VALSTYBES SIENOS APSAUGOS TARNYBA PRIE VIDAUS REIKALU MINISTERIJOS

imPROved Maritime awarENess by means of AI and BD mEthods

Maritime Domain Awareness is the combination of activities, events and threats in the maritime environment that could have impact on marine activities and EU territory. During the past decades, advances in Information and Communication Technologies have provided better means to monitor and analyse vessel activity. Today private and public source of data such the Automatic Identification System or space related data can be combined with Vessel Traffic Services, Vessel Traffic Management Systems and Vessel Traffic Monitoring & Information Systems data enabling the development of value added information resulted by the combination of such data. European waters are navigated daily by some 12,000 vessels, which share their positions to avoid collisions, generating a huge number of positional messages every month. It is important that this overabundance of information will not overwhelm the marine operator in charge for decision-making. The challenge is twofold: on one side encourage the exchange of heterogeneous data among administration valorising the CISE network currently in place, on the other exploit at the best these datasets by means of automated processing in a way to minimise false alert that might results by an incorrect processing or interpretation of the results. PROMENADE will improve solutions for the vessel tracking, behaviour analysis and automatic anomaly detection by means of the application Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data (BD) technologies, and to promote collaborative exchange of information between maritime surveillance authorities, shortening the time to market and assuring the compliance with legal and ethical regulations.  An open, service-based toolkit implementing “state of art” AI / BD techniques also benefiting of HPC (High Performance Computing) platform is the core activity of the project. The project’s developments will be demonstrated and evaluated in 3 operational scenarios and 1 simulated defined by Border Guards Authorities.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA LIETUVOS ZEMES UKIO KONSULTAVIMO TARNYBA

OPtimal strategies to retAIN and re-use water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across different soil-climatic regions in Europe

Natural/Small Water Retention Measures (NSWRMs) can help mitigate the conflicts between agricultural water uses (e.g. plant production, animals) and other human and environmental demands for water, including drinking water or maintaining environmental flow. This is crucial, since these conflicts will be probably exacerbated by an increasing number of extreme events such as droughts and heavy rainfall. A more careful management of head watersheds will significantly contribute to a more resilient agriculture and society. Moreover, NSWRMs are contributing simultaneously to the achievement of different Sustainable Development Goals and environmental targets formulated in several water- and agriculture-related European Union policies. Despite a comprehensive set of techniques available to increase water retention on both catchment and farm levels, knowledge is still lacking on the effectiveness of different scale- and region-specific measures across various soil-climatic regions and agricultural systems, especially under changing climate conditions. OPTAIN aims to (i) identify efficient techniques for the retention and reuse of water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across Continental, Pannonian and Boreal biogeographical regions of Europe, taking into account potential synergies with existing drainage-irrigation systems, and - in close cooperation with local actors - (ii) select NSWRMs at farm and catchment level and optimize their spatial allocation and combination, based on environmental and economic sustainability indicators. By building on existing knowledge and addressing these objectives, OPTAIN will improve the Technological Readiness Level of NSWRMs for the benefit of both humans and ecosystems. All gained knowledge will be translated into a learning environment allowing analysis of trade-offs and synergies between multiple values/goals in the management and design of NSWRMs.

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


VIESOJI ISTAIGA VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETO LIGONINE SANTAROS KLINIKOS

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


VILNIAUS GEDIMINO TECHNIKOS UNIVERSITETAS

Benchmarking of Wheel Corner Concepts Towards Optimal Comfort by Automated Driving

The project OWHEEL aims at the development and evaluation of new concepts of automotive wheel corners  as crucial elements of future vehicle architecture tailored to provide an optimal comfort during automated driving. The consortium will benchmark four essentially different classes: Passive corner with specific wheel positioning; Passive composite corner; Active corner with ordinary ride dynamics control; Active corner with integrated wheel positioning control.  For each proposed concept, the project will include relevant stages of development design, extensive simulation studies and experimental validation.  The main goal of the OWHEEL project is to perform deep analysis and provide on its basis the recommendations for future vehicle architecture, which could ensure an optimal comfort by automated driving. In this regard, the research and innovation objectives are focused on:  i.	Revisiting the driving comfort criteria with their tuning to automated driving requirements and operational modes; ii.	Development of bencmarking criteria and corresponding analytical tool for comparison of wheel corner concepts in terms of driving comfort quality with simultaneous ensuring of required performance in terms of safety, energy-efficiency and reliability; iii.	Development and validation of active wheel corner concepts; iv.	Development and validation of passive wheel corner concepts;  v.	Producing practical recommendations for automotive system developers based on obtained R&D results  The implementation of the project OWHEEL will be based on intensive staff exchange that leads to collaborative research and training between universities and industrial organizations from EU, Japan and South Africa. The project will also include relevant networking, dissemination and exploitation actions.


