NEC joins EU AI vaccine project for pandemic readiness

NEC has joined the EU-funded PREPAIR VAC research project on AI-based vaccine design. The work will be carried out through NEC OncoImmunity as part of a European consortium.

The four-year project has a budget of about €6.5 million and is backed by Horizon Europe, the European Union's research and innovation programme. It is focused on pandemic preparedness and aims to speed up vaccine design in response to emerging infectious diseases.

NEC OncoImmunity, a wholly owned subsidiary within NEC Bio, was awarded the grant alongside several European partners. It is described as the project's primary initiator and will lead work on antigen prediction and AI-based vaccine design.

The consortium is coordinated by the European Vaccine Initiative and includes organisations involved in manufacturing, formulation, preclinical validation, and the ethical, legal, regulatory and societal issues linked to vaccine innovation. Other named partners are Nevezyne in France, Croda Denmark, Uppsala University in Sweden, Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne in France, Niedersächsisches Landesgesundheitsamt in Germany, and Medizinische Hochschule Hannover in Germany.

The project aims to build a vaccine development framework that can respond more quickly to new infectious threats. NEC said its role will focus on using AI to anticipate viral evolution and design antigens that could offer broader protection across variants.

The approach is intended to shorten the time between identifying a pathogen and producing an initial vaccine design. The programme also includes work on public trust, the responsible use of AI, and regulatory issues.

Consortium role

The award places NEC's healthcare technology unit in a European research effort shaped by the policy response to Covid-19. Horizon Europe has made pandemic preparedness and next-generation vaccine technologies a priority for investment, with funding awarded through competitive calls.

For NEC, the project expands its use of AI in life sciences through its Netherlands-based biotechnology arm and Norwegian subsidiary. NEC Bio focuses on healthcare applications, while NEC OncoImmunity specialises in immunology-related research.

Dr Kaidre Bendjama outlined the company's view of the project's significance.

"PREPAIR VAC reflects the European Commission's confidence in the role of AI‐driven design in strengthening European pandemic preparedness. Building on our experience in the field, NEC is applying AI technologies to create novel rapidly scalable vaccines that address current pathogen and host diversity while anticipating future mutations. The consortium brings together complementary expertise across the vaccine development lifecycle to generate a solid proof-of-concept package using preclinical and translational models," said Dr Kaidre Bendjama, Chief Scientific Officer, NEC OncoImmunity.

Broader push

The PREPAIR VAC project is part of a wider European effort to strengthen health resilience after the pandemic exposed weaknesses in response times, manufacturing readiness and cross-border coordination. Horizon Europe-funded research projects increasingly bring together academic institutions, industry groups and public health bodies to connect early-stage science with later development and oversight.

In this case, the mix of partners reflects the stages needed to move from digital design tools to practical vaccine candidates. Academic and medical institutions contribute disease research and preclinical testing, while industrial partners work on formulation and production.

The inclusion of ethical, legal and regulatory questions also shows that AI-based design is being treated as more than a technical issue. European policymakers and researchers have increasingly emphasised whether AI systems can be deployed in sensitive areas such as healthcare in ways that are transparent and trusted.

NEC is one of Japan's largest technology groups, with operations spanning AI, security and communications. Its participation in PREPAIR VAC adds a cross-border element to a programme otherwise rooted in European public health and research priorities.

The project's stated objective is to develop a rapid vaccine design pipeline that can help health systems respond faster when new infectious diseases emerge. The consortium also aims to produce proof-of-concept results through preclinical and translational models.