The Beyond One Million Genome plus (B1MGplus) project is holding its kick-off meeting in Bucharest, Romania from 11-12 March 2025. The new project, funded by the European Commission under the Digital Europe Programme, is a Coordination and Support Action, following on from the B1MG project, which ran from 2020 to 2023. 

The B1MGplus project will support the creation of a European cross-border network of genomic and clinical data to improve healthcare outcomes. The project provides coordination and support to the 1+ Million Genomes (1+MG) initiative, the commitment of 23 EU countries and Norway to enable secure access to genomic and corresponding clinical data across Europe. ELIXIR-IT will participate in the project by contributing through its coordinating entity, the National Research Council (CNR).

The project aims to enable the sustainability of the 1+MG initiative by supporting signatory countries to create a federated European genomic data infrastructure. Such a sustainable federated genomic data infrastructure can provide secure access to genomic and related health data and enable the development of personalised healthcare that will benefit society.

To support the 1+MG initiative, the B1MGplus project will focus on delivering implementation tracks on the 1+MG Roadmap 2023-2027 with four objectives:

• Support preparatory work for the creation and operation of a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC)
• Facilitate the strategic orientation of the 1+MG initiative
• Support expert work to enable the uptake of genomics for healthcare and public health purposes
• Develop data quality aspects of the 1+MG Framework

Interoperability across European initiatives and projects is critical to realising the 1+MG initiative. During the project period, the B1MGplus project partners will collaborate with other European initiatives, such as the European Health Data Space and the European Cancer Imaging Initiative to ensure the 1+MG Framework components are interoperable and adopted. The project will work closely with the European Genomic Data Infrastructure project, which is deploying the 1+MG infrastructure. 

Serena Scollen, the B1MGplus Project Coordinator and Head of ELIXIR Human Genomics and Translational Data team described the aims of the project:

“B1MGplus will provide critical support to the implementation of the 1+MG initiative and the creation of a European genomic data infrastructure which has the potential to improve the effectiveness, accessibility, efficiency, sustainability and resilience of health systems in the European Union.”

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Contact: b1mgplus-coordination@elixir-europe.org

B1MGplus website: https://b1mgplus.onemilliongenomes.eu