The Strategic Research Agenda in Health has been defined through an open participatory process at the Catalan level. Experts from the promoter entities of the action worked together on the document that has presented to the European Commission the Catalan research priorities. This action seeks to highlight the Catalan potential within Horizon 2020, the new framework program of the European Commission.
The network of Connect-EU Groups aims to position the Catalan research in the international arena, to establish and strengthen existing synergies and to identify the research areas with the greatest potential. This should allow new collaborative and breaking projects in biomedicine between public and private sectors.
The working groups are open to public and private actors (companies, business associations, universities and TECNIO centers) representing technological and scientific sectors which are relevant in Catalonia. The agenda was defended by representatives from IDIBAPS, Centre de Regulació Genòmica, Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques and AROMICS.
Other objectives of the groups from the Connect-EU Network are:
- Creating strategic alliances, especially cross-cutting between the different entities.
- Encouraging the participation and integration of network members within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission until its completion in 2013.
- Promoting the adaptation and development of the group members to the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the EC, from 2014 to 2020.
- Giving visibility to the initiative by making diffusion among health stakeholders.
It is an initiative which will be maintained and expanded based on the success of this first experience, with the support from AGAUR ACC1Ó and the Generalitat de Catalunya. Future actions should align strategy of the Connect-EU groups with the Research and Innovation Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) of the European Commission. This initiative is promoting the identification of knowledge specializations within the Member States and regions of the European Union that best fit their innovation potential according to their resources and capabilities.
More information about Health Connect-EU Group at: www.connecteusalut.org/
Information via: Secretariat for Foreign and European Union Affairs of the Generalitat de Catalunya