Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the largest cause of death in the EU and account for around 2 million deaths per year. Overall, CVD are estimated to cause the economy of the EU costs of almost 196 billion Euros a year. Furthermore, they are one of the leading causes of long term sickness, chronic diseases and loss to the labour market. Therefore, CVD are a major health problem in Europe. Despite the overall burden of CVD on European citizens and national health systems, translational cardiovascular research is fragmented and mainly occurs at national levels. However, the present and future challenges in cardiovascular research can only be met by an effective cooperation at transnational level. Therefore, the proposed European Research Area Network on cardiovascular diseases (ERA-CVD) aims to coordinate national and regional programmes for translational research in the area CVD by implementing one Joint Transnational Call (JTC2016) with EU Co-funding followed by further non-co-funded JTC (2017-2019). Although this consortium will be newly established, a collaboration and alignment of national programmes and activities has already been achieved during the preparation of the ERA-Net Co-fund proposal. This process is supported by CardioScape an EU-funded survey of the European cardiovascular research landscape coordinated by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The current ERA-CVD proposal will extend and strengthen the transnational cooperation of the current 23 ministries/institutions/foundations from 18 European, associated and third countries. Furthermore, ERA-CVD plans to cooperate with the ESC and the European Heart Network (EHN). Moreover, the collaboration with European Research Infrastructures, e.g. the ESFRI-initiatives is intended in order to set up an efficient European framework for innovative transnational research on CVD. Also the extension of the consortium and international collaborations are intended.

Brain-related diseases affect millions of people in Europe and worldwide, with increasing trends. They impose a societal and economic burden on patients, families and carers, and healthcare systems. Tackling them requires collaboration and concerted interaction among all relevant players. Based on a longstanding tradition, NEURON Cofund2 aims to align national and regional funding programmes and to build a basis for a global brain research area. It aims to advance research into the brain and nervous system diseases and ultimately alleviate the burden of disease. To this end, 27 partners from 22 countries across and beyond Europe will join forces with the European Commission and commit to invest 65-75 m€ over 5 years for translational research into mental disorders, neurological conditions (except neurodegeneration) and sensory disorders. To support brain research, annual joint calls for transnational interdisciplinary research consortia will be launched. The co-funded call in 2021 will tackle neurodevelopmental disorders, which originate in the particularly vulnerable group of children and adolescents and often persist throughout life. The joint commitment to this call is around 23-26 m€. The following calls will address other fields of nervous system disorders, and neuroethics. For additional support and improvement of research structure, the ERA-NET NEURON will cooperate with professional societies, pertinent other projects, patients and their representatives and stakeholders. On structural levels NEURON will enhance quality of research by reinforcing highest possible scientific standards of research approaches. This will include e.g. sharing of resources and data, and linking with ESFRI infrastructures. In particular, early career investigators will profit from networking activities and enabling measures for the interdisciplinary neuroscience community. The outcomes of the ERA-NET will be communicated on conferences, the NEURON website, and social media.

Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology to medicine and healthcare. The field takes advantage of the physical, chemical and biological properties of materials at the nanometer scale to be used for a better understanding of the biological mechanisms of diseases at the molecular level, leading to new targets for earlier and more precise diagnostics and therapeutics. Nanomedicine, rated among the six most promising Key Enabling Technologies, is one of the most important emerging areas of health research expected to contribute to one of the strategic challenges that Europe has to face in the future: Provide effective and affordable health care and assure the wellbeing of an increasingly aged population. EuroNanoMed III (ENM III) builds on the foundations of ENM I & II, which launched 7 successful joint calls for proposals since 2009, funded 51 transnational research projects involving 269 partners from 25 countries/regions, and allocated € 45,5 million to research projects from ENM funding agencies. ENM III consortium, reinforced with 12 new partners from Europe, Canada and Taiwan, is committed to fostering the competiveness of European nanomedicine actors taking into account recent changes in the landscape and new stakeholders and challenges, as identified in the SRIA in nanomedicine. The first joint call for proposals will be co-funded by ENM III partners and the EC. After the co-funded call, three additional joint transnational calls will be organized and strategic activities will be accomplished in collaboration with key initiatives in the field. ENM III actions focus on translatability of project results to clinical and industry needs.

Cancer is a worldwide health burden and represents a major public health challenge in Europe. It is responsible for 25% of all deaths, being the second most common cause of death after cardio-vascular diseases and the main cause of mortality among people aged 45–64. Today, an estimated 9 million individuals in Europe live with cancer (Globocan 2008, http://globocan.iarc.fr/). Cancer became a chronic disease which contributed substantially to the growth of medical expenditures and constitutes a major socio-economic challenge for Europe as well as globally. A rapid and effective bidirectional transfer of relevant cancer research findings between bench and bedside would play a pivotal role in addressing top-priority needs at the EU level to reduce incidence and mortality of malignancies and to improve the quality of life of cancer patients. The proposed ERA-NET Cofund TRANSCAN-2, in continuity with the preceding and ongoing TRANSCAN ERA-NET, aims at linking translational cancer research funding programmes in 15 Member States, 3 Associated Countries, and a third country. By concentrating transnational resources, TRANSCAN-2 will provide a critical financial and scientific mass for tackling large-scale problems, relevant for improving translational cancer research globally. A co-funded joint transnational call (JTC) will be launched focusing on the topic “Intratumour heterogeneity in resistance to therapy and recurrence” followed by three additional JTCs that will be implemented in a frame of multinational translational cancer research programmes. In addition, strategies will be developed for the enlargement of the network, for improvement of coordination and for an efficient communication and dissemination of the results of the consortium as well as of the research projects funded through the JTCs. The monitoring of the projects funded through the JTCs and the critical assessment of the performance of TRANSCAN-2, based on key indicators, will be also realised.

Cancer is a worldwide health burden and a major public health challenge. Despite significant advances in the understanding, prevention, diagnostics and treatment, cancer remains a public health problem in Europe and the world. In such a setting, translational cancer research plays a key role in successfully addressing the growing burden of cancer. The great potential of translational cancer research in Europe will only be achieved when the main barriers are systematically addressed through concerted actions between public and private organisations that provide funds for research, researchers, healthcare providers and all those engaged in the cancer research spectrum. Moreover, adequate and systematic financial support backed by a strong political commitment is absolutely essential to help reduce the burden of cancer that European citizens are currently facing. In this context, the TRANSCAN-3 network, with a strong background in funding cancer research, embodies an excellent model of cross-national cooperation by bringing together 31 funding organisations, from 20 countries, with the common goal of supporting high-impact translational cancer research through cross-national joint calls for proposals, and by an efficient investment of dedicated national/regional public funding, leveraged with foundation/charity-based resources and EU financial support. Building up on the well-established cooperation and accomplishments, through the harmonisation of national/regional funding mechanisms and programmes, plus continued and sustained series of efforts for the access to and sharing of data on cancer research, this TRANSCAN-3 project also aims at becoming a catalysts for a sustainable model of funding of high-impact cancer research in Europe and beyond, with an approach to effectively engage relevant stakeholders (patients, society as a whole, policy makers, etc.) in different stages of the action.