Key Positions on Horizon Europe (FP9)

Transcription

1 Key Positions on Horizon Europe (FP9) Version 28 June 2018 EIT Health Brussels/Munich 28 June

2 1 Framework and budget The European Union s Framework Programme (FP) for research and innovation has a very important role in promoting scientific research as well as innovative approaches close to markets in Europe. Over the years, it has demonstrated significant European added value. Without Horizon 2020 and its predecessors, research and development in Europe would be much more scattered than it is today; many scientific and translational breakthroughs would not have been possible. The European Commission s 7 June 2018 proposals 1 are a step in the right direction. EIT Health welcomes in particular The thorough analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the current research framework programme which forms the basis for the June 2018 proposals The overall strong focus of the Commission s proposals on research, innovation and closeto-market development The recognition that science, research, invention and discovery need extra measures, ecosystems and investments to convert into innovations impacting the life of customers and patients for the better The intention to increase participation of non EU countries (third countries) A significant overall budget increase comparing to Horizon 2020 The commitment to further reduce bureaucracy for participants It is of fundamental importance for the European Union s future that research and innovation receive adequate support also during the next Multiannual Financial Framework s (MFF) duration. Europe s spending on research and innovation should be brought as soon as possible to the 3% of GDP threshold. We therefore Call on the Member States to support a very significant investment into research and innovation as part of the MFF. Invite Member States and the European Parliament to increase further the R&I budget within the MFF to an amount around 120 bn for the next financial period See 1

3 2 Health as a key global challenge Health is not only one of the main concerns of the EU population 2. A healthy population is crucial to boost the economy, reduce poverty and social inequalities, and address the increasing burden of diseases on individuals and societies. Furthermore, health is one of the most important and dynamic economic sectors, accounting for 10% of the GDP and 8% of the EU s workforce 3. Despite significant progress in reducing premature death and increasing life expectancy in recent decades, health in European societies faces important challenges. First, the impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has risen because of population ageing (and the slower increase in the number of healthy life years), as well as because of environmental and lifestyle factors (such as poor nutrition or lack of physical activity). While average life expectancy in EU countries is of 78.1 and 83.6 years for men and women respectively, 80% of people over 65 years live with one or several NCDs. Second, the rise of prevalence of NCDs is putting increasing pressure on the sustainability of health and social care systems. Between 79 and 89% of the burden of ill health (measured in DALYs) are linked to NCDs 4, implying more than 70% of the total health care cost. 5 Furthermore, public expenditure on health care and long-term care are expected to rise from 8,5% of GDP to a percentage between 10,5% to 12,5% by 2060 if nothing is done. 6 In turn, disability benefits and paid sick leave represent 1,7% of GDP each year. 7 Finally, economic and technological changes will have an important impact on the health sector as a whole, including industries and health care systems. The development of technological tools (e.g. ehealth, artificial intelligence) are expected to introduce innovative solutions into the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention and treatment of a number of diseases, while altering significantly the way health care is delivered. The health sector has the potential to grow continuously and to contribute increasingly to Europe s GDP. However, Europe is lagging behind in the development of health technological solutions, comparing with the US and other countries, which implies a risk for the overall health sector. Under Horizon 2020, only 10.5% of the global budget (80 billion) were earmarked for biomedical and health related research, despite the fact that more than half of the cumulated research output in Europe relates to biomedical and clinical research. 8 This figure represents even a decrease comparing to previous EU Research Framework Programmes. It is fundamental to 2 60% of EU citizens support more European-level decision making in dealing with health and social security issues, according to Special Eurobarometer European Commission, DG SANTE: Strategic Plan Global Burden of Disease Study 5 European Commission, DG SANTE: Strategic Plan European Commission: Joint report on health care and long-term care systems & fiscal sustainability (2016) 7 European Commission & OECD: Health at a Glance: Europe Bouillon et al., Public investment in biomedical research in Europe. The Lancet No 386,

