JONAVOS RAJONO SAVIVALDYBES ADMINISTRACIJA

Prosperity through innovation and promotion of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans

PROSPERITY will: 1. Produce a culture shift in terms of environment for SUMPs in member states and in the organisational culture of transport planning in city authorities. 2. Get ministries and national agencies to play a national leading role on SUMPs, as in many member states these are the organisations from which cities take their main direction; where ministries are already playing this role, to support and strengthen their approach. 3. To provide mechanisms and tools for Ministries to take this lead role. 4. Analyse clearly the problems of (lack of) take-up of SUMPs – to understand from cities themselves why they are not taken up and then to help cities to address these barriers. 5. Extend the existing 25-county EU-SUMP-network with at least two more countries 6. Get more cities to take up effective high quality SUMPs – through cities’ involvement in the project and indirectly through more cities hearing about SUMPs in their country. 7. Ensure that these SUMPs contain and will lead to implementation of a broad range of innovative sustainable transport measures. 8. Build cities’ capacity to develop and implement SUMPs that genuinely reflect the spirit of the EU SUMP Guidelines, rather than being mandatory documents to fulfil a requirement linked to major transport infrastructure. 9. Deliver a measurable impact.   The core concept of PROSPERITY is bringing ministries into the project, which will significantly enhance the visibility of the project at the national level and therefore increase numbers of cities active on SUMPs. Thus PROSPERITY will ensure that more cities commit to SUMPs that are in line with the EU SUMP Guidelines and that include a broad range of innovative measures. This will generate a high leverage factor, especially in regions and cities where take up is so far low and the impacts from transport are severe – therefore the majority of PROSPERITY activities is in such regions and cities - thus in southern, central-eastern and eastern Europe.


Blockchain HUB FOR EUROPEan startups acceleration and growth

B-HUB FOR EUROPE will target deep tech vertical startups in the blockchain domain. The initiative is aimed at: discovering high-potential innovations, shaping suited proof of concepts and business models, providing specialised acceleration services to overcome current market barriers and assist the go-to-market process, unlocking new market channels with potential private/public customers, scaling up innovative businesses across five startups ecosystems in Europe: IT (Rome), FR (Paris), DE (Berlin), LT (Vilnius) and RO (Cluj-Napoca).The initiative will build on the excellence of European blockchain high-growing innovations and will help startups to shape and offer high-tech solutions to address public challenges and business needs.Public and private actors involved will benefit from a tailormade knowledge transfer process on blockchain technologies and use cases for internal barriers removal and faster adoption.The project will open to follow-up initiatives beyond the project conclusion stimulating the uptake of blockchain solutions in the private/public sector, through procurement processes, joint collaborations and fund rising opportunities.B-HUB FOR EUROPE will provide to blockchain startups, accurately identified and recruited in the five ecosystems through dissemination and engagement initiatives, a set of customised, expert-based services aimed at: accelerating business perspective, providing mentoring and coaching, supporting access to finance, improving cross-border networking with the broad EU blockchain community. Collaboration schemes will be explored for co-creation processes between blockchain startups, public organisations, corporates, and SMEs. Connections and cross-border activities will be promoted to favour exchange among grown-up and less developed ecosystems.The project will contribute to the on-going efforts for a more favourable regulatory framework in the blockchain domain in Europe, with inputs and recommendations collected during the project life.

Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (LEIT)


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

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


APLINKOSAUGOS VALDYMO IR TECHNOLOGIJU CENTRAS VIESOJI ISTAIGA


Nano-satellites based Global Infrastructure to Enable IoT/M2M Networks - GIoT  (Global IoT)

The global Internet of Things (IoT) market is expected to sky rocket in upcoming years by reaching up 200 bn connected devices in 2020 compared to 15 bn in 2015 and the total market value is expected to reach 1.48 Tn Eur. However, just mostly populated areas are covered with such services and approximately 80% of the globe is without connectivity. Exiting satellite based solutions are either expensive, hardly accessible for new operators and not tailored for newest applications and operations.  Consortium consisting of NanoAvionics nano-satellite bus provider, Atnwerp Space inter-satellite link subsystem provider for continuous connectivity and KSAT responsible for ground stations and communication with fleet of satellites will approach this challenge by providing integrated nano-satellite based infrastructure for real time communication for IoT/M2M operators. This infrastructure “constellation as a service” will provide at least 10 times cheaper IoT/M2M services, real time data exchange and significantly reduce number of barriers to enter for new IoT/M2M operators. The targeted applications are fleet management, agriculture, asset tracking, pipelines monitoring etc.  During the project, the nano-satellite based infrastructure will be developed from TRL 6 to TRL 8 together with piloting customer and after operations in orbit it will be prepared for scale-up with other companies which have signed 2 letters of support and 3 Piloting agreements. The estimated impact for participating companies is creation of additional over 190 million Eur in 5 years after project implementation.


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.


FLAG-ERA, the Flagship ERA-NET, gathers national and regional funding organisation with the goal of supporting, together with the European Commission, the FET Flagship initiatives and more generally the FET Flagship programme. Most funding organisations in Europe participate, either directly or as associated members. FLAG-ERA contributes to the construction of the two Flagship initiatives on Graphene and Human Brain research, through a range of activities such as the launch of joint calls supporting transnational projects in synergy with the Flagships, contribution to the Flagship partnering framework, identification of potential partnering projects, information on funding opportunities for the Flagships, and networking events. The activities in FLAG-ERA are organised around periodic events gathering all stakeholders and structured in sessions dedicated to the various objectives and related tasks of the project. FLAG-ERA is implemented as a sequence of ERA-NET projects. FLAG-ERA III is the third ERA-NET project, starting in December 2018 for a period of 6 years, and covering the FLAG-ERA Joint Transnational Calls (JTC) 2019 and JTC 2021.


MOKSLO INOVACIJU IR TECHNOLOGIJU AGENTURA

Cooperation Of Space NCPs as a Means to Optimise Services under Horizon 2020

National Contact Points (NCPs) for Space provide support on Space funding under EU Framework programmes. In 2007 under FP7 the EU started funding an NCP Space network which was named COSMOS. This enabled the NCPs to benefit from each other’s experience and thus raise the level of the overall quality of their services. Additional services were established like a joint website and news service providing information about Space and EU Framework Programme related topics. Furthermore they organised international information days in support of the European Commission with emphasis on bringing potential project partners together. Last but not least they implemented a country independent helpdesk for EU framework Space research related questions. While the project partners are core of the network the full group comprises the other Space NCPs from EU member states and Associated Countries as well as Space contact points in international partner countries, mainly from Space faring nations. Within COSMOS2020 the network activities are continued under Horizon 2020. Capacity building, information services, project partner search support and more activities will once again reinforce the cooperation of the NCPs and raise the overall quality level of services. This is even more important since their role as only official support entity was decided for Horizon 2020.


LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOS ENERGETIKOS MINISTERIJOS

CONCERTED ACTION SUPPORTING THE TRANSPOSITION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF DIRECTIVE 2018/2001/EC ON THE PROMOTION OF THE USE OF ENERGY FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES (RECAST)

The Concerted Action supports the implementation of the RES directive. In particular, the Concerted Action facilitates sharing experience and good practice of implementation, finding common approaches as well as cross-learning and cooperation.  The work carried out within the CA-RES is designed to meet the needs of RES Directive implementing organisations. The action will provide added value compared with measures taken by each MS acting on its own. The Concerted Action will help make knowledge available to all participants through access to a network of national experts engaged in implementation of the Directive. The CA-RES4 will do this through a structured framework that will facilitate the exchange of information and experience through a series of meetings and other communication tools. It will provide participants with an opportunity to learn from others implementation process and policy approaches and build national policy capacity, but also to explore opportunities for bi-lateral or multi-lateral cooperation and identify areas for possible future convergence and harmonised approaches amongst participating countries.  The CA-RES4 builds upon the success and structures of the previous phases of the CA. The CA-RES community has developed during the course of the previous phases into a unique network of experts and will be strengthened. The objective is to provide participating countries with the most pertinent information that may lead them on the most efficient path towards an effective implementation of the RES Directive 2018/2001/EC in the EU. The expected impact of the Action consists of a more harmonized approach and improved implementation of the RED II in participating countries, a strengthened network of experts as well as the transfer of good practices between countries.


