• Canada
• 2021-2021close
• 2019 close
• OA Publications Mandate: Yes close

The aim of the IDIH project is to promote and increase international cooperation to advance digital health in the EU and key strategic countries to support active and healthy ageing through innovation. IDIH will identify shared priorities and set up a Digital Health Transformation Forum as a long-lasting and expert-driven catalyst to foster collaboration between the EU and five strategic third countries, i.e. Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and the USA. Overall, the IDIH project sets 4 targeted objectives. First, to support the definition of common priorities to enhance strategic international cooperation in digital health in line with policy orientations through a thorough analysis of priorities in Europe and each of the strategic third countries and close involvement of the relevant funding agencies. Secondly, to provide specific contributions to the international dialogue in digital health with the creation of a Digital Health Transformation Forum acting as umbrella for high-level experts in four thematic groups (Preventive care, Integrated care, Independent and connected living and Inclusive living). Thirdly, to facilitate the exchanges between RTI stakeholders from the EU and strategic third countries in digital health through international workshops, promotion of cooperation opportunities (guidebook, webinars, helpdesk) and joining forces with other initiatives. Fourthly, to foster international collaboration for digital solutions for health care benefitting the society and industry through networking and co-creation sessions in RTI workshops. The consortium partners have complimentary expertise, including healthcare & digital health, IT, H2020 project management, technology transfer etc. The consortium has close links to funding authorities and actors in the Digital Health Industry in all countries/regions and have wide networks in the community. As such, the consortium possesses expertise and tools to successfully realise the objectives of the project.

Hepatobiliary malignancies represent a major cause of mortality globally and are uniquely aggressive in Latin America. The most common tumors are: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) affecting young individuals in Latin America and being the second most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide; cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) with minimal survival upon diagnosis and largely understudied in the region; gallbladder cancer (GBC) being a rare tumor worldwide but representing the second most common cause of cancer-related death in women in Chile. Key factors related to the excessive mortality of these tumors are the lack of reliable screening methods and the complexity of diagnosis, which requires advanced imaging technology and difficult-to-access tissue. These barriers are amplified by poor accessibility present in resource-limited regions, all of which leads to tumors being diagnosed at advanced stages in which curative therapy is not an option. To overcome these barriers, we propose to: A) validate immune-related markers in serum to predict HCC in South America and evaluate factors associated to early HCC development; B) define the utility of extracellular vesicles in serum as biomarkers for diagnosis of CCA and determine genetic and infectious factors that increase risk for this cancer; and C) identify biomarkers for GBC detection and evaluate novel immune factors that affect the geographical impact of this tumor. This project advances the field by focusing on a unique approach to screen and diagnose tumors based on serum detection of biomarkers before a tumor is visible on imaging, allowing for early tumor detection in a cost effective manner that will lead to implementation of curative therapies. In addition, this project addresses modifiable risk factors for hepatobiliary tumors that could be targeted for prevention. This project will result in novel tools that are easily accessible and will dramatically reduce the burden of cancer-related mortality in Latin America.

ReCoDID builds on existing infrastructures and partnerships to develop a sustainable model for the storage, curation, and analyses of the complex data sets collected by infectious disease (ID)-related cohorts. While ID cohorts collect both clinical-epidemiological (CE) and terabytes of OMICS data, storage and analysis of CE and high dimensional laboratory (HDL) data remains separate and developing the infrastructure for housing and analysing HDL data is not feasible for individual studies. In this project, we develop innovative approaches to the synthesis and analysis of CE&HDL data, and modify governance models for cloud-based repositories elaborated by and for scientists in high-income countries to meet the specific challenges of synthesizing CE&HDL data and sharing data across international cohorts and with the Open Science community. We develop data architecture and governance that link biobanks to data repositories to facilitate equitable use, collaborative, cross-domain analyses, and replicability. The team leverages partnerships with multicentre ID cohorts in the global South, and connects EU investments in OMICS infrastructures with Canadian expertise on pipeline and workflow development, biostatistical methods, and ethical and governance issues related to the establishment of repositories for CE&HDL data in resource-limited settings. Drawing from best practice and governance elaborated for similar initiatives, the repository will employ a federated model where a tiered permission system and cohort-specific hubs facilitate cohorts’ analysis of their own data, cross-cohort analyses, and connections with the open science community within a clearly elaborated legal, ethical, and equitable framework. The cloud-based platform will provide analytic tools and computational power to facilitate cross-domain, collaborative analyses that inform personalized medicine approaches to diagnostic, treatment, and vaccine development in ID-focused international cohorts.

