EpiCARE Research Council

Amount: 25 000€ to cover the organization of a 2-days workshop
Deadline: April 25th, 2022

Aim
The goal of the workshops is to train researchers and clinicians affiliated to ERN- Full  Members or – Affiliated Partners in relevant topics on research in rare diseases. Training themes may include innovative research methodologies, diagnostic research methodologies, interdisciplinary treatment approaches, such as gene therapy and transplantation, etc. Moreover, the workshops will be aiming to provide a cross-ERN added value.  

The workshops will be delivered as two-day events. Topics can be proposed by clinicians/investigators affiliated to ERN-institutions or EJP RD beneficiaries. 

Topics
Topics will be selected taking into consideration several elements such as:  

• Addressing cross-cutting issues relevant for ERNs  
• Multidisciplinary topics 
• Fostering collaboration (within and between ERNs)  
• No overlap with other EJP RD training activities  
• Relevance of the topic for the ERN(s)  
• Benefits for the RD community 
• Appropriate training methodology  
  

Applicants

The workshops selected for funding will be attended only by individuals affiliated to ERN institutions. Participants will be selected by the coordinator of the ERN managing institution and the workshop organizer based on pre-defined criteria. The costs for the workshop organization will be covered up to a limit of € 25.000. These include the costs and fees typically charged by the event venue, administrative, audio-visual and IT facilities essential for the workshop, catering, travel and accommodation expenses of workshops participants and invited speakers (if envisaged). 

The applicant submitting workshop topics must fulfil one of the following conditions: 

• Affiliated to any EJP RD beneficiary institution. The list of EJP RD beneficiary organizations can be found here  
• Affiliated to an ERN Full Member. The list of full ERN members per country and per network can be found here 
• Affiliated to an ERN Affiliated Partner institution at the time when the application is submitted, as well as during the period of the execution of the workshop. 

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Amount: up to $10,000
Deadline: March 31, 2022
Focus areas: TBC1D24 gene mutation variants, related seizure research, related symptom research; other topics welcome.

The TBC1D24 Foundation, with funding from generous donors, is accepting applications for a total of USD $10,000.00 for scientific and/or clinical research studies related to natural history, treatment and research. Consideration will be given to applicants in the field of neurology, genetics and behavior. Interest and efforts in furthering understanding of the TBC1D24 gene mutation are appreciated and the impact it will have on the families.

The TBC1D24 Foundation 2022 Grant is being established to encourage meritorious
scientific and clinical studies designed to improve the diagnosis or therapy of individuals with a TBC1D24 gene mutation. Proposals that focus on defining the natural history, early detection and diagnosis, or novel treatment strategies will be given priority.

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Deadline model: single-stage

Deadline: 21 September 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Budget : €38 000 000

Expected Outcome:

• integrated multi-disciplinary collaborative tools and services widely serving the European neuroscientific community, providing them with FAIR data indexing and archival, multilevel data mining and modelling/simulation of brain functions, and empowering workflows for reproducible research;
• a rich collection of multilevel human brain models, atlases and workflows, directly supporting the research and development for personalised brain medical treatments e.g. target binding drugs, precise neuro-stimulation positioning and guided surgery, regarding brain diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson, consciousness disorders, or rare or multi-factor diseases;
• a comprehensive set of cognitive brain model scaffolds and associated modular / large-size neuromorphic and neurorobotic facilities for assisting the design and validation of applicative cognitive technologies benefitting from neurosciences latest knowledge, as enablers for autonomous and adaptive robotics approaches that use fast sensory processing and decision-making capabilities;
• supplementary population of EBRAINS facilities with multidisciplinary services/applications that answer well-identified new neuroscience related S&T needs, in correlation with national and European research priorities for neuroscience, brain medicine and cognitive-technologies;
• integration of EBRAINS with EOSC and linkage with common European data spaces in the life science and health sector;
• better-aligned national investments in neuroscience across Europe, building on the Member States’ and Associated Countries’ specialised competence centres, which in turn will help creating additional synergies and enabling further research activities around the EBRAINS services.

