NEC Corp. is participating in a four-year European research project using artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate vaccine design and strengthen preparedness for future pandemics, the Japanese technology company announced on Oct. 26, 2026, in Tokyo and Schiphol, Netherlands.
The Horizon Europe-funded PREPAIR VAC project began in September 2026 and has a total budget of approximately €6.5 million. The grant was awarded to NEC OncoImmunity AS (NOI), a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Bio under NEC Corp., as part of a research consortium involving European partners.
The project aims to address challenges in vaccine development by establishing a framework that can respond more quickly to emerging infectious diseases. It brings together organizations from academia, industry and public health to work across different stages of vaccine research and development.
NOI, identified as the project’s primary initiator, is responsible for AI-powered antigen prediction and vaccine design. Its work involves using AI technologies to anticipate viral evolution and design antigens intended to provide broader protection against infectious diseases.
The approach is intended to support the development of broadly protective vaccine candidates and shorten the time between identifying a pathogen and designing a potential vaccine.
“PREPAIR VAC reflects the European Commission’s confidence in the role of AI-driven design in strengthening European pandemic preparedness,” said Dr. Kaidre Bendjama, chief scientific officer of NEC OncoImmunity.
“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,” Bendjama said.
The European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) coordinates the project. Other consortium partners specialize in vaccine manufacturing, formulation, preclinical validation, and the ethical, legal, regulatory and societal aspects of vaccine innovation.
Beyond scientific and technological development, PREPAIR VAC will examine the responsible use of AI, public trust and regulatory considerations in vaccine design.
The four-year project is intended to bring together expertise across the vaccine development process, from computational design to preclinical and translational evaluation.
Full disclosure: All news articles published on the TechSabado website are written by human journalists, unless otherwise specified. Final text editing is also performed by human editors, with artificial intelligence (AI) used only to assist with additional grammar and style guide corrections..
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