Leveraging artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response

The grant opportunity titled "HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-04" focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance pandemic preparedness and response. This initiative falls under the Horizon Europe program, specifically within the Health Cluster. The primary aim is to support research and innovation actions to develop and improve AI tools and technologies for addressing infectious diseases.

Eligible applicant types include universities, research institutes, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), public-private partnerships, and additional entities involved in AI development and healthcare data infrastructure. The funding type is primarily a grant, categorized as a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (RIA).

A consortium is required for proposals, emphasizing collaboration among participants from the EU and Associated Countries. Geographic eligibility extends to EU member states, Horizon Europe Associated Countries, and certain international partners contributing to pandemic preparedness efforts.

The target sectors for this grant include health, information and communications technology (ICT), particularly AI tools, and biotechnology/medtech. The overall project stage is focused on research and development, which involves activities such as the preparation and assembly of datasets, development and validation of AI tools, and ensuring data interoperability.

The total funding amount is €35 million, with individual project contributions expected to range from €6 million to €8 million, anticipating funding for approximately 3 to 5 projects. The application process is a single-stage submission, due by September 16, 2025. The nature of support is monetary, provided in the form of direct grants covering research costs.

While specific success rates are not mentioned, they typically range from 10% to 39% for Horizon Europe projects. Co-funding requirements are generally not specified, and RIA grants may cover 100% of non-profit entities' costs.

In summary, this grant emphasizes developing AI-driven tools that can improve pandemic preparedness by utilizing quality data for research and innovation. Eligible applicants are encouraged to engage in collaborative efforts that address various challenges, including data privacy and the ethical implications of AI. The goal is to enhance response capabilities to emerging infectious threats while ensuring the use of trustworthy and ethical AI technologies in pandemic management.

The EU funding opportunity is titled "Leveraging artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response" under the Horizon Europe (HORIZON) program, specifically the Cluster 1 - Health call (Single stage - 2025) (HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-04). It is a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) with a HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG] model grant agreement. The call is currently open for submission as of May 22, 2025, and the deadline for submission is September 16, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The main goal of this funding opportunity is to support activities that contribute to the destination of "Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden." The expected outcomes include utilizing the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in all aspects of pandemic preparedness and response, supporting fast learning systems for scientists, public health responders, and policymakers. This involves leveraging quality data for research and innovation to transform the development of medical, social, or logistical countermeasures, as well as improving emergency detection, management, and monitoring at population levels, and enhancing individual diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The aim is for European pandemic preparedness and response to benefit from readily available, trustworthy, and ethical AI-based tools and technologies that enable rapid and targeted action, timely detection and understanding of emerging infectious threats, adequate and proportional responses, and effective and efficient threat control. The program also aims to enable scientists, public health responders, and policymakers to access, integrate, and analyze different data types from multiple sources and disciplines across the EU and globally, using trustworthy and ethical AI-based tools and technologies that support pandemic preparedness and response.

The scope of this funding opportunity is to address the need for innovative approaches to pandemic preparedness and response, particularly digital solutions that leverage AI technologies, as highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. AI is recognized as a fast-developing field with significant potential for utilizing diverse data sources to improve epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response in the EU and Associated Countries. The program aims to build upon the experiences and advances made during the COVID-19 pandemic response, such as advanced AI tools for forecasting, infectious disease surveillance and monitoring, medical intervention development, timely diagnosis, disease prognosis, and real-time monitoring of adherence to public health recommendations. It also seeks to further develop and expand novel AI-based tools and technologies, including generative AI, while improving and testing existing ones. The program emphasizes the use of AI on diverse datasets and their combinations within and across disciplines to enhance the accuracy of assessments and predictions of medical interventions.

Research actions under this topic should include several activities, including:

1. Developing new or improving existing AI-based tools, methods, and technologies to enhance the safety, efficiency, and impact of medical, societal, or logistical countermeasures for preventing, containing, or controlling infectious disease epidemics and improving health system response management.

2. Scouting, assembling, and preparing appropriate FAIR datasets generated across the EU and Associated Countries (e.g., COVID-19, Influenza) for the development, training, and testing of targeted AI-supported generative assessment and prediction tools. These tools should support evidence-based policy and decision-making for pandemic preparedness and response in areas such as surveillance and monitoring of infectious diseases, facilitating differential diagnosis, triage and risk group predictions, and predicting drug response and disease progression.

3. Leveraging the capacities of existing and emerging data research infrastructures, the future European Health Data Space (EHDS), and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) architectures and research environments, while comprehensively addressing cybersecurity, data privacy, trustworthiness, equity, data quality, interoperability, and access modalities.