Scope:

Building on the EBRAINS architecture and base facilities developed under Horizon 2020, the scope of this action is to:

1. To implement a user-friendly service infrastructure along the principles of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) to widely serve the research communities in neurosciences, brain medicine and brain-inspired cognitive technologies. This includes the following dimensions:

Enabling the EBRAINS research infrastructure digital facilities supporting neuroscience dedicated tools and services, with a high quality of service including robustness, security, scalability, flexibility, usability and user-centricity. This includes a sustainable system for allocation and management of data capacities and of simulation and computing service resources.

Establishing in-depth collaboration with teams from other European research and testing infrastructures and of EOSC, in order to ensure efficiency and harmonisation, e.g. regarding Authorisation, Authentication and Identification (AAI), Persistent Identifiers (PID), discovery ontologies and API for both services and data.

Directly interfacing with the European HPC capacities towards exascale, deployed in EuroHPC and capitalising on the FENIX[1] developments for big-data integration and interactive use.

Delivering an efficient Europe-wide service to researchers, based on promoting excellence and innovation, and supporting users’ digital experiments with the assistance of high-level support teams and feedback mechanisms, and guiding communities in developing novel software solutions that build on the EBRAINS base offering.

Deploying an open metrics framework to assess the EBRAINS performances reached, the efficiency of the facilities offered in particular regarding the human-based services, and the uptake especially regarding the enabled science excellence and related results and the medical and technological innovation empowerment.

2. To develop, integrate in EBRAINS, and operate:

Constantly improving open science services/applications that respond to up-to-date and upcoming identified needs of the neuroscientific community, with a co-design approach and in-depth engagement with scientific, medical and industrial stakeholders and the establishment of an appropriate and transparent prioritisation mechanism. This includes ensuring openness to other research groups and new applications; reaching out to scientific and industrial communities, including with tailored training and skills development programmes.

The deployment of complementary S&T services from regional or national competence nodes, supporting and enriching the cloud-based deliveries and facilitating the sharing of produced data and use of national resources.

In addition to the above, EBRAINS should open its approaches to other communities, going beyond neuroscience, for example by supporting compute-intensive simulation to identify candidate drugs addressing new disease targets in other explicit medical domains where this approach is justified.

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Budget: €183 000 000

Deadline model: single-stage

Deadline date: 04 May 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Scope

You should apply to this call if you are looking for support from EIC Pathfinder Open to realise an ambitious vision for radically new technology, with potential to create new markets and/or to address global challenges. EIC Pathfinder Open supports early stage development of such future technologies (e.g. various activities at low Technology Readiness Levels 1-4), based on high-risk/high-gain science-towards-technology breakthrough research (including ‘deep-tech’). This research must provide the foundations of the technology you are envisioning.

EIC Pathfinder Open may support your work, especially if it is highly risky: you may set out to try things that will not work; you may be faced with questions that nobody knows the answer to yet; you may realise that there are many aspects of the problem that you do not master. On the contrary, if the path you want to follow is incremental by nature or known, EIC Pathfinder Open will not support you.

Before applying you should verify that your proposal meets all the following essential characteristics (‘Gatekeepers’):

• Convincing long-term vision of a radically new technology that has the potential to have a transformative positive effect to our economy and society.
• Concrete, novel and ambitious science-towards-technology breakthrough, providing advancement towards the envisioned technology.
• High-risk/high-gain research approach and methodology, with concrete and plausible objectives.

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Budget: €131 360 126 (Grants of up to EUR 2.5million)

Deadline model: multiple cut-off

Deadline:

• 04 May 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time
• 28 September 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

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Is intended to meet the following specific objectives:

1. Advance, beyond the state-of-the-art, RNA delivery methods, including robust mRNA formulations, that would enable effective and safe delivery of mRNA into the cells;
2. Design, develop and preclinical validate of novel miRNAs (miRNA lncRNA, tRNA or siRNA-based) therapies for complex or rare genetic diseases;
3. Develop and validate novel RNA-based diagnostics and RNA-based predictive biomarkers that would allow for early and more accurate diagnosis and for favourable or non- post-treatment prognosis, respectively.