STATYBOS PRODUKCIJOS SERTIFIKAVIMO CENTRAS

The 'Concerted Action EPBD IV', supporting transposition and implementation of Directive 2010/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings, is an activity which aims to foster exchange of information and experience among Member States and participating countries with regards to the implementation of the specific Community legislation and policy on the energy performance of buildings. It involves the national authorities implementing the Directive, or those bodies appointed and entrusted by them to do so. It is carried out under the coordination of Danish Energy Agency, DEA. The CA consortium is composed of organisations designated by all 28 Member States plus Norway. The CA is financed by the EU's Horizon 2020 Programme.   The CA is the continuation of the first Concerted Action, CA EPBD, which ran from January 2005 to June 2007, then continued as the CA EPBD II from December 2007 until November 2010 and then CA EPBD III from March 2011 to October 2015. The CA IV will organise 4 CA Plenary meetings and some supporting activities over a period 30 months or approximately one meeting every 7-8 months, similar to the CA III.   The work will be organised in Central Teams, which includes: a) 3 Core Teams on 'New Buildings', 'Existing Buildings' and 'Certification & Quality of Inspection';  b) 3 Cross-Cutting teams on 'Technical Elements', 'Policy & Implementation' and 'Compliance, Capacity & Impact'; c) 2 central functions on 'Collaboration with other actors' and 'Internal & External Communication'; and some additional functions and supporting measures.   For each Central Team, issues are addressed on which the Directive does not require harmonised national implementation but where coordinated implementation would increase the impact of the Directive and reduce the implementing costs.


BLOCKCHAIN BASED PLATFORM FOR BRINGING SLOW FOOD IDEAS AND FAMILY OWNED FARMING TO CYBERSPACE

During the last decades farming and production of gourmet foods, traditionally dominated by Mediterranean region, experienced a setback because of decrease of inhouse consumption. This forced the whole market towards export to strong economies with high quality of life. Export markets bring challenges to small farms and producers of gourmet foods. They have no experience and funds to cope with refocus from local sales to export. This puts them into disadvantage reaching international markets. The wish to get the share in export forces farms to accept wholesalers as a necessity, to sell at 30-50% of prices, to agree that distributors get the largest share of value created by farmers. I Go Slow offers a unique solution for the problems of the industry. The main objective is to develop a platform based on integration of Internet, e-commerce, Cloud and Blockchain technologies for promoting key ideas of Slow Food movement and family owned farming into cyberspace. For farmers the platform provides a user-friendly, reliable channel for presenting themselves directly to consumers without intermediaries. It requires little if any marketing funds, and allows engaging with customers directly for visits, product sales and sharing next harvest. All interactions are supported by underlying Blockchain technology and carried out with the use of a native Slow Token ecosystem. Any interaction between farmers and consumers strengthens Authenticity Rates, leaves no space for manipulations of intermediaries and builds trust. Trust gives credibility to farmers. It contributes to the secure content of global cyberspace. I Go Slow platform offers producers a compelling proposition to increase their global exposure, maximize profit by getting most of the created value themselves. It is a socially responsible proposition as I Go Slow will monetize the business using commission fees on transactions instead of subscription fees.


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

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

Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (LEIT)


LIETUVOS TRANSPORTO SAUGOS ADMINISTRACIJA

The “Once-Only” Principle Project (TOOP) explores and demonstrates the “once-only” principle through multiple sustainable pilots, using a federated architecture on a cross-border collaborative pan-European scale in order to identify drivers and barriers and to provide a basis for future implementations and wider use. Three pilots are implemented: (1) Cross-border e-Services for Business Mobility, (2) Updating Connected Company Data and (3) Online Ship and Crew Certificates. TOOP has the ambition to connect 59 information systems from 21 countries. The methodological approach of TOOP is based on an exploratory and agile pilot life-cycle approach to cross-border pilots, the planning and implementation of which is supported by the development of a generic federated architecture and building blocks, the identification and mitigation of barriers, including legal issues, and the evaluation of the results, with pro-active dissemination and sustainable exploitation of the results throughout the project. TOOP’s main technological innovation is a generic federated OOP architecture that supports the interconnection and interoperability of national registries at the EU level. The pilots planned are ambitious as they contain innovations and provide a basis for recommendations for future implementations and the wider use of the OOP. The project is an important learning environment for OOP in particular and European e-Government in general. The pilots are scalable and can be extended to all Member States in subsequent years. TOOP’s consortium of 51 organisations consists of 19 national administrations (or authorized thereby) from 19 different EU Member States and 2 Associated Countries. The public administrations provide effective piloting, research partners make sure that the key preconditions for effective piloting are met, and private entities support exploitation, all complementing each other in the whole range of activities and areas dealt with in TOOP.

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


The discussion on the modernisation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is in full progress and one element is how the CAP will benefit from and stimulate ongoing digitisation of the agricultural sector. Digitisation accelerates a cost-effective administration of CAP payments, the update of CAP instruments, stimulates data (re) use for monitoring the societal benefits of agriculture towards climate, environment and rural development and thus improves the sustainability and competitiveness of the sector. Administrative bodies from 9 EU Member States join forces to realise a new vision on the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) – the instrument for CAP governance – in this project called: “New IACS Vision in Action” (NIVA). The project is built on an iterative work plan. This ensures fast results, built-in flexibility and greater involvement of stakeholders. NIVA strives for maximum impact by involving all EU paying agencies and other relevant actors in the stakeholder board, by reserving a substantial budget for supporting third parties and the set-up of an innovation ecosystem that will continue after the project. NIVA manages cross cutting digital innovations as well as standardization issues in dedicated work packages as defining, accepting and defending common standards is exemplifying the desire for collaboration. The nine prime use cases are demonstrated in three waves, from national to multi-national to pan-European, hence underlining our ambition to make a significant contribution to improved digital competences, awareness and innovation at the European scale. The project’s results are a suite of digital innovations and a roadmap for IACS transformation. The project will speed up innovation, reduce administrative burden, sustain broader and deeper collaboration in an innovation ecosystem and provide methods to establish information flows to improve environmental performance.


