The Coordination and Support Action (CSA) BrainHealth will lay the ground for an envisaged ‘European Partnership (EP) on Brain Health’. Twenty participants from 11 Member and Associated States and Third countries will jointly pursue the work plan. The overall objective of the CSA is to sizeably contribute to maintenance and restoration of brain health for citizens in Europe and worldwide. Specifically, the project aims to design a collaboration framework for the EP as an umbrella for existing initiatives and stakeholder communities in this area. The CSA will create a common understanding of achievements, gaps and future developments in European research into brain health, and derive from them priorities and opportunities in a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). Intense consultation with representatives of Member and Associated States is expected to lead to adoption of the SRIA and development of an implementation plan that will allow for strategic alignment of regional and national research programmes and commitments to the EP. Research infrastructures and platforms will be analysed regarding their service opportunities, and solutions will be developed to facilitate data and material sharing in the area of brain health. For highest possible impact, the CSA will reach out to the most relevant globally acting initiatives and their brain research strategies and policies. Synergies will be identified to shape the international landscape and establish new while maintaining existing collaboration. Finally, the CSA activities will be embedded in thoroughly planned dissemination and communication activities and an efficient management structure.

The overall aim of JPsustaiND is to support the development and extension of the capacities of the EU Joint Programming Initiative on Neurodegenerative Diseases, in particular Alzheimer's (JPND). Since 2009 JPND has been operating on a very light management structure based on a simple Terms of Reference. Through this JPND has been able to set a common Strategic Research Agenda, and to deliver its first implementation plan that has allowed among other achievements, the mobilisation of approximately €100 million of additional funding between 2011 and 2015 to support transnational research programs. While progress has been pleasing to date, the implementation of JPND must now be scaled-up to further catalyse Member State commitments, and to formalize synergies between members and various partners. The immediate challenge therefore for JPND is to secure its long-term sustainability by Member States, to mobilize those which are not yet participating, and to increase its impact at the national level and globally. JPsustaiND thus aims at creating the dedicated structure responsible for long-term JPND management and implementation, and extension of JPND membership to EU Member States and other countries and initiatives not yet participating. To achieve this goal, the JPsustaiND partners, with the support of the JPND Management Board, will implement the following six workpackages: Coordination and Management; Long Term Sustainability; Capacity Extension; Alignment and Outreach; Communication and Advocacy; and Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment. JPsustaiND will implement a stronger global dimension of the JPND, and will avoid duplication of research and infrastructure investment at the national level. By supporting further coordination and integration of national research and innovation programmes with the JPND research strategy, in coherence with Horizon 2020 objectives, JPsustaiND is thus creating a dedicated European Research Area for neurodegenerative diseases.

Over 12 million people in Europe suffer from neurodegenerative diseases (ND), yet treatments that prevent or stop the progression of neurodegeneration are still lacking. Tackling this grand challenge requires enhanced coordination of national efforts to accelerate discovery. Such synergies have been created among 28 countries in the pilot EU JPI on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). JPND has a long standing experience in collaborative action with €75 million of additional national funds being successfully mobilized between 2011 and 2014 to support transnational research programs. The JPND Research Strategy is now ripe for further enhancement in tight coordination with the EC through an ERA-Net Cofund instrument JPco-fuND with an unprecedented commitment of €30 million of national funds associated to a highly incentivizing EC top-up fund. Among the most burning questions, three priority topics have emerged through a consultative process between researchers and JPND members in order to unlock several major issues within ND research: the identification of genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors, the development and maintenance of longitudinal cohorts, the creation of advanced experimental models. These are key questions of equal priority to increase understanding of ND mechanisms that will be addressed through a common joint transnational call allowing a significant acceleration of the execution of the JPND research strategy. Moreover, to expand the impact of JPco-fuND, JPND will continue to implement other actions without EU co-funding such as aligning national research strategies, making databases more accessible and interoperable, developing enabling capacities such as supportive infrastructure and platforms, capacity building, education and training. These actions are required in parallel to achieve the highest impact for the patients, their carers and for society as whole and address this grand challenge in the coming years.

Worldwide, nearly 47 million people are currently estimated to be living with dementia, and the number is expected to almost double every 20 years, yet treatments that prevent or stop the progression of neurodegeneration are still lacking. Tackling this grand challenge requires enhanced coordination of national efforts to accelerate discovery. Such synergies have been created among 30 countries in the pilot EU JPI on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). JPND has a long standing experience in collaborative actions; since 2011, a cumulated funding of 132M€ has been dedicated to competitive transnational calls and JPND is now a reference for European and global knowledge and as an innovation platform in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. Building on earlier successes of the JPND Research Strategy in scaling-up and establishing synergies with Horizon 2020, there is a need to continue previous efforts to consolidate the JPND successes in defragmentation, better coordination and alignment amongst the countries, by developing new links with the EC. JPcofuND 2 aims at launching in 2019 an ambitious call for proposals on personalised medicine, where the benefits for the patients affected with neurodegenerative diseases will be explored through personalised diagnosis, personalised prevention and personalised care. Participating countries have earmarked 24,7 M€ of national funds for this call. Moreover, to expand the impact of the project, JPND will continue to implement other actions without EU co-funding such as aligning national research strategies, making databases more accessible and interoperable, developing enabling capacities such as supportive infrastructure and platforms, capacity building, education and training. These actions are required in parallel to achieve the highest impact for the patients, their carers and for society as whole and address this grand challenge in the coming years.