The starting point in the project should be a preliminary technology or protocol of an RNA-based therapy for complex or rare genetic diseases with unmet medical needs that demonstrates, in a lab or preclinical context, the essential features that underpin the disruptive nature of the innovation. The endpoint in the project should be a completely functional version of the technology suitable for clinical validation, supported by a sound and implementable commercialisation/exploitation strategy.

Proposals are expected to contribute to at least one of the following outcomes:

• novel technological solutions leading to more effective and safer RNA delivery methods applicable to a wide range of non-infectious diseases;
• utilisation of RNAs to molecularly classify sub-types of different solid tumours that would allow for stratification of patients leading to more effective and precise treatments in complex diseases with high-unmet medical needs;
• novel and sound ideas for the development and validation of RNA-based therapeutic platforms and drugs;
• all the projects should lead to a sufficiently mature and sound data for being ready to be up taken to the (pre-) clinical trials.

Budget: €427 276 125 (Per project: 36 months)

Deadline model: single-stage

Deadline: 15 November 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

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Scope: The Doctoral Networks aim to train a new generation of creative entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit.

For supported doctoral candidates

• New research and transferable skills and competences, leading to improved employability and career prospects within and outside academia;
• New knowledge allowing the conversion of ideas into products and services, where relevant;
• Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact.

For participating organizations:

• Improved quality, relevance and sustainability of doctoral training programmes and supervision arrangements;
• Enhanced cooperation and transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines;
• Increased integration of training and research activities between participating organisations;
• Boosted R&I capacity;
• Increased internationalisation and attractiveness;
• Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organisations.

Deadline model: single-stage

Deadline: 14 September 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Budget:

• For Global Fellowships: €38 550 000 (Per project: duration from 24 to 36 months)
• For European Fellowships: €218 450 000 (Per project: duration from 12 to 24 months)

Scope: Fellowships will be provided to excellent researchers, undertaking international mobility either to or between EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, as well as to non-associated Third Countries. Applications will be made jointly by the researcher and a beneficiary in the academic or non-academic sector.

Postdoctoral Fellowships either can take place in Europe (i.e. in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country) or in a Third Country not associated to Horizon Europe:

• European Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in R&I projects by either coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving within Europe. The standard duration of these fellowships must be between 12 and 24 months.
• Global Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to European nationals or long-term residents[1] who wish to engage in R&I projects with organisations outside EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. These fellowships require an outgoing phase of minimum 12 and maximum 24 months in a non-associated Third Country, and a mandatory 12-month return phase to a host organisation based in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country.

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Deadline model: single-stage

Deadline: 21 April 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Budget : €35 000 000 (around EUR 7.00 million per project)

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Scope

• With the emerging use of real-world data (RWD) and synthetic data by the pharmaceutical industry and medical devices industry, regulators and HTA bodies need to perform targeted validation of claims through independent analysis. The principal aim of this topic is to address the data needs of health regulatory bodies and HTA bodies across the EU, as outlined in the recently published “HMA-EMA Joint Big Data Taskforce Phase II report: ‘Evolving Data-Driven Regulation’”[2] and its associated DARWIN (Data Analysis and Real World Interrogation Network) project[3].

• To harness the potential of RWD and synthetic data from digital twins and advanced analytical models, and make them actionable for health regulatory decision-making and for health technology assessment, targeted research is needed on the evidentiary value of these data for a number of relevant use cases. In addition, methods need to be developed to increase the usability of such data by different stakeholder groups. Doing so will contribute to the European Health Data Space and maximise the positive impact of DARWIN in driving up the quality of evidence and decisions on the development and use of medicines and digital health innovations.

• Access to and analysis of RWD and synthetic data can inform regulatory decision-making throughout the product lifecycle, namely: 1) support product development (e.g. scientific advice, PRIME[4]),); 2) support authorisation of new medicines and digital health innovations; and 3) monitor the performance of medicines and digital health innovations on the market (effectiveness and safety). Eventually, this will put in place methods and processes that will enable continuous learning from pre-authorisation procedures and authorisation applications on the use of RWD and/or synthetic data.

