CONTAGIO is a consortium of investigators from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, that aims to create coordination mechanisms to rapidly react to infectious disease (re-)emergence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Consortium builds on the experience acquired through the EC-funded projects ReCoDiD, ORCHESTRA, ZIKAlliance, and IDAMS. We believe that observational cohorts are essential instruments as they provide much needed information on the natural history of the disease, including transmission routes, vulnerability factors, the proportion of, and risk factors for, severe disease outcomes and therefore lay the ground for intervention studies. CONTAGIO will convene cohort investigators and data/specimen sharing specialists by a) generating a preparedness and interoperability platform (WP1/2); b) enabling a suite of tools and key pathways for data sharing (WP2/3); and c) developing governance for sharing of biological material in the event of emerging infections (WP4). A key step on this path is the investigation of how ongoing cohorts ‘repurpose’ their focus from one infectious disease to another in the event of epidemics (e.g. from dengue to Zika to COVID-19). The open science foreseen in CONTAGIO will create a coordination mechanism and framework for the role of sustainable cohorts in preparedness for (re-)emerging infectious diseases during interepidemic periods, which will be vital for the joint progress towards a better tackling of disease emergence aimed at the protection of citizens in LMICs, Europe and the rest of the world.

Current African city region food systems fail to deliver food and nutrition security (FNS), health, and environmental sustainability. INCiTiS-FOOD develops scientifically underpinned circular agri-food technologies and practices, suitable for African cities. The context specific socio-technological use cases of INCiTiS-FOOD address the prevalent deficiency of animal sourced foods, vegetables and fruits. Hydroponics, aquaponics, and insect farming hold great promise because they require limited land, water, energy, wealth and reduce waste. Hydroponics and aquaponics infer soilless, circular vegetable and fish farming enterprises. Using an interdisciplinary approach, inclusive and scalable business models are developed for these enterprises, contributing to thriving and collaborative communities. This circular food system thinking improves FNS, delivers safe, affordable, nutritious, and healthy food, reduces waste and the environmental footprint in African cities. INCiTiS-FOOD follows a multi-actor approach for co-design and co-creation of circular agri-food innovations and business models, involving 8 city Living Labs in 6 countries from 3 African regions (East: Kenya; West: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone; Central: Cameroon, Gabon). The project aims for its innovations and businesses to attain a technological, societal, and business readiness level of TRL-7, SRL-7, and BRL-5, respectively. INCiTiS-FOOD agri-food innovations and business models will be widely adopted because their research and innovation maturity are proven by a large-scale demonstration as part of the Cascade Fund (1,000,000€). International ecosystem building is promoted by the digital INCiTiS-FOOD Platform on SmartAgriHubs.eu to support African innovation actors. In strengthening resilience, inclusiveness, and FNS, INCiTiS-FOOD guides policy transformation by adhering to the EU Taxonomy Regulation and Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. The consortium is constituted with the EU-Africa dialogue in mind.