LIETUVOS NACIONALINE VARTOTOJU FEDERACIJA ASOCIACIJA

Enabling consumer action towards top energy-efficient products

TOPTEN ACT aims at empowering consumers to ACT: to purchase top energy-efficient products that will save energy over their lifetime.  TOPTEN ACT develops a comprehensive market transformation strategy targeting consumers, manufacturers, retailers, large buyers, consumer associations and other key actors in 16 European countries, covering a combined population of 447 Mio inhabitants. It works with these actors to help them embrace and promote energy-efficient products, so that they become the natural choice for consumers. Project partners will:   - Manage 16 Topten websites presenting up-to-date, consumer-oriented information to 2 Mio visitors per year. These websites will showcase top energy-efficient models in a number of product groups: domestic appliances, cooling and lighting equipment, consumer electronics, vehicles etc. They build on independent and reliable market surveys selecting the best available technologies (BATs) amongst hundreds of thousands of products. → Consumers identify top products, compare costs and understand the benefits of energy performance on their electricity bills and for the environment.   - ‘Push’ this information to consumers through extensive use of the media, communications and partnerships with key organisations acting as multipliers. → Impartial information reaches consumers.   - Work with retailers, leveraging on their unique market position, directly in contact with consumers about to ACT, to further increase purchases of energy-efficient product. → In just one click, consumers will find and buy top efficient products.  TOPTEN ACT impacts are both quantitative —savings of 331 GWh/year triggered per million € invested— and qualitative: markets are more transparent, media report on top efficient products, multipliers relay the Topten message to their target groups, consumers change their using and purchasing behaviour, retailers change their range and highlight BAT products, manufacturers shift their production lines.


Distributed, integrated and harmonised forest  information for bioeconomy outlooks

Europe’s bioeconomy is expected to foster economic growth and to tackle significant societal challenges with less harmful environmental effects through innovative, sustainable and inclusive use of European forest resources. Increasing demand for biomass and other ecosystem goods and services calls for changes in forest-related policies at different levels and across different sectors. Accordingly, the recent Forest Strategy provides clear signals towards the need for harmonised information for mapping and assessing the dynamic state of forest ecosystems and their services. Building upon scientific advances in COST E4, 39, 43, USEWOOD, FORSYS, ORCHESTRA; the networks ENFIN, EFFIS, SOSIN; the FP7 EUFODOS, S2BIOM, INTEGRAL, SIMWOOD, FIRE PARADOX the project DIABOLO aims to:  i) strengthen the methodological framework towards more accurate, harmonised and timely forest information, e.g. on growing stock and stock changes, biomass, carbon, NWFP; enable the analysis of sustainable biomass supply derived from multipurpose and multisource national forest inventories; and facilitate near real-time forest disturbance monitoring, e.g. on forest fires, storm, drought, insect outbreaks; ii) support EU policy processes, international reporting obligations, forest administration and forest planning entities with new methodologies and EU-wide consistent forest information; iii) make innovative use of existing field-collected data and EC space-based applications of EO and satellite positioning systems with reference to INSPIRE and GEOSS, and global monitoring systems such as REDD+, FLEGT and UNFF. To deliver high impact, beyond state-of-the-art work within the ecological and socio-economic diversity in Europe, the trans-disciplinary DIABOLO involves experts in quantitative modelling, policy science and NFIs, from 26 European countries, committed to provide new methodologies and information for various end-uses, including EFDAC (FISE) at JRC, GLOBIOM at IIASA and work at FAO/UNECE.

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


VALSTYBINIS MOKSLINIU TYRIMU INSTITUTAS FIZINIU IR TECHNOLOGIJOS MOKSLU CENTRAS

Camelina & crambe Oil crops as Sources for Medium-chain Oils for Specialty oleochemicals

The COSMOS proposal aims to reduce Europe’s dependence on imported coconut and palm kernel oils and fatty acids and castor oil as sources for medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA, C10–C14) and medium-chain polymer building blocks. These are needed by the oleochemical industry for the production of plastics, surfactants, detergents, lubricants, plasticisers and other products. In COSMOS, camelina and crambe will be turned into profitable, sustainable, multipurpose, non-GMO European oil crops for the production of oleochemicals. Seed properties will be screened and optimised through genetic techniques aiming at high yield, low resource inputs, optimization of the value generated from vegetative tissues and fatty acid profiles adapted to industrial needs. Large-scale field trials will be performed at different locations in Europe to assess the potential of the crops in terms of cultivation practices, seed yield, oil content, ease of harvesting, and resource inputs. Extracted oils will be fractionated into various fatty acid types (monounsaturated versus polyunsaturated) by selective enzyme technologies and extraction processes. The monounsaturated long-chain fatty acids so obtained will be converted to MCFA and high-value building blocks for bio-plastics and flavour and fragrance ingredients through chemical and enzymatic chain cleavage processes. The ω3-rich PUFA fraction will be purified for use in food and feed ingredients. Vegetative tissues such as straw, leaves and press cake will be fed to insects producing high-value proteins, chitin and fats. Insect fats and proteins will be isolated and prepared for use in food and feed products. The overall economic, social and environmental sustainability as well as life cycle of the whole value chain will be assessed. The impact of the project for Europe will be assessed in terms of value chain potentials for value creation and number of jobs that can be created.


Children Born of War - Past, Present and Future

The physical and psychosocial impact of armed conflict on children is immense and particularly so, if these children are associated with the enemy. Overwhelming evidence suggests that children born of war (CBOW), i.e. children fathered by foreign soldiers and born to local mothers have been and continue to be a major obstacle to successful integration of both their mothers and themselves into post-conflict societies. At a global level, previous UN studies have further emphasized the lack of research on children born out of forced pregnancies in armed conflict. The proposed network addresses the described shortcomings by advancing the knowledge base through systematic analysis of lived experiences of CBOW in a variety of 20th century conflict and post-conflict situations.  The main research goal is to further our understanding of how (if at all) CBOW in conflict and post-conflict situations are integrated into society; how (if at all) militaries, governments, and nongovernmental policy makers assist this integration process; and how the children's lived experiences reflect broader societal attitudes to memories of war and vice versa. Our vision is to promote scientific excellence by exploiting the specific research expertise and infrastructure of the co-ordinating partner and all participants in order to advance the research competencies and employability of early career researchers. Their enhanced understanding of the challenges of CBOW in volatile societies will inform the normative debates and, ultimately, policies on the reintegration of CBOW into post-conflict societies. By combining historical, social empirical, psychiatric, political, legal, memory, public health and development studies with the discourse surrounding currently enacted humanitarian intervention, insights gained from this network will surpass existing knowledge and will help improve on current integration efforts.


Facilitating Multi-level governance for energy efficiency

MultEE aims to improve the ease and quality of energy efficiency (EE) policy planning and implementation in the project’s partner countries and beyond, addressing the challenges of evidence-based policy-making in a multi-level governance setting. It contributes to making EE and sustainable energy planning vertically consistent between the national, regional and local level, to facilitating horizontal coordination between policy levels and to improving the quality of monitoring energy efficiency.  The project pursues a two-faceted, yet integrated, approach in order to reach this objective: (1) building on a mapping of European best practices and experience from a pilot project carried out by the lead partner, country-specific solutions for effective monitoring and verification (M&V) based on bottom-up data will be developed and their implementation supported; (2) the implementation of innovative M&V schemes will be facilitated via coordination mechanisms developed and introduced together with the partners, aimed at spurring on exchange and cooperation between policy levels. The project pays particular attention to providing opportunities for peer learning between old and new EU Members States and neighbouring countries from Southeast Europe to partner countries from the EU and its South-Eastern neighbourhood as well as to disseminating results beyond partner countries and to other policy areas. One of the specificities of multEE is that its activities target the interplay between administrative levels rather than focusing on a single one of them.  Particular focus will be put on capacity-building for the entities and officials involved with EE planning in the partner countries. MultEE will be put in practice by experienced partners within a strong consortium led by GIZ, drawing upon solid experience and a well-established network of contacts to ensure dissemination and high impacts within and beyond the project.


New paradigms for high efficiency blue emitters for white OLEDS

The overall objective of the PHEBE project is to develop innovative, high-efficiency, blue emitters for white OLEDS, which will create a major breakthrough in the cost performance of OLED lighting. To produce the innovative blue emitters, two new types of molecular systems – without rare earth complexes - will be investigated:   • intramolecular charge transfer systems that enable thermally activated delayed fluorescence (ICT-TADF) • intermolecular exciplex charge transfer systems that enable thermally activated delayed fluorescence (Exciplex-TADF)  In order to develop the ICT-TADF and Exciplex-TADF based emitters, the following scientific and technical objectives will be targeted:  • Objective 1: Screen potential ICT-TADF and Exciplex-TADF compounds with theoretical models • Objective 2: Synthesise the most promising ICT-TADF and Exciplex-TADF model compounds • Objective 3: Characterise and select the best ICT-TADF and Exciplex-TADF synthesised compounds • Objective 4: Design white stack units employing the selected TADF based emitter and block materials • Objective 5: Design close-to-production OLED lighting panel demonstrators  To show the project’s overall objective has been achieved, white stack tandem units (2 x 2 cm2 with 90 nm ITO) and OLED lighting panel demonstrators (e.g. 25 cm2 circular panels) - based on the new blue emitters – will be produced and tested that meet the performance targets indicated in the H2020 call ICT 29 – 2014.  The PHEBE project will be undertaken by a strong consortium of partners that span the complete value chain for the development and commercialisation of the new, high-efficiency, blue emitters for white OLEDS: OLED lighting research organisations (UDUR, TUD and KTU), OLED component producer (Novaled), and OLED lighting device manufacturer (Astron-FIAMM). Overall, the PHEBE consortium is well-balanced in terms of the number of industrial and academic partners as well as their geographic spread.

Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (LEIT)


EmpoweriNg (European) SME business model InnovatiON

Reaching the ambitions of the Europe 2020 and the Innovation Union requires much more than just technological innovations. In the academic community, Business Model Innovation (BMI) has for a long time been recognized as the key to improved competitiveness and innovativeness. However, BMI does not reach SMEs yet nor is there knowledge on how SMEs conduct BMI in practice. Empowering SMEs to conduct BMI requires new approaches. By leveraging existing networks and communities, we will gather examples, best practices and insights into Business Models (BM) from case studies from each and every European region or industry, complemented with insights from other leading countries worldwide. The BM vortex will thus generate an enormous and rich library of business models patterns and managerial structures, provided on a platform,  to support SMEs in these communities. We will also develop innovative tooling and provide them on the platform to makes it easy for SMEs to develop, evaluate and plan new business models.  The ENVISION consortium covers Northern, Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. In each region a top-ranked academic institution in the field of BMI is present as well as innovative businesses that deliver smart and tailored BMI tooling and reach out to SMEs. We build on over a decade of joint work on BMI and BM tooling. We will build and maintain regional and thematic communities. In the communities, support is delivered to help SMEs transform and improve their BMs.  The consortium also includes partners and associated partners that will realize our pan-European reach to SMEs: on a pan-European level (e.g., UAEPME and female entrepreneurs’ network), on a national and regional level (e.g., chambers of commerce, family business organizations and statistical offices). The consortium also has linkages to EIT/ICT Labs and the European Service Innovation Centre (ESIC).

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


Consolidating the European Research Area on biodiversity and ecosystem services

The loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems jeopardize the sustainable provision of ecosystem services and are major scientific and societal challenges. Addressing this challenge and providing scientific support to stakeholders and policy makers requires a coherent interdisciplinary research framework, with coordinated strategies and programmes at the national, regional and international levels, which are the relevant scales for many biodiversity issues.  By networking 32 funding agencies from 18 countries, BiodivERsA3 aims to strengthen the ERA on biodiversity. Building on the previous experiences of the projects BiodivERsA1&2 and NetBiome, BiodivERsA3 will promote and support coordinated pan-European research on biodiversity and ecosystem services. It will strengthen research and research programmes coordination with the ultimate aim to provide policy makers and other stakeholders with adequate knowledge, tools and practical solutions to address biodiversity and ecosystem degradation.   The objectives are to:  - Enhance the capacity of the network to coordinate research programmes on biodiversity and ecosystem services more completely in Europe (including overseas territories) and to increase the international dimension of BiodivERsA activities - Develop a strategic, multi-annual vision of the network’s priorities, based on ambitious mapping and foresight activities developed in collaboration with key initiatives in the field - Design and implement a co-funded call and other joint calls to better integrate research on biodiversity and ecosystem services across Europe - Develop a range of other joint activities, in particular alignment of national research programmes for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and activities for promoting mobility and equal opportunities for researchers and reinforcing data sharing - Promote effective science-policy and science-society (including science-business) dialogue during the whole research process

Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials


Market Opportunity Confirmation for Biomimetic Tissue Matrix Products

A variety of in vitro human tissue models are used in the fields of testing of cosmetics products, drug discovery and regenerative medicine.  Most models made from artificial materials do not properly reflect the native tissue morphology and cell composition, while those made of seeded cells/tissues of specific organs lack versatility and are expensive to use.  Ferentis’ Biomimetic Tissue Matrix (BIOTIMA) project addresses the need for efficient toxicity testing/cell culture tools enabling more physiologically relevant, predictive and functional tissue mimicking models, that should become the EU standard in its effort to reduce expensive and inhumane animal testing.  Ferentis scientists have developed an innovative patent-pending biosynthetic material –a bioplastic- that is cell-free, stable, biocompatible and optically clear and has demonstrated clinically to promote regeneration of cells. By employing advanced surface nanoengineering techniques, this biosynthetic hydrogel can be deposited, functionally modified and patterned on different substrates, for a variety of lab tissue experiment applications.  The unique advantages of our tissue matrix include unique biomimetic properties, most closely mimicking those of the real tissue, and advanced nano-fabrication methods, allowing a cost efficient, versatile and easy to use solution. The prototypes of our TM cell culture tools have been demonstrated in relevant testing environments and now are being piloted with our early adopter customers, with a primary focus on the cosmetics industry. A thorough feasibility study and an elaboration of a business plan is needed in order to analyze the market, map and confirm commercialization alternatives and prepare the roadmap for scaling-up in preparation for Phase II, market replication.


Reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint by implementing Collect and Reflect(TM) blinds for solar energy collection and reflection (Collect and Reflect)

Rising energy bills is a relevant topic for households in the European Union. The share of household income spent on energy bills is growing and is impacting not only low-income households. Many of existing solutions for lowering energy bills for households are expensive and are targeted at home owners. They include new passive buildings, better insulation of existing buildings and/or generation of locally renewable energy (e.g. geo-thermic, solar, wind).  Even though many already proven solutions exist that aim to increase energy efficiency and energy production in buildings via walls and roofs, windows are usually considered as a subject of energy loss and not taken into account for sustainable energy production. Could we optimize certain features of windows, such as blinds, and how should we do it? We believe that in the future, window blinds could add additional warmth in the winter and help to keep rooms cool in the summer; become a source of light; produce electricity; and when needed, block or let light in. By working on the Collect & Reflect project, Saulės vėjo aruodai (SVA) is making first steps to realize this dream by inventing blinds that can heat and cool. SVA, an SME from Lithuania, invents, patents, makes and supplies solar energy transformation products. Recently SVA has invented a break-through solution, Collect & Reflect(TM) thermal blinds, which can help save energy and thus reduce energy bills and decrease the carbon footprint of households. These blinds have innovative technology and special coating that make rooms warmer during the winter and colder in the summer. They help to decrease the need to heat and cool rooms, which results in lower energy bills and lower CO2 emissions. Collect & Reflect(TM) thermal blinds have huge potential to affect the window treatment market worldwide and transform traditional blinds into an active energy saving tool accessible for any household.


Natural evolution is a powerful process that has given rise to the functionally diverse set of proteins present in all living systems. Repetitive rounds of mutation, selection and amplification have optimised nature’s catalysts, the enzymes, to perform an enormous range of different reactions. However, natural evolution has driven the optimisation of enzymes subjected to living functions of microorganisms, according to ill-defined and fluctuating external conditions and is not suitable for industrial processes since it lacks of control of selection pressure. In EVOdrops, we will use directed evolution to overcome these limitations. It is a synthetic, man-made approach of evolution, aiming at improving living systems based on predefined needs, controlling the external selection pressure. While natural evolution took billions of years to optimise macromolecules, directed evolution – to be efficient in an industrial process – requires both the generation of genetic diversity and ultra-high throughput screening capabilities to recover the variants of interest. We will develop and optimise these tools using the ground-breaking potential of droplet-based microfluidics for high-throughput experimentation and the fine control of gene library construction. EVOdrops, a European training network, will bring together the leading research scientists, laboratories and industries in Europe with outstanding expertise in protein engineering and microfluidics and 13 early stage researchers. We will offer an extensive multi- and interdisciplinary training to ensure that they can solve these urgent and unmet challenges in biotechnology and biomedicine. We will use a multidisciplinary approach combining soft matter, microfluidics and chemical biology to design solutions for the selection of new enzymes of industrial and therapeutic interest. In the future, our approaches can be generalised to challenges involving high-throughput miniaturised biochemical or cell-based assays.


Advancing Science and TEchnology thRough dIamond Quantum Sensing

ASTERIQS will exploit quantum sensing based on the NV centre in ultrapure diamond to bring solutions to societal and economical needs for which no solution exists yet. Its objectives are to develop: 1) Advanced applications based on magnetic field measurement: fully integrated scanning diamond magnetometer instrument for nanometer scale measurements, high dynamics range  magnetic field sensor to control advanced batteries used in electrical car industry, lab-on-Chip Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) detector for early diagnosis of disease, magnetic field imaging camera for biology or robotics, instantaneous spectrum analyser for wireless communications management; 2) New sensing applications to sense temperature within a cell, to monitor new states of matter under high pressure, to sense electric field with ultimate sensitivity; 3) New measurement tools to elucidate the chemical structure of single molecules by NMR for pharmaceutical industry or the structure of spintronics devices at the nanoscale for new generation spin-based electronic devices. ASTERIQS will develop enabling tools to achieve these goals: highest grade diamond material with ultralow impurity level, advanced protocols to overcome residual noise in sensing schemes, optimized engineering for miniaturized and efficient devices. ASTERIQS will disseminate its results towards academia and industry and educate next generation physicists and engineers. It will contribute to the strategic objectives of the Quantum Flagship to expand European leadership in quantum technologies, deliver scientific breakthroughs, make available European technological platforms and develop synergetic collaborations with them, and finally kick-start a competitive European quantum industry. The ASTERIQS consortium federates world leading European academic and industrial partners to bring quantum sensing from the laboratory to applications for the benefit of European citizens.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA LIETUVOS INOVACIJU CENTRAS