Proposals should address all of the following areas:

• Develop a set of evidentiary standards to be pre-specified and used in the analysis of real-word evidence and/or synthetic data applied to different types of regulatory advice and/or health technology assessment and decisions on the safety and efficacy/effectiveness of medicines and digital health innovations (e.g. in complement to clinical trial data in an authorisation application, or for extension of indications, post marketing surveillance, amendment of product information or regulatory actions on the marketing authorisation due to safety concerns). This includes validating the use of advanced analytical methods for regulatory decision-making and/or health technology assessment.
• Address aspects that would enable moving towards a standard data quality framework reproducible across different types of RWD and/or synthetic data sources for regulatory decision-making and/or health technology assessment, with a characterisation of the data collection, management and reporting and an empirical data quality validation. In this regard, it will be important that successful proposals liaise with and closely monitor the work carried out in the context of the European Health Data Space.
• Enhance the performance and efficiency of large randomised clinical trials and new models of clinical trials by developing standardised processes and methods to access RWD and/or synthetic data (e.g., facilitating the detection of various types of health outcomes during the treatment period of a double-blinded trial by linkage to appropriate electronic health care record databases, etc.), for regulatory decision-making and/or health technology assessment.
• Define methodological standards for the regulatory acceptability of RWD, and/or synthetic data in the context of clinical trials augmented with RWD, and/or synthetic data, for regulatory decision making and/or health technology assessment.
• Test the ability of machine learning methods to help identify relevant RWD, and/or synthetic data to match with and to interpret clinical trials, for regulatory decision‑making and/or health technology assessment.
• Assess and validate how machine learning methods can be systematically harnessed to screen a large amount of data, including unstructured data, in many electronic databases to identify factors affecting efficacy and safety of treatments and/or digital health innovations, for regulatory decision-making and/or health technology assessment. The cross-border interoperability dimension should be taken into account.
• Proposals should involve researchers who are specialised in the use of real-world data and/or synthetic data to evaluate medicinal products and/or health care digital innovation products and services. Proposals should involve national competent authorities (national health care product regulatory bodies and/or medical device notified bodies) and could involve citizens and patients’ representatives where relevant. Proposals should include capacity-building efforts to address inequalities of health regulatory processes across Europe. This should comprise education and training activities and sharing of best practices.

• In addition to national competent authorities, proposals could consider the involvement of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for an added value in order to provide an effective interface between the research activities and regulatory aspects and/or to translate the research results into validated test methods and strategies that would be fit for regulatory purpose.

• Proposals could also consider the involvement of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) to provide added-value regarding health registry data, interoperability, harmonisation and quality and linking with other data.

Deadline model: single-stage

Deadline: 28 April 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time

Link: https://erc.europa.eu/funding/advanced-grants

Budget

Advanced Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 2 500 000 for a period of 5 years (the maximum award is reduced pro rata temporis for projects of a shorter duration).

However, up to an additional EUR 1 000 000 can be requested in the proposal to cover (a) eligible “start-up” costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU or an Associated Country from elsewhere as a consequence of receiving the ERC grant and/or (b) the purchase of major equipment and/or (c) access to large facilities and/or (d) other major experimental and field work costs, excluding personnel costs. (As any additional funding is to cover major one-off costs it is not subject to pro-rata temporis reduction for projects of shorter duration. All funding requested is assessed during evaluation).

Objectives

ERC Advanced Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they are already established research leaders with a recognised track record of research achievements. Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.

Profile of the ERC Advanced Grant Principal Investigator

ERC Advanced Grant Principal Investigators are expected to be active researchers and to have a track record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years which must be presented in the application.

A competitive Advanced Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown a record which identifies them as an exceptional leader in terms of originality and significance of their research contributions.

