and companies the opportunity to present their expertise. You can pre-upload your presentation or poster on the brokerage platform until October 28, 2024. On November 14, 2024, the platform can still be used for virtual exchange and it will remain open until the submission deadline for call 9. 
Further information and the possibility to register can be found on the IHI website.

The coordinating and supporting action for the new European Health Partnership "Brain Health" has published the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). The SRIA is a partnership`s strategy document, which identifies its objectives, impact areas and expected outcomes.

See SRIA

New Health Partnership for Rare Diseases.
To leave no one behind, over 170 organisations championed by the European Union and members states are working hand in hand to make Europe a world leader in rare diseases research and innovation. The European Rare Disease Research Alliance (ERDERA) takes over EJPRD to deliver concrete health benefits to rare disease patients in the next decade by advancing prevention, diagnosis and treatment research.

The European Union is expected to contribute around 150 million euros to this co-funded partnership via Horizon Europe, while the rest of the funding will come from members states, countries associated to Horizon Europe and in cash and in-kind contributions from public and private partners. 

ERDERA website

European Research Area – the new ERA 4 years on: achievements, lessons learnt and the way forward.
The Commission would like to hear your views.
This call for evidence is open for feedback. Your input will be taken into account as we further develop and fine-tune this initiative. Feedback received will be published on this site and therefore must adhere to the feedback rules.

Read more on the the EU website

This report was prepared by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation.
Key results are that lump sums continue to be popular with users and are perceived as reducing the administrative burden. Lump sum funding puts more focus on the content of Horizon Europe grants and does not change the functioning of research and innovation projects. This confirms and extends the positive findings of the 2021 report. 

Read report of Lump Sum Funding

The report looks at the challenges faced by the industry and companies in the Single Market.

In a changing world with new challenges, the European Union is focused on staying competitive and prosperous. We're working hard to maintain our leadership globally and to make sure we have control over our own future. Therefore Europe needs to look further ahead and set out how to remain competitive. 

This is why Mario Draghi – former European Central Bank President and one of Europe's great economic minds – was tasked by the European Commission to prepare a report of his personal vision on the future of European competitiveness. 

Report of Draghi

The EU funded ERA4Health Partnership is preparing the future Joint Transnational Calls in the area of Cardiovascular Diseases; Nanomedicine; Nutrition and lifestyle- related disorders and in Prevention and Public Health.
Participate in the process by analysing the general Scope and Expected Impact of the 6 topics under discussion. Your opinion is important to define more appropriate and targeted goals for the next round of funded projects.
Read more on ERA4Health website

Deadline for applications:

The applications must be sent by 30 September 2024, 23:59 (CET).

More information on Global Health EDCTP3 website

This report presents the interim evaluation of the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) and the final evaluation of its predecessor, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI2). The evaluation considers the programmes’ relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, EU-added value, as well as their additionality, directionality, international positioning and visibility, and transparency and openness, and presents lessons learned and suggestions for improvement.

Full study on the website of the Publications Office of the EU

This publication is the final report of the evaluation support study on Horizon Europe’s contribution to a Resilient Europe. It is an input into the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe, covering the period 2021-2023. The scope of the study covers three Clusters of Horizon Europe Pillar II:

1. Health
2. Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society
3. Civil Security for Society

Additionally, it includes the Cancer Mission and seven partnerships.

Full study on the website of the Publications Office of the EU

The ERA4Health Partnership has launched a survey aimed at identifying specific challenges faced by researchers in translating health research results into practical applications across the European Union and beyond. The survey focuses on four specific fields: 

• Nutrition & Lifestyle-related Diseases,
• Cardiovascular Diseases,
• Nanomedicine, and
• Public Health and Prevention.

The insights gathered will be crucial in understanding and prospectively overcoming the roadblocks researchers encounter in their specific field during market uptake and policy implementation.

Survey on the ERA4Health website

The European Commission is seeking members of the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). They are looking for both medical professionals who are members of a professional healthcare association and patient organizations to be represented on the committee. A mandate in the Committee covers all aspects of risk management in the use of medicinal products for humans, including the identification, assessment, minimization and communication of the risk of adverse reactions. The members are appointed for a period of three years. The submission deadline ends on September 15, 2024.