PEER LEARNING OF INNOVATION AGENCIES FOR ADVANCED SUPPORT TO SCALE-UPS

Following international evidence that shows that a small number of high-growth firms are vital for job growth and overall economic growth, and the European Commission's Start-up and Scale-up Initiative, Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) launched in 2017 a new flagship service to support scale-ups. However, innovation agency services are in too many occasions standardised and do not take into account the rapid evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem and the advanced needs of scale-ups. Innovation agencies across Europe need to be ready today to deliver advanced assessment services to scale-ups and be able to offer support tailored to their needs. The objective of Scale-ups Ready is to enable the participating innovation agencies to exchange knowledge, know-how, and good practices on advanced methodologies and tools for scale-ups assessment (including SMEs with high-growth potential) and customised support services, in order to develop better approaches for client intake and support of scale-ups. Based on the Twinning+ methodology, the project aims to cover peer-learning and peer-review activities for three kinds of services through specific assessment instruments that when combined offer in-depth analysis of the needs of scale-ups, in order to provide them with tailored support: 1) An advanced IP valuation scheme, IPscore® 2.2 (FORTH), 2) An advanced business innovation roadmap tool, smE-MPOWER ‘Business innovation roadmap tool’ (LIC), 3) An advanced Innovation Health Check assessment tool (FUNDECYT-PCTEX). This peer-learning and peer-review scheme has been developed based on each partner's identified competences and gaps in advanced services for scale-ups. The result will bring in new added-value service offerings to participating organisations, will lead to better approaches and the adaptation of tools to the specific national/regional contexts. The Design Options Paper will be shared with other EU innovation agencies and networks, and with national and EU policy-makers.


VILNIAUS GEDIMINO TECHNIKOS UNIVERSITETAS

Building Information Modelling based tools & technologies for fast and efficient RENovation of residential buildings

If BIM is key to address the construction sector growing technical complexity, to overcome construction processes fragmentation and communication problems between stakeholders, to reduce on-site time and improve quality and affordability, its uptake for the renovation of the EU existing building stock is yet to come and already late. To face this BIM4REN starts from 3 workflows adapted to the construction sector segmentation (90% of companies are SMEs) presenting particular technical and organisational requirements and has adapted the project and consortium to provide adequate and innovative processes, methodologies, software and hardware tools & BIM developments for each one of them, backboned by state of the art BIM technologies like worldwide used BIM Server (open-source) and BIM Bots by TNO among many others. BIM4REN gathers together top European RTOs active in the Built Environment domain (Nobatek, CSTB, Tecnalia, TNO, Fraunhofer ISE) alongside key industrial actors (EDF, CMB Carpi & ATI Project (leading BIM implementers in the EU market) with 2 Universities (RWTH & Vilnius Gedimas) and up to 11 SMEs: R&D performing (R2M, Ekodenge), SME contractors (Kursaal) and technology providers (IES, EnerBIM, WiseBIM, VRM, AEC3, etc.) with the European Builders Confederation, the Green Building Council Italy and a large French Social Housing Organisation (Logirep) representing the whole residential renovation value chain. B4R digital ecosystem will be accessible via a web based One Stop Access Platform, where depending on each user profile and needs, orientation, best practice examples from a dedicated database and links to the different tools and services (from Top-grade to Entry-level) will be provided on differentiated access schemes underpinned by different business models. Inspired by the Open Innovation 2.0 paradigm the project will setup a demonstration campaign with “pilots as Living Labs” integrating all stakeholders in 3 cities (Paris, San Sebastian and Venice).


Industry 4.0 impact on management practices and economics

The objective of the IN4ACT project is to implement structural changes at the Kauno Technologijos Universitetas (KTU) School of Economics and Business through the opening of an ERA Chair in “Industry 4.0 Management and Economics” research, to increase research excellence, socio-economic impact, international reputation, and attractiveness to international talented researchers and students. An ERA Chair holder and a team will be recruited to 1/ Implement an ambitious research agenda on the impact of future manufacturing (Industry 4.0) on management practices and economics; 2/ Drive changes at the KTU School of Economics and Business related with research management and human resources, especially to comply with the ERA priorities; 3/ Improve the School's exploitation, dissemination, and communication capacities; 4/ Grow networks and increase links with stakeholders, especially to increase participation in Horizon 2020.


Copernicus Academy Hub for Knowledge, Innovation and Outreach

The overall objective of CopHub.AC is to create a knowledge and innovation hub with several nodes (secretariat, research briefs, knowledge landscape, outreach, sustainability) to focus and link ongoing R&D activities in Copernicus-relevant academic fields, and to sustain the innovation process from academia to businesses on the highest possible scientific and technical level, with a clear commitment to a full thematic and geographic coverage for a Europe-wide boost in space uptake.   The CopHub.AC consortium led by PLUS / Z_GIS will provide the following objectives: i) foster the enlargement of the Copernicus Academy ecosystem through a well-orchestrated set of tools and structures; ii) reinforce the R&I capacities of Copernicus Academies and channel their outputs within an improved format of research briefs; iii) inform industry, educational networks, authorities and the citizen about Copernicus and its societal benefits. iv) promote capacity building of and connectivity with the Copernicus Relays Network; v) promote the long-term impact and sustainability of the Copernicus Academy network through the establishment of a secretariat, a monitoring process and a forward looking roadmap.  A duration of 24 months is envisaged. During the second year, the EC will be provided with recommendations for the continuation of the activities under long-term funding.


Using the smart matrix approach to enhance TADF-OLED efficiency and lifetime

The European Training Network TADFlife will train a cohort of young PhD scientists within a multidisciplinary research program conceived from a simple industrial need, high performance blue OLEDs which also have long lifetime. This is not an easy problem to solve, as although OLEDs are now ubiquitous in phone and TV displays, the blue pixels still operate far below the performance and efficiency of the red and green to achieve acceptable lifetime. TADFlife will follow a new approach to solve this problem using the latest generation of OLED materials, thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) emitters. Through a device simulation development program, which incorporates a high degree of basic photophysics input, predictive models of TADFOLED performance and lifetime will be built and used to design new TADF emitters and hosts which overcome the degradation pathways identified from the model predictions. These new materials will then be synthesised. By introducing the concept of the smart matrix, the complex guest host interactions of TADF materials will be included and used to optimise emitter orientation to maximise light out-coupling from devices. Quantum chemistry will use the photophysics results to direct new materials design in tandem with the model predictions. Taking this dual approach, we believe will lead to solutions so far unobtainable for OLEDs. This highly interlinked program gives a fantastic opportunity for the brightest young chemists, spectroscopists, theoreticians and device physicists to work together, learn complimentary skills that will be in high demand from European OLED industries.  Leading experts will give courses on core scientific skills along with soft skills and international secondments will be offered, all to properly prepare them for their future careers. They will be part of a network answering a real industrial need and help to secure the future of our European OLED industries in the global OLED materials arena.


MUITINES DEPARTAMENTAS PRIE LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOS FINANSU MINISTERIJOS

Pan-European Network of Customs Practitioners (PEN-CP) project builds a network between distinct customs administrations to create an ecosystem for interoperability, knowledge sharing and innovation to improve European security though more efficient control of the illicit trade flows. Organized collaboration across customs organizations forms a platform for excellence in customs practices and their continuous improvement through the means of technology, regulatory changes and organisational restructuring. The project complements the fundamental objective to improve the security of people, businesses and institutions in modern society through technological innovations, collaboration with police, border guards and private operators. The project evolves through orchestrated collaborative activities to build confidence and trust among the customs administrations leading to transparent information sharing and social build-up of common norms and values. The created network effect is a precursor for innovation and continuous improvement to battle against the plethora of criminal acts the societies are facing. Despite common aims different customs organizations operate and are being managed in different ways. Strong country specific traditions and national focus have prevented the natural evolution and improvement of customs operations to mitigate the risks hidden in global trade flows. PEN-CP enables cross-fertilization of ideas, working procedures and technological experimenting beyond the existing practises. A social network of practitioners from the same field with heterogeneous backgrounds is the source of creative thinking and progress, which the project aims to unleash for common good. Like any social network the impact is scalable to all operators in the customs realm, thus the project and its results will have an impact to all customs administrations, including the ones not partnering the PEN-CP project.

Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens


Creation of the “Knowledge-Empowered Entrepreneurship Network” to position Kaunas University of Technology at the forefront of EU research in entrepreneurship

The overall objective of the KEEN project is to strengthen the research excellence of Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania) in entrepreneurship, improve its capacities to exploit and disseminate its research outputs, and enhance its ability to engage the public in its research and entrepreneurship awareness, understanding, and acceptance. To reach such objective, the KEEN project will create with Cranfield University (United Kingdom), Bergische Universität Wuppertal (Germany), and Universität St. Gallen (Switzerland), a network named “Knowledge-Empowered Entrepreneurship Network”. The network will sustain after the project and focus on building capacities to develop public engagement in entrepreneurship research in low-innovativeness level EU countries such as Lithuania. The network will allow 1) to co-create more socially-relevant research with multiple actors such as policy makers, citizens, industrials or NGOs; 2) improve access by the public to research results; and 3) foster entrepreneurship policy development more in phase with the needs and expectations of the society. The KEEN project and afterward network will implement measures focusing on knowledge and skill development, research collaboration, engagement with stakeholders, and support of entrepreneurial initiative with relevant academic knowledge. Compared with existing entrepreneurship-support initiatives, the innovative aspect of KEEN is to focus on transfer of research knowledge to the society, which in return allows the society to be more involved in research orientation.


