Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking

Mission and mandate

IHI was established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 — the Single Basic Act covering the ten Horizon Europe Joint Undertakings — and became operational on 30 March 2022 as the legal successor to the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2, 2014–2024). Annex III of the Single Basic Act covers IHI's sector-specific rules.

IHI's mandate is to contribute to creating an EU-wide health research and innovation ecosystem that facilitates the translation of scientific knowledge into tangible innovations for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases that pose a significant burden on the European population. The Joint Undertaking aims to deliver three main strategic objectives: enable more integrated, patient-centred, and cross-sectoral health innovation; foster the translation of biomedical discoveries into clinical and societal benefit; and contribute to the development of safe, effective, people-centred, and cost-effective new health solutions.

The Joint Undertaking funds and coordinates collaborative R&D projects across the full health-innovation continuum. Recent IHI calls have covered: antimicrobial resistance and the development of new antibiotics, neurodegenerative diseases (notably Alzheimer's and Parkinson's), oncology including paediatric oncology, rare diseases, paediatric medicines, vaccines and infectious diseases, digital health and AI in healthcare, health-systems innovation, regulatory science and HTA methodology, and pandemic preparedness.

IHI's total budget for 2022–2031 is approximately €2.4 billion (EU contribution of around €1.2 billion plus private-sector contributions matching from EFPIA, MedTech Europe, COCIR, EuropaBio, Vaccines Europe, and others). The Joint Undertaking is the largest health R&D programme of its kind in the world by combined public-private funding.

Structure and operational divisions

IHI is led by an Executive Director appointed by the Governing Board for a renewable four-year term. The Governing Board is composed of representatives of the European Commission, the founding industry associations (EFPIA, MedTech Europe, COCIR, EuropaBio, Vaccines Europe), and observer-status representatives of associated industry partners.

The Programme Office is based in Brussels and is one of the small-to-medium EU bodies — around 70 staff at full establishment plan. It is organised into operational and support functions. The Scientific and Programme Operations function manages the R&D project portfolio: develops strategic research agendas in cooperation with the Strategic Research Agenda Working Group, designs and launches calls for proposals, evaluates and selects projects, manages project execution, monitors deliverables, and supports dissemination and uptake.

The Scientific Officers and Programme Managers are organised around thematic priorities mirroring the Strategic Research Agenda: oncology, neurology, immunology and infection, rare and paediatric, digital health, and cross-cutting (regulatory science, real-world evidence, patient engagement). Each thematic team has scientific officers (typically AD7–AD9 with PhD-level life-sciences backgrounds) and programme managers (typically AD5–AD9 with R&D programme-management experience).

The Communications and Stakeholder Engagement function manages IHI's relationships with the Commission, EU agencies (EMA, ECDC, EFSA, HERA), the broader scientific community, patient organisations, and the public.

Corporate services (HR, finance, procurement, legal, IT) and the Executive Director's Cabinet complete the structure. IHI shares corporate-services arrangements with other Horizon Europe Joint Undertakings and benefits from the Common Support Centre managed by the Commission's DG RTD.

Hiring landscape over the last 12 months

IHI hiring runs at 8–15 vacancy notices per year, with a meaningful balance between scientific and programme-management posts and corporate services. Hiring is concentrated at AD5 and AD7 grades for scientific officers and programme managers, with periodic AD9 senior officer and AD12 head-of-unit notices.

In the last 12 months IHI has run notices for scientific officers across the main thematic areas (oncology, neurology, immunology and infection, digital health), programme managers with health R&D programme-management backgrounds, communications and stakeholder-engagement specialists, and corporate-services staff. The antimicrobial resistance programme and the pandemic preparedness programme have generated specific scientific officer notices.

Contract-agent hiring at FG III and FG IV is concentrated in project finance, procurement support, communications, IT, and HR. Seconded national experts from national health-research funders, the EMA, the European Commission's DG SANTE and DG RTD, and the broader EU public-health network are an important channel — typically 5–10 SNE postings active at any given time.

The candidate pool for IHI scientific officer posts is highly specialist: life-sciences PhDs with industry, academic, or public-research-funder R&D programme-management experience; many successful candidates have backgrounds in EFPIA companies, EMA, the Commission's DG SANTE or DG RTD, or large biomedical research funders (Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, NIH, MRC). For programme manager posts the pool is broader and includes EU R&D programme-management specialists from other Joint Undertakings, executive agencies (CINEA, HaDEA), and the Commission.

Salary realism by grade and the Brussels coefficient

IHI staff are paid under the EU Staff Regulations and the Brussels duty-station coefficient is 100 — full Brussels parity. AD5 step 1 grosses €6,153 monthly basic; AD7 step 1 €7,876; AD9 step 1 €10,083; AD12 step 1 €13,830.

With expatriation (16%) and household allowance for a married hire with one child the on-paper figure for an AD7 typically lands around €10,500–€11,500 gross monthly. The standard EU package applies and the expatriation allowance is the single biggest differentiator.

Net purchasing power at IHI is identical to other Brussels-based EU bodies. The work environment at the Joint Undertaking — small, scientific-programme-led, with close cooperation with the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical-device industries and substantial international dissemination work — is the main differentiator versus the Commission and the EU agencies for life-sciences candidates choosing between programme-management roles. The salary point is broadly competitive against academic researcher pay and below large-pharma R&D programme-management pay; the IHI offer is the scientific and institutional mission and the opportunity to shape strategic research agendas at EU scale.

Languages, security clearance, and competition profile

English is the working language at IHI. The regulatory second-language minimum applies under the Staff Regulations. Knowledge of French is useful for daily life in Brussels.

IHI staff do not require security clearance. Selected posts handling commercially sensitive R&D information are subject to internal confidentiality and conflict-of-interest rules under the Joint Undertaking's governance framework but not classified-information procedures.

IHI is not recruited via EPSO. All vacancies are advertised on the Joint Undertaking's careers page and shared on the EU Careers platform. Selection processes are run in-house. The competition profile is highly specialist: scientific officer posts attract a smaller but well-credentialed pool of life-sciences PhDs with R&D programme-management experience; programme manager posts attract a broader pool of EU R&D programme-management specialists. For senior AD9 and AD12 posts internal mobility and lateral mobility from EMA, other Joint Undertakings, and the Commission's DG SANTE and DG RTD is significant.

Application paths

Three main routes. Temporary agent: the dominant route for scientific officers and programme managers. Apply directly to the published vacancy notice on the IHI careers page; expect a CV and motivation letter screening, a written test (frequently a scientific-programme-management or research-strategy case study), and a structured competency-based interview. Reserve lists are typically valid for 12–24 months.

Contract agent: a meaningful share of hiring, concentrated in project finance, procurement support, communications, IT, and HR. Candidates register on CAST Permanent in the relevant function group and respond to IHI notices that draw from the CAST pool.

Seconded national expert: serving health-research specialists from national health-research funders, EMA, the Commission's DG SANTE and DG RTD, and the broader EU public-health network can be seconded for two-to-four-year tours. SNE is a particularly useful channel for senior scientific officer roles where deep substantive expertise is required.

A practical note: IHI's scientific officer career path is narrow but deep. Career staff often spend five-to-ten years at the Joint Undertaking, progressing through programme execution and into senior scientific or programme-management roles. Lateral mobility into EMA, the Commission's DG SANTE and DG RTD, large pharmaceutical companies' R&D portfolio-management functions, biomedical research funders (Wellcome Trust, NIH, large academic research centres), and other Joint Undertakings is well-established.