MultiSensor sorting tools in a circular economy approach for the efficient recycling of PVB interlayer material in high-quality prodUcts from laminated glass coNstRuction and demolItion waStEs

Laminated glass is obtained by bonding glass layers using a polymeric interlayer. Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) is used as interlayer in laminated glass and their use in construction components is growing, therefore the end-of-life should be addressed. In EU, glass waste from Renovation and Demolition are quantified on 1.540.704 tons/year. The proper recycling of all building glass waste could avoid 925.000 tons of landfilled waste every year. Up to now, most of the post-consume PVB material in laminated glass is incinerated/landfilled, and only a 9 % is recycled in secondary uses. Recycling of PVB present several difficulties related with the contents of glass, humidity, mixing of compositions and polymer optical degradation which impede reusing as interlayer. SUNRISE will demonstrate within the current glass recycling business the application of an innovative optical multi-sensor sorting tool based on industrial in-line techniques (Raman, IRS, Fluorescence and Optical Spectroscopy) and AI algorithms which will allow optimal classification of laminated glass according to composition and degradation.  Therefore, allowing the tailored mechano-chemical treatment for purification which will enable the post-consume PVB recycling and reusing as interlayer film. In order to ensure the success, the project counts with glass recycling associations and companies and main actors in mechano-chemical treatment of PVB and optical in-line systems. Industrials partners will validate the suitability of the final products in a market environment.  Other transdisciplinary aspects will be incorporated including modelling, health, safety and environmental issues, dissemination & exploitation and standardisation.  The success of SUNRISE will increase the European market in 360 million €/year by the proper collection and recycling of 1.250.352 tons/year of laminated glass, which will avoid PVB wastes of more than 125.000 tons, representing benefits at economic, environmental and social level.


Holistic management practices, modelling and monitoring for European forest soils

Knowledge gaps on forest soil processes and lack of a harmonised soil monitoring limit the EU’s ability to maintain soil related ecosystem services and to reach climate policy targets. A better understanding of the soil processes and a harmonised approach to manage and integrate data to computational models that are used for decision making is urgently required in order to meet climate and sustainability goals, including the UN's Agenda 2030 SDGs, the Paris Agreement of Climate Convention, the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, the EU's LULUCF Regulation, the EU Forest Strategy (2018), and the European Green Deal. HoliSoils will develop a harmonised soil monitoring framework and identify and test soil management practices aiming to mitigate CC and sustain provision of various ecosystem services essential for human livelihoods and wellbeing. HoliSoils incorporates novel methodologies and expert knowledge on analytical techniques, data sharing, soil properties and biodiversity, and processes with model development, in order to develop tools for soil monitoring, refine GHG assessment of the LULUCF sector, enhance efficiency of GHG mitigation actions, and improve numerical forecasting of soil-based mitigation, adaptation, and ecosystem services. HoliSoils applies a collaborative multi-actor approach, in order to maximise its applicability and impact beyond its duration. The multidisciplinary consortium consists of universities and research institutes from across Europe, with leading expertise on soil analysis and databases, development of advanced analytical techniques, complex system modelling, digital soil mapping, soil ecology, disturbance ecology, forest and GHG inventories, social sciences, and communications. It also involves active engagement with diverse stakeholders, including forest owners and managers, industry actors, forest extension services, a certification body, forest and soil researchers, climate policy support and GHG inventory experts, and policymakers.

Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research


Eco-friendly corrosion protective coatings based on smart nanotechnology platforms for a circular economy

The need to develop and use products made out of residues or sub-products from industry is creating pressure over fields where more traditional, linear economy concepts prevail. In this project we address one important stage of the life cycle of products, particularly trying to extend its service life, thereby contributing for advances towards circular economy via increase in durability of materials and use of greener materials. In particular, this proposal addresses the problem of protection and monitoring of corrosion of metallic substrates used in different applications. Structured in previous experience with a recently finished MSCA-RISE project SMARCOAT (ref. 645662, 2015-2018), this project aims at developing eco-friendly multifunctional coatings with capacity to protect and detect corrosion based on different mechanisms combining nanostructured inhibiting and sensing additives. Two types of coating systems are intended to be developed, one for temporary protection during storage and transportation based on biodegradable materials and another on thermosetting polymers obtained using raw materials from sustainable sources. A relevant part of this project includes the study of fate and ecotoxicity of different coating components and Life cycle analysis, which will be equaled as a figure of merit with performance factors to select the most promising systems and launch demonstrators for standard and field tests.


MOKSLO INOVACIJU IR TECHNOLOGIJU AGENTURA

Good practices in SME innovation support

Throughout the EU, the fragmentation of innovation ecosystems and the lack of interconnection between public national and regional agencies appear to be one of the main obstacles to securing support for the most promising SMEs. The GO-SME project responds to the need to provide financial support to SMEs and start-ups for the development of their innovative ideas. The aim of GO-SME is to share the best practices of participating research funding organisations (RFOs) and their mutual learning in designing programmes which would support SMEs and start-ups in an initial assessment of their innovative ideas so that they can progress to more advanced stages of innovation development. To achieve this aim, a combination of the following activities will be used: 1/learning from best practices already applied in support schemes for innovative SMEs and startups,  2/motivation of agencies from widening countries to design innovation support schemes for  SMEs and start-ups, 3/cooperation in the setting up of comparable support schemes and sets of selection criteria,  4/sharing of best practices in the work with (international) experts and sharing of their pools 5/learning from best practices in providing coaching and mentoring services to innovative SMEs and start-ups 6/mutual opening up pools of coaches and mentors  7/offering of special services to running projects which will be selected as the most promising by an independent international panel. The added value of the project rests in its ambition to design national and regional programmes supporting innovative SMEs which could act as a pipeline for the EIC Accelerator and be part of the “plug-in” mechanism. At the same time, it can serve as a pilot project for a possible partnership co-funded from innovation ecosystems in the Horizon Europe programme.


Alliance for Life Sciences: From Strategies to Actions in Central and Eastern Europe

The gap in Research and Innovation (R&I) performance, which persists despite considerable investments from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in the lower-performing regions of the EU, is an issue with major socio-economic and political consequences. In Health R&I the gap has a profound impact on distribution of funding from the EU Framework Programmes as well as on hindering the EU-wide impact of R&I on health and quality of life.   With A4L_ACTIONS, we aim to address roots of this situation in the lower-performing Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by improving culture, governance, recognition and innovation potential of the health research-performing institutions. Our goal is to increase their attractiveness for collaborations with advanced Europe and create spill-over effects in the whole region. As the Alliance4Life, we are an established network of progressive health research institutions in CEE and a source of successfully piloted good practice. By building upon our results and impact achieved so far, we will convert our recommendations and strategies into actions as follows:  - Culture fostering excellence: piloting peer-evaluation and assessment of institutional practice as a strategic management tool, professionalizing research administration;  - Recognition and trust towards CEE: attracting advanced partners to identified pockets of excellence, supporting scientific ideas originating in CEE, initiating new international projects and collaborations with industry;  - Career policy nurturing talent: training and networking next generation of leaders, upgrading institutional career systems;  - Impact on innovation: raising the competences of Technology Transfer specialists, creating industry relations platform linking academia and industry;  - Spill-over effects: sharing, inspiring, communicating with stakeholders and policy makers; using the established networks to gain advice, new collaborations and EU-wide impact.

Health, demographic change and wellbeing


VILNIAUS MIESTO SAVIVALDYBES ADMINISTRACIJA

Citizens Acting on Mitigation Pathways through Active Implementation of a Goal-setting Network

Climate change is a human problem, caused by humans, affecting humans, and requiring a human-centric solution. CAMPAIGNers aims to make low-carbon lifestyles a major part of the solution by identifying lifestyle transformation potential, and associated barriers and enablers across 5 continents and 16 major cities with over 20 mil. residents. Feasible pathways to GHG mitigation are developed to include the empirically validated lifestyle changes, and are applied to the principal integrated modelling tools used in the EU to provide robust insights into the system-level impacts of large-scale lifestyle transformation.  CAMPAIGNers builds on previous consortium-led projects that substantially improved the understanding of societal structures and interventions that encourage lifestyle shifts, and identified limitations to the existing evidence-base. Namely, current lifestyle transformation research is either limited to narrow, specific contexts or groups, or deals in hypothetical behaviours where most citizens do not have real experiences to draw on.  CAMPAIGNers’ ground-breaking approach overcomes these drawbacks by implementing a ‘goal-setting network’, where over 100,000 citizens receive and create challenges to try out tailored adaptations to their daily routines via an engaging app. Their responses to these challenges, associated treatments, and short questionnaires will deliver unprecedented data of behavioural processes, (local) barriers to change, and motivators, allowing for empirically-based scientific support of cities in crafting policies to encourage low-carbon lifestyles.   Together with local, national and EU policy makers insights are analysed regarding the ‘right-level-to-act’ and policy-ready recommendations are jointly derived. A workshop in the EU Parliament, hosted by First-Vice President Ms. McGuinness, and supported by 9 more MEPs from 6 countries and 4 political parties, will ensure high-level feedback and contribute to consensus building.

Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials


VILNIAUS GEDIMINO TECHNIKOS UNIVERSITETAS

Automotive Intelligence for/at Connected Shared Mobility

The European Green Deal defines 4 key elements for a sustainable mobility and automotive industry, namely: climate neutrality, zero pollution Europe, sustainable transport, and the transition to a circular economy. Digital technologies are a significant enabler for attaining the sustainability goals in mobility and transportation. The EC is taking initiatives to ensure that digital technologies such as AI, 5G, IoT and cloud/edge computing can accelerate the transition of the automotive industry  to electrical, autonomous, connected, and shared vehicles. The current COVID-19 situation accelerates this trend. The AI4CSM project will develop advanced electronic components and systems (ECS) and architectures for future mass-market ECAS vehicles. This fuels the digital transformation in the automotive sector to support the mobility trends and accelerate the transition towards a sustainable green and digital economy. Having assembled some of Europe’s best partners from industry, research and academia, AI4CSM will deliver key innovations in technical areas including: sensor fusion and perception platforms; efficient propulsion and energy modules; advanced connectivity for cooperative mobility applications; vehicle/edge/cloud computing integration concepts; new digital platforms for efficient and federated computing; and intelligent components based on trustworthy AI techniques and methods. ECAS vehicles enabled by embedded intelligence and functional integration for future mobility, becomes the pivotal factor for the automotive sector to address the Green Deal principles.  AI4CSM consists of  8 collaborative R&D clusters, gathering 41 partners from 10 countries. AI4CSM will reinforce user acceptance and affordability by convenience and services for the major transition to a diverse mobility. AI4CSM addresses the increasing demand of mobility, supporting future traffic concepts and strengthen the European automotive manufacturing base as a global industry leader.

Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (LEIT)


Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos - Infrastructures for Nuclear Astrophysics

Nuclear astrophysics studies the origin of the chemical elements: from the Big Bang, to stellar burning, and to neutron star mergers. ChETEC-INFRA networks the three types of infrastructures that, together, provide the capabilities needed for this quest: astronuclear laboratories supply reaction data, supercomputer facilities perform stellar structure and nucleosynthesis computations, and telescopes and mass spectrometers collect elemental and isotopic abundance data.  ChETEC-INFRA will overcome existing barriers to progress: Specifically, we will unify access to nuclear astrophysics research infrastructures using a novel integrated web portal. We will develop improved nuclear reaction targets and detectors, open-source nucleosynthesis software tools, and three-dimensional model atmospheres for stellar spectral analysis based on up to date physics. We will pioneer complementary techniques to address the same science case, and we will link telescopes to nuclear labs and supercomputers. ChETEC-INFRA provides the community with the tools needed to address key questions on solar fusion, neutron capture nucleosynthesis, and explosive stellar processes. In a combined approach designed to facilitate and boost accessibility, synergies and training, the large amount of transnational access provided will enable projects exploiting at least two different types of infrastructures.  Within ChETEC-INFRA, data are archived and catalogued for long-term sustainability beyond the end of the project, ranging from evaluated nuclear reaction rates to detailed abundance data for a multitude of stars to tracer nucleosynthesis calculations. ChETEC-INFRA will reach out to PhD students, secondary school students, and to the detector industry. The ChETEC-INFRA community builds on the success of the ChETEC COST Action CA16117 (Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos). ChETEC-INFRA is networked with the nuclear astrophysics communities in the United States, China, and Japan.


Evaluation of a patient-centred biopsychosocial blended collaborative care pathway for the treatment of multi-morbid elderly patients

ESCAPE will rethink current practice for treating multimorbidity in elderly patients and break down health care silos that impede integrated care and lead to adverse outcomes. We will coordinate and optimise care, prioritising integration of treatment for mental distress and disorders in the treatment of multimorbidity. Our interdisciplinary multinational consortium of experts from general and hospital medical practice and psychology, health economics, ICT development and social innovation as well as patient and informal carer representatives, will develop a holistic, patient-centred intervention based on the blended collaborative care (BCC) approach and enhanced by cutting-edge information and communication technologies. Trained Care Managers will work closely together with the patient’s general practitioner under supervision of a Clinical Specialist Team. They will use a meta-algorithm integrated in the interactive imergo® e-health Integrated Care Platform to customise patients’ treatment to their individual needs and preferences and liaise among providers. The platform will also empower patients and informal carers to increase their intrinsic capacities. ESCAPE as a social innovation will decrease disease burden for patients, informal carers and ultimately society and improve their quality of life (QoL), prioritised as the most important treatment outcome by patients, carers, and multimorbidity guidelines. ESCAPE will conduct for the first time a randomised controlled trial embedded in a comprehensive cohort study design to compare BCC and usual care. We will include patients with heart failure, ≥2 medical comorbidities and psychological distress. The primary effectiveness endpoint will be patients’ health-related QoL. Medical outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and several other patient-relevant outcomes will be secondary endpoints. We will apply an active dissemination and exploitation strategy to derive maximum impact from the new pathway for multimorbidity care.


Advancement and Innovation for Detectors at Accelerators

Particle physics attracts a global community of more than 10,000 scientists, and Europe’s leadership, with CERN as its major laboratory, is internationally recognised. Discoveries are technology-driven; more performant accelerators require innovative detectors to unfold their scientific potential, driving available or emerging technologies beyond their limits. The role of industry is rapidly increasing, due to the need for highly specialised equipment and due to the scale of the installations, where thousands or millions of components require industrial-scale infrastructure. AIDAinnova advances the European detector development infrastructures through fostering an intensified co-innovation with industry. Based on the success of the previous EC-funded initiatives AIDA and AIDA-2020, the project as a novel element fully integrates commercial players, 10 industrial companies and 3 RTOs, together with academic institutions into the consortium, which comprises 46 partners from 15 countries. Knowledge transfer will be catalysed through co-innovative work in common detector projects, and it will strengthen the competence and competitiveness of the industrial partners in other markets.  AIDAinnova provides state-of-the-art upgrades of research infrastructure such as test beam and irradiation facilities, and it covers all key technologies for future detectors, following the guidance by the European Particle Physics Strategy Update. The focus is on strategic developments at intermediate technological readiness levels TRL 2-7, where developments are not yet as specific to one particular experiment as in the engineering phase, and it also includes prospective R&D at TRL 1. Therefore, AIDAinnova will unfold synergies by bringing together the expertise from communities aiming at various future projects and maximise the use of resources. Through the large leverage on matching funds from national sources the project leads to enhanced coherence and coordination at a European level.


EU-CONEXUS-RESEARCH FOR SOCIETY is an ambitious 3-years project aiming at the strengthening, modernisation and the internationalisation of the research dimension of the European University for Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (EU-CONEXUS) and the corresponding institutional transformation for its six partner universities: La Rochelle Université (FR), Agricultural University of Athens (EL), Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (RO), Klaipeda University (LT), Universidad Catolica De Valencia (ES), University of Zadar (HR). EU-CONEXUS has chosen a thematic focus for its transnational inter-university campus that is constructed around education and research on Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SUCS). EU-CONEXUS RESEARCH FOR SOCIETY perfectly completes the ongoing activities of the European University that are financed under the Erasmus+ programme which is more focused on the higher education dimension of a university.  The project will show how to develop a joint science and innovation agenda within a transnational research and funding environment and aims at establishing the research focus SUCS on the European and international level. It will contribute to a more comprehensive and socially responsible management system for researchers and other staff contributing to research activities. Joint research infrastructures and resources will be explored, and a common access policy will lead to a more efficient management of these assets. An innovation management strategy will open up new ways of interaction with the innovation eco-system and establish an entrepreneurial mind-set within the researcher community. Finally, methods of open and participatory science will nurture more responsive research practices. During the project implementation EU-CONEXUS-RESEARCH FOR SOCIETY will cooperate with other European University alliances in order to share experiences, knowledges in order to allow a better functioning of European Universities.

Science with and for Society - Cross-theme


VALSTYBINIS MOKSLINIU TYRIMU INSTITUTAS INOVATYVIOS MEDICINOS CENTRAS

ElectroMechanoActive Polymer-based Scaffolds for Heart-on-Chip

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) account for 45% of deaths in Europe and are estimated to cost the EU economy €210 billion a year. However, only four drugs targeting cardiovascular diseases have been approved for use in the last decade. Thus, models that could effectively simulate diseased tissues, would enable the accurate assessment of the efficacy of the pharmaceuticals, and would accelerate drug development are urgently needed. The main bottleneck towards such models is the foetal-like state of the human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) derived cardiomyocytes (CMs). That is hiPSC-CMs do not reach adult-like maturity. The objective of this project is to produce a platform for growth and maturation of cardiac microtissues for adult-like organotypic models in healthy and diseased states. To achieve that, biomimetic microenvironment that provides all the needed stimuli (electrical, mechanical, topological (3D environment) and biochemical (release of active molecules)), during the maturation of hiPSC-CMs will be developed. This will be achieved by combining electro-mechanoactive polymer-based scaffolds (EMAPS) with bioactive membranes. To characterize the effects of CVD drugs, the contractility of the microtissue will be monitored continuously and simultaneously (over 24-wells) using the sensors developed during the project. To increase the sensitivity and accuracy of the model, deep-learning based algorithms to detect the effects of drugs in vitro will be developed and verified. The goals will be achieved by a multidisciplinary consortium with complementary know-how of three academic units and seven small companies. The increased sensitivity and accuracy of organ-on-chip devices is a needed leap in technology that will accelerate new drug development without the need for animal models;  the project aims to provide a platform for the realization of such physiologically-relevant organotypic models.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETO LIGONINE SANTAROS KLINIKOS

