Periodic Reporting for period 1 - JPCOFUND2 (ERA-NET to support the Joint Programming in Neurodegenerative Diseases strategic plan (JPND))
Reporting period: 2019-01-01 to 2019-12-31
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.
In WP1, a management and coordination framework was implemented for the project, in order to continuously orientate all activities towards the objectives, and to ensure their fulfillment within time plan and budget.
In WP2, the co-funded call was prepared, including all call-related documents. The call was launched in January 2019 on the JPND website and on the national call partner websites. 180 applications were submitted according to the call on Personalized Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases.
In WP3, a two-stage evaluation was carried out on all the applications to the co-funded call. 180 pre-proposals and 36 full proposals were evaluated on a peer-review basis. 19 proposals were recommended for funding and finally, 18 projects will be funded.
In WP4, actions have been taken to update and adjust the monitoring and evaluation framework including the performance indicators for JPco-FuND-2. In addition, a satisfaction survey questionnaire was developed for researchers that applied to the 2019 JPco-fuND 2 call for proposals on personalised medicine for neurodegenerative diseases reflecting the (administrative) processes of JPco-fuND-2 from a participant perspective.
In WP5, the 2019 co-funded call was published on 7 January on the JPND website. Press releases in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish announcing the launch of the call were disseminated. Prior to that, a pre-call announcement was launched. Results of the 2018 Health and Social Care Call were also announced on the website and the factsheets of these 10 projects were published and disseminated via JPND’s communications channels.
In WP6 an Implementation Plan 2020-2024 has been developed by DLR and implemented in 2019. The Operating Plan for 2020 will likely be presented and agreed in summer 2020.
In WP2, the co-funded call was prepared, including all call-related documents. The call was launched in January 2019 on the JPND website and on the national call partner websites. 180 applications were submitted according to the call on Personalized Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases.
In WP3, a two-stage evaluation was carried out on all the applications to the co-funded call. 180 pre-proposals and 36 full proposals were evaluated on a peer-review basis. 19 proposals were recommended for funding and finally, 18 projects will be funded.
In WP4, actions have been taken to update and adjust the monitoring and evaluation framework including the performance indicators for JPco-FuND-2. In addition, a satisfaction survey questionnaire was developed for researchers that applied to the 2019 JPco-fuND 2 call for proposals on personalised medicine for neurodegenerative diseases reflecting the (administrative) processes of JPco-fuND-2 from a participant perspective.
In WP5, the 2019 co-funded call was published on 7 January on the JPND website. Press releases in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish announcing the launch of the call were disseminated. Prior to that, a pre-call announcement was launched. Results of the 2018 Health and Social Care Call were also announced on the website and the factsheets of these 10 projects were published and disseminated via JPND’s communications channels.
In WP6 an Implementation Plan 2020-2024 has been developed by DLR and implemented in 2019. The Operating Plan for 2020 will likely be presented and agreed in summer 2020.
The JPND initiative tackles the pan-European challenge facing all EU countries – that of our aging population– and how this demographic change will lead to an exponential increase in neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease. The first expected impact on the health theme is a more rational alignment of the research effort on ND by sustaining a common vision on the research priorities at European level and its implementation via existing and new instruments and actions. The coordination of research priorities as well as the linkage and promotion of supportive research infrastructures (e.g. technologies, bioresources, data sets) will directly impact the Health theme by providing a framework that will attract the best research groups to work cooperatively and collaboratively, maximising the potential for high impact outputs. The implementation of the SRIA should also improve the integration of disciplines and fields of research by developing linkages between basic, clinical and public health and social research. The third expected impact is the pooling and increased coordination of national resources and efforts to reach the critical mass necessary to better understand, detect, prevent and combat basic mechanisms that trigger ND and to improve care services for people and carers living with these diseases.