MOKSLO INOVACIJU IR TECHNOLOGIJU AGENTURA

The overarching goal of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is to generate knowledge to inform the safe management of chemicals and so protect human health. We will use human biomonitoring to understand human exposure to chemicals and resulting health impacts and will communicate with policy makers to ensure that our results are exploited in the design of new chemicals policies and the evaluation of existing measures.    Key objectives include: • Harmonizing procedures for human biomonitoring across 26 countries, to provide policy makers with comparable data on human internal exposure to chemicals and mixtures of chemicals at EU level;  • Linking data on internal exposure to chemicals to aggregate external exposure and identifying exposure pathways and upstream sources. Information on exposure pathways is critical to the design of targeted policy measures to reduce exposure; • Generating scientific evidence on the causal links between human exposure to chemicals and negative health outcomes; and • Adapting chemical risk assessment methodologies to use human biomonitoring data and account for the contribution of multiple external exposure pathways to the total chemical body burden. We will achieve these objectives by harmonizing human biomonitoring initiatives in 26 countries, drawing on existing expertise and building new capacities. By establishing National Hubs in each country to coordinate activities, we will create a robust Human Biomonitoring Platform at European level.  This initiative contributes directly to the improvement of health and well-being for all age groups, by investigating how exposure to chemicals affects the health of different groups, such as children, pregnant women, foetuses and workers. We will also investigate how factor such as behavior, lifestyle and socio-economic status influence internal exposure to chemicals across the EU population. This knowledge will support policy action to reduce chemical exposure and protect health.

Health, demographic change and wellbeing


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.


Strategic programs for advanced research and technology in Europe

In the domain of Cybersecurity Research and innovation, European scientists hold pioneering positions in fields such as cryptography, formal methods, or secure components.  Yet this excellence on focused domains does not translate into larger-scale, system-level advantages. Too often, scattered and small teams fall short of critical mass capabilities, despite demonstrating world-class talent and results. Europe’s strength is in its diversity, but that strength is only materialised if we cooperate, combine, and develop common lines of research. Given today’s societal challenges, this has become more than an advantage – an urgent necessity. Various approaches are being developed to enhance collaboration at many levels. Europe’s framework programs have sprung projects in cybersecurity over the past thirty years, encouraging international cooperation and funding support actions. More recently, the Cybersecurity PPP has brought together public institutions and industrial actors around common roadmaps and projects. While encouraging, these efforts have highlighted the need to break the mould, to step up investments and intensify coordination.  The SPARTA proposal brings together a unique set of actors at the intersection of scientific excellence, technological innovation, and societal sciences in cybersecurity. Strongly guided by concrete and risky challenges, it will setup unique collaboration means, leading the way in building transformative capabilities and forming world-leading expertise centres. Through innovative governance, ambitious demonstration cases, and active community engagement, SPARTA aims at re-thinking the way cybersecurity research is performed in Europe across domains and expertise, from foundations to applications, in academia and industry.


European Coordinated Research on Long-term ICT and ICT-based Scientific and Technological Challenges

CHIST-ERA is a network of research funding organisations in Europe and beyond with programmes in Information and Communication Science and Technology (ICST), at the intersection of the FET and the ICT and ICT-based domains.  CHIST-ERA IV ERA-NET aims at supporting transnational research projects addressing long-term scientific challenges in the domain of ICT or at the interface between ICT and other domains. It also fosters the maturation of the corresponding research topics and the structuration of the corresponding communities. Another goal is to encourage Open Science best practices, raise awarness about responsible Research and Innovation and support the exploitation of the research projects funded by CHIST-ERA by the industry. In the framework of CHIST-ERA IV, three joint transnational calls are planned (the Calls 2019, 2020 and 2021), each covering two topics. The two topics for the Call 2019 are "Explainable Machine Learning-based Artificial Intelligence" and "Novel Computational Approaches for Environmental Sustainability". The topics for the Calls 2020 and 2021 will be decided in 2019 and 2020 respectively.


Gender Equality Plans for Information Sciences and Technology Research Institutions

EQUAL-IST aims at introducing structural changes to enhance gender equality within Information Systems and Technology Research institutions, which have been demonstrated to be among the research sectors most affected by gender inequalities at all levels. The project aims at supporting seven RPOs from Northern, Southern and Central European countries plus a CSI country, in developing and implementing Gender Equality Action Plans. All the 7 RPOs of the EQUAL-IST consortium are at a starting stage in the setting up of GEPs and they have also ensured the support of the highest management levels both from their faculties and university as whole.  The project will combine gender mainstreaming and positive actions on 3 main levels: HR practices and management processes, research design and delivery, student services and institutional communication. For addressing and solving issues of horizontal and vertical segregation in research and administrative careers, work life balance, gender neutral-blind approaches to IST research, gender gaps in students’ enrollment, EQUAL-IST will try to operate at the same time on organizational structures, discourses and behaviors. In addition, EQUAL-IST will promote a participatory approach towards Gender Equality Policies based on co-design and at the same time ensuring the active dialogue with and involvement of top decision makers at the partner RPOs. By setting up a dedicated crowdsourcing- online collaborative platform the project will support both the initial internal assessment of the RPOs and the GEPs design process. EQUAL-IST toolkits and guidelines, lessons learned and used methodologies will be disseminated broadly in Europe and other CSI countries with a communication strategy focused on IST Research Institutions and RFOs and through collaboration with the EURAXESS network, in order to support ERA objectives in relation to gender equality in research.