Principal Investigators of Advanced Grant proposals will be expected to demonstrate a record of achievements appropriate to the field and at least matching one or more of the following benchmarks: 10 publications as main author (or in those fields where alphabetic order of authorship is the norm, joint author) in major international peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journals, and/or in the leading international peer-reviewed journals and peer-reviewed conferences proceedings of their respective field; 3 major research monographs. This benchmark is relevant to research fields where publication of monographs is the norm.

Other alternative benchmarks that may be considered (individually or in combination) as indicative of an exceptional record and recognition in the last 10 years: 5 granted patents; 10 invited presentations in well-established internationally organised conferences and advanced schools; 3 research expeditions led by the applicant Principal Investigator; 3 well-established international conferences or congresses where the applicant was involved as a member of the steering and/or organising committee; International recognition through scientific or artistic prizes/awards or membership in well-regarded Academies or artefact with documented use (for example, architectural or engineering design, methods or tools); Major contributions to launching the careers of outstanding researchers; Recognised leadership in industrial innovation.

Deadline date: December 31, 2022

More info 

Budget: €2 000 

The Dravet Syndrome Foundation Spain (FSD) Open-Access Support Program is an ongoing call for proposals, and it joins recent research initiatives initiated by FSD, such as the Call for Innovative Research Projects in Advanced Therapies for Dravet Syndrome or the Program for the development of new scientific tools initiated last February 1st together with Tel Aviv University.

This is an ongoing call only limited by FSD’s budget. Authors can apply for a grant of up to EUR 2,000 (approximately $2400 USD) to cover the open-access publishing fees required for the publication in international scientific journals of a manuscript resulting from high quality research on Dravet syndrome.

Budget: $30,000
Deadline:

• Send LOI via email to info@curechd2.orgno later than April 15, 2022
• LOIs will be reviewed and invitations for full grant proposals will be sent by May 15, 2022
• Full Grant Proposals are due to info@curechd2.orgby July 11, 2022
• Award Announcement will be made by no later than August 15, 2022
• Research Project Start Date – immediately upon CCC’s receipt of a fully executed contract

Link: https://www.curechd2.org/2022grant

Through our Early-Stage Investigator Grant Program, CCC hopes to accelerate the development of therapeutic treatments and disease-modifying advancements for those living with CHD2-related disorders. This grant program is designed to facilitate preliminary investigations that will potentially lay the groundwork for subsequent grants from the government, industry, or other funding sources, including Coalition to Cure CHD2.

CCC is interested in supporting research that advances the understanding of the cellular, molecular, genetic, and systems-level mechanisms of CHD2-related disorders. However, priority will be given to innovative projects, which could potentially lead to therapeutic treatments or a cure for those with CHD2-related disorders.

The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), a European Union public-private partnership funding health research and innovation, has published draft information on upcoming funding opportunities in 2022 in order to give potential applicants additional time to find or build a consortium and prepare a strong proposal.

The first call for proposals will be launched in the first half of 2022. The following draft themes could be included in the future calls:

Single stage calls

• Innovative patient-facing care pathways for patients with neurodegenerative diseases and comorbidities
• Next generation imaging and image-guided diagnosis and therapy for cancer
• Precision oncology: Innovative patient-centric, multi-modal therapies against cancer
• Access and integration of heterogeneous health data for improved health care in diseases areas of high unmet public health need.

Two stage calls

• New tools for prediction, prevention and monitoring of cardio-metabolic diseases including secondary manifestations to enable timely intervention
• Strengthening EU clinical development excellence and innovation attractiveness: Harmonised methodology to promote the uptake of early feasibility studies (EFS)

Please check the IHI website and social media for regular updates related to the upcoming calls.

ders.

Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 12 January 2022
Deadline date: 21 April 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time
Budget: 30 M€
Type of action: HORIZON-COFUND HORIZON Programme Cofund Actions.
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Expected Outcome
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 3 “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Research funders, policy-makers and the research community work together in an effective joint approach, including for identifying and prioritizing topics of common interest and European benefit, thanks to a trusted governance and effective working modalities.
• Research funders and policy-makers generate knowledge for cardiovascular diseases, diet related diseases and Nano medical technologies, and have access to and use evidences of the benefit and drawback of health interventions, in particular for optimizing clinical management, repurposing, comparative effectiveness, treatment combination or optimization studies, personalized medicine and avoiding overtreatment.
• Research funders and policy-makers have removed the main barriers to test health interventions at European level, and thus the research community conducts large-scale investigator-initiated clinical studies (IISs) of various health interventions addressing important public health needs in a seamless way.

