The Covid 19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of better coordinated research and innovation to prepare for future pandemics. The European Commission is therefore funding the BE READY coordination and support action with €2 million. Twenty-one partners from 13 European Member States, Norway and the United Kingdom are participating in this project and presented their activities at the kick-off meeting in Paris on September 19.

The aim of the project is to prepare a European Research Partnership for Pandemic Preparedness and to consolidate the European Research and Innovation Area, taking into account the "One Health" approach. BE READY will provide a strategic research and innovation agenda and other tools for member states to address future health emergencies.

The planned Pandemic Preparedness Research Partnership will focus on improving EU preparedness to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging infectious health threats through better coordinated research and innovation and its funding at the EU, national, and regional levels. The Pandemic Preparedness Partnership will work under the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). The mission of this Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority is to prevent, identify, and rapidly respond to public health emergencies.

BE READY Partners:

ANRS | Emerging Infectious Diseases / INSERM, France;

Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain;

Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (MUR), Italy;

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy;

Ministero della Salute (IT MOH), Italy;

Istituto Superiore di Sanita (ISS), Italy;

AGES - Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety GmbH (AGES), Austria;

Department Economy, Science and Innovation of the Flemish Government / Vlaamse Gewest (VLO EWI), Belgium;

Service Public Federal Sante Publique, Sécurité de la Chaine Alimentaire et Environnement (SPF Santé), Belgium;

Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Denmark;

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) on behalf of Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Germany;

Nemzeti Kutatasi Fejlesztesi es Innovacios Hivatal (NKFIH), Hungary;

Université du Luxembourg (uni.Lu), Luxembourg;

Laboratoire national de santé (LNS), Luxembourg;

Folkehelseinstituttet (NIPH), Norway;

Narodowy Instytut Zdrowia Publicznego Pzh - Panstwowy Instytut Badawczy (NIZP-PZH), Poland;

Instituto Nacional De Saude Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA), Portugal;

Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica - AICB, Portugal;

Vetenskapsradet - Swedish Research Council (SRC), Sweden;

The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), Netherlands;

Rijksinstituut Voor Volksgezondheid En Milieu (RIVM), Netherlands;

Universiteit Antwerpen (UANTWERPEN), Belgium;

Inserm Transfert (IT), France;

United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom.