On 21 October, the European Parliament voted to approve nine proposed Public Private Partnerships (Joint Undertakings) as part of the Horizon Europe research programme. Parliament’s resolution was focused on ensuring effective spending of the EUR 22 billion budget for the nine Partnerships, with EUR 10 billion of the funding coming from the budget of Horizon Europe. Of the approved Partnerships, the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) is of particular relevance for dementia, as it is the “successor” programme to the Innovative Medicines Initiatives (IMI 1 & 2), which has funded many dementia-related research projects in recent years.
The IHI will involve industry partners from the pharmaceutical, vaccines and medical technologies sectors, however, the details of the programme are not yet finalised. A draft “Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda” was published in July 2021, outlining how the future Partnership may be structured. Member States states will officially adopt the legislation at a Council meeting at the end of November, with approval highly likely following an agreement between the Parliament and Council in September.
