European Investment Bank Activity Report 2020: Crisis Solution

By European Investment Bank (Editor)

Our flagship report highlights the European Investment Bank's key contribution to combatting the COVID-19, climate change and development challenges that dominated 2020. It tells the stories of our crisis solutions.
Built around 20 stories profiling 30 of our projects or programmes, the report's "Solutions" sections explain how the EU bank responded swiftly and decisively to a year of crises and laid the foundations for future innovation and growth. The stories take you through the Bank's work in innovation, infrastructure, small and medium-sized enterprises, and climate and environment inside the European Union and beyond the EU's borders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: European Investment Bank
• Release date: Feb 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9789286148576

Book preview

COVID SOLUTIONS

THE EIB STEPS UP TO FACE THE PANDEMIC

This pandemic needs to be approached from all different angles. It is vital that we provide countries with the means and equipment to treat infected patients, whilst also enabling accurate and rapid identification of infected individuals. The vaccine provides the best protection in the long run, but there remains a high, unmet need for treatment options and improvements to the situation in the hospitals of the most impacted countries.

Felicitas Riedl, Head of Life Sciences, Projects Directorate

With a direct equity-type portfolio in life sciences of €1.5 billion supporting more than 60 highly innovative European biotech and medtech companies, the EIB is the largest player in Europe. When the pandemic reached Europe and the lockdown started, we rapidly established contacts within our existing network, where many COVID-19 projects have emerged, with leading institutions such as the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, and with new initiatives in vaccines, treatments or diagnostic tools. We can be proud to have supported projects such as BioNTech, the world’s frontrunner in COVID-19 vaccine development, and CureVac, another promising vaccine developer, as well as companies working on COVID-19 in France, Germany and