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Driving Sustainable Innovation to Minimise PFAS in European Healthcare

Objective

PFAROS is our European game-changing initiative to accelerate the transition away from harmful PFAS substances in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. Aligned with EU public health, environmental, and industrial policy objectives, PFAROS is developing safe, scalable, and regulatory-ready alternatives, ensuring that healthcare innovation and sustainability go hand in hand.
PFAROS’ mission is to replace PFAS in medical and pharmaceutical applications through a multidisciplinary approach, combining validated alternatives, advanced degradation and disposal technologies, and data science to support informed substitution and policy action.
At the core of PFAROS is a policy-informed, AI-powered data tool that maps PFAS use, identifies viable alternatives, and integrates life-cycle, exposure, and toxicological data—empowering evidence-based policy and regulatory decisions. Coupled with broad stakeholder engagement and social science integration, the project ensures a just and informed transition.
PFAROS will ultimately unlock a PFAS-free future for Europe’s healthcare system by:
1. Developing an integrated testing and assessment framework to implement the safe and sustainable by design approach for PFAS replacement;
2. Providing validated, industry-ready PFAS alternatives to ensure rapid adoption;
3. Enabling data-driven decision-making through a PFAROS AI-powered data tool tailored to support regulatory needs;
4. Setting the gold standard for sustainable alternatives and end-of-life solutions in critical applications;
5. Ensuring broad adoption and fostering cross-sector collaboration with industry, regulators, academia, and civil society;
6. Positioning the EU as a global leader in sustainable chemical policy and healthcare innovation.
PFAROS is more than a scientific initiative—it is a policy enabler, offering concrete tools and solutions to support a safer, greener, and more resilient healthcare system for Europe.
The PFAROS project is a public private partnership (IHI).

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

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Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-IHI-2025-10-two-stage

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 4 279 946,25
Address
SINT PIETERSNIEUWSTRAAT 25
9000 Gent
Belgium

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Region
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen Arr. Gent
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 4 279 946,25

Participants (43)

Partners (45)