The overall objective of the project is to develop and test the tools necessary for the assessment of the hydro-mechanical evolution of an installed bentonite barrier and its resulting performance. This will be achieved by cooperation between design and engineering, science and performance assessment. The evolution from an installed engineered system to a fully functioning barrier will be assessed. One of the challenges is to take into account initial heterogeneities introduced in the system by conception with a combination of block and pellets or due to the size of the bentonite component (several 100 m3). It will require a more detailed understanding of material properties, of the fundamental processes that lead to homogenisation, of the role of scale effects and improved capabilities for numerical modelling. The goal is to verify the performance of current designs for buffers, backfills, seals and plugs. The overall driver for the project is the assessment cases that will be defined at the onset of the project (WP1). The quantitative models currently available are not fully able to represent all the complexities of the evolution of an installed bentonite. A substantial effort is needed to improve both the conceptual approaches and the numerical solutions in the current models (WP3). The updated/newly developed models need to be tested and verified using available data (WP5).  There are some areas where fundamental data and the understanding of materials are incomplete. An efficient experimental programme will support model development and testing (WP4). There is already a large database from experiments performed within EC projects and national programmes, both laboratory and Underground Research Laboratory (URL) experiments. Many of the tests have been performed with other purposes in mind, but the results can be used in the Beacon project. The objective of WP2 is to collect the relevant information and process it to a level where it can be used in this project


A European standardization framework for data integration and data-driven in silico models for personalized medicine

The capacity to generate data in Life Sciences and health research with modern omics and imaging technologies has increased many orders of magnitude in the last decade. In combination with patient/personal derived data such as electronic health records, patient registries and -databases, as well as life style information this Big Data holds an immense potential for clinical applications, especially for in silico personalized medicine approaches. However, and despite the ever progressing technological advances in producing data, the exploitation of Big Data information to generate new knowledge for medical benefits, while guaranteeing data privacy and security, is lacking behind its full potential. A reason for this obstacle is the inherent heterogeneity of Big Data and the lack of broadly accepted standards that allow interoperable integration of heterogeneous health data to perform analysis and interpretation for predictive in silico modelling approaches in health research such as personalized medicine. Further obstacles are legal issues surrounding the use of personal data. To overcome these obstacles, we will establish a pan-European Expert forum with two main objectives: (i) to assess and evaluate national standardization strategies for interoperable health data integration (such as omics-, disease-focused-, clinical-/treatment- or healthcare- and socioeconomic-/lifestyle-data) as well as data-driven in silico modelling approaches and (ii) to harmonize and develop universal (cross-border) standards as well as recommendations for in silico methodologies applied in personalized medicine approaches. This pan-European Expert Forum —the EU-STANDS4PM consortium— has the overarching aim to bundle transnational standardization guidelines for in silico methodologies in transnational and clinical research to unfold the potential of personalized medicine.

Health, demographic change and wellbeing


Advanced European Infrastructures for Detectors at Accelerators

Particle physics is at the forefront of the ERA, attracting a global community of more than 10,000 scientists. With the upgrade of the LHC and the preparation of new experiments, the community will have to overcome unprecedented challenges in order to answer fundamental questions concerning the Higgs boson, neutrinos, and physics beyond the Standard Model. Major developments in detector technology are required to ensure the success of these endeavours.   The AIDA-2020 project brings together the leading European infrastructures in detector development and a number of academic institutes, thus assembling the necessary expertise for the ambitious programme of work. In total, 19 countries and CERN are involved in this programme, which follows closely the priorities of the European Strategy for Particle Physics.   AIDA-2020 aims to advance detector technologies beyond current limits by offering well-equipped test beam and irradiation facilities for testing detector systems under its Transnational Access programme. Common software tools, micro-electronics and data acquisition systems are also provided. This shared high-quality infrastructure will ensure optimal use and coherent development, thus increasing knowledge exchange between European groups and maximising scientific progress. The project also exploits the innovation potential of detector research by engaging with European industry for large-scale production of detector systems and by developing applications outside of particle physics, e.g. for medical imaging.   AIDA-2020 will lead to enhanced coordination within the European detector community, leveraging EU and national resources. The project will explore novel detector technologies and will provide the ERA with world-class infrastructure for detector development, benefiting thousands of researchers participating in future particle physics projects, and contributing to maintaining Europe's leadership of the field.


POLICIJOS DEPARTAMENTAS PRIE LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOS VIDAUS REIKALU MINISTERIJOS

Innovation - Law Enforcement Agencies Dialogue

l-LEAD’s focus is on the incapability of groups of operational Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) practitioners defining their needs for innovation. This will be done in a methodological way, also with the help of the research & industrial partners supplemented by a broad range of committed stakeholders. I-LEAD will build the capacity to monitor the security research and technology market in order to ensure a better matching and uptake of innovations by law enforcement agencies with the overarching aim to make it a sustainable Pan-Europan LEA network. Earlier funded European research with a high technology readiness level as well as pipeline technologies will be closely monitored and assessed on its usefulness. Where possible a direct uptake from this research will be facilitated and implemented in the ENLETS and ENFSI networks supporting the action. I-LEAD will indicate priorities in five practitioner groups as well as aspects that needs (more) standardization and formulate recommendations how to incorporate these in procedures. As a final step, I-LEAD will advise the Member States through the existing EDBP-ESTP procurement group about how the outcomes of this project could be used in Pre-Commercial Procurement and Public Procurement of Innovation activities.

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


Eco-Solar Factory - 40%plus eco-efficiency gains in the photovoltaic value chain with minimised resource and energy consumption by closed loop systems

EcoSolar envisions an integrated value chain to manufacture and implement solar panels in the most ecologic way by maximising resource efficiency, taking into account reuse of materials during production and repurposing solar panel components at end of life stage. EcoSolar will demonstrate that during the lifetime of a solar electricity producing field, individual panels can be monitored, allowing to identify defaulting panels at an early stage, replacing or repairing them and thus to increase the overall energy yield.  In WP1, SINTEF&Norsun will work on recovery & reuse during silicon ingot crystallisation, addressing recovery of argon purge gas and work with Steuler on reusable crucibles. In WP2 Garbo will recover Si-kerf-loss during wafering, and with SINTEF work on potential reuse applications, like as Si-feedstock in crystallisation processes, or as resource in crucible manufacturing or lithium ion battery production. In WP3, ISC&SoliTek will look into potential for re-using process water; reducing material resources, like chemicals and silver, by smarter solar cell design, more efficient processes and recovery and reuse of chemicals; AIMEN will develop solar cell monitoring and repair for inline processing in an industrial plant, to enable remanufacturing. In WP4 Apollon will use a module design that results in reduced bill of materials, enables remanufacturing and reuse of components from modules that showed failures after assembly or have been identified as malfunctioning in operating PV installations, based on integrated diagnosis techniques for the detection of failure modes. bifa will collect data from all previous WPs to assess environmental impact of the intended innovations (WP5). Bifa will identify waste streams that are costly and hard to recycle and find opportunities to repurpose those waste products. BCC will disseminate the results and will support the partners with the exploitation and replication potential of the results (WP6).