Beyond the role the intestinal metagenome plays in regulating multiple physBeyond its role in regulating multiple physiological functions that impact health, the intestinal metagenome is implicated in cancer initiation, progression and responses to therapies, even for extraintestinal neoplasia. Hence, there is an urgent need to fully identify and functionally characterize minimalist commensal ecosystems relevant to cancer, with reliable and robust methods, to validate cancer-associated gut microbiome fingerprints of high clinical relevance, and to develop diagnosis tools that will become part of the oncological arsenal for the optimization and personalization of therapy. Based on retro-and pro-spective studies, with large discovery and validation cohorts enrolling >9,000 cancer patients across 10 countries, ancillary to ongoing innovative clinical trials or FDA/EMA approvals across 4 frequent cancer types, ONCOBIOME will pursue the following aims: 1/ identify and validate core or cancer-specific Gut OncoMicrobiome Signatures (GOMS) associated with cancer occurrence, prognosis, response to, or progression on, therapy (polychemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, dendritic cell vaccines) or adverse effects, 2/ decipher the functional relevance of these cancer-associated gut commensal ecosystems in the regulation of host metabolism, immunity and oncogenesis, 3/ integrate these GOMS with other oncology hallmarks (clinics, genomics, immunomics, metabolomics) 4/ design optimal companion tests, based on those integrated signatures to predict cancer occurrence and progression. With high carat interdisciplinary experts, ONCOBIOME expects to validate cancer or therapy-specific Gut OncoMicrobiome Signatures (GOMS) across breast, colorectal, melanoma and lung cancers adjusting for covariates, to unravel the mode of action of these GOMS in innovative platforms, thus lending support to the design of cancer preventive campaigns using well characterized pre-and pro-biotics.

Rapid progress in information and biotechnologies offers the promise of better, personalized health strategies using rich phenotypic, environmental and molecular (omics) profiles of every individual. To capitalize on this great promise, key challenge is to relate these profiles to health and disease while accounting for high diversity in individuals, populations and environments. Both Europe and Canada have long-term investments in population-based prospective cohort studies providing essential longitudinal data. These data must be analysed in unison to reach statistical power, however, presently cohort data repositories are scattered, hard to search and integrate, and data protection and governance rules discourage central pooling. EUCAN-Connect will enable large-scale integrated cohort data analysis for personalized and preventive healthcare across EU and Canada. This will be based on an open, scalable data platform for cohorts, researchers and networks, incorporating FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) for optimal reuse of existing data, and building on maturing federated technologies, with sensitive data kept locally and only results being shared and integrated, in line with key ELSI and governance guidelines. Widespread uptake will be promoted via beyond state-of-the-art research in close collaboration with leading cohort networks, focused on early-life origins of cardio-metabolic, developmental, musculoskeletal and respiratory health and disease impacting human life course. To address challenges of sustainability and curation, we will deliver innovative solutions for distributed, low-cost data harvesting and preservation, community curation/harmonization, privacy protection, open source bioinformatics toolbox development, and international governance. EUCAN-Connect platform and collaborations will be coordinated through BBMRI-ERIC (EU) and Maelstrom Research (Canada) to sustain long-term benefits to science and citizens worldwide.

EurofleetsPlus will facilitate open access to an integrated and advanced research vessel fleet, designed to meet the evolving and challenging needs of the user community. European and international researchers from academia and industry will be able to apply for several access programmes, through a single-entry system. EurofleetsPlus will prioritise support for research on sustainable, clean and healthy oceans, linking with existing ocean observation infrastructures, and support innovation through working closely with industry. The project will enable access to a unique fleet of 27 state-of-the-art research vessels from European and international partners. Through competitive Calls, researchers will be able to access the entire North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, North Sea, Baltic Sea, Pacific Southern Ocean and Ross Sea. In addition to ship time, researchers will also have access to new Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Remotely Operated Vehicles. A unique portable telepresence system will enable remote access by researchers and diverse end users including the public; a first for Europe. In addition to comprehensive transnational activities, the project will undertake joint research activities to meet the evolving challenges of marine research, in particular, deep ocean research and exploration, data management, and virtual access. Multiple networking activities will ensure robust Call processes; wide stakeholder engagement; development of a strategic roadmap and long-term sustainability plan; diverse training and education activities; management of innovation; and widespread dissemination and communication. EurofleetsPlus will facilitate access to unique marine infrastructure, enabling excellent research, increasing ocean literacy, and providing a clear road map for the continued integration and advancement of the European research fleet.

A major challenge in the transport sector is to make economic growth compatible with sustainability and environmental constraints, while remaining competitive and innovative. The development of aeronautical products is a complex multidisciplinary process with requirements and constraints on the air transport system as a whole, the aircraft, and all the individual components to be produced. A major challenge impeding an efficient and cost-effective design processes is the integration of the various levels of the aeronautical supply chain. Therefore, the aeronautical industry needs to connect all the people, skills and technologies involved in its collaborative, multi-national and cross organizational processes, by means of a digital representation of production systems, supply chains, and seamless operations across diverse disciplines, during the entire life-cycle of the product. The high level objective of AGILE 4.0 is to bring significant reductions in aircraft development costs and time-to-market through the implementation of an integrated cyber-physical aeronautical supply chain, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the European aircraft industry, from integrators and high-tiers suppliers to SMEs, leading to innovative and more sustainable aircraft products. AGILE 4.0 targets the digital transformation of main main pillars of the aeronautical supply-chain: design, production and certification and manufacturing.The composition of the AGILE 4.0 consortium and capabilities available enable to address realistic development scenarios integrating multiple stakeholders and covering all the aspects of the development of complex aeronautical systems. AGILE 4.0 will provide the aircraft industry with a way to model, assess, and optimize complex systems addressing the entire life cycle. The technologies developed will enable stake-holders and actors of the aeronautical supply chain to perform trade-off which have never been possible to model before.

