PIONEER: Looking for Clinical and Hospital Partners

PIONEER is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) proposed under the Horizon Europe Mission Cancer call “Earlier and more precise palliative care”. The project aims to develop and validate a personalized, integrated, AI-driven model for early palliative care in oncology, enabling timely and proactive support from the moment of cancer diagnosis.

PIONEER integrates clinical data, patient-reported outcomes (PROs), digital monitoring and wearable data, and healthcare professionals’ assessments to identify palliative care needs at an early stage. Using real-time data analysis, the system generates risk scores and alerts clinicians when early palliative intervention is indicated.

An AI-based predictive care planner supports individualized care pathways by combining medical information with patient preferences, lifestyle factors, and caregiver input. Recommended care plans include hospital- and home-based interventions, medication management, psychosocial support, and structured follow-up, ensuring care is both clinically appropriate and aligned with patients’ daily lives.

A dedicated digital coordination platform connects patients, caregivers, and multidisciplinary care teams, enabling real-time communication, symptom reporting, teleconsultations, and emergency alerts. This supports continuity of care, improved coordination, and increased trust for patients and families.

In parallel, PIONEER includes workforce and resource management tools to optimize staff allocation and support the sustainability of palliative care services.

The model will be piloted and evaluated in real-world settings across multiple European countries, assessing clinical effectiveness, patient satisfaction, cost-efficiency, and workforce performance. A dedicated training work package will support adoption by healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.

PIONEER is currently seeking Clinical and Hospital Partners to support the real-world development, testing, and validation of the project’s early palliative care model.

We are looking for partners who can contribute through:

• Access to cancer patient populations

• Provision of clinical and routine care data

• Testing and implementation of early palliative care interventions in real-life clinical settings

Relevant partners may include:

• Oncology centers

• University hospitals

• Palliative care services and units

• Healthcare institutions with experience or interest in early palliative care and integrated care pathways