Modular, scalable and high-performance DE-polymerization by MicrowavE TechnolOgy

Based on an internationally patented technology, the project foresees to bring at industrial level (through a completely functional pilot plant) the usage of microwaves as Process Intensification approach (through an electromagnetic catalytical effect) of the well-known alkaline hydrolysis depolymerization reaction. Such reaction was, up to know, economically unfeasible due to a certain number of technological constraints that DEMETO finally solves.  Coordinated by PROCESSI INNOVATIVI, R&D company of a large EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) group, but supported by a large basis of SMEs that will bring the most innovative aspects of the project technology, DEMETO's Consortium is composed by highly skilled members, which can guarantee the appropriate exploitation of the project business case, also thanks to the involvement of all the major commercial stakeholders of the PET value chain, including the most relevant Customer Segments.  In fact, having followed all previous steps from lab-level testing (TRL3) to industrial demonstration of the core reactor (TRL6), we are now in the position to further move the technology towards its market deployment, by building a pilot plant (containing a full reactive unit) that would act as industrial demonstration of the performances of DEMETO's de-polymerization approach to the market. One of the project major strengths is in fact that the market is ready to accept DEMETO's technology. The existing value chain of post-consumer recovery of PET plastic waste is perfectly apt to accept the introduction of a new "ring of the chain", that would close the loop into a circular economy model, acting either at the end of the chain (mechanical recyclers) or at its beginning (PET producers). This gives us a total addressable market of about 60 plants in Europe (270 worldwide), for a value of around €1.2bn (€5.4bn worldwide).


Feasibility Study for INTELEG® S HF – a Wide Pressure Range Process Gas Analysis System

The fast growing thin and ultra-thin film industries largely rely on modern vacuum-based processes, which often exhibit fast and slow process gas composition changes and drifts. Such changes are undesirable and can result in reproducibility and product quality issues. Various control strategies, relying on proper monitoring systems (such as Gas Analysis Systems [GAS]), can be employed to stabilise production processes at the desired working point by regulating gas flow and thus adjusting gas composition. However, currently existing GAS are rather limited and there is no solution available on the market that provides gas composition information reliably in the process pressure range between 0.1 and 10,000 mTorr as well as provide 24/7 non-stop operation. Furthermore, ultra-thin film market has been exponentially growing: by 2024 it is expected to grow at CAGR of 15.1%; up to €99.78 bn. Due to the growing demand for reliable wide-range GAS solving the existing shortcomings, Nova Fabrica has developed a miniature high-frequency plasma-OES-based gas analysis system INTELEG® S HF. It enables to measure the gas composition of vacuum-based processes in the pressure range from 0.1 up to 10,000 mTorr. It is expected that INTELEG® S HF will be the first single GAS instrument in the world capable to provide process gas analysis for PVD, CVD, ALD, IAD, etc., as well as for processes taking place in even lower vacuum at pressures up to 10,000 mTorr. Comparing to competing solutions, a breakthrough INTELEG® S HF solution offers a true global “down-stream” process gas analysis, 24/7 operation, 100,000 hours of mean time before failure, fulfilment of industry 4.0 requirements, competitive price, has no production downtime and is maintenance-free. The main objectives of Phase 1 of SME Instrument are to develop an elaborate feasibility study including technical feasibility testing, IPR strategy and business plan – crucial steps towards successful commercialisation of the solution.


Holistic management practices, modelling and monitoring for European forest soils

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

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


Integrated Components for Complexity Control in affordable electrified cars

The 3Ccar project will provide highly integrated ECS Components for Complexity Control in thereby affordable electrified cars. The new semiconductors for Complexity management (Control, reduction) will offer the next level of energy efficiency in transportation systems. 3Ccar’s impact is maximizing pragmatic strategy: Use semiconductor technology innovations to manage functionality & complexity increase. This leads also to cheaper, efficient, robust, comfortable, reliable and usable automotive systems. This strengthens Europe as a whole (OEM, Tier1, Semiconductor) generating economic growth and new jobs in Europe. The impact of 3Ccar is driven vertically by innovations and horizontally enabling growth and deployment in the industry based on what we see as European Values. We recognized that European engineers develop for highest efficiency, convergence and manageable complexity. Our society appreciates long life products to avoid waste. 50 partners and 55 Mio€ budget give the mass for innovative products such as functional integrated powertrains, smart battery cells with unique selling features allowing Europe to advance to global leadership. An important feature of the project has been the recognition and exploitation of synergies with other EV projects, enabling fast innovation cycles between such aligned projects. With 55 Mio€ budget and 10 b€ impact the R&D expenditure ratio is 200 which is 10x higher than the semiconductor average and corresponds to very strong innovation potential which will be translated into automotive and semiconductor industry. The technologies developed in 3Ccar will be commercialized all over the world while giving advantages to Europe’s OEMs willing to manufacture in Europe. 3Ccar will be involved in standardization needed to ensure that large vertical supply chains can be established. The 3Ccar project shows that collaboration between industry, research institutes, governments and customers is pivotal for excellence in Europe.


Photoacoustic/Ultrasound Mammoscopy for evaluating screening-detected abnormalities in the breast

X-ray mammography is the mainstay of breast cancer screening programs. It is estimated that between 20 - 50% of abnormal screening mammograms will prove to be negative. The paradigm in diagnosis is to establish whether a lesion is benign or malignant. All the imaging techniques conventionally used today – diagnostic x-ray, ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging have many limitations, leading to multiple and/or repeat imaging and often unnecessary biopsy. This leads to physical, psychological and economic burdens felt at individual, familial and societal levels.    With an aging population, high incidence of breast cancer and tightening health-care budgets, there is an urgent  requirement for a non-invasive method for in-depth assessment of the screening-detected lesion. In PAMMOTH we will showcase such an imager, combining photoacoustic  and ultrasound imaging. With the use of quantitative image reconstruction of multi-wavelength photoacoustic data, information is gained of the vascular and oxygen status of the lesion relating to tumor physiology and function. From the ultrasound part, we derive ultrasound reflection from the lesion in a manner superior to conventional breast ultrasonography, relating to anatomic features and extent of a tumor. This information will enable the radiologist to come to a diagnosis accurately and rapidly without the use of contrast agents, without pain and  discomfort to the patient, while being cost-effective and not requiring complex infrastructure.   Four excellent academic groups, three dynamic SMEs, and a hospital come together with support from key stakeholders in an Advisory group, to push beyond the state-of-the-art in science and technology to achieve the PAMMOTH imager. For the SMEs, in addition to tremendous improvements in individual product lines, the new integrated diagnostic imaging instrument opens up completely new market opportunities.   We expect PAMMOTH to have a strong economic and clinical impact.


Surface Traffic Alerts Improve Runway Safety

As a result of increasingly busy airports, safe runway operation is one of the highest challenges for aviation safety. All main aviation bodies (e.g. IATA, ICAO, CANSO, ACI, EASA, FAA & EUROCONTROL) identify runway incursion as a major safety threat.  Safety has been improved thanks to airport surface management systems: A-SMGCS is available on many major airports and ground safety nets (e.g. RWSL) start to be deployed. However, these systems are not expected to fully resolve the runway incursion risk and are not envisaged to be deployed at smaller airports.  Incursion rate remains steady (3/100.000 operations) and events continue to occur (28 near-miss collisions last 5 years). Although TCAS has been in use since 1981, there is currently no aircraft system to prevent runway collisions. Within S2020-W1 PJ03B05, ADS-B technology is leveraged to validate on-board SURFace Alerts with possible Indications (SURF-A & SURF-IA). SURF-A/IA is the ultimate safety net against collision when all previous barriers have failed. Solution is reaching V3 in 2019 thanks to fast-time/real-time simulations and flight test validation. During S2020-W2 VLD2, SURF-A/IA airborne platforms will be developed, certified, fitted on airline aircraft and exposed on revenue flights. The objective is to check the performance of the function in real environment, in particular the absence of nuisance alert. Participating ANSPs (DSNA, DFS, ANS-CR(B4), PANSA (B4)) and EUROCONTROL, who are convinced of the need for complementary aircraft safety net for airport operations, will conduct specific studies to ensure the interoperability with ATC procedures & ground safety nets. In addition, this trial will be the largest ground ADS-B IN trial worldwide, paving the way towards large deployment of SURF-A/IA or future ADS-B applications and standards. Demonstration aims at being very large, including: 3 airlines or more,50 aircraft,12 months recording period,50.000 flights collected and 300 airports visited.


