Accelerating global impact in translational cancer research: Lessons from 15 years of the EU TRANSCAN initiative

Efficient and sustainable collaboration among cancer research funders is critical to addressing the growing complexity of cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Over the past 15 years, the TRANSCAN initiative, encompassing TRANSCAN, TRANSCAN-2, and TRANSCAN-3, has built a mature and flexible model for aligning translational cancer research funding across Europe and beyond. Supported in its last two phases by the EU ERA-NET co-funding scheme, TRANSCAN promotes convergence between national and regional priorities, and EU-level strategic goals. Since 2011, TRANSCAN has pioneered two innovative features: the integration of public and private funders into a single coordinated framework, and the targeted support of small investigator-driven research consortia. Each participating organization contributes in line with its national strategies and available resources to jointly launch Transnational Calls (JTCs) covering a broad range of translational cancer research topics. The current phase, TRANSCAN-3, coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Health, brings together 31 funding agencies from 20 different countries, including non-European partners such as Canada and Taiwan. The initiative also places strong emphasis on engaging early-career researchers and patient representatives, fostering inclusiveness and shared ownership of the research agenda. A new phase, TRANSCAN-4, is currently being planned, reflecting the continued strategic importance of transnational coordination in cancer research. Between 2011 and 2025, TRANSCAN received approximately €8 million from the European Commission to support its activities and management. During this period, the network successfully implemented 11 JTCs that mobilized a total of €148 million in national and regional funding. In addition, the European Commission co-funded two of these calls, directly supporting research projects with a further €12 million. Altogether, 141 small- to mid-sized consortia, involving 723 research groups, have been funded. These focused, transnational collaborations complemented larger EU-funded cancer consortia and contributed to high-impact translational results. Beyond financial coordination, TRANSCAN has strengthened capacity building, cross-border networking, stakeholder engagement, and long-term strategic alignment among funders. The TRANSCAN initiative demonstrates the value of sustained transnational cooperation in cancer research funding. Its bottom-up, inclusive, and mixed public-private model has significantly advanced the EU and international cancer research landscape in line with the EU Mission on Cancer and Europe's Beating Cancer Plan. This long-term cooperation model offers a blueprint for future alignment of national and regional, public and private programs to achieve collective impact. More information is available at: www.transcan.eu.