About

European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation


What is EUPATI? The European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) is a multi-stakeholder public-private partnership originally launched by the IMI-EUPATI project (2012-2017) and hosted by the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) from 2017 to 2020.  

What is our mission? EUPATI is committed to increasing the capacity and capability of patients and patient representatives to understand and meaningfully contribute to medicines research and development (R&D), and to improve the availability of medical information for patients and other stakeholders.

How are we achieving it? EUPATI is providing training for patients and patient representatives from all disease areas on the end-to-end process of medicines research and development – via the Open Classroom and the online Toolbox. 

Quality assurance of EUPATI’s educational content: EUPATI stands for quality, ensuring transparency, accessibility and factual accuracy. All educational content is developed with a consistent multi-stakeholder approach. The expertise and insights from al EUPATI partners, network members and external advisors are supported by qualitative and quantitative research as well as a systematic literature review conducted by EUPATI prior to content production. EUPATI has also established an independent Editorial Board.

Funding: EUPATI is co-financed by in-cash contribution from industry partners and in-kind contribution from public partners, as well as fee-based services to ensure continuous education and reliable information for patients, patient representatives and the wider public. In addition, EUPATI receives funding in the form of projects/grants supported by e.g., IMI, EIT Health and EFPIA. EUPATI is also supported by individual donations.

Other activities: EUPATI today is active in 23 countries via its National Platforms (ENPs), which mirror the EUPATI structure and activities at the national level. EUPATI also provides training for pharmaceutical/MedTech companies and academic research institutions about patient engagement. Additionally, EUPATI brings forth opportunities for patient experts and partners to work together, via it’s matchmaking tool, EUPATI Connect. 

For more information, please visit EUPATI’s:

Webpage for comprehensive information about EUPATI, including National Platform information, news and activities, training portfolio and else.  

Toolbox for an online library on the A-Z of medicines research and development (R&D) and patient engagement. It provides access to well-structured, comprehensive, scientifically reliable, and user-friendly educational materials for patients on a variety of topics in these areas. 

Collaborate for Opportunities to collaborate with EUPATI such as matchmaking, speaking, training, initiatives, volunteering and partnership.  



EUPATI Open Classroom


Brief history: It all started with the EUPATI Patient Expert Training Programme which was launched in 2015 and has to date trained more than 200 Patient Experts (EUPATI Fellows) from all over Europe and beyond. The Programme offered expert-level training in the process of medicines research and development (R&D) and was originally a 14-month programme open only to a limited number of individuals, selected via an application procedure.


Development: In 2020, the Programme was revised and transformed to a new online platform – EUPATI Open Classroom - in order to allow more people to access and benefit from it plus increase flexibility. The content was reorganised into Modules which include several Courses. This transformation was supported by the EUPATI Reload project, funded by EIT Health (EIT Health is supported by EIT, a body of the European Union) and made possible together great partners – Bayer, University of Copenhagen, University of Oxford and Medtronic.

Today: The Open Classroom is designed for patients, patient representatives – but also accessible to other stakeholders such as people working in patient engagement activities in the private and public sectors. 

The EUPATI Open Classroom offers: 

  • A personalised learning pathway about the end-to-end process of medicines R&D 

  • Flexible and on-demand e-learning at the learners’ own pace and preferred order 

  • Learning opportunities for anyone from anywhere in the world 


There are three main pathways for learning: 

  1. Individual Courses: Pick and choose from the selection of Courses, go through assessment and receive a certificate. Benefits: Flexibility & freedom  

  1. Individual Modules: Choose from the available Modules, containing 3-7 courses each, receive certificates for the courses and a ‘badge’ for a full Module. Benefits: Expertise in a particular area within medicines R&D 

  1. Full EUPATI Fellow Programme: Complete all the Courses on the Open Classroom and two training events (online/in-person). Benefits: EUPATI Fellow title certifies the knowledge gained and provides the opportunity to be recognised as expert patients

What our learners say

I enrolled in the EUPATI course because I considered that it was an excellent opportunity to educate myself about medicines research and development so that I would be able to ‘sit at the table’ and/or engage with relevant stakeholders in the disease area which I represent. So far, my expectations have probably been exceeded as I did not expect the course to be so in depth.

The course has provided me with knowledge of concepts and procedures in the industry and a great network of peers with a wealth of knowledge and experience from which to learn. I have used the skills learned to engage with industry in a constructive way to benefit both parties and hope to continue this engagement on behalf of my patient group with other stakeholders to ensure our community’s voice is heard and utilised effectively.


You can read more about EUPATI learner experiences here . 




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Contact us via email: info@eupati.eu