The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) is a major European partnership aimed at translating health research into real-world impact through cross-sector collaboration. It builds on the legacy of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and brings together stakeholders from pharmaceuticals, medtech, biotech, and digital health.
On this page, we answer frequently asked questions about IHI’s structure, funding, timelines, and strategic focus, to help you understand what’s new, what’s required, and how to get involved.
The Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) builds on the strengths of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), addresses lessons learned, and enhances cross-sectoral collaboration to better meet current and emerging health needs.
Its primary goal is to translate health research into tangible benefits for patients and society. While some elements of IMI remain, others have changed significantly. The EU provides 50% of IHI funding, and industry members contribute the other half, primarily through in-kind contributions. The total budget for IHI is €2.4 billion.
Public participation is through the EU (represented by the European Commission). Industry members include COCIR, EFPIA (including Vaccines Europe), EuropaBio, and MedTech Europe—expanding beyond pharma into medical technology, biotech, digital health, and vaccines. Organizations wanting to support specific research areas without being full members can apply as “contributing partners,” similar to IMI2’s Associated Partners.
Yes, one key new element is the Science and Innovation Panel (S&IP), an advisory body including representatives from the scientific community, regulators, patients, end-users, the European Commission, industry partners, and the States Representatives Group (SRG). The Governing Board remains balanced between the Commission and industry, supported by the SRG.
The S&IP provides scientific and technological advice to the Governing Board on various aspects including:
“Bringing researchers, entrepreneurs and stakeholders together to work on sustainable solutions in healthcare. That is what we do. And that will be the big challenge in IHI. How to find the right partners? How do you align your goals with those of others? My appeal: start on time! We are already discussing with some of our strategic accounts how we are going to build the ideal consortium.” – Frank Deege, Managing Director PNO Life Sciences & Health
Draft topic texts were published on 5 June 2024.
Call launch date: 25 June 2024. Current call 8 topics include:
Writing a proposal and finding the right partners takes a lot of time and effort. In our brand-new Horizon Europe magazine, you will find a step-by-step roadmap, which will guide you in writing a successful IHI proposal in four phases. Our advice: start now! See the previous question for information on the draft topics in IHI.
The one-stage procedure is a bottom-up approach that allows much more flexibility than the 2-stage proposals. The call text is written by IHI/Science and Innovation panel (S&IP) and not by industry partners. So, public partners and Industry write the application together from the beginning.
Partner organizations could be academics, hospitals, public bodies, regulators NGOs, research organizations, for-profit legal entities (SME and larger enterprises), Patients’ Organizations and intergovernmental organizations. established in a member state or Associated Country. New under IHI: organizations can also be based in Low and Middle-Income Countries (see Horizon Europe list)
Important: at least 45% in-kind contribution of the total project costs needs to come from the consortium. Proposals not meeting this criterion will not be considered for evaluation!
What does the single-stage procedure look like?
Based on our current information, several proposals will be funded (in contrast with two-stage calls). However, the final number will depend on the available budget for single-stage calls.
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10/06/2025
28/05/2025
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