Promote gender equality in research and innovation


VIESOJI ISTAIGA SOCIALINIU INOVACIJU INSTITUTAS

SPARKS is an awareness-raising and engagement project to promote Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) across 29 European countries (EU members plus Switzerland). It gathers 33 organisations as partners and linked Third Parties.  SPARKS will organise an interactive touring exhibition and 232 innovative participatory activities on RRI  (science cafés, pop-up Science Shops, incubation activities and scenario workshops) across Europe. The European dimension of the project is paired with a strong emphasis on local implementation through 29 experienced science communicators (one per country) that will adapt the exhibition and activities to their contexts and establish local multi-stakeholder collaborative partnerships. SPARKS will deploy complementary dissemination tools and actions to maximise its outreach and impact. It will collect and analyse important data on RRI throughout Europe and build on its learning to:  - Further build the capacity of science actors and policy makers to promote RRI;  - Better understand society’s vision, interests and readiness concerning RRI in health;  - Provide policy recommendations to feed R&I policies with societal inputs and facilitate RRI; - Develop the capacity of a group of European stakeholders to participate in RRI. SPARKS will use the appealing topic “technology shifts in health and medicine” to reach out to a wider public, make the RRI concept meaningful to it and establish a direct link with one of the priority societal challenges of Horizon 2020. Creative disruptions —in the form of artistic inputs and questioning— will help it to engage more stakeholders. SPARKS builds upon  a number of relevant EU projects —from RRI Tools to PERARES, from PLACES to VOICES or Twist— and powerful European/ international networks —the European Network of Science Centres and Museums (Ecsite), the international network of Science Shops (Living Knowledge) and the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN).

Integrate society in science and innovation


The Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (EPN-2024-RI) will provide the pan-EU infrastructure needed to address the major scientific and technological challenges facing modern planetary science and strengthen Europe’s position at the forefront of space exploration. EPN-2024-RI builds on the foundations of a series of highly successful EU-funded projects that have created the leading Virtual Observatory for planetary data and the largest, most diverse collection in the world today of field and laboratory facilities capable of simulating and analysing planetary environments. EPN-2024-RI will provide Transnational Access (TA) to an enhanced set of world-leading field and laboratory facilities, Virtual Access (VA) to state-of-the-art data services and tools linked to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), and Networking Activities (NA) to widen the user base and draw in new partners from Under Represented States (URS), non-EU countries, industry and interdisciplinary fields, and to train the next generation of RI leaders and users. With 56 beneficiaries, from both industry and academic sectors, providing access to 31 TA facilities on 5 continents and 4 VA services linking over 100 data services and catalogues, EPN-2024-RI represents a step-change in ambition for planetary science worldwide. Innovations include the establishment of a ground based observation network to support space based missions, the launch of an interactive mapping service to provide virtual exploration of planetary surfaces, and the development of machine learning tools for data mining to fully exploit and analyse planetary data sets. EPN-2024-RI will establish global collaborations and an international userbase for the RI through inclusion of partners in Africa, Asia and South America. Ultimately, EPN-2024-RI will support the transition of this unique infrastructure to a sustainable future within the structure of the Europlanet Society.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA KAUNO MOKSLO IR TECHNOLOGIJU PARKAS

Scale-up Champions: Scale up innovative businesses across the EU

The main challenge that the European start-up ecosystem is facing, is that innovative start-ups fail to scale up at a sufficient rate. Start-up incubators play a significant role in helping start-ups in Europe to scale up. An Incubator is a set-up to reduce the chances of failure of an early stage start-up and they have a deep impact on start-up ecosystem and its stakeholders. Although incubators have an increasingly important role in supporting early stage companies with the basic needs of developing a company, they are consistently failing to provide services that are needed for companies to go global and scale up. The Scale-up Champions project builds on the premise of equalising opportunities of scaling up for start-ups across Europe and connects less and more developed startup ecosystems. Our strategic objective is supported by the following sub-objectives: •	Increase the connectedness among members of deep-tech start-up ecosystems and their companies (start-ups and scale-ups) and to the larger european business ecosystem seeking maximum synergies. •	Increase access to customers, private and public, access to qualified employees, access to the right combination of finance and prospects for scaling up across borders. •	Stimulate European investments in deep-tech digital sectors through increasing the number of cross-border investments. To achieve these objectives, Scale-up Champions’ consortium will implement the following actions: •	Develop a method for experience-sharing among project partners that fosters the collaboration between different European start-up incubators. •	Foster start-up and corporate cooperation in order to build sustainable partnerships through active support of start-ups and corporations. •	Build the fundraising capacity of deep-tech start-ups through an active investment readiness program and create working networks between investors and start-ups. •	Foster cross-border activities for European start-ups in order to support interna