4. Identifying and addressing the current technical, operational, and social limitations related to cross-border access to quality data and the smooth implementation of AI-driven solutions in the societal and legal context of the EU and Associated Countries.

5. Engaging with end-users, policymakers, regulatory bodies, authorities, and other stakeholders in the development, improvement, testing, and validation of trustworthy and ethical AI-based tools and technologies. This includes proposing options for the validation and uptake of novel AI tools in real-world settings, considering aspects such as training needs, responsible use, users' trust, and energy consumption.

The participation of start-ups, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is encouraged to strengthen their scientific and technological foundations, enhance their innovation potential, and explore possibilities for commercial exploitation. Proposals selected for funding are expected to participate in joint activities such as project clustering, workshops, and joint dissemination activities, and applicants should include budget to cover this collaboration. The topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts and institutions to enhance the societal impact of the related research activities. Particular attention should be paid to detecting and mitigating gender, ethnicity, and other biases to develop AI models that are fair, trustworthy, and beneficial for all. Synergies with projects funded under HORIZON-CL4-2021-HUMAN-01-24 and SC1-PHE-CORONAVIRUS-2020-2C are encouraged. Applicants including clinical studies should provide details in the dedicated annex using the template in the submission system.

The admissibility conditions, proposal page limits, layout, eligible countries, and other eligible conditions are described in the Annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. In recognition of the opening of the US National Institutes of Health’s programmes to European researchers, any legal entity established in the United States of America is eligible to receive Union funding. Projects using satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation, and/or related timing data and services must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. Submission and evaluation processes and the indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

The standard application form (HE RIA, IA) and standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) are available in the Submission System. Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide. The Model Grant Agreement (MGA) is the HE MGA. Call-specific instructions and information on clinical studies are also available. Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 4. Health, HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes, HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme 2021/695, HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

The budget overview for the HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01 call includes various topics with different budget allocations and indicative numbers of grants. For HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-04, the budget is 35,000,000 EUR, with contributions ranging from 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 EUR, and an indicative number of 5 grants.

Partner search announcements are available for those seeking partners to collaborate on this topic. LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests.

To start the submission process, click on the submission button next to the type of action and the type of model grant agreement.

This Horizon Europe funding opportunity focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance pandemic preparedness and response. It seeks to fund research and innovation actions that develop and improve AI tools and technologies for more effective medical and logistical countermeasures. The program emphasizes the importance of FAIR data, data privacy, and ethical considerations in AI development. It encourages participation from SMEs and collaboration with various stakeholders, including policymakers and regulatory bodies. The goal is to create readily available, trustworthy, and ethical AI-based solutions that can help the EU and associated countries better detect, understand, and respond to future pandemics, ultimately reducing disease burden and improving public health outcomes.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types include startups, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), legal entities established in the United States of America, and other entities defined in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. The participation of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) experts and institutions is also required.

Funding Type: The funding type is primarily a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) and HORIZON Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-CSA) under the Horizon Europe Programme. The grants are budget-based.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity appears to allow for both single applicants and consortia. While the participation of SMEs is encouraged, and proposals are expected to participate in joint activities, there is no explicit mention of a mandatory consortium.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes the EU and Associated Countries. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries may also be eligible if they have made specific provisions for funding their participants in Horizon Europe projects. Additionally, legal entities established in the United States of America are eligible to receive Union funding.

Target Sector: The target sectors are health, ICT (specifically artificial intelligence), and social sciences and humanities (SSH). The program focuses on pandemic preparedness and response, infectious disease management, and the development of AI-based tools and technologies for medical and public health applications.

Mentioned Countries: United States of America, EU, Associated Countries.

Project Stage: The project stage ranges from development and improvement of existing AI tools to testing, validation, and uptake of novel AI tools in real-world settings. This suggests a focus on projects ranging from development to validation and demonstration stages.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call, ranging from €2,000,000 to €80,000,000. Individual contributions range from around €2,000,000 to between €15,000,000 and €20,000,000.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to support their research and innovation activities.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic is provided, which can be used to estimate the potential success rate based on the number of expected proposals.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call focuses on leveraging artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response. It aims to fund projects that develop and improve AI-based tools and technologies for predicting, monitoring, and managing epidemics and pandemics. The call encourages the participation of SMEs and requires the involvement of social sciences and humanities disciplines. Eligible applicants include entities from the EU, associated countries, and the USA. The funding is provided through grants, with amounts varying depending on the specific topic, and the application process involves a single submission stage. The overall goal is to enhance European pandemic preparedness and response capabilities through the use of trustworthy and ethical AI solutions.