ConcePTION partners have united around a shared vision that we have a societal obligation to radically and rapidly reduce uncertainty about the safety of medication use in pregnancy and lactation. What do we deliver? ConcePTION aims to create a paradigm shift in how we study medication safety in pregnancy. We will establish (1) a successful, sustainable open-science based EU non-proprietary ecosystem of public and private stakeholders, pregnant women and researchers to generate and disseminate timely and reliable evidence on drugs across maternal, neonatal and long term outcomes of medication exposure in pregnancy and breastfeeding (2) a catalogue with fully characterized data sources for rapid selection of suitable data sources; 3) operational, business, network, information and data governance models, (4) quality assured and tested methodological approaches, analytical tools and data platforms allowing for distributed analyses, (5) procedures and tools for collection of digital data and samples directly from pregnant women, (6) In vitro, in silico and in vivo models for prediction of drug transfer in human milk, (7) a biobank and analytical network for quantification of drug in human milk, (8) best practice documents endorsed by regulators and health authorities and (9) a web-based drug information knowledge bank. How do we deliver? (1) Experienced leaders, able to manage challenging networks and public-public or public-private partnerships. (2) Defragmentation by connecting all key stakeholders and EU networks in this area. (3) Re-use of data, tools and foreground from prior European commission funded projects. (4) Connecting to leaders of similar initiatives in the USA, Canada, Asia and other parts of the world. (5) Systematic consensus & endorsement building. (6) Quality throughout as a precondition to trust the results and information by all users.

The “Health Care Work Exchange 2016” project enabled 120 apprentices and students of health care vocational schools to carry out an internship in all countries participating in the Erasmus+ Mobility Program. Apprentices and students in the fields of nursing, midwifery, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, special education and in medical technical assistance in radiology, laboratory, functional diagnostics, and surgical technical assistance were invited to participate in this project. These internships took place in 15 European countries and one overseas territory: Finland, France, Greece, UK (incl. British Virgin Islands), Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Norway, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Spain und Turkey. Because of the cultural and linguistical proximity, nearly 50% of the placements took place in Austria. More than half of the participants were women. The internships lasted from 4 to 12 weeks, 39 days on avarage.By participating in an internship abroad, students were able to further develop their practical skills and expertise as well as improve their foreign language and social skills. As a pool project, participation was open to all vocational students of health care specializations throughout Germany. Prerequisites for participation and application forms are available on the project website (www.uni-hannover.de/eu-praktika). Emphasis was placed on designing internships that met each participant’s specific needs for gaining practical experience in their profession and that serve to improve social skills with regard to communication, perception and reflection when interacting with patients of different age groups and cultural backgrounds.Additionally, this project offered eight teachers from the vocational schools actively involved in the network four to ten-days mobility exchanges for a short training and/or teaching period abroad in educational institutions, companies or organizations active in the European health sector in the following countries: the Netherlands, Finland, UK and Austria.Over 45 vocational schools throughout Germany are actively involved in the project partner network “Health Care Work Exchange” administered by the EU Liaison Office (EU-Hochschulbüro Hannover/ Hildesheim) at the Leibniz Universität Hannover. Furthermore, more than a hundred partner organizations throughout Europe, such as university teaching hospitals, private medical practices, rehabilitation centers, public and private hospitals and clinics, offered such Erasmus+ internships . Together this network aims to create a mobility project to meets students’ needs for high-quality and technically challenging internships abroad.Thus such internships can enhance the attractiveness of vocational training mobility throughout.This project can also contribute significantly to the internationalization processes of the partner organizations. In part, the transnational exchange of knowledge and pedagogical methods can lead to modifications in vocational education and increase the level of awareness of all parties involved of the importance of lifelong learning within an intercultural context. Moreover, the project can foster greater transparency of the health professions within Europe.

Medication errors occur daily and form a major burden to society. Medication errors often lead to adverse drug reactions, lengthened hospital stays, increased healthcare costs, and in the most severe cases, increased mortality. Medication errors pose a significant risk to the European population. It is estimated that 4,7 million Europeans are harmed by a medication error every year, which amounts to preventable healthcare costs in excess of €11 billion a year. Strikingly, around 50% of medication errors can be stopped at the patient’s bedside. MedEye is an innovative medication verification suite that scans, detects and verifies medication at the bedside. MedEye stops medication errors from taking place by verifying medication before it is administered to patients. MedEye has already been tested and validated in three Dutch hospitals with excellent results. In this project, activities will be performed to push MedEye onto the European market and facilitate its deployment on a large scale. MedEye will be integrated with IT systems that serve a major part of European medical centers. Developments will also be performed to enable the sale, deployment and support of MedEye through distributors. Two launching pilots will be performed to establish transnational proof of performance and cost-effectiveness, which will be instrumental in penetrating the European markets. Given the diversity of the European healthcare landscape, a thorough market research will be performed to gear the commercialization strategy towards individual countries. Together, the activities in this project will provide access to the main EU market and facilitate a wide deployment of MedEye throughout Europe.

