UABDivulga - Barcelona recerca i innovació

On October 1st 2025, the European project BREATH: Empowering Research Talent – Building R&I Talent Ecosystems to Advance Careers in Health Innovation was launched. This 36-month initiative, funded under the European Commission’s Talent Ecosystems for Attractive Early Research Careers – Pilot Call, is coordinated by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and brings together academic, institutional, and business partners from Catalonia, Flanders, and Lithuania.

BREATH aims to strengthen research talent management in health innovation, enhancing the attractiveness of research careers in Europe and promoting international collaboration among universities, businesses, public authorities, and non-profit organisations. The project will pilot a new collaborative model to identify current and future skills needs, design innovative career pathways, and provide tailored career guidance tools for early-career researchers. In addition, it will deliver policy recommendations at national and European levels to foster more attractive and sustainable research careers.

By embedding the principles of the European Charter for Researchers, the HR Excellence in Research Award, and the European Framework for Research Careers, BREATH will contribute to the long-term goal of making Europe a world leader in researcher career attractiveness and talent circulation.

The BREATH consortium brings together a diverse network of partners from three European regions, combining expertise in research, innovation, and talent management. In Catalonia, it includes Biocat – BioRegion of Catalonia Foundation, the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), the Department of Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia (DREU) as an affiliated entity, and WeDo | Project Intelligence Made Easy, which supports project intelligence and innovation analytics. In Flanders, the consortium partners are Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), Biovia a health innovation cluster and the Council of European Bioregions (CEBR), bringing academic excellence and cross-border collaboration expertise. From Lithuania, the project involves Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), the Innovation Agency Lithuania (IA), and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (SMSM), contributing innovation policy and strategic guidance.