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Observatory

Pandemic Preparedness and Response Observatory

The observatory will provide an inventory per country of R&I policies and strategies, infrastructures, budget mobilisation mechanisms & funding sources, and R&I actors, authorities & activated processes in case of a health threat, taken in EU Member States and Associated Countries, with respect to pandemic preparedness and response.

The observatory consists of a first phase of country profiles that give an overview of what is going on in the different countries regarding R&I related to pandemic preparedness and response.

Country Profiles

The country profiles are based on input received via the EU survey and desktop research, and contain only public information.

If you would like to correct or add some information, don’t hesitate to contact us

Austria

Austria is a federal state with a bottom-up funding system and no specific dedicated funding schemes for research within pandemic preparedness. Austria has specific PP research infrastructure, National Reference Centres & Reference Laboratories to monitor animal and human pathogens.

Belgium

To be better prepared for future pandemics, Belgium officially launched Vaccinopolis in Antwerp and the European Plotkin Institute for Vaccinology in Brussels; as well as the Virusbank Platform in Leuven.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria participates in the process of development of the WHO pandemic instrument and is still working on the legal framework in regard to translational medicine and clinical trials.

Cyprus

During the COVID pandemic, the Cyprus Ministry of Health was in charge of various actions.

Czech Republic

The Czech Recovery and Resilience Plan funds research & development consortia in the areas of infectious diseases.

Denmark

Denmark has set “Better health – global and local health threats” as research priority area in the RESEARCH2025-catalogue.

Estonia

Estonia a very small and agile country organised a whole-of-government response to COVID-19 with scientific guidance from a scientific advisory board.

Finland

Finland has a strategic research programme that focuses on the crises caused by pandemics and their wide-ranging social impacts.

France

France has a national acceleration strategy for "Emerging infectious diseases and nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical threats"(MIE-MN).

Greece

The recent pandemic showed that interdisciplinary teams are needed for addressing emerging threats. Greece is implementing policies to fortify its preparedness for future shocks.

Ireland

The Irish Department of Health Statement of Research Priorities 2023-2025 includes a specific section on health systems Resilience and Pandemic Preparedness.

Italy

In Italy, in case of an outbreak, the institutional agencies Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of University & Research (MUR), National Research Council (CNR), are activated for R&I.

Norway

In Norway, pandemic centres play an important role in establishing collaboration and synergies and preparing society for future pandemics.

Poland

COVID-19 pandemics has proven, that Polish financing institutions supported research on various levels -basic, clinical research, innovation projects with funds reallocated to needed purposes.

Portugal

Portugal has a programme for the prevention and control of infections and antimicrobial resistance.

Romania

In Romania, in case of an emergency, all specialized national research and development institutes and universities will be mobilized under the coordination of both the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalisation and the Ministry of Health.

Slovenia

Throughout the pandemic, the response to COVID-19 has been coordinated at the national level. Slovenia has a Biosafety Stage 3 Pathogenic Microorganism Research Infrastructure Centre (IC BSL-3+)

Sweden

Sweden has a ten-year national research programme in viruses and pandemics, part of the Government’s long-term strategy and action plan to counteract and reduce virus outbreaks and pandemics.

Switzerland

Switzerland is a decentralised state. Flexible funding during emergencies is possible : Two National Research Programmes were launched to answer the challenges related to COVID19.

The Netherlands

In The Netherlands, various actors work actively on pandemic preparedness and response.

United Kingdom

In 2023, government funders of health research and related partners across all four nations developed a cross-government research and development framework and governance structure for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.