European Commission website

The European Artificial Intelligence Office (AI Office) is conducting a public consultation on trustworthy, universal AI models under the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation ("AI Act"). All interested stakeholders are invited to express their views on the topics covered in the first Code of Practice, which will set out the rules for universal AI models. The consultation is open until September 10, 2024.

In addition to the consultation, the AI ​​Office is calling for expressions of interest to participate in the development of the first general-purpose AI Code of Practice between September 2024 and April 2025. Expressions of interest in participating in the working groups can be submitted until August 25, 2024.

AI Office website

The ERA4Health partnership is conducting a public survey to harmonize contracts for multinational clinical trials. The aim of the survey is to collect information about existing contract templates in order to gain an overview of national characteristics and a comprehensive understanding of the problems in dealing with and negotiating contracts. The survey is open to academic sponsors, trial sites, clinical research organizations and other stakeholders involved in the development of national procedures for the harmonization of clinical trial contracts. 
The survey is open until September 30, 2024.

Survey on the ERA4Health website

The Brain Health partnership is the tenth partnership to be established in the health cluster according to Horizon Europe's Strategic Plan 2025-2027. A coordination and support project is already being funded to prepare for this. This is conducting a public survey on its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA).
The SRIA represents the vision, mission, goals and scientific priorities and the implementation plan of the future "Brain Health Partnership". Researchers, stakeholders, political decision-makers, patient groups and all interested parties are invited to provide feedback on the SRIA. 
The survey is open until August 14, 2024. 

Survey on the BrainHealth website

The European Commission published the Indicative Audit Programme (IAP) for EU funding programmes like Horizon Europe. This document is designed as a guide for financial audits in EU grants and gives general guidance and the types of procedures that are to be followed for the most common types of grants and cost categories.

Indicative Audit Programme

On July 3, 2024, the European Commission and Canada signed the Association Agreement to Pillar II of Horizon Europe, which comes into force. Canadian institutions can now receive funding and coordinate projects as part of Horizon Europe's Pillar II tenders, including the Health Cluster and the Cancer Mission, as standard.

Canada joins Horizon Europe programme

Background: Associated states are not member states of the European Union, but contribute to the European framework program Horizon Europe. This means that institutions in the associated countries are not only eligible to participate but also to receive funding, can coordinate joint projects and contribute to meeting the minimum requirements for a consortium.

On June 16 2024 the European Artificial Intelligence Office (AI Office) was established within the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technologies (DG Connect) of the European Commission. The AI ​​Office was decided as part of the package of measures launched by the European Commission to support European start-ups and small and medium-sized companies in the development of trustworthy artificial intelligence. The package of measures followed the political agreement reached in December 2023 on the European Regulation on Artificial Intelligence ("AI Act").
The AI ​​Office will support the development and use of trustworthy AI and protect against risks. It will play a key role in the implementation of the new European Regulation on AI by supporting the governance bodies in the Member States in their tasks. It will also ensure a European approach to AI at the international level.

AI office on the European Commission website

The European Commission has published the 2023 annual report on the European Union's activities in the field of research and innovation and on the monitoring of Horizon Europe.
The report shows the research-related support measures for Ukraine and the measures to increase the internal security of the European Union. Horizon Europe provides, among other things, information about the status of the association, statistics on calls for tenders and success rates. The success rate for proposals in the health cluster is 21.8%.

Full report on the European Commission website

The European Commission published two reports on studies about the implementation of the EU Cancer Mission and the European Cancer Patient Digital Centre.

The report about the implementation of the EU Cancer Mission was written by focus groups with citizens in six EU Member States. Citizen engagement activities have been considered highly important in all phases of the Mission development and implementation, to ensure that the knowledge, needs, preferences, and potential of EU citizens are considered when developing interventions and actions to prevent and fight cancer.

The full report "Cancer prevention, early detection, and screening: EU citizen perceptions and experiences" can be found here.

The other reports deals with an operational concept for a European Cancer Patient Digital Centre (ECPDC). The ECPDC aims at increasing the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors, which is often characterised by a lack of understanding or insufficient consideration of patient needs during and after the treatment.

