Leveraging artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response

Topics under this destination are directed towards the Key Strategic Orientation 3 “A more resilient, competitive, inclusive, and democratic Europe” of Horizon Europe’s strategic plan 2025-2027.

Research and Innovation supported under this destination should contribute to the following expected impact, set out in the strategic plan impact summary for the Health Cluster: “healthcare providers improve their ability to tackle and manage diseases (infectious diseases, including poverty-related and neglected diseases, non-communicable and rare diseases) thereby reducing the disease burden on patients and enabling healthcare systems to perform more effectively. It can be achieved through better understanding, prevention, diagnostics, treatment, management, and cure of diseases and their co- and multi-morbidities, more effective and innovative health technologies and medical countermeasures, better ability and preparedness to manage pandemic and/or epidemic outbreaks, and improved patient safety”.

Communicable and non-communicable diseases cause the greatest amounts of premature death and disabilities and pose a major health, societal and economic threat and burden in the EU and worldwide. Many people are still suffering from these diseases and too often dying prematurely. Although many of these diseases are preventable to a large extend, only around 6% of the healthcare budgets are currently spent on preventive measures^[1]. Therefore, there is the urgent need to develop new public health interventions, preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, alternatives to antimicrobials, as well as to improve existing preparedness and response strategies to create tangible impacts, taking into account sex/gender-related issues. In this regard, Research and Innovation will require international cooperation to pool the best expertise and know-how available worldwide, to access world-class research infrastructures and to leverage critical scales of investments on priority needs through a better alignment with other funders of international cooperation in health Research and Innovation. The continuation of international partnerships and cooperation with international organisations is particularly needed to combat infectious diseases, to address brain health, to respond to public health needs, including the global burden of non-communicable diseases.

In this work programme part, Destination “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden” will focus on major societal challenges linked to the Commission’s political priorities such as the fight against non-communicable and communicable diseases, mental health and better treatment of mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental diseases, preparedness and response to and surveillance of health threats and epidemics, reduction and treatment of the number of antimicrobial-resistant infections. In particular, the topics under this destination will support activities aiming at: i) new effective treatment options for patients suffering from antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections; ii) innovative therapeutic interventions and complementary approaches for patients suffering from mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders; iii) new prevention and treatment options for infectious diseases with epidemic potential; iv) Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools and technologies for pandemic preparedness and response; v) implementation research on strengthening health systems in the context of non-communicable diseases; vi) supporting the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness; vii) setting up the European Partnership for Brain Health; and viii) supporting efforts of the European Partnership fostering a European Research Area for health research (ERA4Health)^[2] in particular in funding large-scale multi-country Investigator-Initiated Clinical Studies (IICS) on various health interventions addressing important public health needs.

In view of increasing the impact of EU investments under Horizon Europe, the European Commission welcomes and supports cooperation between EU-funded projects to enable cross-fertilisation and other synergies. This could range from networking to joint activities such as the participation in joint workshops, the exchange of knowledge, the development and adoption of best practices, or joint communication activities. Opportunities for potential synergies exist between projects funded under the same topic but also between other projects funded under another topic, Cluster or pillar of Horizon Europe (but also with ongoing projects funded under Horizon 2020). In particular, this could involve projects related to European health research infrastructures (under pillar I of Horizon Europe), the EIC strategic challenges on health and EIT-KIC Health (under pillar III of Horizon Europe), or in areas cutting across the health and other Clusters (under pillar II of Horizon Europe). For instance, with Cluster 3 “Civil security for society” such as on health security/emergencies (preparedness and response, medical countermeasures, epidemic outbreaks/pandemics, natural disasters and technological incidents, bioterrorism); with Cluster 4 “Digital, Industry and Space” such as on AI-based tools and technologies (e.g. detection, management and monitoring of an epidemic at population levels, and the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention at the level of individuals); or with Cluster 6 “Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment” such as on antimicrobial resistance - AMR (e.g. new effective treatment options, alternatives to antibiotics).

Some Research and Innovation actions under this destination should support the mission of the European Health Emergency and Response Authority (HERA) to strengthen Europe’s ability to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to cross-border health emergencies by ensuring the availability and access to key medical countermeasures. Furthermore, synergies will be sought between this destination and the implementation of the EU4Health Programme (2021-2027)^[3]. These synergies and complementarities could be achieved, notably through mechanisms based on feedback loops, enabling on the one hand to identify policy needs that should be prioritised in Research and Innovation actions and facilitating on the other hand the implementation of research results into policy actions and clinical practice, thereby providing an integrated response across sectors and policy fields.

Expected impacts:

Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to tackling diseases and reducing disease burden, and more specifically to several of the following impacts:

• Disease burden in the EU and worldwide is reduced through effective disease management, including through the development and integration of innovative preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, digital and other people-centred solutions for healthcare.
• Premature mortality from non-communicable diseases is reduced by one third (by 2030), mental health and wellbeing are promoted, and the voluntary targets of the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs^[4] 2013-2020 are attained (by 2025), with an immediate impact on the related disease burden (Disability-Adjusted Life Years - DALYs)^[5],[6],[7].
• Healthcare systems benefit from strengthened Research and Innovation expertise, human capacities and know-how for combatting communicable and non-communicable diseases, including through international cooperation.
• Citizens benefit from reduced (cross-border) health threat of epidemics and AMR pathogens, in the EU and worldwide^[8],[9].
• Patients and citizens are knowledgeable of disease threats, involved and empowered to make and shape decisions for their health, and better adhere to knowledge-based disease management strategies and policies (especially for controlling outbreaks and emergencies).

The protection of European communication networks has been identified as an important security interest of the Union and its Member States. Entities that are assessed as high-risk suppliers^[10] of mobile network communication equipment (and any entities they own or control) are not eligible to participate as beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners to topics identified as “subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks”. Please refer to the Annex B of the General Annexes of this Work Programme for further details.

[1] Preventive healthcare expenditure as a share of the current expenditure on healthcare https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Preventive_healthcare_expenditure_as_a_share_of_current_expenditure_on_healthcare,_2021_(%25)_HCE2024.png

[2] https://era4health.eu

[3] https://health.ec.europa.eu/funding/eu4health-programme-2021-2027-vision-healthier-european-union_en

[4] Non-communicable diseases

[5] https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506236

[6] Including for instance the following voluntary targets (against the 2010 baseline): A 25% relative reduction in the overall mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, or chronic respiratory diseases; Halt the rise in diabetes and obesity; An 80% availability of the affordable basic technologies and essential medicines, including generics, required to treat major non-communicable diseases in both public and private facilities.

[7] Disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a quantitative indicator of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death.

[8] WHO global action plan on antimicrobial resistance, 2015

[9] EU One Health Action Plan against AMR, 2017

[10] Entities assessed as “high-risk suppliers”, are currently set out in the second report on Member States’ progress in implementing the EU toolbox on 5G cybersecurity of 2023 (NIS Cooperation Group, Second report on Member States’ progress in implementing the EU Toolbox on 5G Cybersecurity, June 2023) and the related Communication on the implementation of the 5G cybersecurity toolbox of 2023 (Communication from the Commission: Implementation of the 5G cybersecurity Toolbox, Brussels, 15.6.2023 C(2023) 4049 final).

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