The social and economic challenges of ageing populations and chronic disease can only be met by translation of biomedical discoveries to new, innovative and cost effective treatments. The ESFRI Biological and Medical Research Infrastructures (BMS RI) underpin every step in this process; effectively joining scientific capabilities and shared services will transform the understanding of biological mechanisms and accelerate its translation into medical care. Biological and medical research that addresses the grand challenges of health and ageing span a broad range of scientific disciplines and user communities. The BMS RIs play a central, facilitating role in this groundbreaking research: inter-disciplinary biomedical and translational research requires resources from multiple research infrastructures such as biobank samples, and resources from multiple research infrastructures such as biobank samples, imaging facilities, molecular screening centres or animal models. Through a user-led approach CORBEL will develop the tools, services and data management required by cutting-edge European research projects: collectively the BMS RIs will establish a sustained foundation of collaborative scientific services for biomedical research in Europe and embed the combined infrastructure capabilities into the scientific workflow of advanced users. Furthermore CORBEL will enable the BMS RIs to support users throughout the execution of a scientific project: from planning and grant applications through to the long-term sustainable management and exploitation of research data. By harmonising user access, unifying data management, creating common ethical and legal services, and offering joint innovation support CORBEL will establish and support a new model for biological and medical research in Europe. The BMS RI joint platform will visibly reduce redundancy and simplify project management and transform the ability of users to deliver advanced, cross-disciplinary research.

Research infrastructures (RIs) operate in complex innovation ecosystems where industry plays an increasingly important role. Pan-EU initiatives, such as the Innovation Union or the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, revolutionise the way public and private sectors work together, and help to create structural frameworks which are needed to foster such collaborations. While initiatives of this type play a crucial role in enabling industry to become a full partner of research infrastructures whether it is as a user, a supplier, or a co-creator, they do not fully utilise or engage Industrial Liaison and Contact Officers (ILOs/ICOs) which could have a central role in boosting the RI-industry partnerships. To address this gap, ENRIITC will build a permanent pan-European network of ILOs and ICOs. This will be done in a community-driven, cross-functional, cross-sectoral, multiplier-based way which will be inclusive and enable all interested parties to actively participate. By supporting the establishment of strategic, cross-border partnerships between industry and research infrastructures, ENRIITC will enable win-win results for all parties. With a timeline of 36 months, 11 partners from seven countries, and a strong support from 61 Associates from around Europe, ENRIITC will 1) establish a sustainable European network of ILOs and ICOs which enables mutual learning, 2) map collaboration potential between research infrastructures and industry, 3) develop and refine strategies and best practices to foster these collaborations, 4) raise awareness among industry for collaboration opportunities at research infrastructures, and demonstrate impact. The consortium and Associates will jointly balance the need for expertise from diverse scientific areas, combine it with practical insights from establishing relations with various industries operating in different sectors and geographical contexts, and propagate it among their networks.

ContextAdvanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) is a class of innovative therapeutics which includes gene, cells and tissue engineered products. ATMPs offer unprecedented promise for the long-term management and even cure of diseases, especially in areas of high unmet medical need, such as cancers and haematological, ocular, neurodegenerative and genetic diseases. However, the translation from research into patient benefit faces many challenges and requires the involvement of many stakeholders (including academic start-ups, biotech industry, regulatory agencies). For ATMPs to fulfil their potential, specific skills and knowledge in four key areas need to be available in the workforce, which are currently lacking: manufacturing, clinical trials, regulatory approval and reimbursement.ObjectivesThe main objective of the project is to support early career researchers in developing currently missing scientific knowledge, transversal skills and competences to meet the key challenge areas existing in the ATMP development cycle. By establishing an innovative and focused learning programme, ADVANCE aims at establishing a strategic partnership between key players from education, research and industry that contribute to innovation of ATMPs to jointly develop curricula for early career biomedical professionals.ParticipantsThe “next generation of ATMP developers” – i.e. early career biomedical academics (PhDs, Postdocs), including doctors in training, clinician scientists and SME-based professionals, who are considered to be an important component of the labour market and the critical intermediaries of the ATMP development pipeline - are the core target group for the three-stage blended learning programme foreseen by ADVANCE. Activities and outputsThe three-stage blended learning programme consists of three complementary and interconnected modules all addressing key challenge areas in ATMP development : (1) online course (for teaching “basic” scientific knowledge); (2) webinars (for in-depth scientific knowledge and skills, combined with career coaching; and (3) face-to-face workshops (for training transversal skills and competences). Both the webinars and the online course will be free of charge and available to a broad audience. The three curricula (IO1-3) will be complemented by digital credentials (IO4) and a sustainability plan (IO5). MethodologyThe project methodology for developing the courses is based on the ADDIE principle – an instructional design model – consisting of 5 interrelated steps that will be implemented in the project accordingly: 1) Analysis; 2) Design; 3) Development; 4) Implementation; and 5) Evaluation.1. During the Analysis phase, learning objectives for the courses will be defined based on a previously established competency profile (within the Erasmus+ funded C-COMEND project) for scientists involved in medicine research and development, including ATMPs, to ensure matching with labour market needs.2. During the Design phase, the consortium will design the curricula of the courses based on the established learning objectives. The curricula will apply multi-competency training and Bloom’s taxonomy will be used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity.3. During the Development phase, the content of the training activities will be designed, including interactive learning methods which promote the transfer of course content into observable competencies and cater for different learning styles. 4. The Implementation phase will consist of the delivery of the online course, the webinars and career coaching sessions as well as the workshop programme.5. In the Evaluation phase, the feedback obtained from participants as well as faculty, organisers and project partners will be used to optimise the second delivery of the online course and workshop cycle.Envisaged results and impact:• Outputs available to a broad audience (aim online course 500, webinars 700 and workshop 60 participants).• Enhanced quality and relevance of competencies and knowledge to the labour market in the biomedical sciences.• Improved course participants' career opportunities and employability in the field.• Fostered interaction between research, education and innovation.• Supported mobility between countries and between public & private sectors.Longer term benefits:• Increased European competitiveness of ATMP development.• Increased number of scientific ideas turned into innovative products bringing growth and jobs to the European economy.• Strengthened public-private strategic partnership and collaborations in the field of ATMPs.• Improvements in public health due to better trained professionals who will drive effective and accelerated ATMP development and offer safer and affordable treatments for patients with high unmet medical needs.

