We are excited to present the Annual Report for 2018, the fifth year of active operations for EATRIS ERIC. You will learn about the year’s highlights and notable milestones, presented in a more personal format, told by the passionate advocates of Translational Medicine in EATRIS.
As with all previous years in our short history as the European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine, the year was an exciting blend of growth, adaptation and maturation. Starting the year with Toni Andreu taking on the role as Scientific Director, under his guidance we finalised the Strategic Plan 2019-2022, the result of a wide consultation process with our key stakeholders. The product is a concise, robust and exciting programme designed to meet the needs of our community of users and members. A highlight of this is the special focus on supporting national community development and the initiation of the EATRIS Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda in support of that goal.
EATRIS Annual Report 2018
2018 also witnessed significant growth in our portfolio of services for academic users, to augment our sector-leading portfolio of industry services. As a result, we are enjoying rapid expansion of our active user base by supporting the development of ground-breaking therapies and diagnostics and translational tools. The development of imaging tools for the tracking of cell therapies in the body as seen in the EPPIC proposal is a highlight, along with the IMI selection towards second stage application of EU-PEARL, an ambitious proposal to develop a long-term framework for platform trials in a wide variety of disease areas.
These efforts directed at academia do not, however, come at the expense of industry services. 2018 marked the formal initiation of the EATRIS-GSK Immune Inflammation Imaging Hub, a long-term pre-competitive innovation hub developing new tools for drug development.
Already boasting several active preclinical and clinical projects, we see it as a blueprint for many more public-private endeavours in the translational domain.
Beyond Europe, the filaments of interconnectedness extended our reach across oceans; AMED as the main funder and proponent of translational medicine in Japan joined the Translation Together family, while we joined the US-based and globally active Personalized Medicine Coalition, creating an opportunity for building collaborations in the field of Personalised Medicine across the Atlantic.
At the centre of all our endeavours, everything we do is directed towards the goal of maximising patient and societal benefit. In 2018, EATRIS grew closer to the patient and engaged with the European Patients’ Forum, with 72-member organisations, each representing patients nationally or across the EU.
By aiming at having the patient’s voice at the centre of our activities, we fully embrace the European Responsible Research and Innovation principles, proving that Research Infrastructures are tools to foster the design of inclusive and sustainable research and innovation.
Enjoy reading!