VILNIAUS GEDIMINO TECHNIKOS UNIVERSITETAS

Sustainable Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Concrete (FRP-RC) Structures

The corrosion problem of steel reinforcement severely limits the life-cycle sustainability of conventional reinforced concrete structures. This proposal focuses on the use of corrosion-free fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcing bars in lieu of steel reinforcing bars in concrete structures. Due to the currently incomplete understanding of serviceability aspects of FRP reinforced concrete (FRP-RC) structures, the existing design guidelines are not comprehensive, and this restricts the applications of FRP-RC in real-life. The proposed project will investigate the fundamental issues of serviceability, fracture mechanics and time-dependent effects of FRP-RC to enable its practical usage. The objectives encompass experimental investigation of deformation characteristics of FRP-RC specimens, derivation of constitutive models and establishment of deformation capacity of FRP-RC members, formulation of design guidelines in serviceability and development of design aids for use by practising engineers. A number of first-time-in-the-world techniques initiated by the applicant researcher, Dr. Pui-Lam NG and the host supervisor, Prof. Gintaris KAKLAUSKAS of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) will be employed in the project. The expertise areas of the researcher and the host are highly complementary and there will be substantial two-way transfer of knowledge. The researcher and the host propose to undertake the project with partner organisations University of Minho led by Prof. Joaquim A.O. BARROS, and University of Cambridge led by Prof. Chris BURGOYNE, in 24 months duration. Measures to disseminate the research findings to the academic and engineering communities and communicate the results to the general public have been formulated. A detailed work plan of research activities, deployment of manpower and resources, contingency plan for risk mitigation, and availability of research infrastructure have been duly addressed to enable effective delivery of the project.


VALSTYBINIS MOKSLINIU TYRIMU INSTITUTAS FIZINIU IR TECHNOLOGIJOS MOKSLU CENTRAS

PHotonics enhanced fAB LABS supporting the next revolution in digitalization

PHABLABS 4.0 aims to integrate photonics in a durable way into the rapidly expanding ecosystem of European Fab Labs and Makerslabs, resulting in a larger and better skilled photonics workforce with superior innovation capacity to achieve a lasting, positive impact on the next revolution in digitization. Combining the forces of top experts from 13 European photonics institutes and STEM-oriented organizations with the Fab Lab stakeholders, PHABLABS 4.0 will devise and deliver a comprehensive suite of 33 Photonics Workshops, 11 Photonics Challenger projects and Photonics Toolkits to enhance Fab Labs and Makerslab with photonics activities aimed at 3 specific target groups: young minds (age 10-14), students (age 15-18) and young professionals and technicians (age 18+). These activities will be extensively tested in 14 existing Fab Labs with the purpose of rolling them out to the entire growing network of European Fab Labs as a proven model at the end of the project.  They will stimulate hands-on design, fabrication, experiments, and the building of innovative systems with photonics, and in this way nurture the 21st Century skills of the participants.  In that sense the PHABLABS 4.0 project will harness the power of the growing innovation ecosystem of the Fab Labs and equip it with sufficient material to really engage, excite and educate youngsters, students, technicians and young professionals alike in the skills of working and innovating with light. The ultimate impact of PHABLABS 4.0 will be seen in the emergence of a much larger and better trained workforce with 21st Century skills capable of translating the potential of photonics as a key enabling technology into tangible products for the benefit of society.


The primary outcomes of vf-OS are an: - Open Operating System (vf-OS) and Software Development Kit (OAK) for Factories of the Future that aims to be the reference system software for collaborative manufacturing and logistics processes including its associated resources and data - Open vf-OS Platform, including a Multi-sided application marketplace and development studio, that aims to become the Apps Store for Manufacturing industry The multi-sided marketplace will allow Manufacturing Users, Manufacturing Resource providers, Service Providers and Software Developers to cooperate and demand, build, select, and use vf-OS applications with the vf-OS exploiters, like classical App stores, having a business model based on taking a share of purchases of applications and services from the platform.  vf-OS is composed of a Virtual Factory System Kernel (vf-SK), a Virtual Factory Application Programming Interface (vf-API) and a Virtual Factory Middleware (vf-MW) for interoperable and secure collaboration among supply networks, enterprises, machines, data and objects. The Virtual Factory Platform (vf-P) will be a infrastructure, either in-cloud or on-premise, that supports the Manufacturing Apps Store and Virtual Machines. vf-OS especially addresses SMEs by providing a full functionality at affordable cost and with Cloud availability.  The Manufacturing Apps will be developed with an Open Applications Development Kit (vf-OAK), freely provided to software developers, for rapid and cost effective deployment of advanced industrial applications running over vf-OS, allowing fast time-to-market and world-wide base industrial clients.


PJ.05-W2 Digital technologies for Tower - SESAR-IR-VLD-WAVE2-05-2019 deals with two Solutions: Solution 35: "Multiple Remote Tower and Remote Tower centre" and with solution 97: "HMI Interaction modes for Airport Tower". 14 SESAR members (in sum 31 legal beneficiaries) showed interest in these solutions. For solution 35 cost-effectiveness is the principal key performance area (KPA). It proposes the development of a remotely provided aerodrome air traffic service by a "multiple" and/or "center" setting. Those settings help to combine ATS services from various aerodromes in a centralized control room  independent on airport location in order to make use of the valuable resource ATS provider more efficiently. In the end, the passengers will benefit from by a better passenger comfort in terms of shorter travel times and better point to point connections. PJ05 will bring the multiple/center concept to such a matured level ready for industrialization.  PJ05-Solution 97 aims to validate, in different Airport operating environments, innovative HMI modes and associated technologies. Those solutions are expected to positively contribute to the Safety and HP KPAs with reduced Controllers’ head down time and workload, as well as increased situation awareness and controllers' productivity. The PJ05-W2 DTT attracted plenty of European organisations to participate: ANSPs, industries, R&D and airport stakeholder intends to provide their specific competences to broaden the operational needs and technological expertises. The PJ05 variety of partners and validation activities will help to adequately reflect the variety of operational needs and technical solutions which in the end of the project will consolidate into a harmonized and widely accepted SESAR2020 PJ05 solution. The complete work is structured in a very collaborative way throughout all work packages and will ensure the transfer of knowledge and know-how between all participants and external to SESAR2020 projects.


The HUB for boosting the Responsibility and inclusiveness of ICT enabled Research and Innovation through constructive interactions with SSH research

The long term strategic objective of HubIT is to contribute to the high level of European research and innovation and ensure that H2020 funded and further ICT related innovation is responsible, inclusive and aimed at reversing inequalities.  The direct objective of HubIT is to build a hub that will activate and improve constructive and co-creating interactions between SSH and ICT disciplines in developing and implementing a shared vision of inclusive   HubIT will activate constructive interactions between the stakeholders forming the RRI-SSH eco-system via various network and engagement activities embedded intro the WP structure, that have the overall goal of developing a tangible European Framework Model for implementing responsible and inclusive ICT research and innovation. The Framework Model is a comprehensive set of jointly developed and used definitions, guidelines and tools for enforcing RRI and SSH issues in ICT research and innovation: • The concept of responsible R&I • Matrix of the key challenges • Tool for assessment of RRI and SSH perspectives in ICT within an organisation • Guidelines for responsible ICT R&I informed by SSH • Best Practice Repository • Fact Sheets and Policy briefs • Key measurable success indicators  • Policy Recommendations • Virtual Matching Catalogue • HubIT exploitation plan   The mechanisms for network building, engagement and awareness rising embedded in the WP structure are: • Advisory Board workshops • Expert Group workshops • Community building and knowledge sharing – national network events, thematic workshops, policy, SSH researchers and ICT industries workshops • Practical collaborations and experimentation - Common Ground Camps, Interactive ICT Labs, Inclusive Hackathons In total 35 network activities are implemented and in total 1140 participants. HubIT online platform will be the interactive environment, where the project tools and services can be accessed in modular, visually attractive and dynamic way.

