EIT Health joins “ADD4KIDS” consortium

EIT Health is set to be a key player in the “Acceleration demand driven tools for paediatric innovation adoption: A collaborative roadmap for Europe” (ADD4KIDS) consortium. ADD4KIDS is a €1 million project funded by the European Union under the European Innovation Ecosystem (EIE) programme of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Its aim is to create a holistic innovation action plan in paediatrics to ensure the optimal implementation and utilisation of demand-driven innovation financing instruments, which will support the adoption of paediatric innovations in a coordinated manner across Europe.

What is the goal of ADD4KIDS?

Innovation in paediatric care is a challenging task. Beyond the disparities between different European countries in terms of resources and infrastructure, the pathway to bringing innovations to market is not well-defined and even when this is possible, adoption is low.

A major hurdle is the lack of specific instruments in development and public procurement in paediatrics – there are currently no public funding calls dedicated to this area. Paediatric innovation is deemed high-risk and complex with fragmented regulatory pathways and market access, limited market demand and perceived small impact compared with other indications in the adult population.

A potential solution to this is to address the underutilisation of demand-driven policy instruments that offer the possibility to overcome market failures and allow risk sharing between co-owners and investors. These include Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) and Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP), Value-Based Procurement (VBP), and Social Impact Bonds (SIBs).

ADD4KIDS aims to create a cross-border innovation action plan in paediatrics to ensure optimal implementation and utilisation of demand-driven innovation financing instruments to support the adoption of paediatric innovation in a coordinated manner across Europe. The project will first work with the European community to better understand the needs and challenges in the adoption of paediatric innovation. Building on this, the network will develop solutions that address these including the identification of demand-driven financing instruments and developing framework mechanisms for integrating these into the paediatric health innovation pathway.

How will ADD4KIDS make a difference?

ADD4KIDS will enable widespread access to paediatric innovations and contribute to the health and wellbeing of children across Europe and beyond. Our vision is to correct the mismatch between the availability and adoption of novel, patient-centric paediatric innovations within the healthcare system. By utilising demand-driven innovation financing instruments to reduce the uncertainty and risk of paediatric innovations and creating synergies with existing initiatives, we will ensure maximal adoption amongst member states, hereby strengthening the innovation potential of the European paediatric sector.

What is EIT Health’s role in ADD4KIDS?

EIT Health’s main role in the project is the co-creation of a European specific action plan for fast tracking the adoption of innovative solutions in paediatrics, using financial instruments such as, pre-commercial procurement of innovation, public procurement of innovation and social impact bonds.

The action plan will be based and contain the following points that will be co-designed with a selection of key stakeholders from the paediatric innovation health ecosystem:

1. Activities to increase awareness and activate the ecosystem.
2. Capacity building and educational programmes for training for all relevant stakeholders (investors, procurers, healthcare providers, health systems, innovation suppliers) in the methodology and financial instruments for adoption of innovation in paediatrics.
3. Creation of business acceleration services for innovation suppliers to help them to succeed in the execution of the contracts for the integration of the innovation solutions, support for gathering evidence for the value generated, support for the scale-up and adapt their business models to the demands of the innovation adopters.
4. Ensuring the sustainability and scalability of the action plan, by including a strategic roadmap that will include low, moderate and high innovation regions, cross-border knowledge sharing and sustainability mechanisms.

Who is behind ADD4KIDS?

The ADD4KIDS consortium brings together a multidisciplinary group of eight partners from across Europe that combine extensive experience in the field of paediatric healthcare innovation. The partners represent stakeholders across the value chain from research institutes, healthcare providers, industry, and government departments, able to share their knowledge in coordinating networks, operational processes and demand, tech transfer and strategic and procurement planning. Together the consortium aims to facilitate the advancement of innovations from bench to bedside across Europe, overcoming geographical, financial and operational barriers.

The current partners are as follows:

• Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu – Fundació Sant Joan de Déu
• Barcelona Children’s Hospital Sant Joan de Déu
• EIT Health
• The Children’s Memorial Health Institute
• Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de CatalunyaSCIENSANO
• The European Children’s Hospitals Organisation (ECHO)
• Inveniam Group

Who might be interested in ADD4KIDS?

Collaboration between decision makers in government, academia, hospitals, and industry is the only option to build a cohesive pathway for innovation. Any individual or organisation from across the innovation ecosystem that is interested in contributing to or following the results of the ADD4KIDS project can contact us using the online form on the ADD4KIDS website.