4 reverse this damaging trend, which prevents the health R&I sector to deploy its full innovation potential and deliver on citizens expectations, as well as to contribute to Europe s global competitiveness in this important sector.. 9 We therefore Welcome the prominent position health has received in the proposed Horizon Europe structure, where it is described as first thematic cluster in Pillar 2 (Global challenges and industrial competitiveness) Regret that the European Commission proposes only 7.7 bn for this thematic cluster. A mere 300 million increase in comparison to Horizon 2020 which compensates only for inflation is not appropriate to address the challenge of an increasingly ageing society and the increasing global competition in this field The European Commission proposals would furthermore result in a significant decrease of the share of FP funding for health R&I. Call on the European Parliament and Member States to increase the budget allocation for the health cluster to 10 bn, to at least maintain the current share of FP budget allocated to health. The EU has committed itself to improve the health and wellbeing of the EU population. Such a commitment aims to underpin the overall economic and social goals of the EU, as well as to contribute to the achievement of the UN s Agenda for Sustainable Development and support the work of international organisations such as WHO. The role of the EU in supporting health research and innovation in Europe is of fundamental importance. Creating synergies and a European scale for health research and innovation is crucial for finding solutions to the increasing burden of NCDs as well as to fostering innovation in one of Europe s most important economic sectors. 3 The EIT and its KICs as part of Horizon Europe The EIT is an important part of the European Union s innovation landscape. Today, it represents the continent s largest pan-european innovation system. Its unique model based on the knowledge triangle (research-education-business creation) strengthens the innovation capacity of the EU and its Member States. At the same time, it focuses already on key global challenges. Most importantly, it unlocks innovation by overcoming the silo mentality and integrating the various 9 Both in absolute terms and relative to GDP, the US spends more on health care, at about 6,400 per head (at purchasing power parity exchange rates). In addition, about 50 per cent of all US public research funding goes to medical research, translating to public spending for biomedical research per capita that is about 3.5 times higher than in Europe. (Committee of the European Medical Research Councils [EMRC] of the European Science Foundation (ESF),

5 competences cross-border that are needed to transform fresh ideas into novel products and services Since 2012, the EIT s Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) have created tangible value and return on investment: Every year, more than 100 innovative products and services are brought to global markets some of them disruptive and with the potential to transform entire sectors; More than 1,000 start-ups and scale-ups were supported, raising several hundreds of millions in external funding, thus building strong corporate foundations to be globally competitive; 10 Several thousands of jobs have been created; 11 More than 1,500 graduates successfully completed an EIT labelled master and/or PhD programme; several thousand participated in entrepreneurial education activities. The specific nature of the EIT as an independent EU innovation institute makes sure the EIT and its KICs are flexible and business-driven. Unlike other instruments of Horizon 2020, the EIT is not only funding individual grantees, but is also systematically investing in ecosystems, which have a high potential for synergies and cross-sectoral fertilisation. Futhermore, EIT KICs do not only depend on public funds; they actively mobilise and leverage additional funding from the private sector and have the ambition to become increasingly sustainable over time. The EIT KICs do not operate in isolation. KIC partner organisations and individuals often contribute to other EU programmes and initiatives as well. At the project level, the KICs offer support and scaling up resources to ERC grantees and SMEs with high innovation potential. At the programme level, the EIT offers the opportunity to link other financial instruments (e.g. EFSI, ESIF) to generate innovation on the ground. The EIT KICs translate evidence gained from research into education as well as product and service innovation. Learnings from business creation including information about shortcomings and gaps flows back into research. This intense exchanges within one organization covering all those directions is probably unique. At the same time, EIT Health is more than a project delivery mechanism. It contributes actively to the strategic priorities of the European Union, for instance by giving input to policy making of a wide range of European Commission Directorates-General and by mobilizing connected stakeholders around innovation debates. More than other parts of Horizon 2020, the EIT KICs have through their Regional Innovation Schemes (RIS) - put an accent on developing potential and capabilities in those countries and regions of Europe which are not traditionally dominant in research and innovation. The EIT is thereby contributing to regional development and narrowing the gap between citizens in different parts of Europe. 10 EIT interim evaluation EIT interim evaluation

