EMIDA (Emerging and Major Infectious Diseases of Livestock) is a Coordination Action funded under the European Commission’s ERA-Net scheme within the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). EMIDA involves 26 partner organisations and four associated partners involved in funding or managing animal health research programmes in 19 European countries.

EMIDA aims to develop a durable focused network of national research funding organisations in Member and Associated States of the EU for the purpose of sharing information, coordinating activities and working towards a common research agenda and mutual funding activities for research on emerging and major infectious diseases of production animals including fish and bees and including those conditions which pose a threat to human health. EMIDA ERA-Net has three main overarching strategic goals:

• Develop integrated animal health research policies and activities at the European-wide level.
• Optimise the research provision that underpins European animal health policy development and policy implementation, and the sustainability of the European livestock industries through the coordination of funding to develop improved tools for the control of the major infectious disease threats of livestock.
• Increase the capacity of European animal health science and research, in order to maintain and develop European expertise in this field and maintain Europe’s competitiveness in the global Animal Health market.

As part of the development of a framework for the coordination of transnational research, EMIDA has developed instruments for procuring, managing and appraising transnational animal health research activities. Furthermore, the EMIDA consortium has selected four call topics focusing on current research needs within the field of animal health. EMIDA has agreed to launch a joint research call applying the “virtual common pot” funding mechanism with a total budget of approximately 20 Mio € in September 2009 to build confidence in transnational funding and to enable joint transnational activities and funding of a future transnational animal health research programme.

For further information on EMIDA see also www.emida-era.net.