€128 million will support studies on in 40 countries
The European Commission has announced €128 million in funding for 23 Covid-19 research projects, supporting 347 teams in 40 countries.
This roughly doubles the number of projects funded under a special Covid-19 call from the EU’s Horizon 2020 R&D programme, with the Commission having previously backed 26 projects with €165m.
The money is coming from the Commission’s €1.4 billion pledge to the Coronavirus Global Response initiative, launched by President Ursula von der Leyen in May, it said on 11 August. The latest Horizon 2020 projects include 34 participants from 16 countries outside of the EU.
Announcing the move, EU R&D commissioner Mariya Gabriel praised Europe’s research sector for its swift response to the pandemic thus far, adding the money would give this a further boost: “Emergency funding from Horizon 2020 will enable researchers to rapidly develop solutions with and for patients, care workers, hospitals, local communities and companies.”
The newly-funded projects include work on repurposing manufacturing for rapid production of medical supplies, studying the behavioural impacts of Covid-19 and studies of large cohorts of patients.
EU-level efforts have been accompanied by parallel national initiatives to fund coronavirus research, including a recent move by Austria. On 11 August the FWF Austrian Science Fund announced it would support four coronavirus research projects with up to €1.5m in funding.