BBMRI-ERIC: the Biobanking and BioMolecular resources Research Infrastructure - European Research Infrastructure Consortium, aims to establish, operate and develop a Pan-European distributed research infrastructure in order to facilitate the access to biological resources as well as facilities and to support high quality biomolecular and biomedical research. The ADOPT BBMRI-ERIC proposal aims at boosting and accelerating implementation of BBMRI-ERIC and its services. Its main deliverables are designed to complete or launch the construction of key Common Services of the Research Infrastructure as required for ESFRI-projects "under implementation", reflecting the targets of the European Research Area (ERA). One of the challenges in the post-genomic era is the research on common complex diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Revealing these diseases will depend critically on the study of human biological samples and data from large numbers of patients and healthy individuals. The EU’s ageing population is will result in an increase in many of those diseases and consequently an increased healthcare expenditure for senior citizens. BBMRI-ERIC is a specific European asset having become a fundamental component in addressing the ongoing and future requirements particularly of Europe's health service frameworks, including competitiveness and innovativeness of health-related industries. Its implementation is essential for the understanding of the diversity of human diseases, biological samples and corresponding data, which are required for the development of any new drug or diagnostic assay and are, therefore, critical for the advancement in health research, ultimately leading to personalised medicine. BBMRI-ERIC will provide a gateway access to the collections of the European research community, expertise and services building on the outcome of ADOPT BBMRI-ERIC.

The main objective of the proposal is to contribute to a better harmonisation and synchronisation of priority-setting-, funding- evaluation and life-cycle management of Research Infrastructures (RI through the exchange of best practices among the main stakeholders in member states, associated countries and at European level. The regional dimension will explicitly be taken into account by integrating, where appropriate, smart specialisation strategies in the work carried out. InRoad will achieve this by a) the identification and dissemination of best-practices and common trends of national RI roadmapping procedures and of ex-ante, interim (monitoring) and ex-post evaluation of RI in Europe, b) establishing a trustful dialogue and an intensive exchange of information about national RI roadmapping procedures, RI monitoring and evaluation and sustainable approaches for RI, in line with the objectives laid out in the European Research Area communication and c)fostering a dialogue with the European Commission, ESFRI, the e-IRG and all relevant stakeholders at regional, national and European levels in order to discuss the project findings and promote the dissemination of its recommendations. The InRoad activities and objectives contribute to the specific challenge highlighted in the work programme by a) promoting comparability and synchronisation of national procedures and a possible harmonisation of ex-ante and ex-post evaluation mechanisms through a survey, case studies, interviews and theoretical analyses of current frameworks in use, in close cooperation with the relevant stakeholders, b) supporting RI policy development in terms of exchange of best practices for national roadmap drafting and evaluation procedures and c) support the information sharing with stakeholders in charge of priority-setting, evaluation, funding and operation of RI through their inclusion in a dedicated Reflection Group.

CEPPI aims to build capacity in cities on how to achieve more sustainable energy solutions through a pro-innovation procurement approach (PPI) & to demonstrate this by selectively intervening in scheduled public tenders. The interventions will involve 5 cities with different economic & political situations & provide the case-based evidence for replication by others. The scale of energy demand in European cities is huge & as an ever greater percentage of citizens are living in urban areas. Some of the biggest city authorities consume over 1000GWh of energy every year to run their operations & it is estimated that the energy consumption of the whole city (the wider sphere of influence) could be at least 50 times that of the city authorities alone. Much of the investment in energy efficiency & renewable energy production has been based on project funding & there is an underexploited opportunity to achieve more systematic and progressive improvements through embedding PPI methodologies within the ongoing processes for the procurement of energy-intensive goods & services. CEPPI will demonstrate, through an action learning process, how forthcoming public tenders can be influenced to achieve a more sustainable energy outcome & build capacity amongst management & procurement professionals. The project will build on established relationships that have been developed between the five participating cities (Birmingham, Budapest, Castellon, Valencia, Wroclaw) through the Climate KIC. They will be mentored (by leading PPI and sustainable energy experts) through an action learning process that will build the short term knowledge and PPI capacity to reduce annual energy consumption by at least 33GWh. Energy & procurement foresight activities will provide the strategic direction to become both procurement & technological leaders for sustainable, energy-efficient cities. At least 80 individuals across the 5 cities will be introduced to innovation procurement methods.