The European Commission is currently working on the portfolio and design of European partnerships (including joint undertakings like IHI) for the next Horizon Europe programme, which will run from 2028 to 2034.
To support their work, the Commission has launched a public consultation to gather stakeholders’ evidence, experience and views on European partnerships and how they could be strengthened in the future. The consultation will close on 16 October 2026.
IHI strongly encourages all stakeholders in the health field to share their experience and views on how European partnerships can continue addressing the complex, multistakeholder and system-level shifts required to support the healthcare of tomorrow. Organisations/individuals who already submitted responses to the call for evidence held earlier this year are also encouraged to respond to this consultation.
Why it matters
In a context where all funding instruments are under close scrutiny, the consultation is important because the results will contribute to shaping the design of the future European partnership landscape in the health field, and how joint undertakings will work in practice.
What happens next?
The results of the consultation will feed into the European Commission’s wider impact assessment on European partnerships and ultimately into a proposal for a single basic act (SBA) setting up joint undertakings under the next Horizon Europe programme. The Commission expects to publish the legislative proposal at the end of 2026 or early 2027.
Will the results of the consultation affect the current IHI programme?
No. The current IHI programme is based on existing EU legislation and will continue to run as normal, launching the final calls for proposals in 2027. As our latest annual report shows, the IHI programme is delivering exciting results that amply demonstrate the added value of a cross-sector, public-private European partnership in health. As of the end of 2025, the IHI industry members and contributing partners had committed over EUR 660 million to IHI, more than matching the EU commitment to the programme.
A glance at the IHI portfolio and project results reveals the partnership’s close alignment with EU priorities. For example, projects are delivering tools and resources to improve clinical trials in a variety of ways; this directly contributes to the EU Clinical Trials Regulation, and strengthens Europe’s attractiveness as a location for clinical trials, and boosts Europe’s competitiveness in clinical research.
Meanwhile strong project portfolios in areas like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and brain health, coupled with multiple projects addressing issues like the use of AI in healthcare, regulatory science, and the implementation of innovations in healthcare, all demonstrate how IHI is actively contributing to addressing the biggest challenges affecting the resilience of Europe’s health systems today.