INNOVATEC

The European regions network for Health Research and Innovation (RegHealth-RI) project aims to contribute to three important Horizon 2020 goals, namely widening participation, bridging the innovation divide and developing synergies between Horizon 2020 and Structural Funds. To fulfill this objective the project plans the creation of a networking platform composed by relevant stakeholders to promote the dialogue between the actors involved in health Research and Innovation (R&I) in Europe. This network platform has as main goal to propose new initiatives and concrete actions primarily to EC and to national and regional decision-makers. The starting point of the project will be the analysis of the situation of health R&I in Europe, with special focus to less performed regions. The development of novel and specific indicators aimed at identifying those key factors and reasons underlying in the health R&I divide across EU regions is also addressed. Then, the organization of three Workshops and a European Conference to discuss on the divide of the health R&I in Europe have been also considered as relevant activities to achieve the objectives of the project by bringing feasible and effective solutions to the health R&I divide.

Higher Education Institutions and Responsible Research and Innovation (HEIRRI) foster an alignment of research and innovation (R&I) with the needs, values and societal expectations. The six key aspects of “Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)”-societal/public engagement, gender equality, open access, science education, ethics and governance in R&I-are transdisciplinary included at all stages of formation of scientist and engineers, and other professional fields involved in R&I. HEIRRI will create and share on OA a stock-taking inventory constituted by a State of the Art Review and a Data Base. The inventory will gather results of other EU funded RRI projects, good cases and practices of RRI and RRI Learning. Also, different stakeholders involved and/or affected by R&I will participate in a debate and reflection process on RRI Learning through online and offline Forum actions. Results from the inventory will represent the basis for RRI Training programs and formative materials, offering the students knowledge and skills to develop viable solutions to specific problems related to R&I, integrating theory and practice. They will be designed for the different HEI educational levels (undergraduate, MD and PhD, summer courses and MOOC), mainly based on Problem based learning methodology, and supported by multimedia materials (videos and microvideos, 2.0 materials, etc.). All results and products elaborated by HEIRRI will be uploaded on OA at RRITools Platform. An internationalization plan will guarantee their spreading awareness and future use by HEI from Europe and beyond. A global scope and expertise on RRI will be provided by HEIRRI consortium that consists of 5 European HEI (Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Universitetet I Bergen (UiB), Aarhus Universitet (AU), Institut Fuer Hoehere Studien und Wissenschaftliche Forschung (IHS), Sveuciliste u Splitu (University of Split, UNIST)), the European network of science centres and museums (AEESTI / Ecsite), Fundación Bancaria Caixa D'estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona La Caixa (FBLC), a network of universities (Associació Catalana d'Universitats Públiques, ACUP), and a private company specialized in R&I (INNOVATEC).

The EU-Africa PerMed project has the final objective of integrating African countries into ICPerMed activities as a means to contribute to the implementation of Personalised Medicine (PM) in the the global context, fostering joint PM projects and programmes between Europe and Africa, and strengthening bilateral EU-AU science, technology and innovation (STI) in health. On the long run, incorporating African countries in the global PM research agenda can contribute to shorten existing health disparities between developed and developing countries, as well as facilitating access of African countries to new tools and technologies that have the potential make health care more efficient and equitable. The specific objectives set for the project are 1)To identify, contact and engage with relevant health-related organizations in Africa to interact and work with throughout the project; 2)To explore and analyse with relevant stakeholder, the potential for and advantages of collaboration in PM between Africa and Europe, identifying areas of mutual interest; 3)To foster and facilitate the integration of health research funding and policy organisations from AU countries in the ICPerMed consortium and participate in the ERA PerMed funding scheme; 4) To seek synergies and align with activities of ongoing EU-Africa research programmes and other by-regional policy actions (such as EDCTP); 4)To carry out capacity building and training activities addressing relevant PM issues for Africa and 5)To contribute to raising awareness of PM and the benefits of a closer inter and intra-regional collaboration, in order to advance in the implementation of PM. As COVID19 is showing, addressing global health challenges is only possible by building and strengthening international scientific cooperation. EU-Africa PerMed will work towards fostering a stronger global collaboration in PM, and by this, better addressing global health challenges such as infectious diseases and future pandemics.