EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for "Support for the functioning of the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R)"

Call ID: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-05

Action Type: Horizon Europe CSA – Lump-Sum Grant

1. Strategic Single-Market Access

• The project’s core deliverable – a tested framework and secretariat for rapid research response – can be immediately disseminated to 450+ million citizens, 27 Member States, & 3 EEA countries via existing EU health-security channels (ECDC Early Warning & Response System, HERA, EU Health Security Committee).

• Uniform rollout across the Single Market short-circuits fragmentation: national funders, ministries of health and research councils can adopt common SOPs, data standards and clinical-trial templates without re-negotiating bilateral MoUs.

• EU public procurement directives (2014/24/EU) enable large-scale joint purchasing of pandemic-research services (e.g., data-sharing platforms, biobank capacity) generated by the action, drastically widening the customer base for participating SMEs & research infrastructures.

2. Enhanced Cross-Border Collaboration

• Horizon Europe mandates minimum three partners from three different Member/Associated States, automatically catalysing a multinational secretariat representing diverse legal, linguistic and epidemiological contexts.

• Opportunity to embed existing EU clinical-trial networks (ECRIN, VACCELERATE, ERINHA) and regional public-health institutes (Robert Koch Institute, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, INSERM) as GloPID-R working-group leads.

• Fast-track access to EU data resources (European COVID-19 Data Platform, ELIXIR, EOSC nodes) ensures real-time, cross-border evidence pooling.

3. Alignment with Key EU Policies

• European Health Union & HERA: the secretariat directly contributes to HERA’s mandate (Regulation 2021/522) by operationalising the R&D pillar of the EU Health Emergency Preparedness & Response Framework.

• Digital Europe & European Health Data Space (EHDS): development of interoperable data-sharing standards dovetails with EHDS legislative package, boosting uptake and regulatory acceptance.

• Green Deal / One Health: focus on zoonotic & AMR threats links to Farm-to-Fork strategy, promoting sustainable, environment-aware research approaches.

• Global Gateway & NDICI-Global Europe: the regional-hub model complements EU’s global health diplomacy, positioning Europe as the orchestrator of worldwide research preparedness.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• Uniform implementation of GDPR/CTR (Regulation 536/2014) across partners simplifies multicountry clinical trials and data-flows.

• EMA/HMA joint guidance adopted as baseline for all clinical-response templates, reducing approval times and legal fees.

• Common ethics requirements (EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, EUREC guidelines) avoid duplication of ethics reviews.

5. Leveraging Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Access to over 3 000 universities & RTOs in the ERA, plus 22 ERICs (e.g., BBMRI-ERIC, EATRIS) for biobanking, translational research and bio-informatics.

• Synergies with EIT Health KIC accelerate commercial exploitation of digital platforms built for epidemic tracking.

• Pan-European talent pool: Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellows, ERC grantees and European University Alliances feed into GloPID-R working groups, strengthening scientific support capacity.

6. Funding Synergies & Leverage

• EU4Health (2021-2027) can finance downstream policy uptake (e.g., pandemic tabletop exercises using the new framework).

• Digital Europe Programme may co-fund AI-based surveillance tools prototyped by the secretariat.

• Cohesion Policy Funds & RRF can bankroll regional hub infrastructure upgrades in less-resourced Member States, ensuring geographic inclusiveness.

• Partnerships & Missions: Alignment with ERA4Health, Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) and Mission “Cancer” offers co-branding and joint calls, magnifying impact.

7. Scale & Impact Potential

• The secretariat can create a blueprint for EU-wide pandemic R&D governance, replicable by other global regions (ASEAN, AU) and strengthening Europe’s geopolitical standing.

• EU-level Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – e.g., reducing clinical-trial start-up time by 50 % across Member States – deliver measurable, Union-wide outcomes attractive to policymakers.

• Harmonised frameworks facilitate rapid technology transfer of vaccines/therapeutics to EU manufacturing facilities under the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on Health.

8. Practical Opportunities & Next Steps

1. Consortium Building: Involve at least one entity per EU macro-region (North, South, East, West) to maximise structural-fund synergies and evaluation score on geographical diversity.

2. Early EC Engagement: Schedule pre-proposal meetings with DG RTD, DG SANTE & HERA to secure policy alignment and letters of support.

3. Synergy Mapping: Draft a live “Synergy Matrix” linking each work-package output to specific EU programmes/regulations (EU4Health, EHDS, GDPR).

4. Industry Involvement: Invite SME providers of eConsent, ePRO, real-world evidence platforms as associated partners to strengthen exploitation pathway.

5. Open Science Compliance: Commit to EOSC-compatible FAIR data management and pre-registration of all protocols to enhance impact scoring.

---

Bottom Line: By operating at EU scale, the project can unlock unparalleled market access, regulatory coherence, funding leverage and scientific excellence—transforming GloPID-R into the de-facto global standard for coordinated infectious-disease research preparedness.