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


SESAR 2020 Programme aims to modernise and harmonise the European ATM System from operational and technological perspective. It will develop and validate different ATM solutions that will contribute to achieving its high level performance objectives. In this complex context, it is crucial to have a transversal activity that generates a consolidated big picture of the future European ATM System – the SESAR 2020 Concept of Operations, the High Level Architecture options, Services and the associated performance results. In SESAR2020 this important task will be under the responsibility of PJ19 – Content Integration. The other main task of the PJ19 will be to provide steering guidance, principles and frameworks to support and facilitate the production and the integration of the content produced by SESAR2020 Solution and Enabling projects. It will enable the assessment of the overall performance of the SESAR Solutions brought together against the performance improvements expectations. It will provide the main input for the future updates of the European ATM Master Plan. PJ19 will bring together 16 partners. The broad representation of experts from the European Air Navigation Service Providers, Airports, Airborne and Ground industries and Network Manager will provide the necessary skills to successfully and efficiently carry out the project tasks and to meet the expectations of the SJU. PJ19 will produce a set of deliverables that consolidate the SESAR2020 Programme outcomes and provide an integrated reference material on a yearly basis. All these tasks will be performed in collaboration with all SESAR 2020 projects throughout an interactive, continuous and iterative process on all aspects of content integration. PJ19 deliverables will support the SJU to assess the maturity of the SESAR Solutions for delivery to the SESAR Deployment Manager, to monitor the SESAR2020 Programme execution and to support the SJU decision making.


learninG, pRocessing, And oPtimising shapES

GRAPES aims at considerably advancing the state of the art in Mathematics, Computer-Aided Design, and Machine Learning in order to promote game changing approaches for generating, optimising, and learning 3D shapes, along with a multisectoral training for young researchers. Recent advances in the above domains have solved numerous tasks concerning multimedia and 2D data. However, automation of 3D geometry processing and analysis lags severely behind, despite their importance in science, technology and everyday life, and the well-understood underlying mathematical principles. The CAD industry, although well established for more than 20 years, urgently requires advanced methods and tools for addressing new challenges.   The scientific goal of GRAPES is to bridge this gap based on a multidisciplinary consortium composed of leaders in their respective fields. Top-notch research is also instrumental in forming the new generation of European scientists and engineers. Their disciplines span the spectrum from Computational Mathematics, Numerical Analysis, and Algorithm Design, up to Geometric Modelling, Shape Optimisation, and Deep Learning. This allows the 15 PhD candidates to follow either a theoretical or an applied track and to gain knowledge from both research and innovation through a nexus of intersectoral secondments and Network-wide workshops.   Horizontally, our results lead to open-source, prototype implementations, software integrated into commercial libraries as well as open benchmark datasets. These are indispensable for dissemination and training but also to promote innovation and technology transfer. Innovation relies on the active participation of SMEs, either as a beneficiary hosting an ESR or as associate partners hosting secondments. Concrete applications include simulation and fabrication, hydrodynamics and marine design, manufacturing and 3D printing, retrieval and mining, reconstruction and visualisation, urban planning and autonomous driving.


Eat me microglia: lipid scrambling as a signal for synaptic pruning

The development of the nervous system is associated with the generation of excess neuronal synapses that is followed by their tightly controlled removal, a process known as synaptic pruning. In the primate cortex, for example, 70% of connections are selectively lost within the first six months of life. Why are so many synapses lost, what determines which synapses are eliminated, what are the molecular mechanisms involved, and what are the consequences of not getting it right? Recently, several studies have presented microglial phagocytosis as a mechanism for synapse elimination. Neural activity plays a role in synaptic pruning, but the neuronal “eat-me” signals that mediate phagocytic recognition and engulfment of synapses remain to be identified. We hypothesize that cell surface exposure of the lipid phosphatidylserine (PtdSer) is a key “eat-me” signal for synaptic pruning during development. Therefore we aim to define the role of PtdSer in synapse-microglia interaction and to assess the morphological, circuit maturation and behavioural effects of impaired PtdSer exposure in phospholipid scramblase-deficient brains. We propose to use novel custom-made tool to observe PtdSer exposure without interfering with PtdSer-dependent cellular interactions and two mouse models with disrupted PtdSer exposure to study how PtdSer contributes to circuit refinement. The identification of an “eat-me” signal will shed the light on what distinguishes synapses destined to be eliminated from those that survive and will be the first step in understanding why the majority of synapses are turned over during brain development before the final connectome emerges. As aberrant brain wiring during development is known to be defective in a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders, understanding how circuits are formed and refined during developmental period will be critical to understand their aetiology and initiate the development of the therapy targeting molecular mechanisms of disease.


Baltic Region Initiative for Long Lasting InnovAtive Nuclear Technologies

The region of the European Union around the Baltic sea especially the countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are not adequately integrated to the European electricity grid. At the end of 2009 Ignalina NPP (Lithuania), which generated ~70-75 % of electricity in Lithuania and supplied electricity to Latvia and Estonia was permanently shutdown leaving the region without nuclear power generation. Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are discussing building new NPP of ABWR type in Visaginas (Lithuania). Poland employed its own program for nuclear energy and is a potential partner for Visaginas NPP as well.   New electricity grid interconnections Lithuania - Sweden and Lithuania - Poland are under construction and should start operation at the end of 2015 provide possibilities for synchronization of the electricity grid of the Baltic region with the continental Europe. Building new NPP affects the whole region not only in technological but in macroeconomic field as well.   Different level of nuclear safety and radiation safety knowledge as well as R&D infrastructure exists in countries of the Baltic region. BRILLIANT is developed to find an optimal regional solution by creation of cooperation platform for modern electrical power solutions. This will be achieved by identifying the barriers for nuclear power development in Baltic region and preparing a ground for overcoming them. The project will support the exchange of knowledge, competences and infrastructure among the countries of Baltic region - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. The company VAE SPB (Lithuania) is established for implementation of preparatory works of new Visaginas NPP. VAE SPB is an industrial partner in the project providing valuable insights and information.  Cooperation among project partners would give better synergies with on-going and future Euratom projects in particular those offering access to research infrastructures in conjunction with education and training.


ODYSSEE-MURE, a decision support tool for energy efficiency policy evaluation.

The 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) establishes a set of binding measures to help the EU reach its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020. Countries have also set their own indicative national energy efficiency targets. To reach these targets, EU countries have to implement energy efficiency policies and monitor their impact. The Commission has also the task of monitoring the impacts of the measures to check that the EU is on track with its 2020 target.   The objective of the ODYSSEE MURE 2015 proposal is to contribute to this monitoring:  •	By updating two comprehensive databases covering each EU MS; ODYSSEE on energy consumption and energy efficiency indicators, and MURE on energy efficiency measures; •	By providing new and innovative trainings and didactical documents to national, regional and local administrations in EU MS to raise their capacity and expertise in the field of energy efficiency monitoring and impact evaluation. •	By extending the evaluation of the impact of energy efficiency from energy and CO2 savings, as already done in ODYSSEE, to the multiple other benefits.  The updating of two databases ODYSSEE and MURE will play a key role to provide updated and centralized information required by each MS and the Commission to assess, monitor and evaluate energy efficiency progress and the state of implementation of measures and their impact.  The project will provide innovative training tools and documents in a very user friendly way to public administrations to help them in implementing the monitoring of the progress achieved with indicators, in designing new policy measures and assessing the impacts of these measures, not only in terms of energy savings, but also in terms of the other benefits linked to energy efficiency improvements.  Finally, the project will try to provide an assessment of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency policies for all MS combing existing evaluation and new calculations.


