EU Has Set Aside € 128 Million For Research Of The Pandemic

EU Has Set Aside € 128 Million For Research Of The Pandemic

The European Commission (EU) has set aside € 128 million for research projects to address the effects of the pandemic. Martina Štefániková from the Representation of the European Commission in the Slovak Republic informed about this in a press release. Štefániková explained that on Thursday the commission signed grant agreements under the Horizon 2020 program with 23 projects, which it selected in August. Slovakia has its representatives in two projects. More than 340 research teams from 39 countries are expected to take part in the projects, including 32 participants from 15 countries outside the European Union. Slovak researchers are collaborating on the Orchestra project, which aims to connect European cohorts, ie large groups of patients, and thus improve the effectiveness and intensity of the joint response to the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. It is also represented in the unCoVer project. Its aim is to evaluate data for an evidence-based rapid response to COVID-19. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the initiative in May 2020. Funding was intended to enable researchers to fight the pandemic and its consequences by strengthening industrial capacity to produce and deploy readily available solutions, the development of health technologies and digital tools. It also aimed to improve the understanding of the behavioral and socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and to the study of cohorts in Europe. Štefániková adds that these research activities complement previous efforts focused on the development of diagnostics, treatment and vaccines. Financial support under Horizon 2020 is part of the European Commission's commitment to donate € 1.4 billion as a global response to the coronavirus.