In the current state of maturity of severe accident codes in terms of phenomena addressed and extensive validation conducted, the time has come to foster BEPU,Best Estimate Plus Uncertainties, application in the severe accident (SA) domain, and accident management (AM). The advantages with respect to deterministic analysis are known: avoid adopting conservative assumptions in the model and allow identifying safety margins, quantify likelihood of reaching specific values and, through the distribution variance provide insights into dominating uncertain parameters.The overall objective of the Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accident (MUSA) project is to assess the capability of SA codes when modelling reactor and SFP (Spent Fuel Pool) accident scenarios of Gen II and III. To do so UQ (Uncertainty Quantification) methods are to be used, with emphasis on the effect of already-set and innovative accident management measures on accident unfolding, particularly those related to ST (Source Term) mitigation. Therefore, ST related Figures Of Merit (FOM) are to be used in the UQ application. The MUSA project proposes an innovative research agenda in order to move forward the predictive capability of SA analysis codes by combining them with the best available/improved UQ tools and embedding accident management as an intrinsic aspect of SA analyses.MUSA develops through key activities which also describe the main outcomes foreseen from the project: identification and quantification of uncertainty sources in SA analyses; review and adaptation of UQ methods; and testing such methods against reactor and SFP accident analyses, including AM. Given the focus of FOM on source term, the project will identify variables governing ST uncertainties that would be worth investigating further. All the ingredients necessary to conduct the project are already available: analytical tools, experimental data, postulated reactor and SFP scenarios and, technical and scientific competences.

Thousands of human genomes and other biomolecular datasets are now being generated in health, rather than research contexts. Centralised storage and analysis of these is no longer technically feasible for data harmonisation, curation, sharing or analysis and ethical, legal, social reasons. CINECA’s vision is a federated cloud enabled infrastructure making population scale genomic and biomolecular data accessible across international borders, accelerating research, and improving the health of individuals across continents. CINECA will leverage international investment in human cohort studies from Europe, Canada, and Africa to deliver a paradigm shift of federated research and clinical applications. The CINECA consortium will create one of the largest cross-continental implementations of human genetic and phenotypic data federation and interoperability with a focus on common (complex) disease, one of the world’s most significant health burdens. The partners represent a unique combination of scientific excellence with experience of eleven diverse cohorts and scientific projects such as the European Genome-phenome Archive, CanDIG, and H3Africa. CINECA has assembled a virtual cohort of 1.4M individuals from population, longitudinal and disease studies. Federated analyses will deliver new scientific knowledge, harmonisation strategies and the necessary ELSI framework supporting data exchange across legal jurisdictions enabling federated analyses in the cloud. CINECA will provide a template to achieve virtual longitudinal and disease specific cohorts of millions of samples, to advance benefits to patients. CINECA will leverage partner membership of standards and infrastructures like the Global Alliance for Global Health, BBMRI, ELIXIR, and EOSC driving the state of the art in standards development, technical implementation and FAIR data.

Worldwide, nearly 47 million people are currently estimated to be living with dementia, and the number is expected to almost double every 20 years, yet treatments that prevent or stop the progression of neurodegeneration are still lacking. Tackling this grand challenge requires enhanced coordination of national efforts to accelerate discovery. Such synergies have been created among 30 countries in the pilot EU JPI on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). JPND has a long standing experience in collaborative actions; since 2011, a cumulated funding of 132M€ has been dedicated to competitive transnational calls and JPND is now a reference for European and global knowledge and as an innovation platform in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. Building on earlier successes of the JPND Research Strategy in scaling-up and establishing synergies with Horizon 2020, there is a need to continue previous efforts to consolidate the JPND successes in defragmentation, better coordination and alignment amongst the countries, by developing new links with the EC. JPcofuND 2 aims at launching in 2019 an ambitious call for proposals on personalised medicine, where the benefits for the patients affected with neurodegenerative diseases will be explored through personalised diagnosis, personalised prevention and personalised care. Participating countries have earmarked 24,7 M€ of national funds for this call. Moreover, to expand the impact of the project, JPND will continue to implement other actions without EU co-funding such as aligning national research strategies, making databases more accessible and interoperable, developing enabling capacities such as supportive infrastructure and platforms, capacity building, education and training. These actions are required in parallel to achieve the highest impact for the patients, their carers and for society as whole and address this grand challenge in the coming years.