Optimizing Bio-based Fertilisers in Agriculture – Knowledgebase for New Policies

Imported mineral phosphate and fossil energy-intensive nitrogen fertilisers cause major detrimental impacts on the environment, whilst nutrient-rich side-streams/organic waste remain under-utilised. By optimising usage of bio-based fertilisers (BBF) from side-streams, ensuring their safety, building evidence-based trust in their usage and developing legislative framework for their use, it will be possible to reduce dependence upon mineral/fossil fertilisers, benefiting the environment and the EU’s economy.  LEX4BIO aims to achieve this by collecting and processing regional nutrient stock, flow, surplus and deficiency data, and reviewing and assessing the required technological solutions. Furthermore, socioeconomic benefits and limitations to increase substitution of mineral fertiliser for BBFs will be analysed. A key result of LEX4BIO will be a universal, science-based toolkit for optimising the use of BBFs in agriculture and to assess their environmental impact in terms of non-renewable energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and other LCA impact categories. LEX4BIO provides for the first time connection between production technologies of BBFs and regional requirements for the safe use of BBFs.  The large variation between EU regions in nutrient flows and regional requirements for fertilisers will be estimated by harmonised methods to produce the knowledge basis needed to set up feasible ways to redirect the nutrient flows where needed. This will be followed by classifying the best available technologies for producing regionally tailored BBFs to secure high agricultural productivity, as well as environmental protection, food safety and human health.  In LEX4BIO, the knowledge basis and recommendations will be gathered and processed together with stakeholders across Europe, providing best solutions for decreasing the dependency on imported fertilisers, closing the nutrient cycles and improving sustainability of European farming systems.


Collaboration of Humanities And Social Sciences in Europe

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


Baltic Consortium on Promoting Gender Equality in Marine Research Organisations

Baltic Gender is a consortium of research organisations and higher education institutions from the Baltic Sea Region aiming at reducing gender segregation and gender inequalities in Marine Science and Technology. The diversity of the consortium members (from Nordic, Continental and Eastern countries) with regard to gender equality policies and practices as well as gatekeeping provides an excellent basis for exchange, comparison, collaborative learning and transfer of knowledge. The action will work toward the establishment and implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) as instruments that can catalyse institutional change. Collection, standardisation and evaluation of gender-segregated data will facilitate the establishment of gender-sensitive indicators and enable the consortium to develop concrete targets and measures for reaching the set goals of the GEPs and to monitor the progress of their implementation. GEP implementation activities will be supported by established approaches and innovative strategies developed in the four core work packages on (i) career advancement, (ii) work and family, (iii) structural changes, and (iv) gender dimension in marine research. Cross-cutting work packages will support action’s progress via giving trainings, strengthening networks, raising awareness, disseminating results and reaching out to a wider scientific community and public in general. The outputs are designed to maximize impact and, due to the inter-disciplinary nature of marine sciences, to have a broader impact in the field of natural science and technology. The deliverables include blogs, brochures, best-practice handbooks, recommendations, training-materials, synthesis reports. Schemes and good practices established during the action (e.g., grass-root networks, work-family balance, transparency in decision making, modernised recruitment processes, mentoring) are foreseen to pave the way for long-lasting institutional practices.

Promote gender equality in research and innovation


Safety is aviation’s top priority. To work for even safer airports, Project 03b SAFE will define, consolidate and validate additional safety bareers to mitigate the risks of runway incursion, runway excursion and more generally the risk of incidents and accidents involving aircraft at the airport. They will be declined into four Solutions:  Solution ‘Enhanced airport safety support tools for controllers’ will provide Air Traffic Controllers with means to prevent the delivery of conflicting clearances and detect non-conformance to clearances on the entire airport.  Solution ‘Conformance monitoring alerts for pilots’ will warn pilots when an inconsistency between the aircraft behaviour with either ATC Clearance or procedure is detected.   Solution ‘Traffic alerts for pilots for airport operations’ is a key feature to significantly decrease the risk of collision with any mobile on runway and taxiways, improving safety on airport surface.   Solution ‘Safety support tools for avoiding runway excursions’ will address the most frequent type of runway safety accident (22% of all accidents over the 2010-2014 period according to IATA Safety Report). The work will focus on how the risk of runway excursion can be mitigated by on-board and ground systems that could warn pilots, controllers or both when appropriate. This solution requires a better knowledge of runway braking conditions, and can improve the runway capacity and environmental aspects through a better management of decontamination operations.   Dedicated tasks to support standardization activities will be performed in each solution when appropriate. PJ03b Consortium involves key stakeholders of Airborne Industry, Ground ATM Industry, Service Providers (ATM and Airports), Aerospace Research and EUROCONTROL. Those members of the SJU will cooperate for implementing SESAR 2020 in an efficient, open and timely manner, providing a wide range of expertise and committing together to deliver high-quality results.


Copenhagen Airport: a Lighthouse for the introduction of sustainable aviation solutions for the future

The ALIGHT project will address the global need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and other air emissions in order to adapt to climate change and promote a sustainable future. It will do so through the development and demonstration of two sustainable solutions to be implemented in Copenhagen Airport (the Lighthouse airport), namely 1) the supply, implementation, integration and smart use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and 2) the development, integration and implementation of smart energy system (including renewable energy sources, energy storage and energy management). On the SAF side, ALIGHT will tackle a current challenge, namely the smart, sustainable and cost effective handling of SAF in the operational context of a major airport. The project will address the SAF chain from procurement to integration and demonstration and ensure compliance with all relevant criteria, including sustainability. Within the area of smart energy, ALIGHT will address the full chain from system mapping, energy supply (including renewable energy, energy storage and geothermal energy), smart energy management to planning and demonstration in passenger transport, ground handling equipment and buildings (including heating, cooling and electricity). Field performance monitoring will be performed on aircraft exhaust-, vehicle- and air quality level. Sustainability and the reduction of GHG and other air emissions will be addressed throughout, and all components will be subject to relevant sustainability requirements. ALIGHT will bring forward the necessary solutions, knowledge, guidelines and best practice recommendations in comprehensivWith the Lighthouse project, CPH as Lighthouse with two fellow airports, will demonstrate energy-efficient, climate-friendly, fossil-free and smart solutions in preparation for upcoming massive investments in, among other things. infrastructure for biokerosene airplane fuel and electrification of vehicles and machines both in- and outside the airport.


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.


VSI SOCIALINES INOVACIJOS SVARESNEI APLINKAI

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

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


Donor-Acceptor light emitting exciplexes as materials for easily to tailor ultra-efficient OLED lighting

Artificial lighting is a global and growing industry. New forms of efficient solid state lighting (SSL) in particular are rapidly gaining a market share. New OLED technologies (Organic Light Emitting Diode) can revolutionise this industry as they have done in displays because of their potential flexible structure, infinite tailoring of their properties, efficiency and high colour quality. Industrial forecasts predict that the OLED lighting market will grow from $200 million in 2015 to $1.7 billion by 2020. In order to fully benefit from this huge market potential, Europe`s academia and industry are eager to develop new technologies and recruit highly qualified staff.   The high demand for OLED SSL lighting however will place drastic demands on the use of very expensive and rare iridium. EXCILIGHT aims to explore exciplex emitters and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in OLEDs that will enable us to replace Ir complexes whilst retaining ultrahigh efficiency and giving many new possibilities to simplify OLED design, helping to reduce costs and increase yields of production.  Our network will train 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the development and application of exciplex and TADF emitters, who can apply their expertise directly in future positions. EXCILIGHT is characterised by an innovative multidisciplinary approach, based on i) a combination of synthesis, physical characterisation and development of devices with the lighting industry, ii) an appropriate balance between research and transferable skills training, and iii) a strong contribution from the private sector, including leading industry and SMEs, through mentoring, courses and secondments.  EXCILIGHT will positively impact the employability of its ESRs in the OLED industry through scientific and industrial training at the local and network level. With this approach we aim to train a new generation of scientists at the same time as integrating this exciting new technology into industry.