VALSTYBES SIENOS APSAUGOS TARNYBA PRIE VIDAUS REIKALU MINISTERIJOS

Through-foliage detection, including in the outermost regions of the EU

In the last years irregular migration has dramatically increased, and is no longer manageable with existing systems. Improved methods for border surveillance are necessary to ensure an effective and efficient EU border management.   FOLDOUT focus is on through foliage detection in the inner and outermost regions of the EU. Foliage penetration is an unsolved  important part of border surveillance. By solving the problem of unreliable detections in such harsh environments border guards’ workloads are reduced, costs are reduced and, last but not least, lives can be saved. Detecting people through dense foliage in extreme climates with only a penetration technology is prone to high fault rates. FOLDOUT will build a system that combines various sensors and technologies and intelligently fuses these into an effective and robust intelligent detection platform. Fusing several sensor signals increases the effectiveness of detection. Further, sensors will be influenced (i.e. detection parameters adapted) by events detected by other sensors in the vicinity.  By integrating data, such as vehicle traffic, from outside the immediate border area pre-events can be detected and learned. The events will be analysed with machine learning tools to continuously increase the systems detection and tracking capability.  FOLDOUT will make the tasks of Border Guards simpler and faster by combining events from various sensors to give a complete situation threat assessment combined with suggested reaction scenarios.  A two year pilot in Bulgaria and demonstrators in Greece, Finland and French Guiana FOLDOUT will provide fundamental enhancements in the domain of border surveillance and improved search & rescue scenarios.


Feasibility study for Bioapplications – BioBalanced Farm probiotic

A rapid emergence of resistant bacteria occurs worldwide, endangering the efficacy of antibiotics, which have transformed medicine and saved millions of lives. The antibiotic resistance crisis has been attributed to the overuse and misuse of these medications. 700 000 patients die annually as a result of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. Due to a growing demand to substitute medicine and hazardous chemical usage in agriculture, Bioapplications developed the BioBalanced Farm Probiotic – a unique probiotics blend, which is misted in the facility, naturally excludes pathogenic bacteria and prevent mutation and development of resistant bacteria. The Solution also strengthens immune system, improves the welfare and increases the mass of the livestock, reduces bad odours, and generally improves a quality of meat. Consequently, farmers are able to fight.  According to Eurostat, there were 331.16 million Livestock Units (LSUs) in 2017 – 44.47% were pigs, 26.9% were cows, 26.3% were sheep’s and 3.9% were goats. Since pigs are the most prevalent in Europe and antibiotics are heavily overused in pig farms, the commercialisation of the solution will be firstly focused on pig farms. With a total of 147.24 M pigs in EU-E8, the total available market size for BioBalanced Farm probiotic is 88.34 M square meters. Bioapplications will enter the market by targeting large pig farms in home market Denmark, followed by Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. After a successful commercialisation, Bioapplications plans to scale-up by expanding into other EU regions and providing the service to poultry and cows farms. Commercialisation strategy includes three steps: preparation for market entry (home markets), market replication (large pig farms in target countries) and scaling-up (large pigs/poultry/cow farms in other EU countries). The Solution developed by Bioapplications is currently at TRL 6: prototype that is validated in industrially relevant environment stag


VALSTYBINE MAISTO IR VETERINARIJOS TARNYBA

Addressing the dual emerging threats of African Swine Fever and Lumpy Skin Disease in Europe (DEFEND)

The DEFEND consortium will target two viral diseases of livestock which are emerging into Europe – African swine fever (ASF) and lumpy skin disease (LSD).  African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the causative agent of ASF, a highly contagious disease of domestic pigs which causes a haemorrhagic syndrome with up to 100% mortality. ASF is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and on the Italian island of Sardinia. In 2007 the disease was reported in Georgia. Since then it has spread to Russia, Ukraine, Poland and neighbouring countries. In 2017 outbreaks were reported in the Czech Republic and Romania. Wild boar are susceptible to ASFV and facilitate the continuing spread of the disease in Europe with regular spill-over into in-contact domestic pigs.  The capripoxvirus Lumpy Skin Disease virus (LSDV) causes a classic systemic poxvirus disease in cattle and spreads rapidly in warm humid conditions, most likely due to insect-borne transmission. LSDV entered Europe, the Balkans and Caucasus for the first time in 2015. The ongoing epidemic has caused the deaths of thousands of cattle through mortality and eradication campaigns.  ASFV and LSDV represent an immediate and serious threat to the pig and cattle industries in Europe and eastern and central Asia. The aim of the consortium is to control the growing LSD and ASF epidemics in Europe and neighbouring countries by understanding the drivers of LSDV and ASFV emergence, and generating research outputs which underpin novel diagnostic tools and vaccines and authenticate appropriate and rapid responses by decision-makers. A multi-actor approach will be incorporated as a central tenant of the project, with collaborations between experts from academia, industry, and government bodies including EU and non-EU partners from countries affected or threatened by ASF and LSD.


A MULTI-SPECTROSCOPIC APPROACH TO PROBE  AMYLOID AGGREGATION AT BIOLOGICAL SURFACES

Treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s syndrome, is one of the biggest challenges of nowadays medicine. The success of the curing strongly depends on our understanding of chemical processes involved in developing these diseases. From a chemical point of view, these diseases are determined by uncontrolled neuropathological alterations such as aggregation of proteins and formation of insoluble fibrils, called amyloids. It is of paramount importance to fully understand the fibril formation on a molecular level in order to find ways how to inhibit the protein aggregation.  In the proposed research we focus on the aggregation of Aβ peptide, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Although substantial knowledge on the aggregation process of Aβ peptide in the bulk solution exists, the influence of the cell membrane on this process is poorly understood due to the lack of surface specific techniques. Here we propose to study the aggregation of Aβ peptide at the surface of model lipid membranes with advanced surface specific spectroscopic methods: vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) and shell-isolated nanoparticles-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS). Such combined spectroscopic approach will enable to determine the molecular structure of the aggregates at every step of the fibril formation and to reveal the role of the membrane. Altogether the proposed research will give relevant insights by which membrane and various co-solutes promote the aggregation process.  The candidate, Dr. S. Strazdaitė has returned to her home country after PhD studies in the Netherlands. She is currently employed as a senior research fellow in the Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC) at Prof. Gediminas Niaura group. The researcher will bring a valuable experience of surface specific spectroscopy to FTMC and during the proposed project she will acquire new knowledge and will reach an independent scientific maturity.


Circular business models for the solar power industry

Solar power generates nearly 4% (and still growing) of Europe’s electricity demand. In 2021, the 200 GW of capacity installed in Europe will result in saving of 219 million CO2 tons/year. By 2030, 8 mill tons of PV panels are expected.  Resource efficiency is a critical success factor for the solar power sustainable growth. Performance-based, third-party ownership Product-Service System (PSS) has been widely seen as a key circular economic model to stimulate resource efficiency and reduce waste generation. CIRCUSOL aims to establish solar power as a spearhead sector to demonstrate a path driven by PSS business models towards a circular economy in Europe.  Through a co-creative approach with end-users and the entire value chain, CIRCUSOL will develop two main blocks of a circular PSS model: circular product management with re-use/refurbish/remanufacture (“second-life”) paths in addition to recycling, and value-added new product-services for residential, commercial and utility end-users. Five large-scale, real-life demonstrators will be set up in these 3 market segments, in 3 European countries (FR, BE and CH) to validate market acceptance, business viability and resource efficiency benefits.  CIRCUSOL will deliver tangible innovation for the solar power industry with market-validated PSS business models, 2nd-life PV/battery labelling/certification protocols and cost/application analysis, and an info-sharing ICT platform. The results will be exploited in FR, BE and CH and prepared for replication in Europe (Letters of Support of stakeholders attached). CIRCUSOL will also deliver verified circular business innovation methodologies for broader use by other industries, sustainability professionals and academia; plus evidence-based knowledge in circular economy implementation for policy makers. All together, CIRCUSOL will contribute to a more resource efficient Europe, while reducing GHG emissions and creating new business opportunities and jobs.


Programmable Systems for Intelligence in Automobiles

The ambition of PRYSTINE is to strengthen and to extend traditional core competencies of the European industry, research and universities in smart mobility and in particular the electronic component and systems and cyber-physical systems domains. PRYSTINE's target is to realize Fail-operational Urban Surround perceptION (FUSION) which is based on robust Radar and LiDAR sensor fusion and control functions in order to enable safe automated driving in urban and rural environments. Therefore, PRYSTINE's high-level goals are:  1. Enhanced reliability and performance, reduced cost and power of FUSION components 2. Dependable embedded control by co-integration of signal processing and AI approaches for FUSION 3. Optimized E/E architecture enabling FUSION-based automated vehicles 4. Fail-operational systems for urban and rural environments based on FUSION  PRYSTINE will deliver (a) fail-operational sensor-fusion framework on component level, (b) dependable embedded E/E architectures, and (c) safety compliant integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches for object recognition, scene understanding, and decision making within automotive applications. The resulting reference FUSION hardware/software architectures and reliable components for autonomous systems will be validated in in 22 industrial demonstrators, such as:  1. Fail-operational autonomous driving platform 2. An electrical and highly automated commercial truck equipped with new FUSION components (such as LiDAR, Radar, camera systems, safety controllers) for advanced perception 3. Highly connected passenger car anticipating traffic situations 4. Sensor fusion in human-machine interfaces for fail-operational control transition in highly automated vehicles  PRYSTINE’s well-balanced, value chain oriented consortium, is composed of 60 project partners from 14 different European and non-European countries, including leading automotive OEMs, semiconductor companies, technology partners, and research institutes.


