Last week EBC held its final Board Meeting and General Assembly of 2017. It was a full two days starting with the Digital Health event at the European Parliament, and leading into the election of the new Executive Board on the evening of the 22nd (results below). The day continued over the EBC Board Dinner, which  served as a continuation for the event held prior and included three speakers on eHealth.

The two days of meetings continued the following day with the General Assembly, which produced an exciting amount of fruitful feedback and discussion of EBC’s current and planned activities moving forward. The main outcomes are shared below.

Main Conclusions and Action Points: 

Delegates to the Board and General Assembly of the European Brain Council (EBC) met on 22^nd-23^rd November to elect a new Executive Board, discuss current issues on EBC’s agenda and decide on the future direction of the organization. On this occasion, the following decisions were adopted:

Election of the new Executive of EBC

• The following Officers were elected by the Board:
  • President: Prof. Monica di Luca
  • Vice-Presidents: Prof. Wolfgang H. Oertel
    Prof. Patrice Boyer
  • Treasurer: Joke Jaarsma

Overall Conclusions and Core Actions

• EBC’s progress with regard to various projects and advocacy issues was discussed and endorsed:
  • The “innovation agenda” under which EBC will initiate work towards a revision of the EMA-guidelines, (2) respond to the consultation on Supplementary Protection Certificates and (3) continue the GOLUP-campaign, was confirmed.
  • The establishment of the “Value of Treatment” project in a continued fashion was approved. Delegates also looked forward to developing new case studies and/or carrying on disseminating the results and outcomes of the VoT white paper published in June.
  • EBC’s plan to apply for Horizon 2020 calls was positively received, particularly those related to brain research coordination and health technology assessment.
  • Plans for organizing an event in view of the 9^th Framework Programme for Research, with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of including “Brain research” specifically as one of the missions, were positively received.

• A few policy documents, submitted for consideration, were endorsed:
  • The “Digital Health Society Declaration”
  • The statement “Prioritising patient safety and public health across Europe post-Brexit”
  • The “Call to Action on Migration and Health”
  • The “Call to Action to enhance labour opportunities for people with chronic diseases” (with an accompanying letter to be provided to the European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA) which authored the document)
  • The joint statement on “medical training and professional development for patient safety”

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“Radical simplification is one of the defining features of Horizon 2020, when compared to previous programmes. Responses from stakeholders show that huge progress has been made. But simplification is an on-going process. We have listened to researchers, businesses and other stakeholders and reflected their feedback in this second wave of simplification of Horizon 2020. The new measures will further cut red tape, making the programme even more attractive for top researchers and the most innovative enterprises, which is a major pre-requisite for achieving the Commission’s policy objectives.”

Working from 2014 to 2020 with a budget of nearly €77 billion, Horizon 2020 is one of the largest research and innovation schemes worldwide. In its first two years, the programme attracted over 76 thousand eligible proposals. Over 9000 grant agreements were signed by 1 September 2016 following call deadlines in 2014 and 2015, allocating almost €16 billion to boosting excellent science, creating industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges. Almost half of successful applicants are newcomers to the programme.

Simplification is a central aim of Horizon 2020 and is fully reflected in its design, rules, financial management and implementation. The aim is to make Horizon 2020 simpler and more attractive, particularly for newcomers to the Programme.

The meeting involved key European stakeholder organizations and included a panel discussion moderated by Patrick Child, Deputy Director-General Research & Innovation. The panel included MEP Ehler, Chair of the European Parliament’s H2020 Working Group; Mr. Brenninkmeijer, Member of the European Court of Auditors; Muriel Attané, Secretary-General, European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO); Enora Pruvot, Deputy Director for Governance, European University Association (EUA); Paul Leonard, European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) and BASF’s Head of Innovation Policy and Technology. The discussion was followed by a presentation on proposed measures & discussion on simplification as well as a discussion on the shift of focus to performance and an approach based on lump-sum project funding, in preparation for FP9.

To watch the entire meeting on webstream, click here.

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