Mass-customization of implants: the business model

The key objectives of the innovation project are: 1. Develop software systems for the technology platform managing and control to enable transition from the singular CMI & PSI production to their mass customization to make design, production and validation processes much more efficient in terms of production costs and lead terms. 2. Develop a technology platform for the cardinal new implant supply chain, based on direct communication between surgeons and personalized implant manufacturers. It includes development of instrumental 3D software tools supporting participation of surgeons in product configuration workflow, design and validation processes and software systems for all the processes management and control. Specific objectives for the feasibility study are: 1. Analysis of technological viability of mass customization of medical implants business model concept; 2. Analysis of economic viability of the business model concept; 3. Freedom to operate analysis; 4. Market and competition environment analysis; 5. Analysis of the product supply and distribution systems (include hidden interests analysis); 6. Preparation of the elaborated business plan.


Laser-plasma based source 3D Tomography for cargo inspection

Within the field of security, Customs and Border inspection have not had breakthrough technological developments in the last 20 years, since the introduction of X-ray screening. The limits of these current technologies are accentuated by the increasing diversity and novelty in trafficking materials, tools and methods. These limitations combined with the growing needs of inspection and control call for a disruptive innovative solution. Wanting to move a step up from the existing planar scanning methods with limited material identification results, several studies have identified potential solutions focused on: -	High energy 3D X-ray tomography -	Neutron interrogation/photofission -	Nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRR) While these show good results and performances, they also have several important drawbacks, which limits their possible uses. Moreover, these solutions do not have common technological bricks meaning they can only lead to separate disposals. The proposed MULTISCAN3D investigates a new all-in-one system whose purpose is to become simultaneously a user-friendly, flexible, relocatable solution offering high-quality information for: -	Fast high energy 3D X-rays tomography (as first line) -	Neutron interrogation/photofission (as second line) -	Narrow gamma ray beam based NRR (as second line) MULTISCAN3D will start by investigating and defining needs and requirements, in a technologically-neutral way, with Europe’s most prominent Customs Authorities which will be translated to technical specifications. The main body of the research will be focused on three parts, following which, lab validations and real-environment demonstration will be carried out. These three work areas are: -	Laser-plasma based accelerators as X-ray sources -	3D reconstruction for multi-view configurations and data processing -	Detectors and source monitoring At the same time complementary techniques with chemical and SNM identification capabilities will be investigated.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA LIETUVOS INOVACIJU CENTRAS

Providing  Key Account Management  services for the SME Instrument beneficiaries and enhancing innovation management capacity services to Lithuanian SMEs in 2017-2018

The overall aim of SME Coach LT 2017 is to increase effectiveness and efficiency of investment in R&D and Innovation by enhancing innovation management capacity of Lithuanian SMEs -beneficiaries of the new dedicated SME instrument under Horizon 2020, and SMEs with significant innovation activities and a high potential for internationalization.  Specifically, the project will support SMEs - beneficiaries of the SME instrument- in identifying project-specific barriers and weaknesses and gaps in their innovation capacities that hinder realization of growth opportunities, and pointing to suitable coaches to address the identified weaknesses. The Key Account Manager will support SMEs SME Instrument beneficiaries in identifying critical issues and gaps with regards to their innovation idea and guide them to relevant lead coach who will support the company throughout their innovation journey. The Key account Manager will use a holistic and dynamic business innovation model, supported by Business Innovation Roadmap Tool, available under Creative Commons License from smE-MPOWER network. The second specific objective is supporting  SMEs with significant innovation activities and a high potential internationalization in enhancing their innovation management capacities. When supporting companies having innovation and internationalization potential, but not part of SME instrument, we will use IMP3rove Academy’s diagnostic tool which measures the performance of the company’s innovation management system. However taking into account the SME context, we intend to use action- based (and case-driven) learning approach to addressing identified gaps in the innovation system. smE-MPOWER tools can support the coaching process.


BALTIJOS PAZANGIU TECHNOLOGIJU INSTITUTAS

High Efficiency wiReless CMOS transceiver boosted by artificial intelligencE for 6G bandS and beyond

The future of wireless communications will go beyond connecting people or things to connecting smart robots or unmanned vehicles without human intervention. Only sub-THz frequencies can offer the spectrum to achieve unprecedented communication throughput. Yet current technologies suffer from barriers that prevent mass-market operations, such as high cost, limited bandwidth or power-hungry hardware not compatible with autonomous systems. HERMES proposes the fusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deep sub-micron CMOS technology to open a new generation of wireless transceivers. The project will focus on sub-THz frequencies between 140 and 160GHz, and will break new ground in the conversion of information from digital to THz using European CMOS technology to develop a highly integrated transceiver. For the first time, HERMES will deliver to the telecommunications industry a disruptive way of designing transceivers, with impact on production of billions of units that can be implemented in any autonomous system to communicate. This new wireless link will be a springboard for an innovation leap in the robotics and the security industry. Our ambitious and risky approach goes significantly beyond the SoA: we will demonstrate that the power of AI developed by computer sciences research and associated with an original electronics signal processing technique can push CMOS technology to release outstanding performances. The project will produce a chipset of a low-cost radio that exchanges tens of Gbps and will test it in use cases of unmanned vehicles applied to maritime border surveillance operated by civil authorities. The HERMES consortium brings together 6 partners from 5 European countries bridging the full value chain of academic research, technology transfer and industry.


DIONE: an integrated EO-based toolbox for modernising CAP area-based compliance checks and assessing respective environmental impact

DIONE proposes a close-to-market (TRL7) area-based direct payments monitoring toolbox that will address the forthcoming Modernised CAP regulation of using automated technologies to ensure more frequent, accurate and inexpensive compliance checks. In particular, DIONE will: (i) Capitalise on recent results of ESA’s SEN4CAP project that showcased the capability of Sentinel  data to monitor the crop diversification rules. DIONE shall further integrate generated crop-type maps in a way directly exploitable by the paying agencies; (ii) Include in the analysis the so far neglected EFA types (fallow land of all sizes, buffer strips, hedges, trees), by making use of super-resolution technology that improves the 10-20m Sentinel resolution to an improved resolution range (5-10m). This is enabled through Machine-Learning (ML) based post-processing and data fusion of Copernicus DIAS-sourced data with targeted drone-obtained data. This aims to motivate the use of such EFAs over the –of ambiguous environmental impact- use of productive areas (nitrogen-fixing crops and catch crops).  (iii) Complement the use of EO data with a system of reliable, ground-based geo-tagged photos, captured by the farmers that exploits (a) advances that allow for improved positional accuracy, (ii) low-footprint encryption techniques for improved data security and reliability and (iii) image detecting manipulation techniques (image forensics). The system will allow for an improved LC/LU annotation and ensure the process is untampered. (iv) Implement a Green Compliance toolbox, integrated with the paying agencies’ aforementioned tools. This will benefit from (a) low-cost spectral sensors measuring soil quality and assessing the status of land-degradation in the land parcels and (b) an ML-based inferencing system deployed on a larger scale (regional, national) to quantify the levels of some of the monitored parameters and consequently extract tangible environmental performance metrics for an entire region


Digital Healthcare ECOosystem research and innovation capability building

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


Enhancing at an Early Stage the Investment Value Chain of Energy Efficiency Projects

Triple-A has a very practical result-oriented approach, seeking to answer three questions:  - How to assess the financing instruments and risks an early stage?  - How to agree on the Triple-A investments, based on selected key performance indicators?  - How to assign the identified investment ideas with possible financing schemes?  The Triple-A scheme is introduced, compromising three critical steps (answering each question), with the following main outputs:  - Step 1 - Assess: Member States (MS) risk profiles and mitigation polices, including a Web based database, enabling national and sectoral comparability, market maturity identification, good practices experiences exchange, reducing thus uncertainty for investors.  - Step 2 - Agree: Standardised Triple-A tools, efficient benchmarks, and guidelines, translated in consortium partners’ languages, accelerating and scaling up investments.  - Step 3 - Assign: In-country demonstrations, replicability and overall exploitation, including recommendations on realistic and feasible investments in the national and sectoral context, as well as on short and medium term financing.   The Triple-A case study countries were selected to promote diversity across a number of factors, including: a leading European economy (Germany), an innovation front-runner in energy (The Netherlands), a weak economy, went through one of the longest and most severe recessions (Greece), an economy with slow economic recovery (Italy), a diversified economy with a strategic geographical location having some of the largest European firms (Spain), a country that has experienced one of the fastest economic recoveries in Europe (Lithuania), a progressing country with a once sceptical stance towards low-carbon development (Czech Republic), and a country, recovering from a slow transition to a market economy, with growing regional strategic role and significant ambition towards EU processes (Republic of Bulgaria).


