On 21 November CORAL members, hosted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in Brussels, discussed Horizon 2020 and many project ideas. The meeting opened with a presentation of EuroScience Open Forum – ESOF, which will take place in Trieste, 4-10 July 2020. Trieste has seen the development of important international and national institutes for research, technology transfer and the dissemination of science. Nowadays, the percentage of researchers working in the city is among the highest in the world. As a Central European city, Trieste works to make ESOF2020 an occasion for strengthening bonds with Central and Eastern European scientists, business, politicians and citizens.

Health Research under Horizon 2020

After the presentation of EuroScience, the floor was taken by Giorgio Clarotti, Health Policy Analist from Directorate General for Research at the European Commission. He is a member of the Foresight Respondents, a group which gives inputs for the Bohemia report, a foresight study advocating for the future EU Research and Innovation Policy. The content of this study will influence the forthcoming Framework Programme – FP9. The final version should be published in April 2018. Mr. Clarotti’s presentation focussed on Horizon 2020 societal challenges and the seven priorities for the Work Programme 2018-2020. Priorities are:

• Personalised medicine;
• Innovative health and care industry;
• Infectious diseases and improving global health;
• Innovative health, and care systems – integration of care;
• Decoding the role of the environment for health and well-being;
• Digital transformation in health and care;
• Trusted big data solutions and cybersecurity for health and care.

These priorities are tackled by 3 calls for proposals:

• “Better health and care, economic growth and sustainable health systems” (32 topics)
• “Digital transformation in health and care” (13 topics)
• “Trusted digital solutions and cybersecurity in health and care” (3 topics)

CORAL’s Project Ideas

Dr. Mireia Ferri Sanz illustrated the results of a questionnaire drawn up in order to check the interest of CORAL partners in Horizon 2020 calls – Work Programme 2018-20, Sc 1. “Health, demographic change and wellbeing”. Based on the answers:

• four project ideas have been submitted by regions/entities which proposed to be Lead Partner;
• CORAL members have expressed a general interest in many other topics;
• in some calls CORAL could participate as a network, in cooperation with other European networks such as EUREGHA and ECHalliance;

Project ideas related to the following topics:

• Adaptive working and living environments supporting active and healthy ageing
• Exploiting the full potential of in-silico medicine research for personalised diagnostics and therapies in cloud-based environments
• Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) – scaling up of evidence-based health interventions at population level for the prevention and management of hypertension and/or diabetes
• Support to a Digital Health and Care Innovation Initiative in the Context of Digital Single Market Strategy.

If these topics are of interest to you, AER encourages you to get in contact with CORAL and join one of these partnerships.

Photo credit @visualhunt