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.

Cancer- healthcare, research and innovation face core common challenges, such as fragmentation of initiatives and distancing from important stakeholders, requiring coordinated solutions. These challenges are recognized in Horizon Europe’s Cancer Mission Implementation Plan and in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. The proposal Establishing of Cancer Mission Hubs: Networks and Synergies (ECHoS) represents a unique opportunity to coordinate R&I and Healthcare actions on cancer with policy-making processes creating transnational communication & collaboration networks aligned with Cancer Mission objectives. Experiences shows that the setup and implementation of innovative health solutions are more likely to be successful when a broad range of stakeholders and decision-makers from the public and private sectors are part of the process. By fostering the creation of National Cancer Mission Hubs (NCMHs) in member states and associated countries ECHoS will create the conditions for organized stakeholders and individual citizens to collaborate and engage in policy dialogues. The implementation of the Cancer Mission objectives will promote more resilient and people-centric healthcare and research systems. ECHoS will produce (i) general models and guidelines for the creation of sustainable NCMHs, (ii) a knowledge exchange programme to support development of NCMHs competences, (iii) impact models and training sets to help efficiently engaging with distinct stakeholders, (iv) a toolkit for synergies to help NCMH engaging in collaborative work with individual European Initiatives, (v) a business continuity model envisaging long-term sustainability of a EU network of NCMHs and (vi) a calendar of events to create awareness on NCMHs and to help closing the gap in citizens’ participation in cancer policy. In summary, ECHoS will create conditions for NCMHs to be Mission Cancer advocates in MS/AC and set the pace for the development of a transnational network of NCMHs in a second phase.