PanCare studies of the scale-up and implementation of the digital Survivorship Passport to improve people-centred care for childhood cancer survivors

Almost 500,000 former childhood cancer patients (CCS) are now living in Europe. Compared to the general population, CCS represent a vulnerable population as they are at an increased risk of developing health problems, known as late effects, resulting in excess morbidity and mortality. Many survivors are unaware of their personal risk for specific late effects, which reduces their ability to manage their own follow-up care. Similarly, their treating healthcare professionals (HCPs) lack information about care required for CCS and access to treatment data from their childhood cancer. The Survivorship Passport (SurPass) is an innovative, digital tool, developed in previous EU-funded projects, that can be used to overcome these knowledge gaps to improve people-centred long-term survivorship care. Importantly, end users (CCS, HCPs) are integral to the research, represented by three key stakeholder networks (PanCare, SIOP Europe, CCI Europe).  PanCareSurPass will conduct a robust assessment of the implementation of the SurPass by first conducting a pre-implementation study in six countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Spain) representing three infrastructural scenarios in Europe.  Ethical, structural, organisational, economical, national, local, privacy issues, health systems, and particular national circumstances will be taken into account throughout. An Implementation Strategy will be developed and the SurPass will be updated and validated before use in an implementation study in the six countries. The study will look at a range of outcomes including CCS activation and empowerment, CCS/HCP satisfaction with the tool, feasibility and health economics. Based on the results of the study,  a Prediction Model will be developed to promote and support future implementation of the SurPass across Europe.


ERA-NET for research and innovation on materials and battery technologies, supporting the European Green Deal.

M-ERA.NET 3 aims at coordinating the research efforts in the participating EU Member States, Regions, and Associated States in materials research and innovation, including materials for future batteries, to support the circular economy and Sustainable Development Goals.  A large network of national and regional funding organisations from 25 EU Members States, 4 Associated States and 6 countries outside Europe will implement a series of annual joint calls to fund excellent innovative transnational RTD cooperation, including one call for proposals with EU co-funding and additional non-cofunded calls.  Continuing the activities started under the predecessor project M-ERA.NET 2 (3/2016-2/2021), the M-ERA.NET 3 consortium will address emerging technologies and related applications areas, such as - for example- surfaces, coatings, composites, additive manufacturing or integrated materials modelling. Research on materials supporting the large scale research initiative on future battery technologies will be particularly highlighted as a main target of the cofunded call (Call 2021) with a view to supporting in particular SDG 7 (“Affordable and clean energy”) by enabling electro mobility through sustainable energy storage technology and SDG 9 (“Industrial innovation and infrastructure”) by enhancing scientific research and upgrading the technological capabilities of industrial sectors.  Several relevant action plans and initiatives will serve as programmatic guides for M-ERA.NET 3 when defining the joint activities, such as the Circular Economy Action Plan, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the EC communication “A clean planet for all”, and the “European Green Deal”. The total mobilised public call budget is expected to reach 150 million € with additional private investment of 50 million €. Thus, the leverage effect of the EU contribution will reach a factor of 13, exceeding by far the minimum required factor of 5.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA VIESOSIOS POLITIKOSIR VADYBOS INSTITUTAS

Pioneering policies and practices tackling educational inequalities in Europe

The main objective of the RIA PIONEERED is to determine research-informed policy measures and identify pioneering policies and practices to mitigate (intersectional) inequalities in access to, uptake and completion of education, both in formal and informal educational settings. This involves a) mapping emerging and existing sources of educational inequalities over the course of educational careers from early childhood to tertiary education, b) mapping responses to inequalities as pioneering policies and practices from a comparative perspective, and c) synthesising the findings and identifying the most promising tools, pioneering policies and practices within and across European countries. This is achieved by an interdisciplinary and mixed-method strategy including multilevel, intersectional, and life course approaches. The research design relies on four key pillars: A first pillar aims at developing an innovative methodological framework and reviewing the state-of-research. A second pillar centres on a policy analysis on which inequalities and vulnerable groups are addressed by national (or regional) policies, and how polices attempt to reduce inequalities. A third pillar focuses on analyses of new and existing data to identify intersectional inequalities throughout educational careers and drivers of such advantages and disadvantages. A fourth pillar centres on practice research in schools and informal educational settings and analyses the ways through which educational inequalities are tackled by different actors. With these objectives and comprehensive research strategy, PIONEERED thoroughly addresses the challenges identified in the H2020 work programme Europe in a changing world – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies by providing evidence-based and customised policy tools, specific to various stages of education and target groups in order to enhance access to education among vulnerable children and youth and to reduce educational inequalities.

Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective Societies


The ECIU University Research Institute for Smart European Regions (SMART-ER) is a research, innovation and education alliance, enabling all member universities to jointly address complex societal challenges under the UN SDG11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable). SMART-ER, organized as a virtual research institute, designs and implements research, value-captures and delivers solutions to SDG11 challenges, identified by the ECIU University Erasmus+ project. SMART-ER, together with stakeholder groups at a local and international level, showcases and works according to a shared R&I Agenda, focused on social needs, and its implementation plan. SMART-ER will align and bring together research capacities, both scientific and management capacities, bring together researchers and share a common vision, creating a virtual research institute as an example of how to overcome the limits of each single institution. It means, in fact, to implement a new model of doing research and innovation without walls, because: •	is a way to leave behind the ivory tower, promoting dialogue with society •	it will  overcome the limitations of disciplines, sectors and countries •	it will be mainly based on setting a virtual collaborative environment All partners will join efforts to develop and test transformative approaches focused on R&I that are so needed: •	Mapping relevant information regarding ECIU University resources and infrastructures, practices and actors needed to move to the second phase •	Developing the internal plans, procedures, training contents and platforms that will allow the creation and the operability of the SMART-ER •	A capacity building programme (Seed Programme and SMART-ER Academy) and citizen science initiatives that will be used as a testbed to put into practice all built mechanisms and structures •	Validating the pilots and procedures •	Producing guidelines and toolkits for tested models replication and practices of reference


YOUCOUNT - EMPOWERING YOUTH AND COCREATING SOCIAL INNOVATIONS AND POLICYMAKING THROUGH YOUTH-FOCUSED CITIZEN SOCIAL SCIENCE

In Europe, and globally, substantial numbers of young people are at risk of social exclusion, and there is therefore a pressing need to develop more knowledge and innovation to create more inclusive and youth-friendly societies. Citizen social science might contribute to these needs, but the actual outcomes of citizen social science and its innovative potential is uncertain.    YOUCOUNT will therefore, through cocreative youth citizen social science (Y-CSS) including youths in the age of 15- 29 years as citizen scientists, produce new knowledge of positive drivers for social inclusion of youth at risk of exclusion, and cocreate innovations and policy-making. Moreover, to provide evidence of the actual outcomes of Y-CSS through hands on citizen science activities.   The project includes four substudies: 1) Development of a framework for Y-CSS together with a transdisciplinary consortium and multilevel platform of key experts and stakeholders in a European and international setting. 2) Implementation of a multiple case study of Y-CSS projects in nine countries across Europe where over 900 young citizen scientists and nine local living labs will cocreate innovations together. 3) Mixed-methods evaluation of the outcomes and impact of the Y-CSS activities, and a multi-criteria assessment of the costs and benefits of Y-CSS, and 4) Creation of social and scientific impact through widespread scaling up and continuity. These activities will lead to robust knowledge and scientifically reasoned measures to promote Y-CSS and social change. The project will support dissemination and education in Y- CSS, and make synergies with other CS related projects and initiatives, in particularly with citizen social science.


Gender-based violence and institutional responses: Building a knowledge base and operational tools to make universities and research organisations safe

UniSAFE has a double objective. First, to produce robust and knowledge on gender-based violence (GBV) in universities and research organisations. Second, to translate the knowledge into operational tools and recommendations for universities, research organisations and policymakers to reduce GBV. UniSAFE examines the mechanisms of GBV, its determinants, antecedents and consequences, by proposing a multi-level research design to collect, analyse, and synthesise qualitative and quantitative data: 1.Prevalence and impacts of GBV are analysed via a survey implemented in 45 RPOs in 15 member states, and via a Europe-wide survey of Marie Curie Fellows. 2.Organisational responses and instruments are analysed via case studies, interviews, and a strategic mapping of the 45 RPOs. 3.Legal and policy frameworks are analysed via extensive mapping by national experts in 30 EU Member States, Associated Countries and Third Countries. An ambitious and holistic 7P model, covering prevalence, prevention, protection, prosecution, provision of services, partnerships and policy, is used to collect and analyse data on each level. The model is better suited to collect data, analyse their relations, and translate findings into operational tools than the conventional 3P model or the Istanbul Convention 4P model. The same 7P model is used to co-design a comprehensive set of measures and tools to be applied inside universities and research organisations and by other stakeholders, including policymakers and RFOs. UniSAFE relies on a strong multi-disciplinary consortium of 9 European partners. Its strength is based on the partners’ in-depth knowledge and extensive track record in researching GBV, translating academic insights into operational tools, including the GEAR-tool, disseminating knowledge, including a direct link to the Gender Equality Academy, developing policy recommendations at the EU level, and empowering stakeholders to exploit project results, with a carefully designed impact plan.