TRANSVAC2 is the follow-up project to its successful predecessor project TRANSVAC, the European Network of Vaccine Research and Development funded under FP7. The TRANSVAC2 consortium comprises a comprehensive collection of leading European institutions that propose to further advance with the previous initiative towards the establishment of a fully operational and sustainable European vaccine R&D infrastructure. TRANSVAC2 will support innovation for both prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine development based on a disease-overarching and one-health approach, thereby optimising the knowledge and expertise gained during the development of both human and animal vaccines. This will be achieved by bridging the translational gap in biomedical research, and by supporting cooperation between public vaccine R&D institutions of excellence, related initiatives and networks in Europe, and industrial partners. TRANSVAC2 will complement and integrate with existing European research infrastructures in both the public and private sectors. TRANSVAC2 will function as leverage and innovation catalyst between all stakeholders involved in vaccine R&D in Europe and -by providing integrated and overarching vaccine R&D services- will contribute to the development of effective products to address European and global health challenges, to controlling the burden and spread of infectious diseases, and reinforce the economic assets represented by vaccine developers in Europe. The impact of TRANSVAC2 will be maximised by two external advisory bodies. An independent Scientific & Ethics Advisory Committee will provide recommendations surrounding scientific-technical and ethical issues, whereas the coordination of TRANSVAC2 with other related initiatives and the further promotion of the long-term stability of a European vaccine R&D infrastructure will be supported by a Board of Stakeholders comprising representatives of policy and decision makers, industry associations and European infrastructures.

In the first five years of operations, EATRIS has shown strong proof of concept of the value of the services portfolio, with users ranging from academia, SMEs, large pharma, to biotech and research funding organisations. The overarching aim of EATRIS-Plus is to support the long-term sustainability (LTS) of EATRIS by delivering innovative scientific tools to the research community, strengthening the infrastructure’s financial model and reinforcing EATRIS leadership in the European Research Area (ERA), particularly in the field of Personalised Medicine (PM) research and development. Specific objectives are: (i) To consolidate EATRIS capacities in the field of PM to better serve academia and industry and augment the number of EATRIS Innovation Hubs with large pharma; (ii) To further strengthen the LTS of EATRIS financial model; (iii) To drive patient empowerment through active involvement in the infrastructure’s operations; (iv) To expand strategic partnerships with Research Infrastructures and other relevant stakeholders. The proposal relies on a scientific and technological programme combined with capacity-building activities across 16 EU countries, with the support of two umbrella organisations representing patient organisations and SMEs. EATRIS-Plus will help pooling and exploiting the translational academic capacities of the infrastructure in omic technologies to enable researchers to better address the scientific and societal challenge of PM. Additionally, the coordination office and 13 existing national nodes of the infrastructure will participate in implementing joint outreach, training, industry engagement and international collaboration activities to further build national capacity, increase users’ trust and strengthen EATRIS and the ERA global scientific leadership.