1.1. Promoting the transfer of knowledge between academic and industrial healthcare research

▪ We recommend the inclusion of a regular assessment of the effect of European regulations on innovative capacity within the revised impact assessment procedure of the EU Commission.

1.1. Promoting the transfer of knowledge between academic and industrial health research

It is necessary to remove the structural obstacles to innovation in Europe and to support innovative and collaborative ecosystems on a wider scale. This applies especially to science-driven sectors in which academic and private cooperation is decisive.

Apart from the research itself, the greatest barrier lies in the transfer of knowledge between research institutes and the private sector. Good basic research leads far too rarely to the founding of companies or to the development departments of large enterprises. To a large part this is due to the conditions for venture and growth capital, which in Europe are less than attractive. Start-ups, which in many areas are the drivers of innovation, find that this curbs them in their growth and curtails their ability to develop rapidly and in a focused manner. The issue of funding is particularly critical in the biotech and medical products industry, where there is a great number of smaller enterprises and start-ups which were founded on the basis of a single innovative molecule or medical product or on account of a new mode of action.

The Europe-wide networking of health research and the development of European research infrastructures promote progress in medicine. That is why it is important to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) and to integrate it more closely with national research and innovation systems. The successes to date of the EU framework programmes for research and of the ERA should be continued, e.g. the European Research Council (ERC), the opening up of Europe-wide career opportunities, the networking and cooperation of research institutes along with the strengthening of highly promising research regions in Europe.

Furthermore, the European Commission should conduct a review of the Clinical Trials Regulation (CTR) issued in 2014 with a view to ascertaining whether it is still suitable as the basis of the most modern health research.

Illnesses know no borders. That is true of fatal epidemics such as Ebola as well as the worldwide spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens or the rising number of diabetes sufferers. Only an internationally networked engagement can overcome these challenges. For this reason the existing competences in academic and industrial health research should be merged in interdisciplinary European research associations.