WEB OF INNOVATION AND VALUE CHAINS OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING UNDER CONSIDERATION OF RRI

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a key enabling technology in high value manufacturing. The global AM market is on the rise and in 2016 the industry was valued at $6 billion with 93% being attributed to industrial applications. Evolving novel innovation networks, perfectly represented by the emerging, rather complex and highly dynamic AM industry sector, are frequently characterised by entirely new business models, high development and adaption rates, as well as strong technology diffusion within the economy. I AM RRI will investigate the AM innovation network in order to facilitate a better understanding and the modelling of the dynamics of its complex web of innovation value chains including openings for responsible research and innovation (RRI).  In-depth investigation of the AM innovation network, accompanied by open stakeholder and foresight processes, will establish a comprehensive knowledge base and thorough understanding of the network’s components, processes and interconnections, forming the foundation for building a dynamic model. The model will allow deepening the understanding of the AM innovation system even further, and to simulate/govern rapidly developing and complex future changes of the network and its crisscrossing value chains. As core component of I AM RRI, use cases for automotive and medical AM application will be conducted in order to refine the model and to showcase its applicability and adaptability. The I AM RRI outcomes developed in the course of I AM RRI will be made available to the broad open science community and to stakeholders/policy makers, strengthening research and business, and fostering the evolvement of other novel innovation networks. Strategic guidelines will be defined to initiate institutional change. Identified RRI openings within the AM innovation network will support smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe. I AM RRI will promote AM in Europe as a globally competitive, innovative and world leading key technology.

Develop the governance for the advancement of responsible research and innovation


Scientific High-throughput and Unified Toolkit for Trace analysis by forensic Laboratories in Europe

Transfer traces analysis currently suffers from several limitations: highly subjective and selective, this process is also very time-consuming, hence inefficient, whereas  results are difficult, if not impossible, to compare and share among forensic laboratories. As a consequence, the use of forensic data in cross-border investigations, and in foreign courts is limited. Creating a unified transfer traces automated analysis toolkit would allow for a higher productivity of forensic workers, better crime resolution and enable further collaboration across end-users.  In addition to the lack of maturity of its potential components, the economical question is the barrier that hinders the development of such a toolkit as a sole forensic service can’t afford funding the corresponding R&D activities. the SHUTTLE project then intends to run a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) action between forensic institutes across Europe to mitigate these technical and financial barriers and jointly carry out the procurement of the necessary Research and Development (R&D) activities to develop a machine+toolkit that will integrate different tape analysis tools to automate the routine part of the work of trace evidence examiners and, eventually, strengthen further judicial and police cooperation. The SHUTTLE toolkit will be scientific, as the results obtained will be objective and validated, which will strengthen their usefulness and usability. It will be high-throughput, as the instrumentation will be built to process large amounts of samples and data. The acquired data will be stored in a database together with the results of other methods. These databases can be shared  and maintained together, and be used to provide a scientifically justified, numerical evidential value. Finally, SHUTTLE, which will be validated in conformity with ISO17025, will unify the methodology used in several European countries and will foster collaboration across countries and institutions in Europe.


Capacity-building of the financial ecosystem and its participants for improving innovative SME´s access to alternative forms of finance in Europe with focus on SE and CEE

The objective of the project is to design, develop and implement a capacity-building strategy to increase the capacity of the financial ecosystem and its participants in South, Central and Eastern European countries for provision and absorption of alternative forms of financing (AF) for innovative SMEs Sub objectives and outputs: 1: To map and analyse the framework conditions and establish the capacity-building strategy and implementation plan • Capacity building strategy and implementation plan for South and Central and Eastern Europe, in particular PT, ES, IT, LT, PL, SK, HU, RO, UA (consortium presence), GR, LT, SLa, CZ, HR, BG, RS; BA, AL, MK (consortium outreach) • Validation with 120 participants • Adapted strategy and plan in line with assessment 2: To provide cross-European information architecture with materials, resources and online tools for capacity building and matching of innovative SMEs to AF schemes and their providers • ALTFInator web platform with interactive library and information, matching and data exchange tool set: 3: To engage and broaden the stakeholder community, complemented by equal increase of knowledge, capacity and partnerships in support of provision and absorption of AF for innovative SMEs • Awareness raising campaigns focusing on 3 600 key stakeholders • 8 national workshops with 240 participants • 2 international best practice workshops with 60 participants • 8 public roundtables with 40 participants each  • Policy makers hearing at the EuroParl with 30 participants. • MOOCs for AF providers with 500 participants • 4 webinars for group coaching of SMEs with 120 participants 4: To review the impact of the implementation and provide the evidence-base for adaption and sustainability of the scheme in the light of experience • KPI´s 5: To provide stakeholders at European and International level, with the information concerning the ALTFInator activities, events, achievements, respective web platform, material and tools • Outreach to 100.


Responsible Research and Innovation Networked Globally

The overall project aim is to bring RRI into the linked up global world to promote mutual learning and collaboration in RRI. This will be achieved by the formation of the global RRING community network and by the development and mobilisation of a global Open Access RRI knowledge base. RRING will align RRI to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a global common denominator. The RRING project acknowledges that each region of the world is advancing its own agenda on RRI. Therefore, RRING will not be producing a Global RRI framework or strategy that is meant to be enforced in a top-down manner. Rather, increased coherence and convergence will be achieved via a bottom-up approach, learning from best practices in RRI globally and from linkages, via the new RRING community, to develop the RRI linked-up world. Six Objectives of RRING  Objective 1: Promote a linked up global world of RRI by creating the global RRING community network, thereby enabling mutual learning, collaboration, mobilisation of RRI concepts. Objective 2: Mobilise, promote and disseminate a global open access knowledge base of RRI based on the State of the Art (SoA) and comparative analysis across the key geographies, all stakeholders and sectors. It will cover key platforms, spaces and players, role and influence of stakeholders, drivers and policies for R&I, regulation in public,private sectors and nation states and international organizations. Objective 3: Align RRI to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide a global common denominator for advancement of RRI, and address Grand Challenges globally. Objective 4: Determine the competitive advantages of RRI and also understand how and where RRI is perceived as a barrier and/ or disadvantage. Objective 5: Create high level RRI strategy recommendations for the seven geographic zones, trial RRI best practice learning in 2 EU case studies Objective 6: Promote inclusive engagement of civil society and researchers


MULTIFUNCTIONAL POLYMER COMPOSITES DOPED WITH NOVEL 2D NANOPARTICLES FOR ADVANCED APPLICATIONS

NANO2DAY is aiming at the development of advanced multifunctional composites with outstanding electronic and mechanical properties by incorporation of novel MXene nanosheets into polymer matrixes. The project will firstly go forward to the rational design and systematic exploration of MXene-polymer nanocomposites for wearable electronics and advanced structural components for airspace applications. This will be achieved by i) intersectoral consolidation and sharing of knowledge and expertise of 11 members from Europe and USA working in different areas and ii) collaborative research on the development and assessment of novel materials, including technology, characterisation, modelling, and validation. The concept explored in the project accounts for finding and extending the application potential of MXene-doped polymers and validation of their effectiveness compared to well-known graphene-doped polymers. The innovative aspects followed in the project are based on up-scaling of novel technologies for “close-to-industrial” synthesis of MXenes and MXene-doped polymer masterbatches and implementation of MXenes into design of structural polymer composites, including FRPs. NANO2DAY will essentially contribute to the integration of scientific insights into innovation-based industrial environment and successful implementation of novel advanced materials into practical applications.


CoSt redUction and enhanced PERformance of PV systems

SUPER PV is pursuing an ambitious bus realistic goal for innovative PV system cost reduction and consequently significant LCOE reduction (26%-37%) by adopting hybrid approach combining technological innovations and Data Management methods along the PV value chain. To achieve that, key actions will be implemented at three main levels within the PV value chain: PV module innovation level, power electronics innovation level and system integration level. To ensure fast uptake of the project results by industry, state of the art modules (c-Si and flexible CIGS) and power electronics products were utilised for adopting innovations developed by research centres. For cost reduction in system integration and operation, Digitalization and Data Management solutions based on Industry 4.0 approach will be adopted following successful utilization of Building Information Modelling approach in the construction sector. Selected for uptake innovations will be compatible with existing manufacturing technological processes thus reducing impact on Cost of Ownership and ensuring attractiveness of proposed technologies for PV manufacturers.  Prototype SUPER PV systems will be produced in industrial environments and tested in different (including harsh) climate conditions to evaluate cost efficiency and demonstrate competitiveness of the proposed solutions. On the basis of test results, business cases for technologies under consideration will be performed, plans for production and market replication will be prepared. Project activities will be complemented by wide training and dissemination campaign ensuring highest visibility and social impact of the project activities.  By delivering to the market SUPERior PV products, the project will have twofold impact on EU PV sector:  1. Will create conditions for accelerated large scale deployment of PV in Europe for both utility (non-urban) and residential (urban) scenarios and  2. Will help EU PV businesses to regain leadership on world market.