LIETUVOS SVEIKATOS MOKSLU UNIVERSITETO LIGONINE KAUNO KLINIKOS

A European Cancer Image Platform Linked to Biological and Health Data for Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence and Precision Medicine in Oncology

The goal of EuCanImage is to build a highly secure, federated and large-scale European cancer imaging platform, with capabilities that will greatly enhance the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in oncology. Firstly, the EuCanImage platform will be populated with a completely new data resource totaling over 25,000 single subjects, which will allow to investigate unmet clinical needs like never before, such as for the detection of small liver lesions and metastases of colorectal cancer, or for estimating molecular subtypes of breast tumours and pathological complete response. Secondly, the cancer imaging platform, built by leveraging the well-established Euro-Bioimaging infrastructure, will be cross-linked to biological and health repositories through the European Genome-phenome Archive, allowing to develop multi-scale AI solutions that integrate organ-level, molecular and other clinical predictors into dense patient-specific cancer fingerprints.  To deliver this platform, the consortium will build upon several key European initiatives in data sharing for personalised medicine research, including EUCANCAn (cancer genomics and health data sharing), euCanSHare (cardiac imaging and omics data sharing) and EUCAN-Connect (federated data analytics). Furthermore, to foster international cooperation and leverage existing success stories, the consortium comprises the coordinators of The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), the US cancer imaging repository funded by the National Cancer Institute. This will allow EuCanImage to leverage a unique 10-year long experience in cancer imaging storage, anonymisation, curation and management. Finally, a close collaboration between world renown clinical, radiomics, AI and legal experts within the consortium and beyond will establish well-needed guidelines for AI development and validation named FUTURE, for delivering Fair, Universal, Traceable, Usable, Robust and Explainable decision support systems for future cancer care.


NANOFACTORY – 3D micro – nano fabrication device

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


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

Science with and for Society - Cross-theme


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

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


TM Academy - intelligent transport control and monitoring system

It is already for 8 years that UAB Medium Group has been successful in the field of design and development transport control and monitoring systems. The needs newly arising on the European transport market prompted it to invest in new product-the intelligent TM Academy software designed for the analysis of a driver’s performance and automated transmission of necessary information concerning different areas (working time and rest period; safe and economical driving; road traffic accidents; regulations on carriage of goods; TIR and CMR Conventions; customs procedures; prevention of carriage of illegal goods, etc.), also subsequent evaluation of the driver for the purpose of achieving better performance. The database of the application will consist of the requirements of the legislation relevant to the this sector. The system will have direct interfaces with vehicle systems and the CAN bus, so it will receive necessary information about the performance of a driver and, in this regard, will automatically select details required for its improvement. It will educate employees and will contribute not only to the better performance and operating results of a given employee and the company as a whole, but also to the handling of global issues, such as reduction of pollution, enhancing effectiveness of the transport system, decreasing the number of road traffic accidents, etc., as a result, benefiting drivers, transport and recruitment companies and country concerned. This software has no parallel in Europe or other countries, since similar products excludes any automated operation involving a driver and intended to improve his performance. Outcomes of the feasibility study: identification of the scope of the database and required integrations with vehicle systems; prepared project implementation and commercialisation plans and the necessary budget.Being financially incapable of implementing the project of this scope without any support, the company will be engaged in Phase2.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA LIETUVOS INOVACIJU CENTRAS

Advanced Manufacturing assistance and training for SME Transformation

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


VIESOJI ISTAIGA FIZIKOS INSTITUTO MOKSLO IR TECHNOLOGIJU PARKAS

Regional, National and European Support for Photonics Innovation Clusters enhancing SMEs Innovative Potential

RespiceSME will reinforce the innovative capacity of Europe’s photonics SMEs, clusters and national platforms by stimulating increased collaborations in and beyond photonics. RespiceSME proposes new approaches for stronger innovative effectiveness using a 3-dimensional approach, led by an experienced, representative, interdisciplinary team. In the 1st dimension, the project will develop a measure of the innovative potential for Photonics SMEs; the index will be integrated with a methodology for auditing innovative SMEs. Coaching on these tools will lead to their diverse application; enhancing the innovative capacity of 30+ photonics SMEs is targeted in the project. In the 2nd dimension, RespiceSME will develop new approaches for analysing value chains in close collaboration with clusters and national platforms. Empowering photonics SMEs and cluster managers to undertake early stage analyses of value chains, in the 3 separate domains of commercial intensity, technology readiness and innovative potential, will lead to more effective penetration by European photonics SMEs in global non-photonics sectors. Approaches will be demonstrated by new business collaborations in photonics, and using photonics, in manufacturing, energy and transport sectors. Harnessing the full innovative capacity of the European photonics infrastructure is the objective of the 3rd RespiceSME dimension. Best practices for enabling photonics SMEs access European and regional infrastructures, harness educational and training programmes aligned with their specific needs, determine next generation regional innovative smart specialisation strategies, and be better resourced by efficient public and private financial supports, can be transformative. RespiceSME will disseminate results using face to face and multimedia tools. 6 events, spanning cluster/national platform, inter-sectoral meetings, and B2B brokerage events and multimedia tools will lead to an intensification of research collaborations.


