Why the EU supports health research and innovation
Europe is facing serious healthcare challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of coordinating health research and innovation among European countries.
These challenges must be met to grant everybody a long and healthy life. Ageing and the increase in chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and brain conditions that require diverse types of treatment are increasing costs to potentially unsustainable levels, with the risk of unequal access to care for people across the European Union
External environmental factors, including climate change, as well as the risk to lose our ability to protect ourselves against infectious diseases, for instance due to anti-microbial resistance, are also exposing us to new risks and threats.
The European Union is investing in research, technology and innovation to develop solutions to overcome those challenges.
Under Horizon Europe, the EU's current research and innovation funding programme, the main areas of intervention are
- health throughout the life course
- environmental and social health determinants
- non-communicable and rare diseases
- infectious diseases including poverty-related and neglected diseases
- tools, technologies and digital solutions for health and care including personalised medicine
- health care systems
The aim is to find new ways to keep people healthy, prevent diseases, develop better diagnostics and more effective therapies, use personalised medicine approaches to improve healthcare and wellbeing, and take up innovative health technologies, such as digital ones.
Finally, European research and innovation in health is about working together across borders, sharing each other's knowledge and resources and improving our health and care systems together.
Health Horizon 2020 research projects from last call
Horizon Europe Cluster 1: Health
Policy focus
Funding opportunities
Horizon Europe
Funding for health under the research and innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe.
Innovative medicines initiative
Joint undertaking between the EU and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations aiming to speed up the up the development of better and safer medicines.
EU Health Programme
Funding programme created to implement the EU health strategy.
Horizon prize for better use of antibiotics
Closed prize that rewarded a rapid test to identify patients with upper respiratory tract infections that can be treated safely without antibiotics.
Fit for Health 2.0
Resource for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which provides a database of researchers and SMEs in the life-sciences sector and provides advice on all aspects related to EU-funded research projects
Horizon Results Platform
Platform where framework programme funding recipients present their results to search, contact their owners and form partnerships
Horizon 2020 dashboard
Interactive reporting platform, composed of a set of sheets that allows series of views to discover and filter Horizon 2020 data
European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)
Public-public partnership between 14 European and 16 sub-Saharan Africa countries, supported by the European Union.
Projects and results
Research project database (CORDIS)
The Commission's primary portal for results of EU-funded research projects.
Project success stories
Stories of particularly successful EU-funded research projects.
Health programmes database
Database that provides information on the nature of health projects and their results. Managed by the Commission's Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agen
Projects for policy - Rare Diseases
Rare Diseases was one of first three P4P pilots showcasing how research and innovation project results shape policy making.
Results pack on brain research
A thematic collection of innovative EU-funded research results.
Results pack on breast cancer research
A thematic collection of innovative EU-funded research results.
Collaboration and jobs
Find project partners
Look for project partners and view profiles of all organisations that have received funding via the funding and tender opportunities portal.
Jobs (EURAXESS)
Researcher jobs in related fields
Partnerships in Horizon Europe
Candidates and approved partnerships in the health area under the research and innovation funding programme, Horizon Europe.
Global partnerships
Partnerships between the Commission and global stakeholders in health.
European Reference Networks
Virtual networks involving healthcare providers across Europe. They aim to facilitate discussion on complex or rare diseases and conditions that require highly specialised treatment.
Joint Programming Initiatives
Details of health joint programming initiatives which aims to help EU countries pool resources to tackle major challenges for society.
Scientific publications, tools and databases
Scientific publications
Scientific publications produced by the European Commission (JRC)
Health research tools and databases
The Commission's Joint Research Centre compiles databases and develops software and modelling tools. You can access health related ones here.
EU Open Data Portal
Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions. All data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
OpenAIRE
You can access all scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE.
The quality of the environment we live and work in is a powerful determinant of our health and well-being. Environmental factors such as air, soil and water quality have a significant influence in the risk and incidence of disease.
If no action is taken, the number of people newly diagnosed with cancer every year in Europe will increase from the current 3.5 million to more than 4.3 million by 2035.
Latest
Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking: 2023 Work Programme and Info day
Today, the Global Health European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership 3 (Global Health EDCTP3) Joint Undertaking has published its 2023 Work Programme with over €130 million in funding opportunities to support research into infectious diseases.
Groundbreaking research demonstrates the power of using personalised approaches to select and correctly apply pharmaceuticals to patients
EU-funded project U-PGx demonstrates the benefits of prescribing drugs to patients based on their genetic information
The European Commission progresses cooperation for the development and availability of key therapeutics for pandemic preparedness
The workshop brought together participants from 25 countries across the globe with relevant research, regulatory, public health, crisis emergency and response as well as health economy expertise.
The European Commission and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation progress research cooperation to combat infectious diseases in Africa
EUR 55 million will be jointly invested for advancing genomic epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa