IHI European HealthCare Incubator Network

About this call

Expected Impact:

The action under this topic is expected to achieve the following impacts and contribute to the following EU policies/initiatives:

deliver innovative, early technology solutions that contribute to addressing strategic unmet public health needs across multiple therapy areas to improve prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment;

leverage the unique network and scale of IHI JU members to create a pipeline to support innovative startups in the health industry, fully integrated into European initiatives in support of start-ups and entrepreneurship;

drive early cross-sector health R&D and innovation to strengthen the European healthcare industry’s global competitiveness, contributing to the EU Industrial Strategy and Pharmaceutical Strategy objectives;

create a sustainable network of European healthcare incubators to guide and support highly talented and innovative early-stage companies;

harness digital health and data-sharing technologies (e.g., AI and big data) to enable interoperable health solutions, contributing to the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and improved evidence based care;-

the action should generate a portfolio of early‑stage companies that have undergone rigorous multi‑industry validation, significantly increasing their credibility with investors, regulators, and healthcare systems. This ‘industry quality seal’ should enhance the selected startups’ ability to secure follow‑on financing;

by integrating corporate expertise into a pan‑European incubator network, the action should reduce fragmentation, support faster clinical and eventually commercial decision‑making, and enable more innovators to navigate regulatory and reimbursement pathways successfully. This should contribute to the objectives of the EU to accelerate the translation of research into deployable health technologies. The Network should serve as a feeder mechanism into wider EU support structures, ensuring that promising companies can transition smoothly into later‑stage funding and scale‑up opportunities. This complementarity should maximise the added value of EU public funding while avoiding duplication and reinforcing Europe’s position as a globally competitive hub for health innovation.

The action under this topic should synergise with relevant EU programmes and contribute to several key EU strategies and policies: Life Science strategy, the proposed Biotech Act (especially the biotechnology development accelerators as referred to in article 5 of the Commission proposal), Industrial strategy, Pharmaceutical strategy, EU4Health Programme, Digital Europe Programme, Testing and Experimental Facility for Health AI and Robotic (TEF-Health), European Innovation Council (EIC) programmes, EU Competitive Compass, Choose Europe initiative, Startup and Scale-up strategy by the European Commission.

Additionally, the action under this topic should synergise with the forthcoming European Startup and Scaleup Hubs and, in particular, encourage connection into the Network from the Call ‘European Startup and Scaleup Hub Pilot Call – HORIZON-EIE-2026-02-CONNECT-01’.

Furthermore, the action has the potential to support Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, EU Mission on Cancer, Healthier Together – EU Non-Communicable diseases initiative, Joint Action for Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes in Europe, or the Cardiovascular Health Plan.

Applicants should demonstrate in the proposal how these synergies will avoid duplication, ensure complementarity with existing EU efforts, and provide early-stage companies with continuity and scale up pathways.

Expected Outcome:

This call topic responds to the pressing need for a collaborative approach to accelerating the research-to-market pathway and fostering innovation and competitiveness in the European healthcare sector. Accordingly, the action under this topic must contribute to all of the following outcomes:

1. A sustainable European HealthCare Incubator Network (hereafter, the ‘Network’) linking incubators from the public sector (academia, foundations etc.) and industry (pharma, medtech, biotech) to leverage and catalyse otherwise fragmented efforts and increase the reach of early-stage healthcare companies and academic players across Europe. By providing tailored mentorship and networking, resources and funding mechanisms, the Network will identify high-potential innovations and establish clear pathways for the scale-up and sustainable development of early-stage healthcare companies, supporting the next wave of European innovations.

2. A strong programme for de-risking pipelines and mentoring high potential start-ups, with the objective of making start-ups more attractive as investment propositions, and more capable of attracting essential scale-up finance through private or public investors. This should be achieved by leveraging the Network’s unique access to multi-sectorial corporate expertise and mentorship from multiple large-cap companies with tailored funding.

3. An agile framework for funding promising start-ups through the mechanism of Financial Support to Third Parties (‘FSTP’ or ‘cascade funding’).

4. Access to high-quality services and infrastructures, provided by the consortium, to accelerate the most promising innovations.

5. A framework of collaboration with other relevant funding and innovation programmes (e.g. the European Innovation Council (EIC), EIT Health, and national and regional initiatives) to raise selected start-ups’ awareness of potential future additional opportunities for support.

6. An ‘industry quality seal’ marking industry-validated promising start-ups, de-risked and connected to potential future funders and venture capital funds, that should enhance their ability to secure follow‑on financing and successful further development.

7. New opportunities for strategic partnerships between selected start-ups and partner companies, incubators, investors, venture capital funds, and other interested third parties.

8. A portfolio of early-stage companies with improved business, market and technological readiness. This is achieved through targeted access to expertise, infrastructure and services, mentorship, training, and FSTP-supported resources, culminating in sustainable innovations that can be implemented at scale.

The immediate and direct relationship between start-ups and the Network creates not only a support mechanism for start-ups, but also a coordinated platform delivering high value, non-financial industrial expertise that is not available through existing EU funding instruments.

Definitions for the purpose of this call topic:

Early-stage company:

Early-stage company / start-up refers to a new, fast-growing business that is typically in the early stages of development [1] .

The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is a scale (from TRL 1 to TRL 9) used to assess the maturity of a technology or innovation. For the purpose of the topic, only early-stage companies at TRL 3 to TRL 5 are considered, meaning those in the early-stage development phase, where the technology is still being refined but has moved beyond basic concepts. The table below gives more specific examples.

Type of product

TRL 3