Objectives of ERACoSysMed

Objective 1: To strengthen the research community across national borders as well as across specific research areas with the long-term aim of implementing systems medicine across Europe

ERACoSysMed will support the systems medicine community by fostering inter- and multidisciplinary collaborations between clinicians, researchers, computational scientists and industrial partners. Joint activities on crucial issues such as data-management, -handling and sharing as well as specific education and training-related actions will facilitate the sharing of know-how and will strengthen the alignment of research groups across the participating Member States and Associated Countries.

Objective 2: To establish a network of funding bodies for systems medicine

ERACoSysMed will contribute to the opening of the national programmes to international collaboration and to the improvement in Europe's research performance in the systems medicine field. A synergistic approach of the participating funding bodies will help to avoid the duplication of funding efforts and the fragmentation of research areas. It will also lead to the efficient use of the available human and financial resources and the alignment of funding across the 15 participating countries. Monitoring of the ERACoSysMed activities will provide a valuable input for planning of future funding strategies in the systems medicine field.

Objective 3: To initiate and implement joint transnational calls for research proposals

Joint transnational calls (JTCs) for research proposals will be initiated, funded and monitored by funding bodies across Europe. The first step will be the launch of a co-funded JTC which will select transnational research projects by a competitive approach whereby the funded projects must demonstrate the social and economic benefit of the systems medicine approach. A total budget of approximately 12 million euros including a top-up EU contribution from H2020 is foreseen for these projects. The consortium intends to implement further JTCs in order to maintain the momentum which will be created by the co-funded JTC.

Objective 4: To provide a platform for the implementation of the actions recommended by the CASyM road map

The proposed ERACoSysMed will be guided by the systems medicine implementation strategy recently developed by the CASyM consortium (for further details see: www.casym.eu). This implementation strategy (roadmap) is based on a broad stakeholder consultation process which includes clinicians, scientists, funding and regulatory bodies and industry/SME. The central goal of this process is the formation of a coherent European approach for systems medicine which is driven by clinical needs. ERACoSysMed will greatly benefit from the work already performed by the CASyM consortium and in the same way ERACoSysMed is the consistent next step for the practical implementation of systems medicine based on the CASyM roadmap.