At the beginning of January 2021, France launched a call for expression of interest in the context of an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to support competitiveness and innovation in the French and European health care sector. The French strategy is based on a European component, as pooling European resources is seen as an efficient method to ensure a quick recovery of French and European health sector. By making the first steps towards an IPCEI, France hopes to create a public-private alliance that will generate ideas and plans enabling innovation that bolsters the industrial health care sector.
The IPCEI can function as an instrument for the EU Member States to create a common cross-border integrated project, making it attractive for joint investments from public authorities and industries from several EU countries. The collaboration of multiple parties can increase the level of funding and use of high level of technology and reduces risk. The idea of using IPCEI to support innovation in an industry is not new, as it has already been deployed in projects related to batteries and microelectronics.
Before implementing the IPCEI, the call for expression of interest will be launched with the purpose of identifying the businesses and organisations that are interested in participating. It will furthermore collect the proposals for large-scale projects. The scope of these projects should aim to target cross-functional technologies and industrial processes that can transform or modernise the health sector. These modernisations can be in the form of developing technological innovations or medical technologies and creating circular, flexible and environmentally friendly production capacities.
Companies can participate in the call by submitting their ideas in the first round, which runs from 1 March to 15 April.
For more information regarding innovation in the healthcare industry have a look at the Sectoral Watch Technological trends in the medical devices industry and related healthcare. For more information on advanced technologies in Europe, explore the ATI project website.