Transnational call for proposals aiming to transform healthcare systems - THCS 2024

The French National Research Agency is joining the 2nd transnational call for proposals launched within the framework of the Transforming Health and Care Systems (THCS) Partnership.

The second call Innovate to Prevent will address the added value of increasing the development and uptake of promising health and care organisational models specifically supporting prevention and their transferability and scalability across different health and care contexts and governance settings. This includes increasing use of the relevant IT and digital technologies to help achieve better outcomes in health and care systems. This call addresses the need to improve the implementation of personalised prevention strategies in health and care services, also to make them person-centred and better adjusted to people's needs while supporting effective and appropriate use of existing IT and digital-based technologies supporting prevention strategies in health and care services.

The proposals, in the scope of this call, will be focused on secondary, tertiary, and quaternary prevention:

• "Secondary prevention is associated with early detection of a disease which may result in improved chances for positive health outcomes."
   
  The projects in this area will aim to build up, implement and upscale organisational models, supported by the integration of existing IT and digital technologies, and novel data sources, in order to anticipate the identification of individuals in the earliest phase of disease more effectively than existing health and care systems. This includes taking advantage of interventions that predict, reduce, delay, and avoid the development of diseases.
   
• "Tertiary prevention is associated with services that promote better quality of life for those living with disease."
   
  The projects within this area will aim to build up, implement and upscale organisational models, supported by the integration of IT and digital-based solutions with other existing solutions, to optimise patient management both in hospital and home settings. The purpose is to reduce worsening of disease, improve the efficacy of therapies to manage the prevention of complications and further damage, and at the same time reduce the burden on the health care systems and improve access to services.
   
• "Quaternary prevention is related to avoiding over-medicalisation of patients, protecting them from unnecessary interventions and suggesting ethical alternatives."
   
  The projects within this area will aim to build up, implement and upscale organisational models, supported by the integration of existing IT and digital-based technologies, with solutions that tailor therapies for those patients who require personalised treatment.

Only transnational projects will be funded. The following conditions apply for the composition of consortia:

• The minimum project duration is 12 months and projects must be designed to be achievable during a maximum funding period of 36 months.
   
• Joint research proposals may be submitted by applicants belonging to one of the following categories (according to national/regional regulations): academia, clinical/public health sector, companies, operational stakeholders.
   
• A minimum of three (3) and a maximum of nine (9) eligible partners.
   
• Maximum three (3) eligible partners from the same country. For some funding organisations, the maximum number of eligible partners who can be funded in one project is limited to one (see also “Guidelines for Applicants” for individual funding rules).
   
• Maximum of two (2) collaborators per consortium are permitted. Collaborators are self-funded partners, i.e. partners that do not request funds in this JTC provided from one of the participating funding organisations (i.e. partners from non-funding countries or partners who are not eligible according to national/regional regulations of the participating funding organisations).
   
  • Exception: To facilitate the integration of patient organisations and companies in consortia, they can be added to a consortium as additional partners. Patient organisations and companies can be added as additional partner(s) either on own funds or by applying for funding, if eligible, from the respective funding organisations. The consortia must follow all of the above-mentioned rules regarding the consortia composition without counting the patient organisations or companies, except for the following rule: within one consortium, no more than two (2) partners can request funding from the same funding organisation, including patient organisations and companies. For some funding organisations, the maximum number of eligible partners who can be funded in one project is one.

The participation of end-users, beneficiaries, stakeholders, and businesses is encouraged.

ANR will exclusively fund the French partners (except healthcare institutions to be funded by the French Ministry of Health (see below)) of the selected projects, up to a maximum of 300,000 euros per partner (350,000 euros maximum if the partner is the project coordinator). The funding will be awarded for a maximum initial period of three years.

The Directorate General of Health Offer (DGOS) of the Ministry of Health and Prevention, also participating in this call, will support healthcare facilities (e.g. “établissements de santé”, “groupements de coopération sanitaire”, “maisons de santé” or “centres de santé”).

The project selection process will be carried out in one stage but will require the submission of a letter of intent (Intent to Apply).

The completed scientific proposal must be submitted electronically on the call submission site (no proposal will be accepted by ANR).

Countries participating

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland/UK, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland