Establishing Ortho and Cardiology Ambulatory Surgical Centres in Europe
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Funding Description – HORIZON-JU-IHI-2025-11-05
Core Facts
* Call Identifier: HORIZON-JU-IHI-2025-11-05 (two-stage)
* Type of Action: Research & Innovation Action (RIA) under the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI-JU)
* Total Topic Budget: €37.209 million (IHI-JU contribution)
* Indicative Grant Size: ~€10–13 million EC funding per project (1 grant expected)
* EU Funding Rate: 100 % of eligible direct costs + 25 % indirect costs (Horizon Europe rules)
* Industry Co-Contribution: IHI projects must reach ≥45 % total project costs from industry & contributing partners (cash or in-kind).
* Submission Windows:
* Stage 1 short proposal (max 20 pages): deadline 09 Oct 2025, 17:00 CET
* Stage 2 full proposal (max 50 pages): deadline 29 Apr 2026, 17:00 CET
* Project Start: Q4 2026 (indicative) — duration typically 48–60 months.
What the Grant Funds
The action finances integrated R&I work that accelerates the roll-out of Ambulatory Surgical Centres (ASCs) specialised in orthopaedics (hip/knee arthroplasty) and cardiology (cardiac ablation/elective rhythmology) across Europe. Eligible cost categories include (non-exhaustive):
* Clinical evidence generation – two multicentre cohort studies comparing ASC vs. hospital outcomes.
* Digital infrastructure – interoperable IT solutions, data integration layers, patient-facing apps, EHDS-ready architectures.
* Registries & Real-World Evidence (RWE) platforms for clinical-economic data capture.
* Training & capacity building for surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, admin staff.
* Multistakeholder advisory board operations, consensus workshops, HTA & payer engagement.
* Development of coding/reimbursement models, policy briefs, and economic modelling.
* Network coordination among pilot ASCs, exchange of SOPs & best practices.
* Dissemination, communication, exploitation, and sustainability work (incl. business models for ASC scale-up).
Eligibility Snapshot
* Consortium minimum: 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or Horizon-Europe Associated Countries.
* Ineligible for funding: entities established in UK & Canada (may participate at own cost).
* Recommended partners:
* University & teaching hospitals with ortho/cardiology departments
* Existing ASC operators (public or private)
* MedTech & digital health industry (incl. IHI corporate members)
* Patient organisations & carer associations
* Payers / HTA / reimbursement agencies
* Standards & certification bodies
* Ethics & Data: proposals containing clinical studies must annex the “Essential information for clinical studies”; GDPR & EHDS compliance mandatory.
Key Grant Conditions
* Two-stage evaluation (Excellence, Impact, Quality).
* Use the IHI specific Part B templates and mandatory annexes (Type of Participants, IKOP/IKAA tables, Declaration of in-kind commitment, Clinical Studies, Ethics).
* Model Grant Agreement: Horizon Europe General MGA v1.2 with IHI-JU options (incl. JU right to object to transfer/licensing).
* No 3A (Availability, Accessibility, Affordability) obligation for this topic.
Added Value for Beneficiaries
* Early mover advantage in the fast-growing European ASC market.
* Direct shaping of reimbursement frameworks and clinical standards.
* Long-term exploitation possibilities for MedTech, digital & data analytics SMEs.
* Contribution to EU policy priorities (EHDS, AI Act, SRIA) and hospital decongestion.
📊 At a Glance
🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for "Establishing Ortho and Cardiology Ambulatory Surgical Centres in Europe"
1. Health-system Transformation at Continental Scale
• Rapid capacity relief for overstretched hospitals in all Member States by shifting high-volume orthopaedic and cardiology procedures to ASCs.
• Harmonised ASC models allow benchmarking across borders, accelerating adoption of best practices and reducing unwarranted clinical variation EU-wide.
2. Economies of Scale & Joint Purchasing Power
• Pan-European network enables bulk procurement of medical devices, IT platforms and e-health solutions, lowering unit costs (particularly relevant for implants, ablation catheters, remote monitoring kits).
• Shared training curricula, simulation centres and e-learning modules reduce duplication and spread fixed costs over a larger talent pool.
3. Single Digital Market & European Health Data Space (EHDS) Alignment
• Cross-border ASC registry creates one of Europe’s first multi-country, GDPR-compliant datasets on orthopaedic and electrophysiology outcomes, feeding directly into EHDS.
• Interoperable IT architecture piloted here can serve as a reference implementation for MyHealth@EU services, fostering vendor neutrality and portability.
4. Accelerated Evidence Generation & HTA Convergence
• Multicentre cohorts from different reimbursement cultures deliver robust real-world evidence (RWE) accepted by several national HTA bodies simultaneously, shortening time-to-coverage for novel techniques.
• Facilitates joint HTA dossiers under Regulation (EU) 2021/2282, reducing administrative burden for innovators and payers.
5. Workforce Mobility & Skills Agenda
• EU-level certification pathways for ASC-specific roles (nurse-led clinics, peri-operative coordinators, data officers) promote mutual recognition of qualifications and support the Pact for Skills in health.
• Attractive cross-border career tracks help retain talent in less populous regions, mitigating the North–South / urban-rural brain drain.
6. Regulatory Sandboxing & AI Act Readiness
• Project offers a controlled, multi-jurisdictional environment to test AI-enabled decision support (triage, risk-stratification) under the new EU AI Act before broader roll-out.
• Early dialogue with Notified Bodies and Competent Authorities across several countries speeds up CE-marking of ASC-tailored devices.
7. Cohesion Policy & Regional Development
• Rural and cohesion regions can host satellite ASCs, leveraging EU Structural Funds for infrastructure while the Horizon grant funds the innovation layer, thus stacking EU instruments for maximum impact.
• Creates local high-skill jobs and stimulates smart specialisation in MedTech and digital health clusters.
8. Sustainability & Green Deal Contributions
• Same-day discharge reduces inpatient energy consumption and waste; aggregated EU data enables carbon footprint benchmarking across sites, informing future EU taxonomy criteria for sustainable healthcare.
• Joint procurement can stipulate eco-design requirements for single-use devices, influencing manufacturers at continental scale.
9. Strategic Autonomy & Competitiveness of EU Health Industry
• Establishes a home market of >450 million citizens for EU-made ASC equipment, strengthening domestic supply chains and reducing dependence on imports.
• Demonstrator for integrated care pathways boosts Europe’s credibility in exporting health service innovation to other regions.
10. Funding Leverage & Complementarity
• Horizon-IHI funds research & coordination; InvestEU, ERDF and national resilience plans can co-finance bricks-and-mortar ASC build-out.
• Synergies with EU4Health, Digital Europe and Erasmus+ enlarge impact (digital literacy, cybersecurity, professional exchanges).
11. Consortium Opportunities
• Ideal to assemble a triple-helix consortium:
• University hospitals & regional health authorities from ≥3 Member States.
• MedTech & digital SMEs/large industry providing implants, mapping systems, RPM platforms.
• Patient organisations and payer/HTA bodies ensuring patient-centred design & reimbursement alignment.
• Inclusion of countries with varying maturity (Nordic outpatient leaders, Southern/Eastern cohesion regions) maximises learning gradient and EU added value.
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Delivering these advantages at EU scale multiplies impact far beyond what any single Member State could achieve, positioning Europe as the global frontrunner in high-value, patient-centred ambulatory surgical care.
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