The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) project seeks to transform archival research on the Holocaust. The vision of EHRI is to integrate the data, services and expertise of existing Holocaust infrastructures on an unprecedented scale. It will allow researchers from across the globe transnational and virtual access to the integrated infrastructure, and provide them with innovative digital tools and methods to (collaboratively) explore and analyse Holocaust sources. EHRI will thereby become an indispensable tool for the  study of the Holocaust from a pan-European perspective.  EHRI is based on an advanced community that has already achieved a significant co-ordination of its efforts, not least thanks to the activities undertaken during EHRI's first phase. The aim of the second phase is to further expand this community. The EHRI consortium includes 22 partners, spread across Europe and beyond. This consortium, as well as a network of regional contact points, enables EHRI to reach those regions where much valuable Holocaust source material is located, but where access has hitherto been problematic, especially in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. EHRI includes  measures to build capacity in such regions, thereby ensuring that institutions and people across Europe can contribute to, and make use of, the EHRI infrastructure. EHRI will continue to serve as a 'best practice' model for other humanities projects, and its innovative approach to data integration, management and retrieval will have impact in the wider cultural and IT industries. Although EHRI is geared towards scholarly communities, open online availability of reliable Holocaust material is important for the larger public, as the Holocaust is deeply rooted in the development of European societies. European support for the study of this most traumatic historical event is essential to achieve a comprehensive approach to the history of the Holocaust as a shared European phenomenon.


Market Opportunity Validation and Business Plan Development for horticulture research LED solution - HORTILED

Global food system will experience a food security crisis over the next 40 years. Global food production will need to increase by 70% to feed the planet. LEDs have tremendous potential to increase plant and food production, Determining how wavelengths, light level, position and time influence each single plant at the same given moment, can increase yields, quality of products and give better control of plant growth, however, such research in Europe is limited to only several research labs. To address the problem, Energenas, a Lithuanian SME, run by experienced horticulture experts for more than a decade, has launched a novel solution – HORTILED, the most flexible and versatile integrated system of light emitting diodes for plant growth research in controlled environments. The technology is unique in its compact size and ability to be adapted and controlled individually on a small scale. By combining extremely light frame with a control protocol, LED sensors and state-of-the-art software, the Company can offer any researcher the ability to test plant growth and collect data, specifying the ideal growing conditions for plants. Main benefits of HORTILED for researchers: 1) Suitable for various research spaces (growth chambers, phytotrons, laboratories, greenhouses), 2) unique software solution gives possibility to program each spectral component separately and manage their composition during the experiment, and 3) consumes significantly less energy than traditional lighting solutions. HORTILED is currently at TRL6. The next step is moving on to TRL7 - system prototype demonstration in operational environment. For this reason horticulture research market will be analysed and market players identified who will participate in the user needs identification study together with HORTILED’s early access partners, one of which is Wageningen University - the most visible and leading university of agriculture on a global scale.


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


Centre of Excellence in Science and Technology for Healthy Ageing

In order to both solve the medical needs of ageing-populations in Europe, and develop an innovative ecosystem beneficial for the economy of Lithuania, it is proposed to foster the whole innovation chain in the area of healthy ageing – from fundamental research through to the introduction of new products and services to the market - by creating in Lithuania a world-class Centre of Excellence (CoE) in science and technology for healthy ageing, named HEALTH-TECH.  The long-term vision for HEALTH-TECH is to: - Become the leading provider of innovative medical solutions for the improvement of the health of ageing-populations in Europe, - Consolidate research and development, education and training, and networking and promotion resources activities in the area of healthy ageing,  - Coordinate, integrate and support research excellence and innovation development in Lithuania, the Baltic Sea region, and Europe, - Support researchers, physicians, and entrepreneurs in the field of healthy ageing science, technology and biotechnology to produce innovations beneficial for the society and economy of Lithuania and beyond.  To achieve this long-term vision, the CoE will leverage the knowledge, experience and resources of three Lithuanian universities – KTU, LSMU, and VU - with the support of two advanced partners of the Baltic Sea region – LUND in Sweden, and VTT in Finland - in four strategic research and innovation topics:   1. Mechanisms of age-related diseases 2. Biomarkers for age-related diseases 3. Diagnostics and monitoring technologies for age-related diseases 4. Regenerative technologies for age-related diseases  This project has the full support of the Lithuanian Government because it fits perfectly with the Lithuanian SMART Specialisation Strategy approved by the Government, and will allow an enhanced usage of the recently upgraded and newly built infrastructure for medical research in Lithuania.

Teaming of excellent research institutions and low performing RDI regions


INMARE stands for “Industrial Applications of Marine Enzymes: Innovative screening and expression platforms to discover and use the functional protein diversity from the sea”. It is  a collaborative Innovation Action to streamline the pathways of discovery and industrial applications of new marine enzymes and bioactives for targeted production of fine chemicals, drugs and in environmental clean-up applications. The INMARE consortium will unify the multidisciplinary expertise and facilities of academic and industry partners. This will include integrating the following core activities: advanced technologies to access and sample unique marine biodiversity hot-spots; state-of-the art technologies for construction of metagenomic libraries; innovative enzyme screening assays and platforms; cutting-edge sequence annotation pipelines and bioinformatics resources; high-end activity screening technology; bioanalytical and bioprocess engineering facilities and expertise, nanoparticle-biocatalysts; high-quality protein crystallization and structural analysis facilities and experts in IP management for biotechnology.  The companies involved in the project are market leaders in enzyme production and biocatalysis processes designed to efficiently deliver safer (pharmaceuticals) cheaper (agriculture) and biobased (biopolymers) products. They also have impressive track record in environmental clean-up technologies and are committed to promoting  public understanding,  awareness  and  dissemination of scientific research. The main emphasis will be focused on streamlining and shortening the pipelines for enzyme and ‘bioactive compound’ discovery towards industrial applications through the establishing of marine enzyme collections with a high proportion of enzymes-“allrounders”. The project  will also prioritize the identification of novel lead products and the delivery of improved prototypes  for new biocatalytic processes.


Democratic Efficacy and the Varieties of Populism in Europe

DEMOS is built on the assumption that populism is symptomatic of a disconnect between how democratic polities operate and how citizens perceive their own aspirations, needs and identities within the political system. As such, DEMOS explores the practical value of ’democratic efficacy’ as the condition of political engagement needed to address the challenge of populism. The concept combines attitudinal features (political efficacy), political skills, knowledge, and democratic opportunity structures.  In order to better understand populism DEMOS addresses its hitherto under-researched aspects at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels: its socio-psychological roots, social actors’ responses to the populist challenge, and populism’s effects on governance. DEMOS focuses not only on the polity, but equally on citizens’ perspectives: how they are affected by, and how they react to, populism. Politically underrepresented groups and those targeted by populist politics are a particular focus, e.g. youth, women, and migrants. As populism has varying socially embedded manifestations, DEMOS aims at contextualising it through comparative analysis on the variety of populisms across Europe, including their historical, cultural, and socioeconomic roots, manifestations, and impacts. DEMOS develops indicators and predictors of populism and elaborates scenarios on the interactions of populism with social actors and institutions both at the national and the EU levels.  Unifying 15 partners from 10 disciplines, DEMOS combines in-depth research on populism and democratic efficacy with action research and pilot projects in order to develop lasting tools and timely policy recommendations; project methods include experiments, deliberative polling, text mining, surveys, and legal analysis. DEMOS places strong emphasis on communication and productive interactions with a variety of stakeholders throughout the project, including policymakers, journalists, students, and the general public.