During the first project period, the Alliance4Life consortium focused on the main project aim, which is a contribution to closing the health research & innovation divide in the EU. Following the kick-off meeting held in Brno in January, the release of the Alliance4Life official Declaration, and the successful introduction of the initiative in Brussels, the Alliance4Life productively embarked on the implementation of the work plan. The main tasks for the first year of project implementation included the assessment of research and innovation performance of Alliance4Life member institutions, benchmarking against advanced European partners and identification of institutional best practices. The aim of the benchmarking exercise was not to compete internally but to inspire and help each other. The Assessment Report presents the current situation in ten Alliance4Life institutions and comparison with selected EU advanced research institutions. The second key task was to identify, describe and share best practices as both joint and unique factors that lead to success, as well as peculiarities that need to be addressed. Adopting these best practices would increase health research excellence and innovation capacity at both the institutional and national levels. The identified best practices were compiled into another public deliverable, Inventory of Best Practice, to be integrated into the Alliance4Life strategies and to allow for their dissemination to national R&I communities and policymakers. Moreover, during the first year of the project duration, the first policy communication of Alliance4Life, a position paper on the European Commission´s proposal of Horizon Europe was released. The second year of the project implementation covered two community meetings held in Jurmala and Vilnius and delivered several important results. The first one was the White paper containing recommendations from Inventory of best practices, the aim of which was to propose a set of key recommendations to national and European policymakers, in order to speed-up closing the gap and enhancing European R&I as a whole. The White paper with a graphical summary was made publicly accessible on the project website. The second key task was to create and update of Alliance4Life strategies based on existing synergies and know-how sharing that will reinforce the research and innovation capacities of Alliance4Life institutions, enhance their development and increase their competitiveness. The created strategies were compiled into another deliverable, Report on development of Alliance4Life members’ strategies, to be used for the implementation of transformative institutional changes. Moreover, during the second year of the project implementation. All Alliance4Life partners´ institutions organised national round tables gathered more than 400 representatives of respective ministries, research councils, universities. industry and other health research related offices and institutions in all nine countries of Alliance4Life members. These events served as an excellent tool to raise awareness on the Alliance4life mission and current achievements, to create a spill-over effect on each national research policy scene and to influence the main national stakeholders and decision-makers who are responsible for institutional governance and national research policies in the participating countries. Conclusions and recommendations from national roundtables were disseminated among participants, via press releases and final public deliverable Round table reports. At the final stage, the founding members of the Alliance4Life signed the Memorandum of Understanding and formalized the alliance as a permanent structure.
