iiCON: the Infection Innovation Consortium has efficiently secured funding from COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) to set up a novel pan-European COST Action community with over 70 collaborators from 21 nations and worldwide organisations to harmonise the European response to infectious disease threats.
COST Actions are bottom-up networks with a period of 4 years that purpose to enhance analysis, innovation and careers. Cost Actions assist join analysis initiatives throughout Europe and past and allow researchers and innovators to develop their concepts in any science and know-how discipline by sharing them with their friends.
The Pan European One Health Network for Infectious Diseases Detection, Monitoring and Prevention will reply to the rising menace of infectious illnesses to develop a coordinated, preventative response. It is due to formally launch in October 2026.
By integrating human, animal, and environmental well being, the community will join teachers, clinicians, veterinarians, engineers, laptop scientists, SMEs, policymakers, and civil society to co-develop equitable, scalable options. This multi-stakeholder group will bridge current gaps to help the invention, validation, and deployment of modern instruments to detect, monitor, and forestall an infection threats.
The community contains collaborators from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom and International Organisations.
Forty % of the collaborators are Young Researchers and Innovators, 57% are ladies, and 57% of the collaborating nations come from Inclusiveness Target Countries, which have been designated as “less research-intensive” in contrast to main scientific hubs.
Professor Patryk Kot, head of the Infection Innovation Technology Laboratory, led by iiCON, is main the initiative. He stated: “As the longest-running European framework for coordinating nationally funded analysis throughout borders, COST has performed an necessary position in supporting and enabling equitable analysis and innovation over many a long time, with tangible impression throughout Europe and past. We’re delighted to have been profitable in securing funding and help for this necessary One Health initiative and to be a part of the COST Action community.
“By enabling an end-to-end innovation pipeline and fostering public-private collaboration, our network will play a key role in accelerating the translation of research into market-ready tools, strengthening Europe’s resilience and preparedness for infectious disease threats.
“We look forward to working with our diverse group of collaborators to bridge research and innovation gaps – enhancing efficiency, bolstering innovation, and working collaboratively to standardise the European infection response.”
Professor Janet Hemingway, iiCON’s founding director, stated: “Infectious illnesses pose an more and more complicated and rising menace to our world communities. It is just by working collectively, sharing data and standardising programs that we are able to leverage our shared experience and synergistic functionality to uncover and develop options to fight this common problem.
“COST Action’s commitment to driving forward knowledge sharing and engagement across borders is deeply aligned with iiCON’s focus on collaborative innovation and we look forward to leading this important network – deepening links and enabling impactful partnership working to combat our shared infection threat.”
Major boundaries at present restrict translation from analysis to follow, these embrace fragmented surveillance frameworks, poor interoperability of datasets, restricted predictive modelling, sluggish regulatory pathways, and uneven diagnostic capability throughout areas.
This Action addresses these gaps by six interlinked Working Groups:
- Frameworks and surveillance protocols’ harmonisation (WG1)
- Interoperable information pipelines improvement (WG2)
- AI-driven predictive fashions and diagnostic instruments (WG3)
- Capacity constructing and data dissemination (WG4)
- Alignment of innovation with regulatory, moral, and coverage frameworks (WG5)
- Equity, range, and inclusion in Infectious Disease Innovation (WG6).
The funding will allow the community to take part in a broad vary of capacity-building actions to help data sharing, strengthening analysis networks and increasing the skilled horizons and careers of collaborating innovators.
Key actions will embrace college coaching and engagement classes, mentoring, short-term scientific missions and multi-sectoral workshops. This exercise will equip the subsequent era of researchers and practitioners with invaluable expertise, data and expertise, whereas guaranteeing significant and cohesive engagement and open collaboration throughout a various European cohort.
Outputs from the capacity-building exercise will embrace harmonised terminologies, interoperable architectures, validated diagnostic prototypes, regulatory and translational roadmaps, and EDI-informed innovation tips. These might be designed for sensible use by end-users and supported with open-access assets, toolkits, and focused dissemination to guarantee uptake by the broader group.