Brussels details Horizon 2020 healthcare research funding programme
The total budget has been set at €549 million
Healthcare companies have until October to apply for funding to deliver personalised health and care under the first call for proposals for the new European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 research funding programme.
By partnering with universities, other research institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises, healthcare companies can choose to respond to one of the Horizon 2020 calls open since 12 December 2013 and for which the total budget has been set at €549m.
Projects include tackling new therapies for rare diseases; tools and technologies for advanced therapies; piloting personalised medicine in health and care systems; finding new approaches to improve predictive human testing; understanding common mechanisms of diseases; establishing effective healthcare interventions for children; and promoting mental well-being among the elderly.
The European Commission said the programme has moved away from focusing on disciplines into a more challenge-based approach that involves multidisciplinary thinking.
'We are defining the problem and are asking participants to give us the best solution,' said EU Research Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. Brussels said the application process and system has been simplified and that participants can now submit and sign proposals online instead of struggling with hundreds of pages of printed documents that previously had to be sent by mail.