PERSPEKTYVINIU TECHNOLOGIJU TAIKOMUJU TYRIMU INSTITUTAS


Understanding and improving the sustainability of agro-ecological farming systems in the EU

The overarching objective of UNISECO is to strengthen the sustainability of EU farming systems, through co-constructing practice-validated strategies and incentives for the promotion of improved agro-ecological approaches. We will enhance the understanding of socio-economic and policy drivers and barriers for further development and implementation of agro-ecological approaches in EU farming systems to identify and facilitate more effective management strategies for European agriculture. This requires a wider systems perspective, considering socio-economic, ecological and political settings at a territorial level. We will operationalise a socio-ecological systems framework that integrates external settings into a sustainability assessment of farming systems, paying particular attention to the role of different types of actors and their roles in sub-systems. UNISECO will provide a methodological toolkit to assess the environmental, economic and social impacts of innovative strategies and incentives for agro-ecological approaches in EU farming systems at farm and territorial levels. The methodological toolkit will be tested in participatory case studies in 15 European countries with different biophysical, socio-economic and socio-cultural contexts of farming systems. UNISECO is committed to a genuine transdisciplinary process, reflected in consortium composition of stakeholder and scientific partners, and the emphasis on multi-actor engagement. Group learning processes, integrating practical and theoretical knowledge, will benefit scientists, stakeholders and end-users through improved understanding on how to strengthen sustainability of EU farming systems. UNISECO addresses the work programme topic SFS-29-2017 and contributes to Sustainable Food Security by identifying and supporting farming systems that enable the production of healthy food while preserving the environment and bringing added value to farm households and the different stakeholders of the value chain.


STATYBOS PRODUKCIJOS SERTIFIKAVIMO CENTRAS

Concerted Action EPBD V aim to support the implementation of the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive through exchange of information and experience among Member States and other participating countries (Norway) with regards to the implementation of the specific European Union legislation and policy on the energy performance of buildings, and in particular with regards to the transposition and implementation of the re-cast of the EPBD (DIRECTIVE 2010/31/EU) and the on-going revision of this directive.    The specific objectives are to:  1. Enhance and structure sharing of information and experience from national implementation and promote good practice in activities required of Member States for implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).   2. Create favourable conditions for faster convergence of national procedures on EPBD-related matters.  3. Develop a direct link with the other two buildings-related Concerted Actions established within the IEE programme: the CA-RES, focussing on transposition and implementation of the Renewable Energy Systems Directive (DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC); and the CA-EED, focusing on transposition and implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive (DIRECTIVE 2012/27/EU), where National Energy Plans include initiatives towards building energy efficiency.  4. Supplement the work of the Article 26 Committee and possible ad-hoc groups on CEN (European Committee for Standardization) standards and certification exercises.  5. Establish a dialogue with the CEN in the implementation of 2nd generation standards to support the implementation of the recast EPBD and its revision.  6. Support for European Member States and Norway to use National Energy Plans to report progress on the EPBD implementation.   The CAV_EPBD will strive to result in a more harmonized approach, improved implementation and actual application of the EPBD in all the countries involved, as well as helping to disseminate best practices between the countries.


LIETUVOS INZINERINES PRAMONES ASOCIACIJA LINPRA

A Multi-Sided Business Platform for Plug and Produce Industrial Product Service Systems

The objective of MARKET4.0 is to define, develop and validate an open multi-sided marketplace, based on a trusted P2P data sharing infrastructure for Industry 4.0, that brings together Industrial Product Service Systems (IPSS) providers (supply side) and OEMs as their customers (demand side). It will allow direct interaction among the different sides to improve the sales power of production equipment SMEs. MARKET4.0 will offer advanced web-presence of production equipment SMEs extended by functionalities such as simulations, VR/AR capabilities and a P2P (Industrial Data Space) offering smart user-services and a secure API to try and test the Digital Twin of the production equipment, on top supplier and customer data. This will  facilitate direct transactions between market peers (supplier-to-supplier, supplier-to-customer, customer-to-suppliers and more) during the entire B2B lifecycle, i.e. from equipment search to procurement and commissioning.  MARKET4.0 will create trust in the business transactions between SME production equipment manufacturers and their customers, as an integral element of the Industrial Data Space (IDS) reference architecture.  It includes technological trust (simulation before purchasing), financial trust (Blockchain distributed ledger technology for secure payment), delivery and (anonymized) feedback. In MARKET4.0 the supply side (mainly SMEs) may offer a) production equipment, b) services that extend the capabilities of the production equipment, c) production equipment as a service and d) collaborative engineering services.  The marketplace will generate additional value by providing engineering services and acting as a mediator between suppliers and customers.


The proposal is an introduction to an innovative measurement device that can detect deficiency or excess of nutrients in plants by harnessing light spectra

The objective of the feasibility study is to create a strategy for introduction of the novel crop monitoring and diagnosing device into the global market and prepare a business plan for its commercialization. The device is capable to diagnose growing conditions of plants as well as to determine deficiency of main macro-elements (N, P, K) and micro-elements (Fe, B, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo) during the plant vegetation period.  The spectrophotometer is an innovative crop monitoring and diagnosing device, that could initially be used by crop farmers in the European Union and subsequently in other countries worldwide. The spectrophotometer would be a complete novelty in the market and it would allow users to solve the following issues in their farming process: - Reduce over and under – fertilization of crop, by allowing to determine the lack of specific macro and micronutrients in the plants; -Significantly reduce expenditures needed for fertilizers and other supportive farming inputs; -Reduce contamination of arable land (by consistently applying the correct amounts of macro and micronutrients, the farmer will reduce unwanted effects of chemical elements on the soil); -Increase output yields and reduce food waste, creating a more environmentally friendly and self-sustainable farm in the future, less reliant on subsidies.


NANOFACTORY – 3D micro – nano fabrication device

New nano microstructures are constructed at nano scale in emerging fields such as micro-optics because of the growing demand for complex nano-microstructures. These developments are enabled by micro-nano manufacturing devices. However, existing devices in the market have a number of important limitations. First of all, it is complicated to produce arbitrary shaped 3D micro-optical elements that could allow industrial scale production. Moreover, there is no single universal solution that combines both additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques in one device and enables to fabricate and processes nano-micro structures.Currently, complex micro-nano structures must be produced not in a standard way but rather according to the customer’s request and can be fabricated either in low quality or by at least two different devices with a need of assembly, which limits the overall quality. NANOFACTORY, developed by Femtika, is the first multi-functional manufacturing device that has no limitations in terms of reaching dimensions up to millimeter yet retaining nanometer precision and this way allowing industrial-scale production of integrated 3D micro-optical devices. Moreover, it combines additive and subtracting manufacturing techniques, in-situ, enables fabrication of high quality functional complex structures, and has the ability to use wide range of materials and composites. Working prototype has been validated in both lab and industrially relevant environments. Automotive sensors market, medical optics market and drone sensors market have been selected as relevant target markets for NANOFACTORY’s commercialization. In order to start active sales of the device, validation of target markets and user needs is needed. The feasibility study will be a crucial step towards commercialization of the solution.


Perovskite Thin-film Photovoltaics (PERTPV)

Solid state lead halide perovskites have recently emerged as the latest thin-film photovoltaic device class. High power conversion efficiencies (22 %) and stabilities (> 1000 hours at 80 ˚C under 1 sun illumination) have been obtained using lab scale processes and small area cells (<1cm2). The building blocks of the perovskite materials are very low cost and the processing into the final perovskite thin-film can be achieved with low temperature fast processes. This makes these materials very cost efficient, and promises to deliver a future PV technology with a levelled cost of electricity (LCOE) below that of existing mainstream PV. There has been much advancement with combining perovskite with silicon cells, to deliver a “tandem” junction cell with much higher efficiency than either sub-cell. Although this perovskite-on-silicon  approach is likely to deliver the first perovskite PV products, it restricts the manufacturing and module format to wafer based, and hence misses out on the real promise of ultimate high volume manufacturing via large area sheet-to-sheet or reel-to-reel coating. Within PERTPV we will advance the perovskite thin-film PV technology to the next level by undertaking a “double pronged” drive on both performance (efficiency and stability) and the development of scalable device and module fabrication methodologies, compatible with high volume manufacturing. Our consortium consists of the leading academic groups in perovskite PV research, in addition to research companies, and 3 commercial partners at appropriately complementary stages in the value chain (Technology driver, materials supplier and equipment supplier). In addition to our ambitions target of surpassing 30% power conversion efficiency in a thin film all-perovskite tandem cell, and delivering a certifiably stable module technology, we will also perform full life cycle analysis and ensure a safe means to undertake mass deployment and recycling of the Perovskite PV modules.


Energy Conscious Consumers ECO2 will facilitate a large amount of consumers to become conscious about and improve their energy efficiency. It will offer them two forms of learning. Either they choose to go alone through an online e-learning, or they choose to be brought through transformative group learning, in which the e-learning system supports the group processes. Together the two – single or group processes - provide attractive approaches for a wide array of consumer segments. The ECO2 processes are based on “blended” engagement methods, making use of both online and dialogue elements. Consumers will be recruited by contacts through social media, consumer media, energy suppliers and other gatekeepers. Segmentation will be used to increase the effectiveness of recruitment and to adapt the e-learning processes. The processes will be thematic, facilitated by an online ECO2 Platform, based on the online/blended engagement platform EngageSuite. Each consumer will be stepping up a ‘ladder of change’ from Motivation to Exploration and finally to Action. In the process the user receives information, reflects/deliberates and seeks knowledge and knowledge sharing. The user creates her/his own action plan on the next personal steps to take. ECO2 will deliver “Actions” on five important themes – the house, smart equipment, energy use/bills, rebound and prosuming. Further, an Action on co-creation of policies, innovations and designs will be executed and the results communicated to policy-makers and innovators through policy seminars. ECO2 has three phases – Ramp-up, Pilot and Upscaling. Ramp-up makes infrastructures, segmentation analysis, story-boards and production of themes. Pilots test the Actions with voluntary consumers. Upscaling involves viral recruitment of consumers, expansion to new countries, and collaboration with consumer gate-keepers. ECO2 will continue after end of project by: 1) an ECO2 Community, 2) stakeholder responsibility for the ECO2 Platform.