Expected impacts
Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to tackling diseases and reducing disease burden, and more specifically to several of the following impacts:

• Health burden of diseases in the EU and worldwide is reduced through effective disease management, including through the development and integration of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, personalized medicine approaches, digital and other people-centered solutions for health care. In particular, patients are diagnosed early and accurately and receive effective, cost-efficient and affordable treatment, including patients with a rare disease, due to effective translation of research results into new diagnostic tools and therapies.
• Premature mortality from non-communicable diseases is reduced by one third (by 2030), mental health and well-being is promoted, and the voluntary targets of the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020 are attained (by 2025), with an immediate impact on the related disease burden (DALYs)[[WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020 (resolution WHA66.10).
• Health care systems benefit from strengthened research and innovation expertise, human capacities and know-how for combatting communicable and non-communicable diseases, including through international cooperation. In particular, they are better prepared to respond rapidly and effectively to health emergencies and are able to prevent and manage communicable diseases transmissions epidemics, including within healthcare settings.
• Citizens benefit from reduced (cross-border) health threat of epidemics and AMR pathogens, in the EU and worldwide[[WHO global action plan on antimicrobial resistance, 2015.]],[[EU One Health Action Plan against AMR, 2017.]]. In particular, the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases are contained and hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases are being combated.
• Patients and citizens are knowledgeable of disease threats, involved and empowered to make and shape decisions for their health, and better adhere to knowledge-based disease management strategies and policies (especially for controlling outbreaks and emergencies).

Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 06 October 2021
Deadline date: 21 April 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time
Budget: 60M€ – around 10M€ per project
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Expected Outcome
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 5 “Unlocking the full potential of new tools, technologies and digital solutions for a healthy society”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:
Diagnostics industries move towards market approval for companion diagnostics.
Regulatory authorities approve companion diagnostics and make recommendations for the prescription of existing drugs.
Health care providers use biomarkers with existing pharmaceuticals to treat more efficiently and cost-effectively patients, with less adverse effects.

Scope
The applicants should perform the clinical validation of qualified biomarkers (not limited to molecular biomarkers) that will enable the identification of appropriate patients to ensure an effective and efficient use of existing pharmaceuticals in the treatment of major diseases and conditions. The relevant biomarkers should allow providing the right medicinal product, at the right dose and the right time, according to the concept of personalised medicine, taking into account, among others, differences of sex, age, ethnicity and gender identity. This topic refers to medicines that are already on the market and not to the validation of biomarkers for the development of new medicinal products. It addresses broadly prescribed medicines for major diseases and conditions, including but not limited to cardiovascular diseases. A condition is that preliminary studies or publications have demonstrated that the pharmaceuticals considered are efficient in less than 50% of the population treated. This topic excludes cancer and rare disease treatments. The applicants should consider existing guidelines, standards and regulations, as appropriate. Synergies with relevant European Research Infrastructures are encouraged.

Type of action: HORIZON-PCP HORIZON Pre-commercial Procurement
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 06 October 2021
Deadline date: 21 April 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time
Budget: 25 M€ – 5 M€ per project
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This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 4 “Ensuring access to innovative, sustainable and high-quality health care”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to some of the following expected outcomes:

• Public and private procurers in the area of health care procure the competitive development of market-ready, sustainable, innovative solutions (materials, equipment, technologies and systems/practices) which are made in Europe and can improve the preparedness and resilience of health care systems in the context of the recovery;
• European health and technology industry actors (including start-ups/SMEs) bring to the market secure, interoperable digital health care solutions (complying with relevant ethical and privacy protection standards) which are proven to improve health outcomes and access to care for patients;
• Procurers facilitate the commercialisation of innovative solutions at a large scale (EU/international) by their successful suppliers through providing them with first customer references for the validation and first pilot deployment in multiple countries and health care settings;
• Policymakers, health care providers and professionals, patients and their careers – each in their respective areas – exchange and adopt good practices and the best solutions the market can deliver to improve the resilience of health care systems.