6 4 EIT KIC needs for successful delivery To allow the EIT and its KICs to carry out their mission and deliver successfully to the European Union s innovation agenda, it will be necessary to 1. Make the EIT a central part of the architecture of Horizon Europe with connections to all three pillars of the programme. The relationship with other parts of FP9 such as the EIC should be carefully defined; 2. The mandate of the EIT and its KICs need to be understood. The KICs are much more than a mere innovation tool. In reality, they permanently interact with other programmes and platforms, provide intelligence and data to the EU institutions and contribute to high level political goals of the EU. EIT Health for instance, collaborates with DG SANTE and the other DGs at both strategic and technical level to identify best practices and innovative approach for European health systems. In this sense, the KICs function is clearly a different one than the one of the future EIC for instance. 3. In order to deliver on their mission, the EIT KICs must be able to support start-ups as well as scale-ups. It is a wrong perception that the EIT is not equipped to promote innovators to scale ups their operations. To the contrary, by creating trust-building and all-inclusive innovation biotopes that include industrial blue chips, SMEs, start-ups and consumers, a deal-flow is generated that attracts private investment and venture capital spanning from crowdfunding to block-buster financing. Thus, the EIT KICs are continuously and in growing manner involved in scaling up activities. It should also be pointed out that the border between starting up and scaling up is often floating and not clearly defined. 4. The EIT KICs are leveraging capital thanks to their close links with the Venture Capital (VC) community. VC instruments enable them to actively mobilise capital as equity for growth. 5. Provide the EIT and its KICs with adequate resources. Only this way the long-term perspective of innovation ecosystems can pay back. The European Commission proposal of 7 June 2018 is not sufficient to cover the needs of the EIT community, especially when new KICs are added in the future. We are calling on the European Parliament and the Council to increase the budget allocation for the EIT to an amount as close as possible to the 5.8 bn projected by the EIT as future need. In case only 3 bn are allocated to the EIT under Horizon Europe, a dramatic reduction in ambition, scope and impact of the EIT will be inevitable. Last not least, hundreds of commercial top innovation leaders, strongly committed today in the current six KICs by contributing with knowledge and substantial investments, will look outside of Europe, for alternative partnering opportunities, without a growth perspective of the EIT. In such a scenario, no new KICs should be launched to make sure the current 6 KICs and the 2 new KICs to be launched in 2019 can thrive and deliver on their commitments. KICs from the second and third wave in particular need adequate resources to reach the critical mass necessary to deliver on their objectives and achieve long term sustainability. 6. Make sure Horizon Europe funding is easy to combine with other sources of support. Participation rules should be adapted where necessary, for instance to invest into innovation capacity in RIS regions or to mobilise additional capital through the EFSI or 5

7 other EIB instruments. Financial instruments should complement, not replace innovation grants though. The KICs need, in order to deploy their full potential, a number of reforms of the current system framing their operations. Priorities for Horizon Europe and the next EIT SIA are: 7. Current yearly budget allocations need to be replaced by 3-year budget planning cycles to allow for professional budgeting and multi-annual project programming. Decisions on budget allocations must be made well before budget implementation starts; 8. KICs need more flexibility in using budget. Reporting and other requirements should be simplified; increased use should be made of lump sum payments; 9. Allocate a larger share of the budget based on performance. This way EIT resources will reward impact to a larger extent than under the current system; From the perspective of EIT Health, it is furthermore important to 10. Allocate adequate funding to EIT Health to allow the KIC and its partnership to deploy its full potential, based on an increasing budget in line with the sustainability model and the bell-shape funding curve of the KICs 12 ; 11. Recognise that EIT Health not only has a high impact orientation and is corresponding to a major societal challenge - It is also a KIC that is extremely close to citizens immediate concerns. In few other fields, the EU can gain citizen support more directly; 12. Give EIT Health the necessary independence to design a tailor-made innovation platform together with its partner organisations under the umbrella of the EIT; 12 The EIT funding to a KIC over its up to 15 years period follows a bell-shape pattern: an increase, a peak, a plateau and a decrease to a pre-defined minimum level of EIT funding to a KIC, subject to specific conditions. 6

8 [Annex for external stakeholders] 5 About EIT Health EIT Health is one of the largest healthcare initiatives worldwide. Its goal is to sustainably advance the fundamentals of healthcare and thus promote suitable future conditions for healthy living, active ageing and improved wellbeing of people across Europe. EIT Health leverages the expertise of more than 140 partners from the pharma, diagnostics and med tech fields, payers, insurances, research institutions and universities. As one of the EIT s Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), the initiative benefits from some of the world s best-in-class academic and research organisations and offers both higher education and business expertise. By investing in Europe s best entrepreneurial talents and ideas, EIT Health fosters the development and commercialization of smart product and service solutions in the health sector, addressing the challenges posed by demographic change and ageing societies. In 2017, its first full year of operation, EIT Health has provided support to 100 health startups across Europe. 22 new products and services were developed. 22 million were attracted from external investors. EIT Health also reaches out directly to citizens: Throughout the year, 53,000 European citizens were involved in EIT Health events and activities. Headquartered in Munich (Germany), EIT Health has six co-location centres in London (UK/Ireland), Stockholm (Scandinavia), Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France), Mannheim and Heidelberg (Germany/Switzerland) and Rotterdam (Belgium/Netherlands), as well as regional EIT Health InnoStars clusters consisting of industry partners, academia, and health providers linked to seven regions in six countries Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Italy and Wales. For more information visit: 7