Funding Radar: This week’s six most interesting calls for proposals in health

The EU health sector is undergoing significant change, with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU recently reaching a deal on the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and setting set the stage to take negotiations on the new pharmaceutical legislation to the next stage.

At the same time there is progress in the implementation of pan-European health technology assessments in which the cost effectiveness of innovative drugs is assessed.

The EHDS legislation is intended to allow EU citizens to access their health records when in any member state, and to choose whether or not to allow their anonymised data to be shared for secondary use in research and public health.

In parallel, the pharmaceutical strategy represents the most significant reform in the sector in over two decades. MEPs are divided over the best way to improve patient access while boosting innovation, but reached a compromise agreement earlier this month. Negotiations between the Palriament and member states will continue after the elections in June.

In light of EHDS moving forward Science|Business has been looking for grants opportunities that aim to advance digital health.

The first is an EU open call for proposals for Cloud, data and artificial intelligence under the Digital Europe Programme . Successful projects are expected to expand the geographical coverage of the services offered through MyHealth@EU allowing patients’ access to their consolidated health data and cross-border health data exchanges. Candidates can submit proposals up to 29 May. More details are available here. 

The Commission has opened a call for proposals for One Health, the European Partnership on antimicrobial resistance. Successful projects are expected to contribute towards better coordination between EU and national agencies, researchers, policymakers and funders working on antimicrobial resistance. The call opened last week with a deadline for submissions of 25 September. More details are available here.

In addition, the Commission in mid-April opened another call under the Digital Europe Programme. Digital Health Uptake (DHU) is offering financial support to third parties to support the implementation of technical assistance and training activities aimed at enabling training users to apply and make use of key methods and tools that support digital health implementation and scale up. The deadline is 14 June. More details are available here.

Outside the EU the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are allocating a £15 million grant with a maximum award of £3,750,000 per applicant for projects focused on data and digital platform resources that will support, manage, link, share and access data at scale for biomedical, health and care research. The deadline for proposals is 18 June. More details are available here.

Next, there is an open call for America’s Seed Fund powered by National Science Foundation (NSF) aimed at helping US SMEs during the early-stage development of novel devices, components, systems, algorithms, networks, applications or services that will enable the transformation of healthcare from reactive, hospital-centered and indemnity-based to proactive, person-centered, preventive and cost-efficient. Each startup can receive up to $2 million, and NFS accepts project pitches at any time. If chosen, the company will have to submit the full proposal anytime within a year of receiving the official invitation from NSF. More details are available here.

Rounding up this trawl is a call for proposals from Swiss foundations: the insurer CSS Group,  EPFL Innovation Park and their networks support the Future of Health Grant, an equity-free programme for mature startups operating in the digital health industry and seeking opportunities to expand their business or secure funding in Switzerland. The funding is divided into three phases and offer grants up to CHF90,000. For more details on deadlines and application procedures, go here.  

In other funding news

The next funding deadline is an open call for MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships aimed at helping connect researchers with host institutions around the world. This year, the budget is €270 million. Of this, €230 million will go to European mobility and a further €40 million to global mobility. The call is open until 11 September. More details are available here. Also read our analysis of MSCA fellowships before applying.

The European Commission has opened a call for proposals under its ERA Talents action in Horizon Europe. The scheme is aimed at strengthening human capital in the Widening countries, a group of 15 EU member states that are still trying to catch up with the rest of the bloc in terms of research and innovation performance. The call opened on 11 April and the deadline is 26 September. More details are available here.

Also, last Tuesday the Commission launched calls for proposals worth €112 million for research in AI and quantum under Horizon Europe. Over €65 million will be allocated to artificial intelligence and around €40 million will be invested in quantum technologies, including €25 million for a pan-European quantum gravimeter network and €15 million for next-generation quantum projects. Additionally, €7.5 million will support projects focusing on European values, citizen-centric digital transformation, and global ICT standardization. More details are available here.

The German charitable foundation Volkswagen Stiftung has launched Perspectives on Wealth, a funding programme aimed at researchers in the humanities, cultural and social sciences, and economics, who are interested in income inequality in Europe and beyond. The funding offer targets international research groups of up to five equally participating partners – each group can ask for up to €1.5 million. For more details on deadlines and application procedures, go here.

Editor’s note: The Funding Radar is a weekly roundup of the most relevant research funding calls.