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.