Leveraging artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response

The main goal of this opportunity is to strengthen pandemic preparedness and response by harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It aims to develop and improve AI-based solutions for surveillance, monitoring, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and emergency management during pandemics. The focus is on creating trustworthy, ethical, and inclusive AI tools that address biases and involve stakeholders in real-world testing and adoption. This opportunity is open to participants from the European Union, Associated Countries, and the United States, with a strong encouragement for international collaboration to tackle global health challenges.

• Must develop or improve AI-based tools that enhance pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response

• Must use or prepare FAIR datasets relevant to infectious diseases across the EU and Associated Countries

• Must leverage EU data infrastructures (e.g. EHDS, EOSC) while addressing cybersecurity, privacy, equity, and interoperability

• Must engage end-users, policymakers, regulators and other stakeholders in tool design, validation, and uptake

• Must address societal, ethical, and legal challenges, including bias mitigation, with strong SSH integration

• Must budget for joint activities (e.g. clustering, dissemination) with other funded projects under the topic

Examples:

• Developing an AI tool for real-time monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks using satellite and health data.
• Creating a platform that uses AI to optimize resource allocation for hospitals during pandemics.
• Designing an AI-based system for rapid diagnosis and triage of patients in emergency settings.

• Personnel costs
• Subcontracting
• Travel and subsistence
• Equipment (depreciation or rental)
• Consumables and materials
• Dissemination and communication
• Access to research infrastructure
• IPR and certification
• Audit costs
• Indirect costs (25% flat rate)
• Internally invoiced services

• Budget for this Call: 5 
• Number of Grants attributed:35,000,000€
• Maximum value per project: 8,000,000€
• Minimum value per project: 6,000,000€

• Applicants must comply with the application format and page limits as specified in the official guidelines.
• Applicants must be established in eligible countries (EU, Associated Countries, or the United States).
• Proposals must address the specific requirements of the topic.
• Applicants must demonstrate financial and operational capacity.
• If using satellite-based services, projects must utilize Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS systems.
• Entities identified as high-risk suppliers of mobile network equipment are not eligible for certain restricted topics.
• Eligibility may depend on the country and the specific topic requirements.