In December 2008, the European Competitiveness Council recognized the need to launch a pilot joint programming initiative dedicated to combating neurodegenerative diseases in the context of the major societal challenges Europe is facing, including the ageing of its population. The JPND - EU Joint Programme - Neurodegenerative Disease Research initiative emerged as the answer to this challenge.
The following countries are members of the JPND: Albania; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Canada; Croatia; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; United Kingdom.
JPND activities
The JPND's activities, especially Calls for research projects, are based on the provisions of its Research and Innovation Agenda, the first version of which was launched in 2012. The new version of the JPND's Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda was published on April 23, 2019, and its research priorities are: origins and progression of neurodegenerative diseases; disease mechanisms and models; diagnosis, prognosis and disease definitions; development of therapies, preventive strategies and interventions; and health and social care. The agenda includes a range of activities to implement these priorities in a broad and comprehensive way, aligning scientific expertise and the different social approaches of the participating countries in order to avoid duplication of effort.
The implementation of JPND has been supported over the years by the European Commission through the funding of coordination and support actions and ERA-NETs under various framework programs for research and innovation. Currently, this initiative is supported by the projects JPco-fuND (2014-2019), JPsustaiND (2015-2019) and JPcofuND2 (2019-2023), with funds from the 8th H2020 framework program.