Establishing Citizen Science Hubs in European Research Performing and Funding Organisations to drive institutional change and ground Responsible Research and Innovation in society

Europe’s Research Performing and Funding Organisations (RPFOs) have a crucial role to play as agents of institutional change towards firmly grounding RRI in our society. The successful fulfilment of this challenging yet highly significant role calls for the values of RRI to be well-embedded into their governance as well as their operation with greater and more systematic participation of citizens and all R&I stakeholders. INCENTIVE is set on empowering European RPFOs to establish sustainable transdisciplinary hubs for stimulating and supporting excellent citizen science with engaged roles for all R&I stakeholders in line with RRI principles. To this end, we start by establishing and demonstrating the potential of such Citizen Science Hubs in 4 world class RPFOs covering all 4 MoRRI Country Clusters, including University of Twente (NL), Autonomous University of Barcelona (ES), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (EL) and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (LT). We tailor the governance and operating models of their hubs to their unique institutional specificities and regional ecosystems of R&I stakeholders, before putting them to the test to drive institutional change through a series of RRI-grounding actions conducted with and for society (citizen science, co-creation of public policies, R&I agenda setting, etc.). All in all, our Citizen Science Hubs, besides being a sustainable institutional change themselves, will serve as a vehicle for introducing substantial institutional changes in our RPFOs and their communities. We will closely monitor, evaluate and report the performance and outcomes of our Citizen Science Hubs and their actions, providing evidence of societal, democratic, economic and scientific impacts. Along the way, we will foster mutual learning and networking opportunities amongst RPFOs across Europe to share our experiences and develop practical tools to enable RPFOs to drive similar institutional changes in other contexts.


VACCELERATE - European Corona Vaccine Trial Accelerator Platform

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic creates an unprecedented burden worldwide. Vaccine-induced immunity is the only promising solution. There is continued need for phase 2 & 3 vaccine trials to reach long-term, large-scale immunity of the entire European population. VACCELERATE will be the pan-European backbone accelerating phase 2 & 3 COVID-19 vaccine trials. The overall objective of VACCELERATE is to connect all European stakeholders involved in vaccine development to provide a pan-European platform for clinical trial design and conduct. VACCELERATE constitutes the rapid response single entry-point to stakeholders from public health authorities to vaccine developers, to address respective needs and kick-start specifically phase 2 & 3 vaccine trials. VACCELERATE conducts capacity mapping of clinical trial and laboratory sites to identify suitable sites for individual phase 2 & 3 vaccine trials. Capacity building via training will increase quality in sites across Europe. Volunteer registries facilitate patient recruitment. Access to laboratory sites and a standardised set of assays essential for clinical phase 2 & 3 trials is provided. A harmonised European approach to vaccine trials is enabled by aligning educational standards, coordination of laboratory support and providing standardised assays and trial protocols. Harmonised data collection, open data sharing and pooling of data for stronger analysis enables data standardisation. VACCELERATE offers solutions for characteristic vaccine development issues during pandemics by closing gaps in public health knowledge and improving knowledge transfer. VACCELERATE amalgamates the vast but scattered expertise across Europe into one network to deliver strategic scientific leadership and guidance on vaccine trials in Europe. Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be an established pandemic preparedness network, ready to face emerging future pandemics, as well as a pivot in Europe?s capacity to develop vaccines.


MOKSLINIU TYRIMU IR TECHNOLOGIJU ORGANIZACIJU ASOCIACIJA

Boosting Europe’s Sovereignty in Technology by driving Photonics from Research to Market – Photonics21

BestPhorm21 will provide the decisive support to Horizon Europe’s “Photonics Partnership”, which is currently established between the EU Commission and Photonics21, to stimulate the growth of the European photonics industry. The project is led by the Photoncs21 Secretariat, VDITZ, in partnership with 14 National Technology Platforms, representing Europe’s photonics industry, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) and clusters. BestPhorm21 will develop a community driven European photonics industrial strategy and roadmap, engaging over 3,000 experts from industry and academia, that will guide Horizon Europe and industrial investments in R&D and advanced manufacturing. BestPhorm21 thus makes a significant contribution to increasing European technological sovereignty in a key digital technology such as photonics. It will furthermore establish new strategic value chains between photonics and end user industries, through the delivery of 7 additional “photonics enabled” end user industry roadmaps. This will be done in close cooperation with the respective industry stakeholders organsiations, more than 700 experts from both the photonics and end-user industries will be involved. The industrial strategy will result in new product launches and services that drive sales growth and support the digitalization of these sectors. BestPhorm21 will trigger cross-member state and regional investments, which mobilise and leverage Europe‘s full innovation ecosystem to keep Europe at the global forefront in photonics R&D and technology development, delivering cross-member state calls valued at > EUR 10 m and 5 interregional investment projects. Finally, BestPhorm21 increases access to risk finance for over 300 photonics start-ups and SMEs in their critical growth phases, through “blended finance” (European Investment Council’s Accelerator), “Venture Capital” (dedicated VC events) and “Venture debt” (European Investment Bank).


SUN (Space hUb Network) aims to increase the commercialization of space enabled solutions and growth of European start-ups and scale-ups in space downstream and upstream sectors by implementing a multi-dimensional concept. To increase the number of space applications being developed as well as involve SMEs into space sector, project will organize 6 Hackathons  (involving at least 90 start-up teams) and 12 Roadshow events for SMEs (attended by 480 stakeholders). In order to complement (instead of competing) existing European initiatives, these events will target stakeholders of specific industries that can mostly benefit from space technologies, for example, telecom, mobility, agriculture. Space entrepreneurs (at pre-startup stage), start-ups and scale-ups will receive an opportunity to participate in mentorship programme. SUN will be implementing 3 types of mentorship programmes based on the IRL & TRL level of each participant. In total, 80 start-ups and scale-ups will participate in mentorship programmes. Main goal of it will be to help startups advance their IRL and get access to finance. SUN will also conduct extensive ecosystem mapping and will aim to build bridges among current local and international initiatives supporting space start-ups and scale-ups. SUN will complement the initiatives by  matching them with space entrepreneurs. Consortium has been formed to involve organizations specializing in space technologies and applications, incubation and business support, technical support, start-ups and community building.  Project activities will take place in 6 countries (Austria, Ireland, France, Lithuania, Poland, Romania) but will target start-ups and scale-ups on pan-European level.


Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos (VULSK) acts as a coordinator of the TREL (Twinning in Research and Education to improve survival in Childhood Solid Tumours in Lithuania) project that aims to enhance translational, clinical and late-effect research in paediatric solid tumours (ST). The project concept is based on the existing shortcomings in paediatric oncology at VULSK and Lithuania – scarce research indicators and inferior survival rates in children with ST. TREL has a goal to increase scientific excellence in the most common paediatric ST (brain tumours, neuroblastoma and renal tumours). VULSK and 8 leading research intensive institutions each covering different areas of the project activities according to their expertise form the TREL consortium. TREL will be delivered in 7 working packages addressing training in tumour specific laboratory research and clinical trials, cross-cutting education on genome-wide sequencing and treatment innovations, enhancing skills in observational studies on the quality of survivorship including fertility preservation and research methodology as well as project and innovation management. Training exercise will focus on the implementation of secondments of VULSK staff to the partner premises, organisation of multidisciplinary transfer-of-knowledge meetings, and participation in strategic scientific meetings corresponging objectives of each working package. As a consequence of the twinning activities with internationally-leading research active counterparts VULSK will improve its research profile and reputation, enhance international, regional and national visibility and competitiveness. Fostering of existing and establishment of new networking channels will facilitate incorporation of VULSK professionals to the ongoing collaborative projects that will improve research indicators of individual researchers and VULSK as well as will increase survival rate of children with ST in Lithuania in a long-term perspective.


The global objective of AURA is to lay the foundations for the integration of the new entrants in current and future air traffic environment, developing the required concept of operations and validating U-space services information exchanges with ATM systems. In order to achieve this objective, all relevant stakeholders (drone operators, U-space service providers, data services providers, ATM providers and authorities) will be included during the project development and throughout its lifetime.  AURA project will identify the requirements for U-space information exchange with ATM through SWIM and will validate a set of selected U-space services, developing the service definition for the SWIM candidate services. Secondly, it will  define a novel Collaborative ATM-U-space Concept of Operations (ConOps) for drones in a fully collaborative environment with ATM that go beyond the existing concepts developed for a U-space and will validate these new concepts.   AURA project will contribute to enable the development of Very Low Level (VLL) markets, allowing the introduction of new actors in a safe, harmonized, sustainable and efficient way and compatible with current ATM environment. Also, the project will contribute to avoid the segregation of the airspace and increase the interoperability. AURA will provide inputs for the current regulatory and standardization initiatives regarding U-space with a high involvement of external stakeholders through an Advisory Board.