Scope
Pre-commercial procurement (PCP) can boost innovation in health care systems, while building the capacity of providers and increasing resilience and preparedness in the context of cross-border public health emergencies. Through the competitive development of a range of breakthrough innovations for a concrete health care challenge, PCP can strengthen the security of the supply chain in the health care sector.
Pre-commercial procurement actions in the area of health care gather relevant public and private procurers to address a common, unmet need through the cross-border public and private procurement of research and development for demand-driven innovative solutions. Specific guidance on PCP actions and minimum eligibility requirements can be found in General Annex H[1] of the Horizon Europe work programme.
Proposals should therefore be based on clearly identified user needs and well-structured work plans, explaining how the procured research and development will contribute to the expected outcomes. In addition, proposals should clearly state the expected health benefits of the solutions that will be developed during the course of the action. In this context, applicants should also consider aspects of accessibility and affordability of the solution, efficiency of the technology when implemented in the relevant contexts and how it contributes to health systems resilience.
This topic prioritizes areas of health care such as health promotion, preparedness, prevention, surveillance and rapid response to cross-border health threats. Promoting coordination, cooperation and common standards in the procurement of innovation in health care (including emergency procurement) should be at the heart of any proposal submitted as well as facilitating the digital and green transition of EU health systems.
A wide variety of settings are potentially relevant for the implementation of such innovative solutions, such as: primary health care settings, ambulatory care, hospitals, specialized centres, and long-term health care facilities. The involvement of end-users and the use of cross-sectorial approaches are essential in the area of health.
Within this topic, it is possible to provide for the transfer and adaptation of solutions and/or interventions from other sectors to health care. It is open both to proposals requiring: i) improvements mainly based on one specific solution/technology field; and ii) end-to-end solutions that need combinations of different types of innovation.
Proposals should demonstrate the potential and any future plans for the sustainability of good practices developed or implemented during the action, beyond its life. Such good practices could include cooperation with policy makers to reinforce relevant national policy frameworks, relevant actions to improve the skills of health professionals, patients or carers in the use of the solutions and collaboration with stakeholders for standardization purposes or in order to leverage additional national funds or private investment for procuring solutions.
Synergies with the Technical Support Instrument and the European Structural and Investment Fund are encouraged.

Type of action: HORIZON-PPI HORIZON Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 06 October 2021
Deadline date: 21 April 2022 17:00:00 Brussels time
Budget: 15 M€ – 5 M€ per project
More information

Expected Outcome
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 4 “Ensuring access to innovative, sustainable and high-quality health care”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to some of the following expected outcomes specified below:

• Public and private procurers in the area of health care deploy at a critical scale, innovative, market-ready solutions (materials, technologies and systems/practices), that are relevant to the preparedness and resilience of health care systems;
• European health and technology industry actors (including start-ups/SMEs) bring to the market secure, interoperable digital health care solutions (complying with relevant ethical and privacy protection standards) which are proven to improve health outcomes and access to care for patients;
• Procurers facilitate the commercialization of innovative solutions at a large scale (EU/international) by their successful suppliers through providing them with customer references for the validation and first pilot deployment in multiple countries and health care settings;
• Policymakers, health care providers and professionals, patients and their carers – each in their respective areas – exchange and adopt good practices and the best solutions the market can deliver to improve the resilience of health care systems.

