On Wednesday 12 July, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced the creation of HERA Invest, a €100 million financing package to complement the InvestEU programme.
The aim is to support research and development (R&D) into the most pressing cross-border threats to health, through the ‘EU4Health’ programme.
At present, European companies are finding it difficult to access sufficient public and private funding to develop and intensify the deployment of cutting-edge solutions in the field of health and life sciences. But innovation is essential if we are to respond to priority health threats such as pathogens with high pandemic potential or antibiotic resistance.
HERA Invest, a flagship initiative of the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), will be dedicated to health emergency prevention and preparedness and will help to address these challenges in the following ways: - promoting R&D in Europe to strengthen strategic autonomy; - reducing market failures when financial resources are insufficient to meet financing needs; - using the leverage effect of public funding to encourage private investment; - creating new medical countermeasures to protect citizens from health threats.
The HERA Invest funding instrument is geared towards small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that develop medical countermeasures addressing one of the following health threats: - pathogens with pandemic or epidemic potential; - chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats originating from accidental or deliberate release; - antimicrobial resistance.
Under HERA Invest, the European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide venture loans, covering a maximum of 50% of total project costs. There is a continuous demand process. The EIB assesses whether an operation is eligible on the basis of defined criteria and the commercial and scientific viability of the project. Interested companies can contact the EIB directly or via HERA.
The establishment of HERA Invest is one of HERA’s five flagship initiatives, as set out in the HERA Work Plan 2023. It addresses market failures and challenges and stimulates the Union’s open strategic autonomy.
Further information: https://aeur.eu/f/80s (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)