As recognized by the Council Recommendation 2009/C 151/02, rare diseases (RD) are a prime example of a research area that can strongly profit from coordination on a European and international scale. RD research should be improved to overcome fragmentation, leading to efficacious use of data and resources, faster scientific progress and competitiveness, and most importantly to decrease unnecessary hardship and prolonged suffering of RD patients. In the specific context of the massive generation, need for reuse and efficient interpretation of data, introduction of omics into care practice and the structuration of RD care centers in European Reference Networks, it appears crucial and timely to maximize the potential of already funded tools and programmes by supporting them further, scaling up, linking, and most importantly, adapting them to the needs of end-users through implementation tests in real settings. Such a concerted effort is necessary to develop a sustainable ecosystem allowing a virtuous circle between RD care, research and medical innovation. To achieve this goal, the European Joint Programme on RD (EJP RD) has two major objectives: (i) To improve the integration, the efficacy, the production and the social impact of research on RD through the development, demonstration and promotion of Europe/world-wide sharing of research and clinical data, materials, processes, knowledge and know-how; (ii) To implement and further develop an efficient model of financial support for all types of research on RD (fundamental, clinical, epidemiological, social, economic, health service) coupled with accelerated exploitation of research results for benefit of patients. To this end, the EJP RD actions will be organized within four major Pillars assisted by the central coordination: (P1): Funding of research; (P2): Coordinated access to data and services; (P3) Capacity building; (P4): Accelerated translation of research projects and improvement outcomes of clinical studies.

From 1.6.2015 to 31.5.2017 the project “Health Care Work Exchange 2015” will offer 100 apprentices and students of health care vocational schools an opportunity to carry out an internship in all countries participating in ERASMUS+. Foremost apprentices and students in the fields of nursing, midwifery, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, special education and in medical technical assistance in radiology, laboratory, functional diagnostics, and surgical technical assistance can participate in this ERASMUS-mobility project. By means of an internship abroad, the students will be able to develop and further their practical skills and expertise as well as improve their social and foreign language skills. As a pool project, participation is open to vocational students and teachers in the field of health care throughout Germany. The prerequisites for participation and application forms are available on the project website (www.dezernat4.uni-hannover.de/eu-praktika).A complementary addition to this project will be the organization of 20 staff mobility exchanges for training and/or teaching abroad. Teachers from vocational schools will be able to visit educational institutions, companies or organizations active in the European health sector for one to five weeks. During this period, they will be able to teach at a vocational school and/or do a work placement or job shadowing in an enterprise or organization involved in vocational education and training abroad.Since 2007 over 30 vocational schools throughout Germany have joined a consortium administered by the EU Liaison Office (EU-Hochschulbüro Hannover/ Hildesheim) at the Leibniz Universität Hannover with the aim to design and implement a mobility project that meets students’ needs for high-quality and technically challenging internships abroad. In addition, more than 100 partner organizations throughout Europe participate in this project. University teaching hospitals, private medical practices, rehabilitation centers, public and private hospitals and clinics offer internships and a variety of educational institutions assist as intermediary partners in finding and organizing internships in their region. Emphasis is placed on organizing internships that meet the specific needs of the trainees to gain professional practical experience and which serve to improve their social skills with regard to communication, perception and reflection, especially, for example, when interacting with patients of different age groups and cultural backgrounds. High-quality internships lasting from 4 to 22 weeks in these fields of health care specialization at teaching hospitals and other facilities in the European Union will provide a means for students to gather new experiences, expand their competences and improve their foreign language skills. Likewise, internships abroad will serve to enable students to learn first-hand about the various approaches to health care and different types of social systems. In this manner, they will gain a more comprehensive understanding of their profession. Further, such internships can enhance the attractiveness of mobility throughout Europe in terms of vocational training and also foster greater sustainability in improving of career opportunities. All of the internships are designed to satisfy the practical training requirements set up by the state ministries of education and the participating vocational schools, while still incorporating the personal interests of the students at the same time. This project can also significantly contribute to the internationalization processes of the partner organizations. In part, the transnational exchange of knowledge and pedagogical method can lead to modifications in vocational education and increase the level of awareness of all parties involved of the importance of lifelong learning within an intercultural context. Moreover, the project can foster greater transparency of the health professions within Europe and contribute to the development of the EU labor market.