Why and how the EU supports health research and innovation
Health research and innovation are supported at the EU level to address common, large-scale health challenges.
Europe is facing an ageing population and a growing burden of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and brain conditions. These conditions often require complex long-term care, driving healthcare costs to potentially unsustainable levels and increasing the risk of unequal access to care across the EU.
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 these challenges and facilitate their uptake into healthcare systems. This includes addressing gender-specific healthcare needs to ensure better health outcomes for all.
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
This also includes European Partnerships in health, where the EU joins forces with public authorities, the private sector and other stakeholders to deliver on shared health research priorities.
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 integrate innovative health technologies, such as digital ones.
On 2 July 2025, the Commission launched a new strategy to make Europe the most attractive place in the world for life sciences by 2030. It aims to accelerate innovation, facilitate market access, and build public trust in new technologies, ensuring they benefit the people and the planet.
Finally, Horizon Europe Cluster 1: Health follows the EU’s collaborative research funding model, breaking silos and working together across borders, by integrating scientific knowledge, disciplines, data, health technologies and resources to tackle unmet health needs and improve our health and care systems together.
Funding opportunities
Funding for health under the research and innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe.
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.
EU4Health, with a budget of €5.3 billion, is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes since their launch in 2003.
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
Public-public partnership between 14 European and 16 sub-Saharan Africa countries, supported by the European Union.
Projects and results
The Commission's primary portal for results of EU-funded research projects.
Stories of particularly successful EU-funded research projects.
Platform where framework programme funding recipients present their results to search, contact their owners and form partnerships.
Rare Diseases was one of first three P4P pilots showcasing how research and innovation project results shape policy making.
Success stories
Living buildings, quantum computers, safety by design, home robots and AI-assisted pandemic preparedness. Europe’s researchers are reshaping how we live, work and design our cities in 2026.
- Project locations
- Belgium
EU-funded researchers are developing strategies to protect people from rising temperatures, focusing on vulnerable groups and clearer climate-health communication.
- Project locations
- Spain, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal
Collaboration and jobs
Look for project partners and view profiles of all organisations that have received funding via the funding and tender opportunities portal.
Researcher jobs in related fields
Candidates and approved partnerships in the health area under the research and innovation funding programme, Horizon Europe.
Partnerships between the Commission and global stakeholders in health.
Virtual networks involving healthcare providers across Europe. They aim to facilitate discussion on complex or rare diseases and conditions that require highly specialised treatment.
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
Interactive reporting platform, composed of a set of sheets that allows series of views to discover and filter the EC's funding programmes data.
The Commission's Joint Research Centre compiles databases and develops software and modelling tools. You can access health related ones here.
Scientific publications produced by the European Commission (JRC)
All scientific publications from Horizon Europe and H2020 are accessible via OpenAIRE.
Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions. All data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
The EU Cancer Mission has set the goal to “improve the lives of more than 3 million people by 2030, through prevention, cure and for those affected by cancer including their families, to live longer and better”.