The full report "An operational concept for a European Cancer Patient Digital Centre" can be found here.

The DESIGN One Health Antimicrobial Resistance (OHAMR) project, which is preparing the new co-funded partnership OHAMR, is conducting a public survey on the final draft of its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). The SRIA represents the vision, mission, goals and scientific priorities and implementation plan of the OHAMR. Researchers, stakeholders, policy makers, patient groups and all interested parties are invited to provide feedback on the SRIA.

The survey is open until May 30, 2024.

Survey on the JPI AMR website

The European Global Health EDCTP3 (“European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership”) has published a call for tenders on the Mpox outbreak. Due to the ongoing Mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo emergency funding of 5 million € are mobilized to support research and innovation projects that will advance our understanding of the ongoing epidemic, contribute to the development of preventive and management strategies and support an efficient public health response.

The call for proposals will open for submissions on 14 May and is expected to close on 29 May.

News message from EDCTP

The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) has pre-published the drafts for Call 8. Following four topics are currently planned for the two-stage Call 8, which will be finalized and published in the coming weeks:

1. "A city-based approach to reducing cardiovascular mortality in Europe”
2. "Novel endpoints for osteoarthritis (OA) by applying big data analytics”
3. "Modelling regulatory sandbox mechanisms and enabling their deployment to support breakthrough innovation”
4. "Patient-centred clinical-study endpoints derived using digital health technologies”

The topics are currently being consulted with the States' Representatives Group and the Science and Innovation Panel. They can therefore change between the versions now published and the publication of the Call. Applicants should therefore check the final, approved topic texts after publication of the call for proposals. Release is expected on June 25, 2024.

More information and the draft for Call 8 can be found on the IHI website.

The European Commission has published an UPDATED Work Programme 2024!
Check out the new funding opportunities for Cluster 1 Health and the Cancer Mission

Cluster Health
Cancer Mission

Contribute to the development of the Horizon Europe work programme 2025 by filling in one or more surveys.

Responses submitted through the survey will contribute to the co-design of the work programme 2025, covering all 6 clusters, research infrastructures, European innovation ecosystems, the 5 EU Missions and the New European Bauhaus facility.

The feedback opportunity is open for 3 weeks from 15 April and closes on 6 May 2024 midday, CET.

Feedback opportunity for Horizon Europe work programme 2025

On March 20, 2024, the European Commission published the second Strategic Plan for Horizon Europe. Based on the strategic plan, the work programs and funding calls for 2025 to 2027 will be developed.
The plan sets out three key strategic orientations for EU research and innovation funding for the last three years of Horizon Europe:

• green transition;
• digital transition;
• a more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe.

The orientations aim to address global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, digital transformation and an aging population.
Nine new European partnerships will be named, which will be set up from 2025. A partnership with “Brain Health” is planned for the health sector.
In addition, the priorities for each cluster - including the health cluster - are described in a separate chapter.

European Commission website

The European Commission is hosting virtual “EU Missions Info Days” on April 25-26, 2024.
In these, potential applicants are informed about the new calls for proposals within the five European missions: cancer, climate adaptation, water, cities and soils.
The Cancer Mission will be presented on April 26, 2023 from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. (CET). A registration is not required. Further information can be found on the event website.
Following the Info Days, a virtual brokerage event for the Cancer Mission's calls for proposals will take place to support potential applicants in finding project partners.

EU Missions info days

The European Commission has published the report of the expert group to support the monitoring of European missions. The group developed a conceptual understanding of missions as a policy approach in the context of European research and innovation policy and in the report proposes a monitoring framework and indicators focused on development and implementation "beyond Horizon Europe".

Final report of Commission Expert Group to support the monitoring of EU missions

A widely used template for consortium agreements, DESCA (“Development of a Simplified Consortium Agreement”) has now been updated and adapted to the requirements of Lump-Sum projects in Horizon Europe.

