IHI calls for proposals (previously known as IMI calls) represent an opportunity for organisations involved in health research and healthcare to form consortia and apply to be part of cross-sector partnerships that bring together a range of stakeholders to tackle some of the biggest challenges in health research today.

The IHI call 7, which is a two-stage call, covering the following three topics:

Topics:

• Topic 1: Improving clinical management of heart disease from early detection to treatment.

Actions under this topic must contribute to all the following outcomes, ultimately contributing to reducing the burden of heart disease:

• Healthcare systems and patients benefit from the development of integrated solutions for improving critical aspects in the overall care pathway (primary, ambulatory and hospital care) for heart disease.
• Healthcare systems and patients will benefit from the development or optimisation of innovative technologies leading to personalised, patient-centric solutions for the early detection, diagnosis or treatment of heart disease.
• Patients benefit from proposed strategies tailored to their needs for improved outcomes in heart disease.
• Healthcare professionals benefit from the deployment of solutions for improved diagnostic procedures, referral programs or clinical workflows as well as targeted training for relevant clinical staff where appropriate.

• Topic 2: User-centric technologies and optimised hospital workflows for a sustainable healthcare workforce.

Actions under this topic must contribute to at least three of the following outcomes:

• Healthcare professionals will benefit from assistive technologies that are user-centric, and improved workflows within the hospital setting, resulting in optimised procedures or new capacities, while easing the workload and promoting job satisfaction.
• European healthcare systems will benefit from the automation and improvement of already- existing processes and/or the availability of new technologies. These innovations will provide increased functionality or new capacities.
• Patients will benefit from an improved experience throughout the entire care journey, including increased quality and efficiency of healthcare services derived from the automation or improvement of existing hospital workflows, and/or access to novel treatment modalities.
• Healthcare providers will benefit from new and innovative workflows and/or capabilities for improved cost-effectiveness and efficiency of care delivery, enhancing access to care, and improving the experience of both hospital staff and patients.

• Topic 3: Clinical validation of biomarkers for diagnosis, monitoring disease progression and treatment response.

Actions under this topic must contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• Access for healthcare professionals to novel, robust and fit for purpose biomarkers¹ with linked technologies enabling their use in clinical setting and progress towards validation. Biomarkers and linked technologies may be for diagnosis, monitoring disease progression, selecting the optimal therapeutic treatments, or assessing treatment response.
• Availability for researchers of robust and fit-for-purpose biomarkers with linked technologies enabling their clinical use for diagnosing disease, disease monitoring, or monitoring treatment response. This will enable researchers to develop safer and more effective personalised treatments tailored to the individual's characteristics and the stage of their disease. Alternatively, availability for researchers of key technology (e.g. companion diagnostics) that could be essential for the safe and appropriate use and selection of a corresponding drug or biological product or its development.
• Availability for regulators of robust evidence on the suitability of selected biomarkers and their linked technologies to enable regulatory acceptance for a specific use.

Single-phase call, in which applicant consortia will have to include industry/contributing partners who will provide in-kind and/or financial contributions to the project. At least 45% of the budget must be covered by contributions from entities belonging to the IHI Industry Associations (COCIR, EFPIA, EuropaBio, MedTech Europe and Vaccines Europe) and/or by contributing partners, and is an eligibility criterion. Several proposals can be funded in each topic (see budget available in each topic).

In case of interest, please click on "m'interessa" and we will contact you.