COllaborative Consortium for the early detection of LIver CANcer

Hepatitis B (HBV) and C virus (HCV) are the most important etiologic agents of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is the second leading cause of tumour related death in the world. The burden of HCC in developing countries represents a major challenge in global public health for the oncoming decades. Clinically, HCC patients have a very poor prognosis and high 5-year mortality rate except when detected early. As a result, HCC early detection is a critical parameter to anticipate the initiation of a tumour process, but affordable and discriminant diagnostic tools are lacking.  A consortium of European and Third Countries institutions (Peru and Laos) gathered within the project COCLICAN proposes to tackle this issue through the analysis of metabolomics serum profiles of a large cohort of HBV-HBC infected patients to delineate a bunch of molecules predictive of the emergence of liver cancer. The performance of a low-cost and open-source echo-stethoscope connected to a smartphone will also be assessed, to allow early detection of tumorogenesis in health care underserved areas.  This will be possible, thanks to the construction of a sustainable scientific and academic network of engineers, researchers and clinicians mobilised to exchange expertise, skills, technologies, biological material, deployed in three continents: Europe, South America and Asia.  COCLICAN has been designed to improve research collaborations, to reinforce capacities, to enhance knowledge of partners and students involved in the project, but also to raise awareness of policy makers and to participate to the innovation potential improvement at the European and global levels. COCLICAN will therefore respond to the health needs of left behind populations, all around the world.


INfraStructure in Proton International REsearch

Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a radical new type of advanced radiotherapy, capable of delivering and conforming a targeted dose of radiation to the tumour while causing minimal damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. In the past 5 years there has been a huge investment in high energy PBT across Europe and eleven member states now either have PBT in operation or are developing this capability.  In addition, the two largest manufactures of PBT equipment have based their manufacturing in Europe. This integrating activity INSPIRE, aims to link these clinical PBT centres in eleven different countries together with two associated centres in USA.  It also brings in two of the worlds largest manufacturers of PBT equipment and an SME.  The trans-national access in INSPIRE will provide European researchers with access to “state of the art” research capabilities employing proton beams at clinical energies.  INSPIRE represents an integrating activity across Europe in a multi-disciplinary field that is growing exponentially.  Through its Networking, Transnational Access and Joint Research Activities,  INSPIRE seeks to provide the “state of the art” capabilities that are needed to address the key challenges in this rapidly developing field. INSPIRE has at its heart the principles of responsible research and innovation and will communicate its research and give access to its databases and software through an Open Access Gateway.  INSPIRE will contain a pipeline of innovation through its Innovation Gateway, to accelerate research for patient and commercial benefit.  INSPIRE will provide its researchers with an unrivalled research and training and opportunities to “discipline hop” into the industrial, clinical or industrial environment.  INSPIRE integrates activities across Europe in this rapidly growing area and offers European researchers unrivalled access to state of the art research capabilities in an area where there has already been significant government investment.


Integrated approach to first time innovators – assisting SMEs in transition of their potential to actual innovation

The main aim of Innovators2B is to enhance the agencies’ management efficiency in the field of first time innovators’ service. Three innovation agencies involved in the project will work using twinning+ methodology in order to create valuable Design Options Paper regarding first time innovators engagement into process of implementing innovation. The solutions developed in the paper will be implemented in the agencies as new or improved programmes based on these given approaches.  The result of peer learning activities within the project will be an effective approach to identify and convince “potentially innovative companies” to engage in innovation process with the use of external support. It involves designing the whole support process from the identification of the target group, marketing channels, attractive offer, diagnostics of individual needs, consequent support delivery and follow up of the process till successful result.  The results of the project will be communicated to regional and national authorities as the topic of monitoring SMEs needs is very common with regard to efficiency of policies aiming to enhance SMEs competitiveness, especially their growth on national and international markets as well as their engagement in innovation processes.


FLEXIBLE COMBINED PRODUCTION OF POWER, HEAT AND TRANSPORT FUELS FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

Seasonal solar energy potential and the need for heat and power do not match in Northern and Central European conditions. Consequently, large investments are needed for storing solar energy from summer season to dark winter time. The widely available combined heat and power plants and heating networks should be utilized effectively also in the future energy system. In addition to these challenges, decarbonisation of the transport sector requires massive production of renewable fuels especially for the heavy duty sector: air traffic, ships, heavy duty road vehicles. FLEXCHX project is aiming to present a cost-effective solution to tackle these challenges of the new European energy mix.  Principal ideas of the proposal are: -  A hybrid process that integrates electrolysis to biomass gasification and synthesis is developed and the key enabling technologies of this process are validated to reach TRL5. -  In summer season renewable fuel intermediate (FT-wax) is produced from biomass carbon boosted with solar energy driven electrolysis. A small amount of by-product heat is also produced to cover the summer-time demand for district heating. Biomass consumption is halved compared to the winter time operation and 50 % of the input energy comes from low-cost excess electricity. - In winter season the plant is operated without the electrolyzer in a way that biomass conversion to liquid fuel intermediate,  heat and electricity is maximized. - Most of the invested plant components are in full use throughout the year, only the electrolysis unit is operated seasonally  Behind FLEXCHX there is a multi-national consortium composed of RTD organizations, industry and SMEs representing the entire value chain.  The RTD partners have excellent synergistic competences, while the industrial partners represent lead industries covering the complete value chain from biomass gasification, gas cleaning and fuel synthesis component and plant manufacturers to service providers and end-users.


Advanced Manufacturing assistance and training for SME Transformation

The ADMA TranS4MErs will accelerate factories to become Factories of the Future embracing the ecological, digital, and societal challenges. This will be done via a smart combination of an all-connecting community platform in combination with toolboxes, virtual and physical training activities, assistance programs, tailor-made training content in all relevant technology areas and set of applications. All those services, tools, assistance, and service components pick up the SMEs at the right stage to start their own Trans4mation journey. The consortium is equipped with all necessary experience and professionalism and has a wide geographical reach, that we can almost guarantee to deliver the services at their doorstep or on their screen.


PDE-based geometric modelling, image processing, and shape reconstruction

Geometric modelling, image processing, and shape reconstruction have huge applications in various sectors and greatly impact on EU’s economy, human health, security, entertainment and others. Existing problems such as big data and heavy manual operations in geometric modelling, incapacity in image processing in continuous domains, and lack of continuity and differentiability in shape reconstruction seriously affect quality, efficiency and capacity. Partial differential equation (PDE) based techniques provide effective solutions to these problems. Current PDE-based modelling cannot achieve both powerful capacity and high computational performance. PDE-based image processing suffers from expensive cost and local minimization. PDE-based shape reconstruction has not been developed.  PDE-GIR will tackle above mentioned problems by developing advanced PDE based techniques, exploiting their applications through exchanges of research and innovation staff, international and intersectoral collaborations, and knowledge transfer. It consists of four work packages. “PaMod” will develop new PDE-based modelling techniques to obtain powerful capacity and high computational performance. “VaMod” will develop new variational models to improve efficiency and quality. “ShaRecons” will combine new PDE-based modelling with variational models to solve the problems of continuity, differentiability, and big data. “M&D” is designed to efficiently manage the project, disseminate research output, and promote the applications of the developed techniques.  The consortium consists of leading experts who have been working at the forefront of geometric modelling, image processing and shape reconstruction for many years. PDE-GIR will combine their strengths to achieve the success of the proposed research. The developed techniques will be applied in academic and non-academic sectors, and integrated into IDF’s services and products to promote technology innovation and realize their commercial value.


Life Science Alliance: Closing Research and Innovation Divide in the EU

The aim of the project is to establish a European Alliance of ten progressive research institutions from nine less performing countries that are committed to work jointly towards closing the EU divide in health R&I. The Alliance represents a remedial action, which builds on outcomes of the previously performed initiatives analyzing health R&I barriers and enabling factors as proposed by e.g. DanuBalt and RegHealth-RI projects. Alliance4Life consortium will concentrate efforts on both (1) mutual learning and sharing practical experience, and (2) receiving motivating feedback from high performing research institutions. We will establish Focus Groups, open platforms for idea generation and exchange of knowledge, working within eight domains of expertise: science evaluation, HR and recruitment, research funding, core facilities and big data, technology transfer, bio-ethics, science communication, and mobility. In all the domains of expertise, the formation of Alliance4Life enables experience-driven approach focused on best practice cases realized by its members, avoiding actions that failed in the past and promoting those that demonstrated high impact at reasonable cost. The learning process will contribute to institutional reforms in research management and support increased participation in international consortia. The Alliance will develop progressive strategies including suggestions for exploitation of the potential provided by synergies between ESIF and H2020, which will be coordinated with the health R&I managing authorities of the particular less performing countries. The local stakeholders will be motivated to take up proposed strategies through series of national roundtables on institutional and research policy reforms. Spill-over effects will be further fueled by development of training modules and large-scale dissemination of project results.

