European Partnership for pandemic preparedness

The Horizon Europe project BE READY started in June 2022.

Goals

BE READY will lay the preparatory groundwork for the foundation of the future European Partnership for pandemic preparedness which includes the preparation of an innovative and visionary European Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Pandemic Preparedness as well as the establishment of a secretariat to coordinate the creation of such Partnership between European Commission and interested partners, with strong involvement of public authorities (policymakers, research funders).

The main goal of BE READY is to establish a consolidated research and innovation framework that provides the foundation of the expected future European partnership for pandemic preparedness to improve the EU’s preparedness to predict and respond to emerging infectious health threats by better coordinating funding for research and innovation at EU, national (and regional) level towards common objectives and an agreed Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.

Consortium

The activities of BE READY will be conducted by a group of 24 organisations (19 partners and 5 Affiliated Entities) in the public domain from 15 different countries with complementary expertise and policy area ranging from Public Health Organisations, Ministries of Science and Health, Innovation to organisations for Environmental matters. All partners have a key role in their respective countries in preparedness and response activities. The consortium at the same time will act as a preparatory group for a larger community of stakeholders, EU and international initiatives related to Pandemic Preparedness and future partners of the candidate partnership on Pandemic Preparedness.

RIVM role

RIVM has a leading role in the gap analysis, which will identify the needs, research gaps, obstacles and weaknesses of an appropriate preparedness and response to pandemics. RIVM is also involved in developing a highly flexible, fast response research action plan to be implemented during epidemics/pandemics and will contribute to the development of a pandemic preparedness observatory. This will be an inventory of reviews, projects, networks and initiatives taken in the EU Member States, European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) with respect to pandemic preparedness and response. RIVM is also responsible for a One Health approach throughout the project.

RIVM colleague involved: Nika Ritsema.

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101057795.