QuantERA II ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies

Quantum Technologies (QT) is a highly interdisciplinary, paradigm-changing area of research. European researchers have been at the forefront of these developments, delivering many groundbreaking scientific results and advancing technological exploitation. For the past four years, the QuantERA network has been successfully providing the research community with a coordinated Europe-wide approach to support cutting-edge research in QT. Building on this experience, with EU support, the QuantERA consortium (currently present in 30 countries) will continue its activities and develop them even further. The central objective of this proposal is to launch a transnational co-funded call with a planned budget of over €26M of national contributions. €15M of EU contribution is expected to support the co-funded call budget and project tasks. In accordance with the FET Work Programme 2018-2020, the scientific scope of the QuantERA II co-funded call will complement the Quantum Technologies Flagship activities. QuantERA II will seek to effectively liaise with the QT Flagship and other stakeholders in the field of QT research to make the best use of the collective European experience in QT research funding, as well as address the gender imbalance in QT research and spread the research excellence across European Research Area (ERA). A range of additional activities will be integrated into the launch of the co-funded call: strengthening the multilateral dialogue with policy makers regarding the design of future funding instruments, stimulation of networking and exchange of best practices, continuation of mapping of public QT policies in Europe, use of the Guidelines on Responsible Research and Innovation in QT developed in the first QuantERA programme. The QuantERA II proposal conforms to the specific challenges and scope of the Work Programme Horizon 2020-Future and Emerging Technologies by providing a structured framework to coordinate national and regional research programmes in QT.


Strategic and targeted support to incentivise talented newcomers to NMP projects under Horizon Europe

FIT-4-NMP’s overall objective is to increase the participation of talented newcomers from underrepresented regions in NMP projects in Horizon Europe, as compared to Horizon 2020. Talented newcomers are promising innovation organisations – especially SMEs – that have not participated in H2020 NMP. Meanwhile, underrepresented regions are regions in EU-13, EU-15 and Associated Countries with a low participation in H2020 NMBP. The increase in participation of the talented newcomers will be brought about by connecting them with NMP hotspots, where important NMP innovations are demonstrated, as well as networking them with NMP Top Innovators.  FIT-4-NMP will take strategic and targeted approaches to achieve this overall objective.  From a strategic perspective, FIT-4-NMP will survey talented newcomers and experts responsible for regional and national R&I policy, in order to understand the precise reasons for non-participation of newcomers in NMP projects. In turn, best practices will be identified and policy measures formulated and communicated to relevant stakeholders: talented newcomers; regional/national authorities responsible for R&I policy; local innovation and technology transfer nodes; and the EC.  From a targeted perspective, the FIT-4-NMP will:  • Organise innovation workshops between talented newcomers and NMP Top Innovators; • Provide hands-on support to talented newcomers to prepare NMP proposals for Horizon Europe; • Facilitate networking for talented newcomers at major European conferences and regional brokerage events; • Provide training to talented newcomers on technology-transfer, proposal writing, and use of European networking portals.  FIT-4-NMP will be undertaken by a strong consortium with partners located among many of the EU member states with the lowest participation in H2020 NMBP. Also, these partners represent “umbrella” organisations with extensive networks to innovative NMP organisations and talented newcomers in their regions.


The challenge of transferring innovation from Europe to India has been a thorn in the side of establishing European presence in third countries and strengthening its position as a science, technology and innovation leader. Europe must take the lead in stimulating and enabling Europe-India interactions and mobilising the ecosystems to build bridges between the regions. The EU-India InnoCenter is brought to life to extend the network of centres in the world's most dynamic, innovative subcontinent by connecting and supporting European researchers and entrepreneurs to launch and expand their activities in India. •    The long-term strategic objective of the EU-India InnoCenter is to sustainably contribute to the establishment of Europe as a science, technology and innovation leader in India. •    The direct objective of the EU-India InnoCenter is to build a centre in India that will, in close cooperation with local technology and innovation structures, guide European innovators on their journey to soft-landing in India, stimulate constructive co-creation, build an ecosystem of stakeholders, and bolster a two-way technology and knowledge transfer. The project will support European startups and SMEs to enter India’s market with:  •    50 internationalization bootcamps to consider India for expansion; •    220 hours of expert consultations to prepare localization strategies; •    8 vertical-specific market immersion programmes to find the first clients and partners; •    4 batches of a 3-month programme to help European technologies adapt and scale to the Indian market; •    Network of  30000+ Indian innovators through the consortium partners’ coworking hubs in nine major Indian cities. The consortium comprises leading startup support organizations covering most of Europe and India with a proven record of bringing top-class internationalization support, business consulting, investment advice and readiness, acceleration, market immersion services to the market.


JPIAMR- ANTIMICROBIAL TRANSMISSION INTERVENTIONS

In the past 90 years since their discovery, antibiotics have saved millions of lives from bacterial diseases. However, emerging resistance to antimicrobials now threatens many advances achieved in modern medicine. AMR is a critical global health issue tightly linked with the One Health concept, which recognises that human and animal health are inextricably linked, and that diseases are transmitted from humans to animals and vice versa. One Health also encompasses the environment as another link between humans and animals and a potential source and reservoir of AMR. Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global health concern and threatens the future treatment and health of humans and animals. In addition, AMR limits our ability to achieve several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The global challenge to address AMR goes beyond the production of new antibiotics and therapies. Reducing demand for new antibiotics through public awareness, infection prevention and control, prudent and rational use of antibiotics for humans and animals, as well as effective diagnosis and surveillance of antibiotic-resistant infections and monitoring antibiotic use, are crucial when dealing with this problem globally. The transmission and spread of AMR in and between One Health compartments is complex, which emphasises the need for comprehensive interventions to reverse the trend of increasing human and animal infections resistant to treatment. The ERA-NET Cofund JPIAMR-ACTION will tackle this central challenge by supporting research and innovation for the development and testing of strategies and methodologies to reduce the transmission and spread of AMR within a full One Health spectrum. The JPIAMR-ACTION co-funded call and other activities will be instrumental in producing new innovative approaches, and advancing existing actions towards the development of new and improved interventions to inhibit or limit the development of AMR in humans, animals and the environment.


Flexible robots for intelligent automation of precision agriculture operations

Agricultural robotics solutions can integrate a variety of robots for a variety of monitoring and targeted intervention tasks, to increase farm productivity, efficiency and sustainability through support of automated precision farming operations. Despite the rising farmer investment in farm/agricultural robots, most deployable robotic systems are meant to automate only specific tasks. The wide variety of tasks that need to be fulfilled in a single precision agriculture operation or mission makes it extremely unprofitable to address its automation with task-specific robots. These challenges result in a lack of flexibility of current heterogeneous multi-robot systems that poses low returns on investment and high risks for farmers. In order to become cost-effective, heterogeneous multi-robot systems needs to become more flexible by employing more versatile (e.g. multi-task) robots which collaborate to accomplish complex missions; ensuring scalable human oversight and intervention through adaptive mission control mechanisms (e.g. without information overload /overwhelming effort from the farmer); allowing the farmer to profit from robotics operational data. FlexiGroBots proposes a Platform for developing heterogeneous multi-robot systems and applications which allows for i) more versatility by using the same robots for different observation and intervention tasks, in different missions, throughout the crop life cycle, ii) more cooperation between heterogeneous (ground and aerial) robots to accomplish more complex missions; iii) more valuable data to generate accurate insights into the fields, crops and robotics operations by combining data from IoT sensors, satellites and data collected by the robots; iv) more autonomy for real-time adaptation of mission plans as well as robot behaviour at the crop level, given operational conditions and real-time insights; v) more precision to carry out specific tasks in a very localized way, gaining accuracy and lowering costs.


Collaboration of Humanities And Social Sciences in Europe

CHANSE, Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe, is a joint initiative of 27 research funding organisations from 24 countries. The CHANSE Programme builds on the experience of two existing networks: HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) and NORFACE (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe) supporting research in humanities and social sciences respectively. The main goal of the CHANSE inititive is to launch a transnational call for collaborative projects focused on the topic of Transformations: Social and cultural dynamics in the digital age. The objective of this call will be to help understand how digital innovations give rise to social and cultural changes, and are also influenced by society and culture. The joint research call combines the analytic and transformative powers of the humanities and social sciences in understanding processes of change and considering solutions when societies face the introduction of innovations. With a budget of over EUR 36 million, including expected EC co-funding, CHANSE consortium plans to fund excellent research projects conducted by research teams from at least three countries involved in the Programme. CHANSE will strive to produce a lasting effect on the research landscape by cultivating durable research collaboration across multiple national and regional borders, disciplinary boundaries, and stakeholders, thus supporting the sharing of excellence and promoting widening participation in the European Research Area. CHANSE will also strongly support knowledge exchange activities and foster relationships between academia and relevant stakeholders, as well as explore and develop new joint actions. By offering new opportunities for international research cooperation in a critical area of enquiry, the CHANSE Programme will deliver a broad range of academic, societal and economic impacts within, across and beyond the partner countries.


