Cutting edge cross-border health research should contribute to smooth the access to local healthcare facilities, sharing equipment, services, and staff. It should also add to the pooling of healthcare capacities along and across the borders and therefore ensuring a more efficient use of public and private resources. It is expected that in the long term this type of research will reduce societal costs for unnecessary waiting lists and (long term) health damage and it will improve the well-being and quality of life of citizens living in border regions.

The approach that the CBI adopts is transforming real health challenges happening in cross-border regions into clear research questions to produce evidence-based solutions for our society and healthcare practice in border regions. In the absence of an established definition on cross-border healthcare research, but taking as a reference the implications of cross-border collaboration in the field of health care, which comprise "the sharing of health services, providers and expertise, as well as the provision of disease prevention, health promotion, curative and rehabilitative health services" (WHO Europe, 2018). The following core research themes are proposed:

Public health along the border:

• Epidemiological surveillance
• Data-driven prevention
• Health promotion
• Antimicrobial resistance and infection prevention
• Social determinants of health

Healthcare along the border:

• Access to healthcare services and quality of healthcare
• Emergency care in border regions
• Cross-border health data sharing
• Sustainable and resilient healthcare systems
• Telemedicine and e-health in the border region

These topics are dynamic and will change over time taking into account the health challenges that cross-border citizens face at each specific moment.

Thus, the CBI research scope is limited to cross-border health research projects that are aimed at comparative research that seeks to identify (a) differences and similarities in the organization of the healthcare systems and public health services in the border region, (b) barriers that hamper the synchronization of healthcare services and treatments in border regions and barriers in accessing timely care (c) best practices that contribute to the complementarity of healthcare services and public health programs in each side of the border.