Periodic Reporting for period 2 - JPCOFUND2 (ERA-NET to support the Joint Programming in Neurodegenerative Diseases strategic plan (JPND))
Período documentado: 2020-01-01 hasta 2024-12-31
Nearly 47 million people worldwide are currently estimated to be living with dementia, and this 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 at national level to accelerate discovery. Such synergies have been created among 30 countries in the EU Joint Programming Initiative on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). JPND has a long standing experience in collaborative actions; since 2011, a cumulated funding of more than 200 M € has been dedicated to competitive transnational calls and JPND is now a reference for European and global knowledge as an innovative 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 these JPND successes in defragmentation, coordination and alignment among the countries, and by developing new links with the European Commission. In 2019, JPcofuND 2 launched an ambitious call for proposals on Personalised Medicine, where the benefits for 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 a whole and to address this grand challenge in the coming years.
The co-funded call on Personalised Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases was launched on 7 January 2019 on the JPND website, social media and on the national call partner websites. Press releases in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish announcing the launch of the call were disseminated.
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, and 18 projects were funded.
An Implementation Plan for 2020-2024 was developed in 2019 and has been implemented through various activities, including 8 additional joint calls for proposals for research projects, between 2020 and 2024. Overall, during the JPcofuND2 ERA-NET, 9 transnational calls (cofunded and not cofunded) were launched by 27 different participating countries, and 106 projects gathering in total 851 research teams were funded for a total amount of 106.15 Million Euro.
In parallel, actions have been taken to update and adjust the monitoring and evaluation framework including the performance indicators for JPcofuND2. Surveys and assessments were also conducted to evaluate the impact of funded projects on JPND’s goals and scientific priorities. A satisfaction survey questionnaire was developed for researchers that applied to the 2019 JPcofuND2 call for proposals on Personalised Medicine for neurodegenerative diseases reflecting the processes of JPcofuND2 from a participant perspective.
Fact sheets of the funded projects were published and disseminated via JPND’s communications channels. Two JPcofuND2 symposium were held in April 2022 (https://neurodegenerationresearch.eu/initiatives/jpnd-symposiums/jpnd-symposium-2022/symposium-2022-video/(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)) and November 2024 (https://neurodegenerationresearch.eu/initiatives/jpnd-symposiums/jpnd-symposium-2024/1-symposium-video/(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)) gathering more than 100 participants of JPND-supported research projects on neurodegenerative diseases for knowledge exchange and the sharing of best practices and new ideas.
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, and 18 projects were funded.
An Implementation Plan for 2020-2024 was developed in 2019 and has been implemented through various activities, including 8 additional joint calls for proposals for research projects, between 2020 and 2024. Overall, during the JPcofuND2 ERA-NET, 9 transnational calls (cofunded and not cofunded) were launched by 27 different participating countries, and 106 projects gathering in total 851 research teams were funded for a total amount of 106.15 Million Euro.
In parallel, actions have been taken to update and adjust the monitoring and evaluation framework including the performance indicators for JPcofuND2. Surveys and assessments were also conducted to evaluate the impact of funded projects on JPND’s goals and scientific priorities. A satisfaction survey questionnaire was developed for researchers that applied to the 2019 JPcofuND2 call for proposals on Personalised Medicine for neurodegenerative diseases reflecting the processes of JPcofuND2 from a participant perspective.
Fact sheets of the funded projects were published and disseminated via JPND’s communications channels. Two JPcofuND2 symposium were held in April 2022 (https://neurodegenerationresearch.eu/initiatives/jpnd-symposiums/jpnd-symposium-2022/symposium-2022-video/(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)) and November 2024 (https://neurodegenerationresearch.eu/initiatives/jpnd-symposiums/jpnd-symposium-2024/1-symposium-video/(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)) gathering more than 100 participants of JPND-supported research projects on neurodegenerative diseases for knowledge exchange and the sharing of best practices and new ideas.
The JPND initiative tackles the pan-European challenge facing all EU countries – that of our ageing population– and how this demographic change will lead to an exponential increase in neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease. The first expected impact was on science : between 2019 and 2025, 1,777 publications were identified from the Web of Science Core Collection. Among these 653 were in Neurosciences and 514 in Clinical Neurology, reflecting the balance between fundamental and clinical research. By mid-2025, these publications have been cited more than 50 000 times in the global scientific and medical literature. The second impact was on innovation: JPcofuND2 also fostered collaborations with industry and other stakeholders to enhance the innovative capacity of research projects. Between 2019 and 2023, 8 patent applications were filed, 9 are pending examination, 5 licenses have been granted on IP rights and 2 patents were licensed in or acquired by another organisation. The coordination of research priorities as well as the linkage and promotion of supportive research infrastructures (e.g. technologies, bioresources, data sets) has directly impacted the Health theme by providing a framework that attracts the best research groups to work cooperatively and collaboratively, maximising the potential for high impact outputs. Finally, the project also allowed the implementation of Patient and Public Involvement strategies (https://neurodegenerationresearch.eu/ppi/(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)) including workshops and guidelines, to enhance public engagement in research.