CCI4EU - Accelerating cancer research and innovation in comprehensive cancer infrastructures

Chairs: Maja Cemažar, Mef Nilbert, Johan Van Lint

Introduction
CCI4EU (Comprehensive Cancer Infrastructures for the European Union) is a European project aiming to help Member States and Associated Countries improve or develop their existing or future Comprehensive Cancer Infrastructures (CCIs), by helping develop their research & innovation-related capacities.
 
The CCI4EU project will run over 3 years, it will define and create a Maturity Model with quality indicators, to map the status of CCIs in all Member States and in five Associated Countries. Up to 9 sites have been selected for Deep Dive interventions, with 3 onsite visits to help them build their capacity in particular domains. Along with this, tailored online courses, resources and conferences are being developed to open up the capacity building to a wider audience, with the overall aim of contributing to the Horizon Europe Mission of ensuring that 90% of eligible cancer patients have access to Comprehensive Cancer Infrastructures by 2030.
 
The Conference Accelerating cancer research and innovation in comprehensive cancer infrastructures was held in Brussels, Belgium on 9 and 10 April 2025 and all interventions were recorded and are now available via this pages (to access the material, participants must register and login to the e-ESO platform). The event gave individuals and teams from developing CCIs direction in helping them build their capacity and develop their infrastructures. 
 
The gap between research findings and clinical implementation poses a significant challenge in healthcare. Bridging this gap is essential to ensure that the latest evidence is incorporated into patient care effectively. This conference is aimed at professionals involved in translational research, clinical trialists, directors of science and hospital leaders.

Learning Objectives
- Understand the importance of capacity building in research and innovation.
- Learn how to develop/improve biobanking, registries and screening programmes.
- Identify the ways to bring research findings into clinical settings.
- Enhance collaboration between stakeholders and other research centres.
- Explore real-world case studies and examples of successful/unsuccessful of ongoing research, innovation and patent cases.
 
Official language
The material is provided in English. Translations are not provided, but English subtitles can be found in the videos.
 
Registration
Registration to the course is free but mandatory. Registration will be confirmed by e-mail.
 
Certificate of attendance
Participants will be issued a certificate of attendance once they have completed a minimum attendance of 75% of the entire course. An online evaluation questionnaire must be completed in order to receive the certificate that will be issued by email. The evaluation questionnaire will appear in the right-hand column of the course page when participants have completed 75% of the course.
 
Organising secretariat
Sonia Bulgarelli: sbulgarelli@eso.net
Francesca Marangoni: fmarangoni@eso.net
Sarah Jennie Goldman: sgoldman@eso.net
 

Welcome & Introduction

09/04/2025

Chairs: Maja Cemazar, SI - Mef Nilbert, SE - Johan Van Lint, BE

National research collaborations

09/04/2025

The Belgian example
Expert: Johan Van Lint, BE

Discussion

Screening

09/04/2025

EU regulation and the new approach to cancer screening
Expert: Urska Ivanus, SI

Lecture on lung cancer screening
Expert: Miroslav Samarzija, HR

Discussion

Biobanking

09/04/2025

Best practices from IARC
Expert: Zisis Kozlakidis, FR

European Research Infrastructures: Key contributors to advancing cancer research and innovation
Expert: Manuela Pausan, AT

Discussion

Collaboration in research

09/04/2025

What does EORTC expect from a CCI to collaborate?
Expert: Gaetan de Schaetzen , BE

Leveraging real-world data in multinational collaborations to improve clinical practice and quality of care
Expert: Tarec Christoffer El-Galaly , DK

Discussion

Cancer registries

09/04/2025

IARC role in creating synergies
Expert: Ariana Znaor, FR

Role of the cancer registries in clinical quality
Expert: Giske Ursin, NO

Discussion

Experience of extending capacity in (translational) research

10/04/2025

The Czech Republic experience
Expert: Aleksi Sedo, CZ

The Slovenian experience
Expert: Maja Cemazar, SI

Discussion

Data

10/04/2025

Implications of the development of the European Health Data Space on cancer data
Expert: Magdalena Rosinska, PL

Clinical data to be used for research purposes
Expert: Alberto Traverso, IT

Discussion

How to help early/mid-career researchers? How to build a career structure that will attract and retain a good researcher?

10/04/2025

The example of Bulgaria
Expert: Assia Konsoulova, BG

The example of Italy
Expert: Alberto Traverso, IT

The example of Belgium
Expert: Deb Vansteenwegen, BE

Discussion

Closing remarks

10/04/2025

Chairs: Maja Cemazar, SI - Johan Van Lint, BE
Maja Cemazar

Head of Research and Education, Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Gaetan de Schaetzen

EORTC, Brussels, Belgium

Tarec Christoffer El-Galaly

Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

Urska Ivanus

Head of National Screening Committee, Institute Of Oncology Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Assia Konsoulova

National Cancer Hospital, Sofia, Bulgaria

Zisis Kozlakidis

Head, Laboratory Services and Biobank Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France

Mef Nilbert

Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Manuela Pausan

Scientific Stakeholder Manager, Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure – European Research Infrastructure Consortium, Graz, Austria

Magdalena Rosinska

Maria Sklodowska-curie National Cancer Institute, Warsaw, Poland

Miroslav Samarzija

Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Aleksi Sedo

Director, National Institute For Cancer Research, Prague, Czech Republic

Alberto Traverso

IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy

Giske Ursin

Director, Cancer Registry of Norway, Oslo, Norway

Johan Van Lint

Professor of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Leuven Cancer Institute (LKI), Leuven, Belgium

Deb Vansteenwegen

HR Director, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Ariana Znaor

Scientist Cancer Surveillance, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France