Health, demographic change and wellbeing


ELEKTRONIKOS PERDIRBIMO TECHNOLOGIJOS UAB

Multiscaled Smart Metallic and Semiconductor Electrodes for Electrochemical Processing and Devices

Demand of “smart” electrodes/systems has recently increased due to significant role of various devices/equipment based on these electrodes - urgent needs of present and forthcoming human activities. The multi- and interdisciplinary project SMARTELECTRODES is proposing elaboration of advanced systems covered under umbrella of “smart” electrodes which will be involved and play significant roles in several important electrochemical/electrophysical applications as catalysis/electrocatalysis, sensoring, thermoelectrics, electrowinning, electrochemical machining and electrospark alloying. The development of multiscaled (from nano- to macro-; from nanodot to volumized 3D-) metallic and semiconductor electrodes and integration of them into working systems/equipment is the main target of SMARTELECTRODES. The project is well-balanced, highly innovative R&D training network, which aims:  To develop long lasting collaborations between four academic (Vilnius University, Lithuania; Institute of Applied Physics, Moldova; Northeastern University, USA; Research Institute for Physical Chemical Problems of BSU, Belarus) and two companies (JSC Topaz, Moldova and JSC “Electronics Treatment Technologies”, EPT, Lithuania);   To develop new electrodes (based on chalcogenides, iron group metals and “technological” electrodes) by well-established institutions;   To increase career perspectives of each participant that will lead to benefit of each member and partnership as a whole.  Partners will be complimentary involved into realization of the proposed research. The research tasks will be implemented through multidisciplinary Work Packages devoted to the fabrication, adapting and investigation of electrodes/materials, also they include the activities towards training and management. Namely, advanced training will be provided to the seconded staff through well-integrated programs, including workshops and conferences.


VILNIAUS PREKYBOS PRAMONES IR AMATU RUMAI


OpenAIRE-Advance continues the mission of OpenAIRE to support the Open Access/Open Data mandatesinEurope. By sustaining the current successful infrastructure, comprised of a human network and robust technical services, it consolidates its achievements while working to shift the momentum among its communities to Open Science, aiming to be a trusted e-Infrastructurewithin the realms of the European Open Science Cloud.In this next phase, OpenAIRE-Advance strives to empower its National Open Access Desks (NOADs) so they become a pivotal part within their own national data infrastructures, positioningOA and open science onto national agendas. The capacity building activities bring together experts ontopical task groups in thematic areas(open policies, RDM, legal issues, TDM), promoting a train the trainer approach, strengthening and expanding the pan-European Helpdesk with support and training toolkits, training resources and workshops.It examines key elements of scholarly communication, i.e., co-operative OA publishing and next generation repositories, to develop essential building blocks of the scholarly commons.On the technical level OpenAIRE-Advance focuses on the operation and maintenance of the OpenAIRE technical TRL8/9 services,and radically improvesthe OpenAIRE services on offer by: a) optimizing their performance and scalability, b) refining their functionality based on end-user feedback, c) repackagingthem into products, taking a professional marketing approach  with well-defined KPIs, d)consolidating the range of services/products into a common e-Infra catalogue to enable a wider uptake.OpenAIRE-Advancesteps up its outreach activities with concrete pilots with three major RIs,citizen science initiatives, and innovators via a rigorous Open Innovation programme. Finally, viaits partnership with COAR, OpenAIRE-Advance consolidatesOpenAIRE’s global roleextending its collaborations with Latin America, US, Japan, Canada, and Africa.


Physical principles of the creation of novel SPINtronic materials on the base of MULTIlayered metal-oxide FILMs for magnetic sensors and MRAM

The main goal of the project is the elaboration of research and development principles and technology, as well as creation of novel nanoheterostructures for application in spintronic devices, first of all, in magnetic field sensors and magnetoresistive random access memories. The key research and technological aspects are focused on the formation of layers and/or nanosized grains of a ferromagnetic material with an ultimate degree of conduction electron spin polarization, separated by dielectric interlayers. The main research, technological and innovation aspects of the work are aimed at an increase of the devices’ sensitivity to magnetic fields thanks to the high degree of spin polarization and to the magnetoresistance due to electron quantum tunneling through dielectric barriers.   The proposed creation methods of the device prototypes can be rapidly implemented in the automotive, electronic and biomedical industries by means of a rather simple technology, which makes them attractive for the industry across the EU, as only the standard technological equipment is used. The new generation spintronic devices to be developed in the present project will possess high sensitivity, speed performance and low energy consumption.  The project aims as well at the creation of a stimulating and interdisciplinary training partnership, with actors from the academia and private sector, promoting the exchange of ideas, methods, techniques as well as enabling an accelerated technology transfer from science to industry through a continuous collaboration between the stakeholders. Working on spintronics demands strongly innovative and interdisciplinary skills, since there is a lot of pressure from the private sector to develop new original solutions for the modern devices. Training of the high-level personnel possessing complementary interdisciplinary skills is thus a key issue.


Novel 1D photonic metal oxide nanostructures for early stage cancer detection

The project CanBioSe targeted to strengthen international and intersectoral collaboration, sharing new ideas and knowledge transfer from research to market and vice versa in the field of nanostructured metal oxide optical biosensors for cancer cells detection. Interdisciplinary project research and innovation goals are targeted to develop a new portable tool for early stage cancer detection which can solve on of important health challenges in EU society. One dimensional (1D) polimer nanofibers will be deposited by electrospinning technique. Photonic nanomaterials, based on metal oxide based nanostructures (ZnO, ZnO/Al2O3 nanolaminates, Au/ZnO and ZnO/Au) will coat the 1D nanofibers. Metal oxides and Au nanoparticles will be deposited with Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and electrophoresis, respectively. Bioselective layer will be formed by immobilization of specific antibodies on the biosensor surface. Photoluminescence and optical spectroscopy will be used for recording of the biosensor signal. Biosensor testing will be performed on cancer cells (human chronic lymphocyte leukemia (CLL) leucosis and acute lymphoblastic leucosis). The biosensor will be integrated with microfluidic system in order to minimize dimensions and simplify the use of the detection system. The project partners will provide research and training activities in the fields of nanotechnology, surface functionalization, bioengineering, microfluidics and biosensor testing, market analysis and commercialization. Provided research and management training to experienced researchers and early stage researchers will strengthen their personal skills and CVs via new scientific papers and conference theses and strengthen a development of EU research human resources. Long lasting collaboration between partners, based on co-supervising students and preparation of novel collaborative project proposals is foreseen. Dissemination of the project results to scientific society and wide auditories is foreseen.


Lighthouse: Lighting the way for European scale-ups

Lighthouse sets a standard on developing cross border connections within and beyond Europe. The project lights the way for startups within Europe by organising 8 Deep Dive Weeks in 4 ecosystems: Berlin, Dublin, Lisbon and the Baltics – meeting over 1600 different ecosystem players in specific themes such as fintech, refugee tech, e-gov, IoT, etc - and culminating with a Top 10 Lighthouse Award in London each year. Lighthouse will support directly over 120 startups to meet key people (investors, corporates, technological experts, media, customers, talent, etc.) in each of these ecosystems through matchmaking, 1-on-1 mentoring, workshops and many other activities. Furthermore, the best of the best of the selected startups will receive the chance to take part in our Europass programme - taking them to 8 of the biggest European tech events; as well as 1 week scouting missions to Silicon Valley, New York and Israel to accelerate their positioning as global players. Lighthouse’s top-notch support activities prepare startups to take advantage of the opportunities in external markets as well as providing qualified introductions to key players in new ecosystems: which all contributes to increased market success. In concrete expected impact, the project will help selected startups to obtain +2000 investment, partnership or customers leads, 500 new international customer leads, develop +100 adapted products/services to new markets, raise collective turnover by 50%, create +500 new jobs, raise +€50m in total investment and many more direct and serendipitous results. Lighthouse does not happen in a vacuum - its structure enables perfect integration with all Startup Europe activities - especially within Deep Dive Weeks. This exploits synergies between Lighthouse, Startup Europe and all related stakeholders by pooling resources together – encouraging even more ecosystems to take part in its activities.


Micro Quantum Dot-Light Emitting Diode and Organic Light Emitting Diode  Direct Patterning (MILEDI)

The project MiLEDI aims to realise micro-Light Emitting Diodes (mQDL) and micro -Organic Light Emitting Diodes (mQDO) using direct laser or electron beam patterning of nanometer-scale Quantum Dots (QDs) to write the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) arrays for display manufacturing. The main idea sustaining the project is to form the colored green-red light-emitting QDs directly over a matrix of blue emitting micro QDL/QDO arrays, so that the QDs act as frequency down-converters and constitute a RGB micro-display. Both direct-writing technologies will be thoroughly developed to optimize the QD light emission spectrum of the display and its stability. They are expected to provide patterning resolution at micrometric scales, depending on the laser spot areas and particle beam dimensions and operation.  These techniques together with the direct formation of QDs assure highly flexible and simpler manufacturing processes, in few steps and with low chemical impact The MiLEDI approach for both micro QDL and QDO RGB displays manufactured by direct laser/electron beam patterning of QDs, is  validated by the production of a final prototype of Rear Projection display through the existing supply chain of the project.


European coordinated research on long-term ICT and ICT-based scientific challenges

CHIST-ERA is a network of research funding organisations in Europe and beyond with programmes in ICST (Information and Communication Science and Technology), at the intersection of the FET and the ICT domains. CHIST-ERA III aims at supporting transnational research projects addressing long-term scientific challenges in the domain of ICT or at the interface between this and other domains. It also fosters the maturation of the corresponding research topics and the structuration of the corresponding communities. Another goal is to encourage Open Science best practices. In the framework of CHIST-ERA III, two joint transnational calls are planned (CHIST-ERA Calls 2017 and 2018), each covering two topics. The two topics for Call 2017 are "Object recognition and manipulation by robots: data sharing and experiment reproducibility" and "Industrial big data and process modelling for smart factories". The two topics for Call 2018 will be decided toward the end of 2017.