The European Commission and the European Investment Bank have announced the creation of HERA Invest, a €100 million top-up to the InvestEU programme, to support research and development (R&D) in the most pressing cross-border health threats, financed by the EU4Health programme.
Currently, European companies find it difficult to access sufficient public and private funding for the development and scaling up of cutting-edge solutions in health and life sciences. Innovation is needed to respond to priority health threats such as pathogens with high pandemic potential or resistance to antibiotics.
HERA Invest, a flagship initiative of the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, will focus on health emergency prevention and preparedness, helping address these challenges by:
- promoting R&D in Europe to strengthen strategic autonomy;
- reducing market failures, where financial resources do not cover the financing needs;
- leveraging public funding to incentivise private investment;
- creating new medical countermeasures to protect against health threats.
How does HERA Invest work?
The HERA Invest funding instrument is geared towards small and mid-sized companies (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 rolling application process. The EIB assesses whether an operation is eligible based on defined criteria and the project’s commercial and scientific viability.
Interested companies can find more information here, get in touch directly with EIB or through HERA.
