Open Call SC1-HCC-05-2018: Support to a Digital Health and Care Innovation Initiative in the Context of Digital Single Market Strategy

European Commission The Communication on the mid-term review of the implementation of the Digital Single Market Strategy (COM(2017)228) identified three priorities on digital transformation of health and care (DTHC): citizens' access to their data; data infrastructure; interaction between citizens and healthcare providers for better health management. That document indicated that specific measures would be elaborated in a dedicated Communication to be adopted in the months to follow.

Progressing significantly at EU scale on the referred priorities requires aligning the efforts of many relevant players across Europe, namely their efforts on research and innovation, in line with activities supported by H2020, as well as efforts on deployment, political coordination, stakeholder awareness and mobilisation, etc. Such coordinated European action on is already supported through various frameworks including the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA), the eHealth network of Member State representatives, the eHealth stakeholders group, the health and care activities under the Digitising European Industry platform and other. It is also the focus of actions under European programs including H2020 (notably its societal challenge 1), the Active and Assisted Living Joint Programme, the IMI and ECSEL Joint Undertakings and the Knowledge and Innovation Community on Health from the European Institute of Technology.

Scope

The action should address the activities indicated below, in close coordination with European Commission services, while considering the coordination activities and programs mentioned above, relevant projects and actions supported by the EU, and other relevant initiatives.

1) Delivery on the third DTHC priority of the DSM (focusing on user-centred integrated care), which should represent approximately 75% of the total effort of the action. This will concentrate on supporting and extrapolating the lessons from practical experiences across Europe that are particularly impactful, successful and replicable. The focus will be on large scale deployment of digital solutions for chronic diseases and integrated care (that absorb the majority of healthcare budgets and where there is a big scope for improvement) and patient-centred care, considering a limited set of implementation scenarios which seem particularly impactful. The experiences to be considered may cover public and non-public initiatives, including from the reference sites and other participants of the EIP on AHA, as well as relevant European projects (finished or not) on integrated care. Three tasks will be undertaken:

1.1. Support the identified initiatives and projects, assessing their impact, analysing their strengths and weaknesses, and providing advice for further deployment, including on available funding from public (EU or other) and private sources as well as other types of assistance. In all cases, and notably for EU funding and assistance, the aim should be to maximise their leverage effect and demonstrable impact.

1.2. Replicate the lessons from the selected initiatives and projects, through a common framework for assessing impact (with particular consideration to the MAFEIP), twinning activities, and collaboration actions between relevant initiatives and stakeholders. The later may include a variety of instruments including pre-commercial and innovation procurement. Success and failure factors will be analysed and compared in view to assess their potential replicability. This work should build on the H2020 support action funded under SC1-HCO-17-2017, and any other relevant efforts to link initiatives in the scope of the third DTHC priority of the DSM.

1.3. Scale up the deployment across Europe of DTHC solutions, analysing, elaborating on and promoting enabling factors and "building blocks", which may lead to European reference frameworks. These may relate e.g. to mHealth, smart homes, smart hospitals, legislation and practices on data management, recognition of professions and professional acts, reimbursement schemes, health technology assessment, incentive and penalty schemes, performance and outcome-based approaches, subsidy schemes, interoperability and standards, skills and literacy measures, etc. This work will build up on the scale-up strategy of the EIP on AHA and any other efforts to scale at European level initiatives in the scope of the third DTHC priority of the DSM.

2) Collaboration platforms on key aspects of the three DTHC priorities of the DSM, which should represent approximately 20% of the total effort of the action. This requires to identify relevant stakeholders and initiatives across Europe and engage them to collaborate, jointly analyse key challenges and solutions, elaborate common strategic agendas and commitments for action in three areas:

2.1. Citizens' access and management of data relevant to their health and wellbeing (first DTHC priority). This will address public and private initiatives allowing active citizen involvement with regard to data relevant to their health (access, manage, sharing, donating, etc). It will be important to reach out to relevant stakeholders, e.g. health authorities, patient and healthcare provider associations, data protection authorities, data platforms, etc. Account should be taken of schemes to share data, including across borders, such as the health Digital Service Infrastructure under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), and other relevant ongoing projects and actions funded by the EU (e.g. topic SC1-DTH-08-2018).

2.2. Aggregated demand for infrastructure capacity to handle health data (capture, transfer, process, store, etc) by researchers, developers of products and services and other players involved in the secondary use of data (second DTHC priority). The focus will be on the interaction between the referred demand and the supply for generic data infrastructure capacity, considering in particular the initiatives on EuroHPC (high performance computing), European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as well as future related activities supported by the H2020 and the (CEF) programs. Special attention should be paid to security, privacy and identification aspects. Account should be also taken of the most relevant ongoing projects and actions funded by the EU (under H2020, CEF, structural funds, etc) focusing on health data.

