Innovative Health Initiative

On 23 February 2021, the European Commission published a proposal for a Single Basic Act (SBA) establishing a number of joint undertakings under Horizon Europe, including the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI).

The Council adopted the regulation on 19 November 2021 and it came into force on 30 November.

The IHI website went live on 15 December 2021. Read more about the transfer and what it means for the IMI website here.

The Innovative Health Initiative in a nutshell

IHI will build on the successes of, and lessons learnt from, IMI. The goal of IHI is to help create an EU-wide health research and innovation ecosystem that facilitates the translation of scientific knowledge into tangible innovations. These innovations should be safe, effective, people-centred and cost-effective, and cover prevention, diagnostics, treatment and disease management. IHI will contribute to a number of European policies, most notably Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the new Industrial Strategy for Europe and the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe.

Like IMI, IHI will work by bringing together diverse stakeholders (universities, companies large and small, and other health stakeholders) in collaborative projects that address disease areas where there is a high burden on patients and/or society. However, in IHI there will be a much greater focus on cross-sectoral projects involving the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology sectors, including companies active in the digital area.

On governance, IHI will have a Governing Board (made up of equal numbers of representatives from the European Commission and industry partners) as well as two advisory bodies: the States Representatives Group (SRG) and the Science and Innovation Panel. The SRG will include representatives of the EU Member States and the countries associated to Horizon Europe. The Science and Innovation Panel will comprise representatives of the European Commission, the industry partners, the SRG, the scientific community, and other health stakeholders.

Members

As is the case in IMI, the ‘public’ partner in the partnership will be the European Union, represented by the European Commission.

The IHI industry partners will be COCIR, EFPIA, EuropaBio, MedTech Europe and Vaccines Europe.

In addition, organisations that want to support specific areas of research without becoming full members of IHI can apply to become ‘contributing partners’ (similar to the Associated Partners in IMI).

Budget

The total budget proposed for IHI is EUR 2.4 billion.

  • The European Union will contribute up to EUR 1.2 billion to IHI, to match the contributions of the industry partners and contributing partners. The EU funds will come from Horizon Europe, the new European framework programme for research and innovation.
  • The industry partners will contribute at least EUR 1 billion to IHI.
  • Contributing partners’ contributions can be matched by the EU up to EUR 200 million

Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

In 2019, around 100 different stakeholders, including academic institutions, healthcare professionals and patients, responded to a public consultation on the first draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). The consultation paved the way for the development of a new draft of the SRIA, which was prepared jointly by the prospective IHI member industry associations and the European Commission services. The new draft was published on 21 June 2021. The SRIA will reflect the final views of the European Commission once it becomes a formal document of IHI upon finalisation and adoption by its Governing Board. This document
does not pre-empt the outcome of the formal decision-making process or the legislative procedure for the establishment of joint undertakings.

Useful links

Launch of the Single Basic Act legislative proposal (23/02/2021)

Adoption of the Single Basic Act (19/11/2021) and entry into force (30/11/2021)

General links

  • European Commission web page and infographic on European Partnerships in Horizon Europe
  • The European Commission web page on IHI
  • Industry partners’ website on IHI (includes information on the SRIA as well as case studies on cross-sectoral collaboration)