In 2020 Europe went through a very significant economic and social crisis, namely the response to the disease of Coronavirus. Over 200 million European citizens were obliged to observe restrictive measures, in some cases lock down measures, in order for governments and local authorities of the Member States of the European Union to address and limit the problem of the spread of the virus. Through this situation a number of problems emerged, one of which relates to the management of building utilities under such conditions. Specifically, in a very few days most of the activity of the European Economy shifted from the office environment to homes, leading to several problems in relation to with the completeness and integrity of utilities such as power outages, water shortage and insufficient internet connection. The initiative entitled Development of Utilities Management Platform for the case of Quarantine and Lockdown - eUMaP aims to implement all those activities that will lead to the development of an open platform through which local authorities will be able to plan and manage the demand and supply of building utilities in case of quarantine or lock down. The platform will be developed through a Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) program. eUMaP platform will be based on the rational of earth observation, and the recording of the required network information in open BIM platforms of five European capital cities (Rome, Berlin, Athens, Vilnius, Nicosia). The platform will be piloted in study areas with the aim of optimizing it and delivering it as an open platform upon completion of the program.


Cognitive Robotic System for Digitalized and Networked (Automated) Insect Farms

By 2030 over 9 billion people, along with animals raised for food or kept as companions, will need to be fed generating inconsistencies between the demand and supply of food resources and promoting food insecurity by rendering food as unavailable, unaffordable, unevenly distributed or unsafe to eat. Therefore, food security represents the big challenge of the 21st century and in that context one promising potential sustainable solution is insect farming. Edible insects are set to be approved in EU by late 2020 as novel food and insects also being a value food sources for farming animals; however research, innovation, farming protocols development and standardization, and a technology leap by robotizing and automatizing the mass rearing in insect farms is needed in order to concurrently scale the production and dramatically decrease the production costs. CoRoSect addresses the dramatic need of coupling research on bionomics and life cycle of insects intended to be used as food and feed, with new robotic tools and protocols for mechanization and automation of insect farming, which is a critical point stressed by the Technical Expert Consultation on Assessing the Potential of Insects as Food and Feed in Assuring Food Security. CoRoSect forms a novel integrated cognitive robotic ecosystems where the repetitive but also cognitively and physically demanding tasks requiring increased manual effort or continuous human supervision during the insects’ lifecycle, are replaced by automatic robotic-based procedures which will also draw upon research performed on understanding biological, technical and economic requirements of insect rearing and optimizing all involved processes. Focusing on real insect rearing problems, CoRoSect technologies will evaluated through large-scale pilots in 5 insect farms placed in 5 European countries rearing three of the most commonly occurring species, thereby contributing essentially to a secure and sustainable food supply in Europe.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA FIZIKOS INSTITUTO MOKSLO IR TECHNOLOGIJU PARKAS

One-Stop-Shop Open Access to  Photonics Innovation Support for a Digital Europe

PhotonHub Europe will establish a single pan-EU Photonics Innovation Hub which integrates the best-in-class photonics technologies, facilities, expertise and experience of 53 partners from all over Europe, including the coordinators of EU pilot lines and local photonics hubs representing 18 regions, as a one-stop-shop solution offering a comprehensive range of supports to industry for the accelerated uptake and deployment of photonics. PhotonHub will provide European companies, in particular “non-photonics” SMEs and mid-caps that are first users and early adopters of photonics, with open access and guided orienteering to the following key support services: training and upskilling opportunities within PhotonHub’s Demo and Experience Centres throughout Europe and enhanced by digital tools for online learning; “test before invest” innovation support capabilities to engage with companies on highly collaborative Innovation Projects aimed at TRL acceleration from prototyping (TRL3-4) to upscaling (TRL5-6) to manufacturing (TRL7-8), and complemented by targeted business and IP advisory supports; and support to find investment through investment-readiness coaching and investor match-making organised in collaboration with major regional and European venture fora and deep tech Investor Days. PhotonHub will uniquely support cross-border innovation activities of European companies, while simultaneously working closely with the local photonics hubs to develop and roll out best practices of the “lighthouse” regions for ongoing regional financial support of SME innovation activities and to support the creation of new innovation hubs covering most regions of Europe. Finally, PhotonHub will fine-tune and implement its business plan for long-term sustainability in the form of the PhotonHub Europe Association as a durable entity which is deeply rooted within the wider ecosystem of local, regional and EU-DIHs for maximum leverage and impact on European competitiveness and sovereignty.


Accelerating Digital Innovation in Schools through Regional Innovation Hubs and a Whole-School Mentoring Model

iHub4Schools will propose mechanisms to accelerate whole-school digital innovation in and across schools through establishment of Regional Innovation Hubs. Our aim is to support a minimum of 75 European schools and 600 teachers to implement project approaches by establishing regional innovation hubs as sites of establishing and multiplying school-to-school mentoring structures.  This will be achieved, firstly, through different support mechanisms that will focus on supporting the collaboration between digitally advanced and less advanced teachers and schools through a variety of peer learning approaches and engagement structures. Secondly, iHub4Schools will develop a whole-school mentoring model that is locally, methodologically and technologically adaptable. It embraces both inter- and intra-school levels, and integrates a continuous monitoring methodology by including novel evaluation approaches and the Learning Analytics Toolbox.   Regional Innovation Hubs will be established in 5 European countries and the mentoring model will be piloted with 600 teachers in 75 schools. Long-term sustainability will be ensured by a systematic stakeholder engagement strategy that will integrate initiatives and partners on a local level, such as local municipalities, school boards, teacher associations and network, for these activities to be carried out on the long term. Regional impact will be sustained by the upskilling of the teachers to implement technologies meaningfully to teaching and school heads to scale and sustain the innovation in and across the schools.


Developing a new Network of Researchers on Contemporary European Motherhood

The overall aim of the MotherNet project is to enhance the scientific excellence and research capacity of Vilnius University (Lithuania) and raise the profile of its research staff and their institution by linking an emerging body of researchers working on motherhood to world-class centres for research on motherhood at Uppsala University (Sweden) and the National University of Ireland Maynooth (Ireland). The work plan envisions: joint design and implementation of collaborative research projects; the creation of targeted training and mentoring programmes; the organization of three international summer schools; extensive inter-institutional mobility; cooperative training of postgraduate students and early-career researchers; coordinated promotion of research outputs; collaboration on a number of major grant applications; and an ambitious programme of dissemination and communication measures. The expected impact of this 3-year programme is the creation of an innovative, interdisciplinary research network that will endure beyond the lifetime of the grant and will make a significant contribution to improving the quality of maternal care and support services in the three countries involved; influence policies relating to work/life balance; and increase public awareness about the changes in the social construction of motherhood in contemporary European society. Most importantly, through these activities, the MotherNet project will significantly enhance the networking channels of VU researchers and increase the visibility and international impact of their research.


R4D will tackle urgent sustai 2021nability challenges faced by dairy producers by bringing together dairy farmers, farmers’ organisations, advisors, researchers and all relevant actors across 15 countries to close the divide between research and innovation within and across Europe. There were around 1.485 million farms at the last official census in 2013 (Eurostat) in the EU bovine dairy sector, yet no network focused solely on their needs has been established to date. Coordinated by Idele (F), R4D is built around the multi-actor approach to implement more intense cooperation between researchers, advisors, farmers and relevant actors to facilitate greater exchange and acceptance of co-created solutions. Following H2020 Eurodairy project, R4D draws on the EU, national and regional connections of the 17 consortium members to appropriate networks, on the three related key themes of economic and social resilience, technical efficiency and environment, animal welfare and society friendly production systems. Using the multi-actor approach, R4D will (i) capture and share innovative ideas and methods from practice across Europe and (ii) identify and conserve research findings that have not yet been widely adopted, enhancing their potential for integration into practice by assessing feasibility at demonstration farms. R4D’s strategic and targeted dissemination and communication actions are designed to raise awareness of the project’s innovation potential, and deliver engagement with farmers, their intermediaries and knowledge providers. Through driving effective cooperation between dairy producers, advisors and researchers, and utilising trusted gatekeepers, R4D will form a transnational ecosystem to stimulate knowledge exchange at international level in order to boost the economic viability and sustainability of the European dairy-producing sector while helping to inform policy of the needs of industry.


Innovation Networks for Scaling Active and Healthy Ageing

The project focuses on the engagements of existing and needed mechanisms to empower the EIP on AHA ecosystem and the cross-border scale-up of tested and ready-to-use applications towards healthcare. Project brings together supply and demand actors to create sustainable model for innovation scale-up, its integration with stakeholders and the needs for systemic change. Service providers as start-ups, SME-s and large industries need the support of ecosystem, incl. health clusters. Demand actors as health care institutions, health centres, local governments are responsible for service provision to ageing communities and elders. Well-designed cooperation mechanisms in frame of agreed model facilitate regular exchanges between the demand and supply sides as well as whole network, enable to identify the barriers and improve the innovation process in local as well EU level, incl. cross-border deployment of innovations. The role of the policy and whole ecosystem is to encourage innovators to step up with user-centred strategies and transformative solutions. This may lead to the need for change in ecosystem operations to gain the success with mHealth solutions for AHA, more smart age-friendly homes for longer independent living or chronic disease management. Our goal is to identify and support the most important innovation ecosystem elements and encourage the relations between functioning actors by addressing the challenges of innovators in market uptake, and expansion in the domestic and cross-border markets. To reach wider commitment to investment, leading to successful and cost-effective implementation of digitally-enabled, person-centred care solutions, co-creation among policy and ecosystem actors towards long-term investment strategy for more investments into cost-effective digitally-enabling healthcare solutions, is needed. Administrative capacity of regional authorities to support innovation through strict and clear procedures should correspond to supply and demand.


