Lifestyle, disease and biology put older people at risk of functional decline, leading to falls, cognitive impairment, frailty, and negative consequences for quality of life. PreventIT will develop and test an ICT based mHealth System (iPAS) for the consumer market that 1) enables early identification of risk of age-related functional decline, and 2) engenders behavioural change in younger older adults in order to adopt a healthy, active lifestyle. We will use an integrated system of a smartphone/watch as frontend technology and a protected cloud-based solution for handling of personal data as backend technology. We will develop online instruments for risk-screening, complexity metrics, motivation for behavioural change, and a method for personalise exercise by phenotype, based on currently available big data sets. The ICT based intervention we develop is unique, delivered on a smartphone/watch with exercise integrated in daily life and a behaviour change programme. We will evaluate the role of technology and behavioural change theories in risk prevention by performing a multinational feasibility RCT to compare with the same intervention without use of technology and with practice as usual. Usability and feasibility will be in focus, and ageing people will be included in all phases of the project. At the end of the project all assessment and intervention components will be integrated into a personalised self-administered activity system, designed to empower ageing people to control their own health and function. A microsimulation health economics model will be developed to predict effects of our risk prevention intervention on carers and the health care system. PreventIT will be performed by a strong interdisciplinary team with previous impact in the field of ageing and ICT, and commercial partners who are strong on technology development and exploitation are included to increase the chances for iPAS to become a first choice mHealth system for the ageing generation.

Current evidence from both randomized trials and real-world evidence studies suggests that older breast cancer patients derive clinical benefit from the addition of CDK 4/6-inhibitors to endocrine therapy but with higher risk for adverse events and treatment discontinuation compared to younger patients. The IMPORTANT project will design and conduct a pragmatic clinical study with a decentralised approach for older patients with advanced breast cancer aiming at high level of evidence (level I) with multi-layer results that can enable changes in current clinical practice. This study will be conducted across 6 (six) EU countries, and will include more than 500 female and male patients. The project will also perform a series of analyses over a) a wide range of clinical-relevant primary and secondary endpoints targeting to contribute to current clinical practice and b) the implementation of specific strategies aiming at more individualized treatment and follow-up approaches to a clinical trial setting that highly resembles real-world setting due to the trial's pragmatic design. The project will be developed in 60 months by a competitive consortium of 19 partners from 11 countries, which corresponds to a well-balanced structure, involving clinical sites, SMEs, universities and patient advocacy organizations. Despite the great diversity of entities within the proposal, IMPORTANT partners bring state-of-the-art complementary skills ensuring the ability of the consortium to successfully complete the proposed work.This action is part of the Cancer Mission cluster of projects on ‘Diagnosis and treatment’.

Environmental heating is a growing challenge for our community and problems are already experienced by millions of Europeans during the summertime and aggravated during heat waves or occupational settings. In addition to the well-known health risks related to severe heat stress, a number of studies have confirmed significant loss of productivity due to hyperthermia. Even if countries adopt the EU proposal for limiting global CO2 emissions, climate change and its associated threat to public health will continue for many decades. Thus, it is crucial to develop strategies to mitigate the detrimental health and societal effects of these environmental changes. Stakeholders such as policy makers and the private sector usually lack the technical capabilities or facilities to conduct R&D activities at the level of excellence required for such development. European research institutes have the capacity to conduct the R&D necessary to develop solutions. However, they often lack the capacity to transform these solutions into policies and assess their health, economic and social benefits. The HEAT-SHIELD project will create a sustainable inter-sector framework that will promote health as well as productivity for European citizens in the context of global warming. The project will produce a series of state-of-the-art innovative outcomes including: (i) appropriate technical and biophysical research-based solutions to be implemented when the ambient temperature poses a health threat or impairs productivity (ii) a weather-based warning system with online open access service that anticipates the events that may pose a threat to workers’ health; (iii) scenario-specific policies and solutions aimed at health promotion and preventing loss of productivity (iv) implementation of the formulated policies and evaluation of their health, economic and social benefits. Consequently, the HEAT-SHIELD project provides a multi-sector approach to address the serious environmental challenge.