Scope
Public procurement of innovative solutions (PPI) can boost the wider market uptake of high impact innovations in health care systems, while building the capacity of providers and increasing resilience and preparedness in the context of cross-border public health emergencies. This can support the economic recovery of the EU by providing incentives to the EU health and technology industry (especially spin-offs, start-ups and SMEs) to innovate and by providing business opportunities to commercialise innovative products or services at a larger scale than they would normally have.
The actions supported will target critical-scale deployment of relevant health care solutions across different regions in Europe by engaging public and/or private procurers from each participating country (at national, regional or local level) that have deployment responsibilities and budget control in the relevant area of care or supply of services. Procurers will specify, purchase and deploy solutions addressing their relevant, shared unmet needs, while engaging together in a supply and demand side dialogue, in order for the deployed solutions to deliver sustainable, new or improved health care services and outcomes, always taking into account patient feedback.
Proposals should therefore be based on clearly identified user needs and well-structured work plans, explaining how the procurement of the innovative solutions will contribute to the expected outcomes. In addition, proposals should clearly state the benefits of the solutions that will be developed during the course of the project. In this context, applicants should consider aspects of accessibility and affordability of the solution, efficiency of the technology when implemented in the relevant contexts and how it contributes to health systems resilience.
This topic prioritises areas of health care such as health promotion, preparedness, prevention, surveillance and rapid response to cross-border health threats. Promoting coordination, cooperation and common standards in the procurement of innovation in health care (including emergency procurement) should be at the heart of any proposal submitted as well as facilitating the digital and green transition of EU health systems.
Activities covered should include cooperation with policymakers to reinforce the national policy frameworks and mobilise substantial additional national budgets for the PPI, searching support and collaborating with respective coordination and networking projects. Likewise, awareness raising, technical assistance and/or capacity building beyond the project to mainstream PPI implementation and removing obstacles for introducing the innovative solutions to be procured into the market could be included.
A wide variety of settings are potentially relevant for the implementation of such innovative solutions, for example primary health care settings, hospitals, specialised centres, and long-term health care facilities. The involvement of end-users and the use of cross-sectorial approaches are necessary in the area of health. They can lead to more impactful proposals, especially if combined with cost-effectiveness analyses in comparison with the status quo.
Within this topic, it is possible to foresee the transfer and adaptation of solutions and/or interventions from other sectors to health care. It is open both to proposals requiring improvements mainly based on one specific solution/technology field, as well as to proposals requiring end-to-end solutions that need combinations of different types of innovation.
Synergies with the Technical Support Instrument and the European Structural and Investment Fund are encouraged.

Funding for scientific meetings or workshops relevant to neurobiology of epilepsy can also be provided through the NBC. Requests for sponsoring such workshops are considered for funding on an annual basis by the NBC. To apply, please complete the NBC Funding Request Form by 31 July of the year preceding the planned meeting. Decisions on support will be announced by the end of March of the year of the event.

Aims: The first aim of the Networking Support Scheme in the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) is to encourage sharing of knowledge on rare diseases or rare cancers between health care professionals, researchers and patients in new or expanding research networks by funding networking events.

The second aim of the Networking Support Scheme is to enable or increase the participation of usually underrepresented countries in Europe in new and in expanding research networks on rare diseases or rare cancers.

Budget: In this Networking Support Scheme applicants can apply for a budget of a maximum of 30,000 € per event.

Focus of the Networking events: The scheme will provide financial support to applicants to organize workshops or conferences. These workshops or conferences are meant to:

1. Form new research networks or expand existing research networks;
2. Strengthen collaborations between different stakeholders in different countries;
3. Enable the exchange of knowledge.

The focus of these workshops or conferences should be (the implications of) research results and innovative solutions. The results of these networking events may lead to future collaborative and novel research efforts.

Requirements: at least one Principal applicant and two co-applicants from three different countries mentioned above have to apply together for support of a Networking event.

Dates: the Call for the NSS is open on a continuous basis. Events may be organized between 6 and 18 months after the application date for 2021. From 2022 onwards, events may be organized between 6 and 12 months after the application date.

The next applications will be collected on December 2, 2021 at 14.00 (CET)

The applications will be collected on the following preliminary dates in 2022.
March 1, 2022 at 14.00 (CEST)
September 1, 2022 at 14.00 (CEST)
December 1, 2022 at 14.00 (CET).

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