TIME4CS (Supporting sustainable Institutional Changes to promote Citizen Science in Science and Technology) aims at supporting and facilitating the implementation of sustainable Institutional Changes in Research Performing Organizations (RPOs) to promote Public Engagement (citizens and citizens associations) and Citizen Science in science and technology. TIME4CS has identified 4 Intervention Areas (IAs) that alone or combined can stimulate the Institutional Changes necessary to promote Public Engagement in R&I activities: i) Research; Education and Awareness; iii) Support resources and Infrastructure; iv) Policy and Assessment.  Institutional Changes should be: i) irreversible, ii) comprehensive, iii) inclusive and iv) contextualized. Bearing this in mind, TIME4CS will establish a knowledge transfer and mutual learning programme between Front-Runners (FRs) and Implementers (Is). The first ones are RPOs with a comprehensive expertise in Citizen Science and that have already undergone Institutional Changes. The latter are TIME4CS beneficiaries still in the early stages of the implementation of Institutional Changes to support Citizen Science, willing to face the challenge of introducing CS activities in their structures. The mutual learning programme will lead to the development of specific and tailored roadmaps for each implementing organisation inclyding a set of specific and detailed actions to follow (Grounding Actions). The whole process will be supported by two facilitator partners supporting the knowledge transfer and the definition of the Grounding Actions. TIME4CS will be carried out by a consortium integrating 11 partners from 8 EU Member States and 1 associated country. TIME4CS Consortium merges a variety of complementary expertise, and the proven partners’ skills, the experiences identified and their involvement in similar initiatives are strategic for matching TIME4CS objectives.


The Arqus European University Alliance brings together seven longstanding prestigious comprehensive research-intensive universities who share extensive experience in joint projects and a similar profile as internationalized institutions with deep regional engagement.  Through this project, Arqus aims to enhance the research and innovation dimension of the Alliance’s activities and to address current global societal challenges through intensified joint research characterised by the pursuit of excellence, openness, transparency and effective engagement with society.   Based on analysis of existing strengths, prior cooperation and shared strategic research interests, the Alliance will focus on the fields of Artificial Intelligence/Digital Transformation and Green Deal/Climate Change as transversal priority areas for enhanced research collaboration, characterised by their interdisciplinarity.   The project is organised around three major challenges, all intended to foster a context to nurture sustainable strengthened collaboration. The first addresses Joint Science and Innovation, through building an Arqus research community, and designing a roadmap for transformation(al) excellence. The second centres on New Perspectives on Research, seeking to strengthen human capital through alternative approaches to assessment and recognition, and to re-thinking transfer, with special reference to the Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. The third, Open to Society, focusses on the culture change brought by Open and Citizen Science.   Arqus Research & Innovation aims to complement and build on efforts already underway to foster scientific cooperation within the European University consortium, and to seek synergies between the education, research and innovation dimensions of Arqus.


Robotics with and for Society – Boosting Widespread Adoption of Robotics in Europe

The aim of Robotics4EU is to ensure a more widespread adoption of (AI-based) robots in healthcare, inspection and maintenance of infrastructure, agri-food, and agile production. It will be reached through the implementation of the responsible robotics principles among the robotics community that results in societal acceptance of the robotics solutions in application areas. Robotics4EU will create and empower the EU-wide responsible robotics community representing robotics innovators from companies and academia in the fields of healthcare, inspection and maintenance of infrastructure, agri-food, and agile production as well as citizens/users and policy/decision makers by rising awareness about non-technological aspects of robotics (ethics, legal, socioeconomic, data, privacy, gender) by organising community building and co-creation events bringing together robotics community and citizens, advocating for the responsible robotics among all stakeholder groups, incl. policy makers, developing a responsible robotics maturity assessment model and bringing the project results to the standardization bodies. Robotics4EU will implement the following set of activities: 1) assessing the needs and developing a responsible robotics maturity assessment model that is a practical tool for the robotics developers and helps them to strategically plan and the uptake of the legal, societal and ethical aspects of robotics; 2) empowering the robotics community by organising capacity building events in healthcare, agri-food, agile production and infrastructure; 3) assessing robotics ideas and applications provided by the industry with end-users (via online consultation and co-creation workshops); 4) reaching out to the policy makers by compiling a responsible robotics advocacy report, organising a high-level policy debate and transferring the results to the standardization bodies.


A global approach for recovery of arable land through improved phytoremediation coupled with advanced liquid biofuel production and climate friendly copper smelting process

Phy2Climate will validate 5 phytoremediation pilots in Spain (South Europe), Serbia (Balkan region), Lithuania (Baltic region), Argentina (South America) and India (South Asia) at TRL-5. The selected contaminated sites represent the most common soil contaminants worldwide. The phytoremediation pilots will produce energy crops with none indirect Land Use Change (iLUC) issues. The energy crops will feed a pilot biorefinery in Germany that combines cutting edge biomass processing technologies to produce 4 types of clean drop-in biofuels for the road and shipping transport sectors at TRL-5: EN 14214 biodiesel, ISO 8217 marine fuels, EN 590 diesel and EN 228 gasoline. Additionally, bio-coke will be also produced as substitution of petroleum coke in the metallurgical industry. A significant cost reduction in factor >5 for phytoremediation compared with common remediation techniques is target together with conversion costs of drop-in biofuel production <0,45 €/l. The global biofuel production potential of the Phy2Climate approach is estimated up to 137 million m3 per year. Furthermore, estimated specific Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation of the produced drop-in biofuels is 149% compared with the fossil equivalents, resulting in a total saving potential of 500 Mega-tones CO2eq per year. The work programme is divided in 7 work packages that are specifically designed to achieve the objectives of the project as well as to contribute to the Mission Innovation Challenge 4 and to 16 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Phy2Climate consortium unites 17 partners from 10 different countries with strong interdisciplinary expertise in the fields of project management, soil remediation & phytoremediation, advanced biofuel technologies, environmental and social sustainability, legal analysis, business development and communication &dissemination. Additionally 11 stakeholders from 8 countries and at EU level have already expressed their interest in the project by a letter of support.


PJ32-W3-01 Virtual Centre - Complement of PJ10-W2-93 Delegation of airspace amongst Air Traffic Service Units (ATSUs). While PJ10 W2-93 addresses the ATC aspects of airspace delegation amongst ATSUs, this solution will further investigate the Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM) aspects of such airspace delegation amongst ATSUs.  This proposal addresses also the need to develop the technical infrastructure to support the validation activities planned by SESAR2020 Wave 2 solution PJ10-W2-93 on the ATC aspects of airspace delegation amongst ATSUs and the validation activities required on the ATFCM aspects of airspace delegation amongst ATSUs.


Innovative WAter recoverY Solutions through recycling of heat, materials and water across multiple sectors

The European Green Deal, an ambitious growth strategy aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), calls for the mobilization of the industry. Indeed, while important steps have been taken in the past, the annual global extraction of materials tripled in the last 50 years and is expected to increase further. The dual transformation, green and digital, place special emphasis on resource and energy intensive sectors. Furthermore, the expected zero pollution action plan for air, water and soil will enforce this transformation. In this changing environment, industry will have to adapt swiftly and decisively but the ease and smoothness of this transition is up for debate. Solutions that increase costs and impede productivity will face substantial resistance. There is a pressing need for new technologies and approaches that complement economic growth and productivity while firstly addressing environmental challenges. iWAYS is a step in this direction, featuring a wide array of technologies that are non-disruptive and applicable in any industry with wastewater and gaseous emissions. While the concept of water and heat recovery have been demonstrated and widely applied, in iWAYS a unique approach is taken, focusing on until now impossible streams to address and building synergies between heat and water reclamation and exploitation. The project also addresses several issues afflicting commercial technologies (such as Reverse Osmosis and Membrane Distillation) through innovative and enabling approaches.


Digital Healthcare ECOosystem research and innovation capability building

Digital healthcare services’ multi-sided platform (MSP) is a digital ecosystem for organizing collaboration and control based on software, hardware, and services, without taking ownership of the services whose exchanges it facilitates through diverse inter-organizational interactions. In this way an MSP creates an effect of shared economy and thus greater accessibility, affordability, security and quality of life. Most famous examples of the multi-sided platforms are services such as Uber, Facebook and AirBnB. Although MSP is a game-changer in different business sectors, it is still very rarely applied in healthcare: only some partially similar solutions have been created in France (Doctolib https://www.doctolib.fr/) and in Germany (Otto Bock Health https://www.ottobock.at/). Thus there is an urgent need to advance research and innovations on the application of multi-sided platform (MSP) in digital health care, in order to utilize digital technologies for the sake of value-based, learning Healthcare sector. The overall objective of the DiHECO project is to build the capacities for Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) to conduct high-quality research in the field of digital healthcare management and in particular digital healthcare services’ multi-sided platforms. DiHECO meets KTU’s needs through five specific objectives: Objective  1.	Implement experience-based learning through carrying out high-quality small-scale research and innovation initiatives in the field of multi-sided platforms of digital healthcare services;  Objective  2.	Apply for grants to fund respective digital healthcare management research and collaborative projects involving KTU; Objective  3.	Develop the capacities for research and innovation management and administration at KTU; Objective  4.	Transfer KTU’s research outputs to digital healthcare ecosystem stakeholders; Objective  5.	Build capacities for offering better career prospects to early-stage researchers and step up in gender equality.