DESCA website

The European Partnership for Personalised Medicine (EP PerMed) held its first general assembly meeting on 23 and 24 January 2024 in Brussels with more than 50 partner organisations from 24 countries and 10 European regions. EP PerMed partners and representatives from the European Commission and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) gathered to discuss the current and upcoming work plans of EP PerMed as well as financial and administrative aspects of the partnership.

Please find more information and impressions about the Kick-off Meeting here.

The first EP PerMed call on "Identification or Validation of Targets for Personalised Medicine Approaches (PMTargets)" is already open for submission of research proposals. Please find more information about the call here.

Iliana Ivanova (Bulgarian) has been appointed as the new EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. She replaces Mariya Gabriel and was previously Member of the European Parliament and at the European Court of Auditors. She will serve until the end of the current Commission's term, October 31, 2024.
More information can be found in the European Parliament press release.

The European Commission and the UK Government have concluded negotiations and reached an agreement in principle on the association of the UK to Horizon Europe and Copernicus under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

UK researchers will be able to fully participate in the Horizon Europe programme on the same terms as researchers from other associated countries, including leading consortia, from the 2024 Work Programmes and onwards – including any 2024 calls opening this year.

For calls from the 2023 Work Programmes, the European Commission will continue to administer transitional arrangements and the UK will continue to provide funding under the UK Guarantee. UK and EU scientists and researchers can have confidence in continuing long-term partnerships with their counterparts.

For more details please have a look at the website of the European Commission and at the UK Research and Innovation Website.

The European Commission has published an updated Guide on "Complementary funding mechanisms in third countries and territories". A partner from a non-eligible country (third countries and territories) can participate as an "Associated Partner" in Horizon Europe projects, but usually does not receive any EU funding and has to cover the costs elsewhere. Various countries have national funding for this, which is presented in the updated guide.
See the full guide on the European Commission's website

The European Commission has published ten candidates for new European partnerships that could start in the second half of Horizon Europe. The list of proposals will be discussed with the member states and associated states in the coming months and adjusted if necessary. The final portfolio of European partnerships will be included in the Strategic Plan 2025-2027, to be published in 2024.
The following partnerships are available for consultation:

1. Brain Health
2. Forests and forestry for a sustainable future
3. Innovative materials for the EU
4. On-orbit demonstration and validation
5. Raw materials for the green and digital transition
6. Resilient cultural heritage
7. Social Transformations and Resilience
8. Solar Photovoltaic
9. Textiles of the future
10. Virtual Worlds

More information can be found on the European Commission's website

The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) has pre-published the drafts for calls 4 and 5. Six topics are currently planned for the two-stage Call 4 and four topics for the one-stage Call 5, which will be finalized and published in the coming weeks.
The topics are currently being consulted with the States' Representatives Group and the Science and Innovation Panel. They can therefore change significantly between the versions now published and the publication of the call. Applicants should therefore check the final, approved topic texts after publication of the call for proposals. Release is expected on July 27, 2023.

More information and the draft calls for calls 4 and 5 can be found on the IHI website.

For the two calls, the IHI organizes the virtual "IHI Call Days" where the participation rules and the topics are presented. In addition, there are pitching sessions for the IHI Call Day 5, where participants can present their expertise. Places are limited and registration is only possible until June 15, 2023.

• IHI Call Day 4: June 19-22, 2023
• IHI Call Day 5: June 26-29, 2023

The future One Health Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) partnership has published the draft of its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA).
The SRIA will lead the activities of the One Health AMR Partnership, which coordinates and promotes AMR research and innovation as part of an interdisciplinary One Health approach. The partnership aims to contribute advanced knowledge, innovative solutions and policies to reduce the burden of AMR. It is expected to start in 2025.

More information and the draft SRIA can be found on the JPI AMR website.
JPI (Joint Programming Initiative) AMR is the current partnership with AMR and will be replaced by the new partnership "One Health AMR".

The brokerage platform created for the brokerage event on June 02, 2023 remains open for partner search and bilateral meetings until September 03, 2023. The brokerage platform is intended to facilitate contacts between stakeholders interested in the tenders in the health cluster for 2024 and to promote joint cooperation for the formation of a consortium.
Visit the Brokerage website for more information and to register and schedule bilateral meetings.

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.