2.3. Interaction between citizens and healthcare providers (third DTHC priority), including feedback from patients and on health outcomes, exploitation of real world data, and other aspects meant to improve quality of care and health management in general. This will refer to various initiatives already existing in this area.

3) Vision of EU coordination and support on DTHC beyond 2020, which should represent approximately 5% of the total effort of the action. Considering inputs gathered through the implementation of the two other work packages and additional feedback from relevant stakeholders, advise on future EU support on DTHC goals, including possible financial support under the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (e.g. support for research and innovation, cohesion, strategic investment), as well as legislative, policy, or other types of intervention.

The proposal should include partners with demonstrated experience of delivering on the areas mentioned above, who are widely acknowledged for their expertise and results, while providing a broad representation of constituencies relevant to DTHC, as well as of regions across Europe.

Beyond the profile and credentials of their partners, the proposal should demonstrate capacity to reach out to and effectively engage relevant stakeholders across Europe, influence their policies and practices as well as stimulate cooperation amongst them.

Moreover, the proposal should be able to credibly deliver on the expected impacts identified below. This will require relevant expertise on a variety of domains and an appropriate level of resources convincingly allocated to the action.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU up to 4 M€ over two years would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected Impact

The proposal should provide appropriate indicators to measure its progress and specific impact in the following areas:
  • Effective support to and engagement of stakeholders active on the third DTHC priority of the DSM, resulting in tangible impact from the beginning of the action and sustainably throughout its duration.
  • Functional collaboration platforms on key aspects of the three DTHC priorities of the DSM and instrumental contribution to the implementation of EU policy on DTHC in the context of the DSM.
  • Actionable strategic vision for EU policy on DTHC beyond 2020, including appropriate mobilisation of EU instruments.

Deadline: 24 April 2018 17:00:00

Deadline Model: single-stage

Type of action: CSA Coordination and support action.

For topic conditions, documents and submission service, please visit:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/sc1-hcc-05-2018.html

PS: Find your partners or consortia preparing a project proposal
If you are working on Horizon 2020 research project proposals and you would be interested in a SME partner from Germany, please contact us, we are happy to share our experience, expertise and knowledge. If you need help to identify a potential partner with particular competences, facilities or experience, please join and explore our project, (HEALTH IT) SPACE, at www.healthitspace.eu.

Most Popular Now

Integrating Care Records is Good. Using …

Opinion Article by Dr Paul Deffley, Chief Medical Officer, Alcidion. A single patient record already exists in the NHS. Or at least, that’s a perception shared by many. A survey of...

Should AI Chatbots Replace Your Therapis…

The new study exposes the dangerous flaws in using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for mental health support. For the first time, the researchers evaluated these AI systems against clinical standards...

AI could Help Pathologists Match Cancer …

A new study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and collaborators, suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) could significantly improve how...

AI Detects Early Signs of Osteoporosis f…

Investigators have developed an artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostic system that can estimate bone mineral density in both the lumbar spine and the femur of the upper leg, based on X-ray images...

AI Model Converts Hospital Records into …

UCLA researchers have developed an AI system that turns fragmented electronic health records (EHR) normally in tables into readable narratives, allowing artificial intelligence to make sense of complex patient histories...

AI Sharpens Pathologists' Interpret…

Pathologists' examinations of tissue samples from skin cancer tumours improved when they were assisted by an AI tool. The assessments became more consistent and patients' prognoses were described more accurately...

AI Tool Detects Surgical Site Infections…

A team of Mayo Clinic researchers has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can detect surgical site infections (SSIs) with high accuracy from patient-submitted postoperative wound photos, potentially transforming...

Forging a Novel Therapeutic Path for Pat…

Rett syndrome is a devastating rare genetic childhood disorder primarily affecting girls. Merely 1 out of 10,000 girls are born with it and much fewer boys. It is caused by...

Mayo Clinic's AI Tool Identifies 9 …

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps clinicians identify brain activity patterns linked to nine types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, using a single...

AI Detects Fatty Liver Disease with Ches…

Fatty liver disease, caused by the accumulation of fat in the liver, is estimated to affect one in four people worldwide. If left untreated, it can lead to serious complications...

Meet Your Digital Twin

Before an important meeting or when a big decision needs to be made, we often mentally run through various scenarios before settling on the best course of action. But when...

NHS National Rehabilitation Centre to De…

The new NHS National Rehabilitation Centre will deploy technology to help patients to maintain their independence as they recover from life-changing injuries and illnesses and regain quality of life. Airwave Healthcare...