The Joint  European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI) is a European funding agency aiming at promoting disruptive technologies. It funds innovation in different "missions" (environment and energy,

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

, education, digital, space, and oceans), with the goal of bringing "

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in a leadership position in breakthrough technologies". It organizes scientific competitions focused on disruptive technologies. JEDI also makes policy recommendations to strengthen European technology sovereignty. , JEDI was funding the projects of over 6,000 researchers in 29 countries across Europe and the world. It is operated independently from any European governments with funding from foundations, companies, individuals and public institutions. JEDI was inspired by

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the technology research and development agency of the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

. JEDI calls itself a "precursor" to a European advanced research projects agency.

Research on Covid-19

The Joint European Disruptive Initiative launched its first "Darpa-type GrandChallenge" on

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on May 5, 2020. The competition consisted in screening "billions of molecules with blocking interactions on

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

" to develop a drug against the coronavirus — with each participant having to use at least three different calculation methods for the simulations. The foundation claims to have had approximately 54 billions of molecules screened and 878 of them being synthesized. A paper published in

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

showed that the protein PDB 6W9C was one of the most used

in silico In biology and other experimental sciences, an ''in silico'' experiment is one performed on a computer or via computer simulation software. The phrase is pseudo-Latin for 'in silicon' (correct ), referring to silicon in computer chips. It was c ...

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

design against

References

{{Reflist Research councils Science and technology in Europe Grants (money) Life sciences industry Research projects