Commission provides further brain research funding
The European Commission has earmarked some €150m of funding for 20 new international brain research projects, marking the beginning of its ‘European Month of the Brain’ initiative, which is designed to highlight European research and innovation in the area of neuroscience, cognition and related areas through over 50 events across Europe this May.
This funding will bring the total EU investment in brain research since 2007 to over €1.9bn.
European Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: “Many Europeans are likely to be affected by brain-related disease or illness during their lifetime. Treating those affected is already costing us €1.5m every minute and this burden on our healthcare systems is likely to rise as our population ages.
“Brain research could help alleviate the suffering of millions of patients and those that care for them. Unlocking the secrets of how the brain works could also open up a whole new universe of services and products for our economies.”
The investment of €1.9bn for brain research since the start of the current EU framework programme for research, FP7 (2007-2013) has funded 1,268 projects with 1,515 participants from the EU and beyond.
There will also be opportunities for brain research under all three pillars – ‘Excellent Science’, ‘Industrial Leadership’ and ‘Societal Challenges’ of Horizon 2020, the next EU research and innovation programme.
The ‘Health, demographic change and well-being’ challenge, which will aim to improve the diagnosis, understanding and treatment of diseases, will be particularly relevant.