While the electrical grid is moving from being a fully centralized to a highly decentralized system, grid operators have to change their operative business to accommodate for faster reactions and adaptive exploitation of flexibility. The topic has been subject of several research projects in the past years and reached a maturity that allows now the consideration of a final level, proposing an integrated view on the grid operations beyond the traditional barriers. OneNet aims at performing this critical step creating the conditions for a new generation of grid services able to fully exploit demand response, storage and distributed generation while creating fair, transparent and open conditions for the consumer. As result, while creating one network of Europe, the project aims to build a customer centric approach to grid operation. This ambitious view is achieved by proposing new markets, products and services and by creating a unique IT architecture. While a single platform for Europe is not thinkable, OneNet proposes innovative mechanisms of platform federation which are the key technical enablers for the proposed vision. The project has also very ambitious exploitation goals aiming at creating consensus on the solution far beyond the limits of the consortium partners thanks to a variety of actions including a large-scale forum for discussion within the international energy community. The complete concept is also proven in 4 cluster demos creating an involvement of an unprecedented number of countries and their grid operators in a single project.  The consortium, in addition to a significant list of grid operators, includes also key IT players, leading research institutions and the two most relevant associations for grid operators, jointly providing a unique set of expertise in support to these challenging tasks.


VSI SOCIALINES INOVACIJOS SVARESNEI APLINKAI

Smart innovative system for recycling wastewater and creating closed loops in textile manufacturing industrial processes

Waste2Fresh proposal addresses freshwater resource scarcity and water pollution challenges exacerbated by energy-intensive industries which are major users of fresh water (for e.g. processing, washing, diluting, heating, cooling, and transporting products) and pollute freshwater resources. 20% of global industrial water pollution comes from textile manufacturing.  Breakthrough innovations are needed in energy-intensive industries to recycle water and create closed loops in industrial processes. According to the European Commission, such “closed loops would significantly reduce the use of fresh water and improve water availability in the relevant EU water catchment areas, as outlined in the Water Framework Directive, for other purposes (adjacent communities, farming and bio-based industries).   Waste2Fresh proposes to meet the above challenges and industry needs by developing and demonstrating (to TRL 7) a closed loop recycling system for wastewater from textile manufacturing factories such as the denim ERAK factory.  The Waste2Fresh system will integrate novel and innovative catalytic degradation approaches with highly selective separation and extraction techniques to deliver a closed loop system that assures near-zero discharge, reduces current use of freshwater resources and considerably increases the recovery of water, energy and other resources (organics, salts and heavy metals), culminating in a 30% increase in resource and water efficiency compared to the state-of-the-art. The system will ultimately lead to considerable environmental gains weighted against EU and global environmental footprints. The Waste2Fresh solution fits into Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) - a wastewater management strategy worth 5.44Bn€ and expected to reach 8.16Bn€ by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% over 2019-2025.


Innovative Technologies for Inspecting Carbodies and for Development of Running Gear

The success of the European rail system to foster the modal shift towards rail requires cost-efficient and reliable long-lasting trains. GEARBODIES contributes to this effort by improving the efficiency of rolling stock maintenance in close collaboration with the ongoing CFM-IP1-01-2019 (PIVOT2).  To achieve the above, GEARBODIES follows a twofold approach: extending overhaul periods and improving maintenance processes. The extension of overhaul periods will be facilitated by developing high-performance and long-lifetime components for running gear. The improvement of maintenance processes will be boosted by developing innovative NDT technologies to optimise inspection processes for lightweight carbody shells. GEARBODIES will design and prototype several elastomer-metal running gear components, suitable for serial production, based on high-performance new elastomer formulations and existing elastomers not yet applied in rolling stock elements. In addition, the project will also explore innovative technologies for the development of low LCC bearings. New lubrication solutions, new materials for races and rollers, novel polymers for cages and the effects of new bearing geometries will be researched, among which the most feasible ones will be integrated in a new bearing design and prototyped. GEARBODIES will develop an innovative modular platform to reduce the inspection time of lightweight carbody shells. The platform will incorporate tailored thermography and ultrasonic inspection systems and will facilitate the automated detection and assessment of defects throughout the thickness of the shell by using a customed software module. GEARBODIES will benefit form a strong multidisciplinary consortium, made of 13 partners from 8 countries, committed to the mentioned actions towards maximisation of the project's impact.


Glycobiology of synaptic pruning in a developing brain

Effective neuron-microglial communication is a prerequisite to achieve the final connectome. It is mediated by both the formation of new synapses and selective removal of unnecessary connections through synaptic pruning. Recent evidences suggest that superfluous connections are eliminated by microglia. Almost 70% of the connections are lost in a primate cortex within six months of life. But what drives this selective elimination of so many synapses is a million-euro question. Identifying neuronal signals that differentiate weak synapses from the strong ones is an emerging frontier in cellular neuroscience. Several eat-me signals in synaptic pruning have been identified, but spare-me signals that limit phagocytic elimination of synapses are yet to be explored. Sialic acids on neuronal glycocalyx acts as spare-me signal and prevents microglial phagocytosis through Siglec receptors. Aberrant regulation of sialic acid caused neuronal loss and embryonic lethality. It is also becoming evident that sialic acid plays a key role in neurodevelopment, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which it regulates neurodevelopment is yet to be explored. This makes sialic acid an ideal candidate to evaluate its role in neurodevelopment. Hence, we aim to interrogate whether sialidases, glycocalyx recognizing proteins are developmentally regulated and also to define sialic acid’s role in synaptic pruning during neurodevelopment. We propose to implement gene, protein expression and metabolic profiling studies to investigate whether sialidases and glycocalyx recognizing proteins are developmentally regulated. Also, we will use fluorescent azido sugars in ex vivo cultures to visualise how sialic acid regulates synaptic pruning during neurodevelopment using superresolution STED microscopy. This paves a path to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms by which glycocalyx composition defines neuron-microglia interactions and thus circuit refinement through synaptic pruning.


LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOS SVEIKATOS APSAUGOS MINISTERIJA

Population Health Information Research Infrastructure

A structured European mechanism for COVID-19 exchange to organize and share information between countries is urgently needed, especially in the area of population health. Information on the broader impacts of COVID-19 on the health of populations is needed to facilitate multidisciplinary European research and underpin decision making. PHIRI aims to facilitate and support open, interconnected, and data-driven research through the sharing of cross-country COVID-19 population health information and exchange of best practices related to data collection, curation, processing, use and reuse following ELSI and FAIR principles. It has the objective: to provide a Health Information portal for COVID-19 with FAIR catalogues on health and health care data, to provide structured exchange between countries on COVID-19 best practices and expertise, and to promote interoperability and tackle health information inequalities. To this end, it builds with national nodes a Health Information portal (WP4) on data sources, population health studies, training material and courses, considering ethical and legal aspects. The portal is supported by WP7 that provides the technological substrate for the development of a federated research infrastructure. WP5 develops a consolidated framework to assess the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on population wellbeing, morbidity and mortality. WP6 will look at COVID-19 impacts in specific subgroups by conducting research through use cases of immediate relevance and facilitates research by making scalable, reproducible methods available within PHIRI. WP8, the Rapid Exchange Forum, provides swift responses to research and policy questions that are raised in countries to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. WP9 gains insights in possible future health impacts of the coronavirus outbreak by modelling scenarios for national situations. This will be carried out in close collaboration with different types of actors and initiatives across Europe (WP3).


COVID-X will bridge the collaboration divide between eHealth solution providers -with emphasis on lean startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)-, and the healthcare professional system to fight COVID-19. The purpose is to boost an end-to-end agile validation programme of cutting-edge technology in three real-world clinical scenarios, located in hotspots of the pandemic: Italy, Spain and Sweden. The project will fast-track value streams between the two poles under consideration: 1) attract, invest and empower a community of European eHealth SMEs –the beneficiaries of an acceleration program, selected by open calls- that will provide market-ready fast, cost-effective and easily deployable sampling, screening, diagnostic and prognostic systems and/or data-driven services and tools, already certified with -or close to receive- the CE marking (type 1 of the call); 2) actively involve some of the most relevant hospitals of Europe that have the resources, critical mass and ambition to scale-up their capabilities in the COVID-19 response; thanks to the support of an innovative data sandbox, released as an in-house asset of COVID-X, to facilitate access easily, uniformly and securely to various health data sources, and providing data services including Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based decision support systems, data security, visual analytics and intuitive dashboards capabilities. The project will invest dedicated efforts to enforce data privacy and security, ethical compliance and user acceptance.  Besides a solid consortium to access world class startups/SMEs, deliver highly valuable technological & business services, provide an innovative data Sandbox with AI capabilities for COVID related services  and access 3 piloting sites, COVID-X targets to attract +155 applications and select 31 to undertake through the COVID-X Programme, investing a total of €4.0mil in high impact solution providers.