Project description
From commercial plastics to medical supplies: Rapid repurposing of manufacturing capabilities
The current pandemic has highlighted what stakeholders around the world have long known – that delaying risk mitigation measures even a matter of days or a few weeks can have a drastic impact on our ability to contain a biological hazard and protect public and economic health and well-being. Further, recent experience has shown our inability to quickly repurpose manufacturing facilities to produce vital medical equipment and supplies. The EU-funded imPURE project through the collaboration of 19 partners will develop the EU's ability to enable injection moulding facilities to produce medical equipment via additive manufacturing within 48 hours, through rapidly making modular moulds with interchangeable inserts, taking into account the potential disruption of supply chains.
Objective
The modern world is fast-evolving, interconnected and highly mobile, thus posing a significant challenge in harmonizing risk mitigation measures against emerging biological hazards. For many years the risk of emerging infectious diseases with pandemic potential was declared a major threat to global health security and addressed by many stakeholders around the world. The delay in imposing risk mitigation measures is crucial and can make the difference between a local outbreak with few cases to a pandemic with countless sick and deceased citizens, as severely demonstrated by the recent outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is of paramount importance that appropriate and proportionate measures to each phase of the pandemic (e.g. from situations with no reported cases, sporadic, local clusters of cases, to widespread sustained transmission) are immediately implemented to interrupt human-to-human transmission chains, prevent further spread and reduce the intensity of COVID-19 outbreak. Immediate activation of national emergency response mechanisms and pandemic preparedness plans to ensure containment and mitigation of COVID-19 with non-pharmaceutical public health measures is critical for delaying transmission or decreasing the peak of the outbreak, in order to allow healthcare systems to prepare and cope with an increased influx of patients. However, shortages and other gaps in the global medical supply chain represent a mismatch of supply and demand when supply is low and/or demand is high for particular items. With healthcare workers and other first responders feeling the impact of supply chains disrupted by unprecedented challenges, many large and small businesses from outside the traditional healthcare procurement system are reconfiguring to mass produce critical medical consumables. In order to address supply shortages, particularly in medical supplies and protective equipment, some countries have employed less traditional instruments.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologypandemics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringadditive manufacturing
- social scienceslawhuman rightshuman rights lawnational state of emergencypandemic risks
Keywords
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
H2020-SC1-PHE-CORONAVIRUS-2020-2
See other projects for this callSub call
H2020-SC1-PHE-CORONAVIRUS-2020-2-NMBP
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
157 80 ATHINA
Greece
See on map
Participants (20)
G1 1XQ Glasgow
See on map
PA2 6QL Paisley
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
19500 LAVRIO
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
7491 Trondheim
See on map
50018 Zaragoza
See on map
44340 Bouguenais
See on map
195 00 ATHINA
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
42015 Correggio Re
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
62010 Montelupone
See on map
1030 SCHAERBEEK
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
24060 Castelli Calepio Bg
See on map
41037 Mirandola
See on map
Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure.
41037 Mirandola
See on map
10561 Athina
See on map
1294 Visnja Gora
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
41037 Mirandola
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
28006 Madrid
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
41121 Modena
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
G20 0SP Glasgow
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure.
Dublin 1
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.