Development and demonstration of a long-endurance sea surveying autonomous unmanned vehicle with gliding capability powered by hydrogen fuel cell

Battery-powered AUVs have been used to study the seabed without the requirement of a human operator. Their operational endurance is limited by the available battery charge. Gliders, an AUV subclass, use small changes in their buoyancy to move like a profiling float. By using their wings, gliders can convert the vertical motion to horizontal, propelling themselves forward with very low power consumption. Hence, mission duration can be extended to months and to thousands of kilometers. However, gliders are suited for a particular set of missions involving relatively basic measurements and seabed mapping cannot be performed due to their inherent inability to cruise in a straight line.  A surface support vessel is standard practice for launch and recovery of AUVs. The requirement to have a support vessel adds to the overall mission cost. Therefore higher endurance is needed in AUV platforms in order to bring mission costs down and improve the ocean exploration capability. The ENDURUNS project will deliver a step-change in AUV technology by implementing a novel hybrid design power by hydrogen fuel cell. An Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) will support the operation of the AUV, providing geotagging and data transmission capability to and from the Control Centre on shore.


Enabling proteins with RNA recognition motifs for synthetic biology and bio-analytics.

RNAct creates an integrated and multidisciplinary training and research programme for 10 broadly employable ESRs with versatile computational and experimental skills. The RNAct research aim is the design of novel RNA recognition motif (RRM) proteins for exploitation in synthetic biology and bio-analytics. This is achieved through a design cycle that starts with computational approaches at the sequence and structure levels of proteins and RNA, in order to select amino acid positions and mutations for large-scale phage display experiments with RNA screening. Viable RRMs will be further investigated at the atomic level with integrative structural biology approaches, and will be applied in synthetic biology, to post-transcriptionally regulate fatty acid processing via RRMs, and in bio-analytics, to detect RNA in-cell and design RNA biochips. The RNAct training will provide ESR-tailored research and education-based training in both topical content and transversal skills. All ESRs will experience both academic and industrial environments, and will be exposed to both computation and experiment at the peer level via an ESR 'buddy' system. The ESRs will be actively involved in, and responsible for, information dissemination and communication for the RNAct project, and will have to opportunity to participate in innovation activities. This will enable the ESRs to constructively contribute to the European bio-economy in both academic and industrial settings.


VALSTYBINIS MOKSLINIU TYRIMU INSTITUTAS INOVATYVIOS MEDICINOS CENTRAS

The overarching goal of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is to generate knowledge to inform the safe management of chemicals and so protect human health. We will use human biomonitoring to understand human exposure to chemicals and resulting health impacts and will communicate with policy makers to ensure that our results are exploited in the design of new chemicals policies and the evaluation of existing measures.    Key objectives include: • Harmonizing procedures for human biomonitoring across 26 countries, to provide policy makers with comparable data on human internal exposure to chemicals and mixtures of chemicals at EU level;  • Linking data on internal exposure to chemicals to aggregate external exposure and identifying exposure pathways and upstream sources. Information on exposure pathways is critical to the design of targeted policy measures to reduce exposure; • Generating scientific evidence on the causal links between human exposure to chemicals and negative health outcomes; and • Adapting chemical risk assessment methodologies to use human biomonitoring data and account for the contribution of multiple external exposure pathways to the total chemical body burden. We will achieve these objectives by harmonizing human biomonitoring initiatives in 26 countries, drawing on existing expertise and building new capacities. By establishing National Hubs in each country to coordinate activities, we will create a robust Human Biomonitoring Platform at European level.  This initiative contributes directly to the improvement of health and well-being for all age groups, by investigating how exposure to chemicals affects the health of different groups, such as children, pregnant women, foetuses and workers. We will also investigate how factor such as behavior, lifestyle and socio-economic status influence internal exposure to chemicals across the EU population. This knowledge will support policy action to reduce chemical exposure and protect health.


Artificial Intelligence for Digitizing Industry

Europe has a lack of intellectual property in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into digital applications. This is critical since the automatization reached saturated levels and AI in digitisation is an accepted approach for the upcoming transformation of the European industry. The potential of AI in economy and society is by far not enough exploited. Potential users of AI are not sufficiently supported to facilitate the integration of AI into their applications. Enabling of performance, industry and humanity by AI for digitising industry is the key to push the AI revolution in Europe and step into the digital age.  Existing services providing state of the art machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence solutions are currently available in the cloud. In this project, we aim to transfer machine learning and AI from the cloud to the edge in manufacturing, mobility and robotics.  To achieve these targets we connect factories, processes, and devices within digitised industry by utilizing ML and AI for human machine collaboration, change detection, and detection of abnormalities. Hence, we gain knowledge by using existing data and arrange them into a processable representation or collect new data. We use this knowledge to change the semantics and the logical layer with a distributed system intelligence for e.g. quality control, production optimization.  In AI4DI, we define a 7-key-target-approach to evaluate the relevance of AI methods within digitised industry. Each key target represents a field of activity and the corresponding target at the same time, dividing systems into heterogenous and homogenous systems, and evolving a common AI method understanding for these systems as well as for human machine collaboration. Furthermore, we investigate, develop and apply AI tools for change detection and distributed system intelligence, and develop hardware and software modules as internet of things (IoT) devices for sensing, actuating, and connectivity processing.


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


MOKSLINIU TYRIMU IR TECHNOLOGIJU ORGANIZACIJU ASOCIACIJA

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

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


Supporting and Implementing Plans for Gender Equality in Academia and Research

SPEAR will initiate institutional change in nine European research performing organizations (RPOs) by implementing gender equality plans. Despite numerous EU-wide projects aimed at improving gender equality (GE) in academia, challenges persist, and GE practitioners and change agents experience fatigue and lack of support structures. SPEAR offers supportive structures through its interconnected Community of Learning (CoL) and Community of Practice (CoP). CoL will provide learning platforms while CoP provides an arena for experience exchanges. Both are crucial to successful and sustainable implementation of gender equality plans (GEPs), a key instrument to improving GE. SPEAR’s central objective is to support and implement GEPs, based on a step-by-step guide to GEP implementation devised by the European Institute for Gender Equality, through following a methodological path committed to creative, open, mitigating, processual, accountable, SMART and sustainable changes (SPEAR’s COMPASS). Integral to SPEAR’s project design is an enhanced impartial evaluation scheme to boost the feedback and learning of participants throughout the project. SPEAR employs strategic dissemination to boost its central sustainability commitment during and after SPEAR.  SPEAR’s consortium numbers eleven partners, three of which have some experience with GE work while six have little or no experience. The first three will coordinate sessions during CoL and provide crucial support and best-practice guidance during structured interactions in CoP. Two task partners handle evaluation and dissemination. An advisory group representing key GE-stakeholders is affiliated.  SPEAR aims to foster sustainability in GE-practices in academia through a range of measures and outcomes, including ties to other EU-based GE projects, network and community building within and beyond SPEAR, and formulation of practicable policy recommendations.


To improve the efficiency and resilience of arrival and departure operations at capacity constrained airports and access to secondary airports, the project will addresses human, technical, procedural and performance aspects of the following proposed improvements:  •	Advanced geometric GNSS based procedures in the TMA The project will enhance TMA efficiency using more GNSS and advanced PBN curved for arrival and departure operations. Development of new support tools for ATC and airspace design concepts will enable greater usage of CDO. •	Evolution of separation minima for increased runway throughput The project will refine separation minima as a function of the operational conditions. The most constraining minima (wake, runway occupancy,...) to be applied will be determined and ATCO support tool further developed for better separations delivery including separation delegation to the flight crew. •	Improved access to secondary airports The project will enhance availability and accessibility of airports with limited infrastructure in low visibility conditions. Alternative Ground Surveillance will increase runway safety and will include both ATC and A-FIS requirements as a more cost-efficient and flexible ATS provision. From an airborne perspective, Enhanced Flight Vision System and Synthetic Vision Guidance System, Combined Vision System and LPV-100 capability will enable approach and landing. •	Digital evolution of integrated surface management The extension of the A-SMGCS routing functions will improve tactical conflict management in the taxi phase. Optimised Routing and planning will deliver more accurate taxi times, improve predictability, minimize delays and ATCO's workload. Automation, A-CDM and Datalink will support conflict management. •	Safety support tools for avoiding runway excursions The project will aim to detect, prevent and alert on risks of runway excursions by synchronising air-ground information exchange about runway surface condition.


LIETUVOS AGRARINIU IR MISKU MOKSLU CENTRAS

A Holistic Fire Management Ecosystem for Prevention, Detection and Restoration of Environmental Disasters

Considering the socio-ecological transition of Europe 2030, and towards a more resilient and informed community, focusing on the forests that are near wildfire risk, DRYADS aims to build upon state-of-the-art high TRL products and unite them in a holistic  Fire Management platform that optimize and reuse per phase the available Socio-technological Resources in all three main phases of Wildfires. For the prevention and preparedness DRYADS propose the use of  a real-time risk evaluation tool that can receive multiple classification inputs and work with a new proposed neural network-powered Risk factor indicator. To create a model of Fire adapted communities (FAC) in parallel to insurance incentives, DRYADS will use alkali activated construction materials (AAM) integrating post-wildfires wood ashes (PWA) for fire-resilient buildings and infrastructure. DRYADS also uses a variety of technological solutions such as the Copernicus infrastructure, and a swarm of small drones customized for accurate forest supervision. In the area of Detection DRYADS propose a variety of toolsets that will accommodate most needs. Stemming from Virtual reality for the training, wearables for the protective equipment of the emergency responders. to UAV (drones), UAG and airships for improving capacity in temporal and spatial analysis as well as to increase the inspected area coverage.. Last, DRYADS will build a new land and field-based restoration initiative that will use all modern techniques such as agroforestry, drones for seed spread, Internet of things sensors that will be able to adapt the seeding process based on the ground needs and on the same time with the help of AI to determine post-fire risks factors. DRYADS solution will be demonstrated and validated under real operating conditions. Demonstration will involve Eight complex pilot implementations executed in seven EU  countries and in Taiwan.

Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials


An AI Platform integrating imaging data and models, supporting precision care through prostate cancer’s continuum

In Europe, prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most frequent type of cancer in men and the third most lethal. Current clinical practices, often leading to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of indolent tumors, suffer from lack of precision calling for advanced AI models to go beyond SoA by deciphering non-intuitive, high-level medical image patterns and increase performance in discriminating indolent from aggressive disease, early predicting recurrence and detecting metastases or predicting effectiveness of therapies. To date  efforts are fragmented, based on single–institution, size-limited and vendor-specific datasets while available PCa public datasets (e.g. US TCIA) are only few hundred cases making model generalizability impossible. The ProCAncer-I project brings together 20 partners, including PCa centers of reference, world leaders in AI and innovative SMEs, with recognized expertise in their respective domains, with the objective to design, develop and sustain a cloud based, secure European Image Infrastructure with tools and services for data handling.  The platform hosts the largest collection of PCa multi-parametric (mp)MRI, anonymized image data worldwide (>17,000 cases), based on data donorship, in line with EU legislation (GDPR). Robust AI models are developed, based on novel ensemble learning methodologies, leading to vendor-specific and -neutral AI models for addressing 8 PCa clinical scenarios.  To accelerate clinical translation of PCa AI models, we focus on improving the trust of the solutions with respect to fairness, safety, explainability and reproducibility. Metrics to monitor model performance and a causal explainability functionality are developed to further increase clinical trust and inform on possible failures and errors. A roadmap for AI models certification is defined, interacting with regulatory authorities, thus contributing to a European regulatory roadmap for validating the effectiveness of AI-based models for clinical decision making.


VIESOJI ISTAIGA VIESOSIOS POLITIKOSIR VADYBOS INSTITUTAS

Addressing productivity paradox with big data: implications to policy making

The objective of the BIGPROD project is to extend existing econometric approaches to productivity, such as the Crepon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) model, with theoretically sound “Big data” measures that are operationalized, validated through pilots and communicated to relevant stakeholders. This is achieved by uncovering the origins of the productivity slowdown in most Western economies. Based on this understanding, we will extend the CDM model to better account for changes in the innovation process and utilize measures enabled by "Big data". The model created will be operationalized using for a random stratified sample of 160,000-200,000 European companies.  The operationalization and theoretical framework will be validated using a multi-criteria impact assessment approach. The validation will include three pilots based on issues arising from the research literature on challenges of existing measures of productivity. These are 1) high-technology and digitalization, 2) low-technology and innovation outcomes and 3) services and incumbent entrant dynamics. To allow for full integration with the policy cycle, the project will incorporate a deep stakeholder consultation mitigating the skills gap, creating transparency, enabling stakeholder influence in sources and tools and enabling policymakers being informed on utilizing tools and pilots.  The BIGPROD project addresses the work program by enabling the exploitation of "Big data" in productivity analysis with a transparent operationalization and pilots addressing key issues in integrating "Big data" to the policy cycle. The rigorous theoretical approach will enable a better understanding of the "quasi-standstill" of productivity. Using a tested data architecture, now being expanded, the project will address data accuracy and security. The impact assessment will allow us to create stakeholder validated results. Finally, outreach to existing indicator sets, such as observatories, will allow findings to be deployed.


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

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


The sense of urgency for a rapid sustainable transformation of our cities has never been greater. There is an increasing need to stake out pathways for such a transition, to reach acceptance of the need for transformation and enabling capacity building. The current approaches to target urban challenges and meet different international goals are often fragmented and incoherent as they are based on different ambitions and understandings of how cities and urban areas operate.   Research and innovation contribute with evidence on how to address urban dilemmas, while supporting capacity building for urban transformation and turning wicked issues into synergistic potential.  This needs to be supported by aligning ongoing related initiatives and activities, as well as building upon existing knowledge in order to achieve stronger synergies towards greater impact.   ENUTC aims at pooling resources from 16 participating research programme owners / managers of 14 countries to implement joint actions, including one main call and one additional call for proposals, in the area of urban transformation capacities.   The objectives of ENUTC are to:   1)	To enable capacity building in research, business, city administration and society for urban transformation;  2)	To support integrated approaches and solutions for sustainable urban development for the three topics of ENUTC: Urban circular economies, community-based developments and urban innovation ecosystems, and robust and resilient urban infrastructure and the built environment;   3)	To support transnational, pan-European research networking, community building and ensure synergies;  4)     To support activities which have a clear impact on transnational and evidence-based urban policies; 5)	To support research and innovation, which make a clear progress to reaching targets of the international policies, goals and missions;


Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils

The main objective of EJP SOIL is to create an enabling environment to enhance the contribution of agricultural soils to key societal challenges such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable agricultural production, ecosystem services provision and prevention and restoration of land and soil degradation. The EJP SOIL will build a sustainable European integrated research community on agricultural soils and will develop and deploy a roadmap on climate-smart sustainable agricultural soil management. The EJP SOIL roadmap is based on a knowledge framework with 4 interacting components. Knowledge development is set out in project calls with internal and external partners. Knowledge sharing & transfer is framed in capacity building for young scientists, enhancing general public awareness and fostering societal understanding and appreciation of agricultural soil management and its contribution to society. Knowledge harmonization, storage & organization supports harmonised soil information and reporting practices. Knowledge application deals with ways to overcome barriers for adoption of novel practices in a European context, co-developing adequate tools and providing evidence-based recommendations for EU policies. EJP SOIL activities in interaction with stakeholders, MSs and DG AGRI will pursue the long-term goal of promoting farmers as stewards of land and soil resources and support policy development and deployment, in particular the CAP and Climate policies. The EJP SOIL addresses 6 expected impacts with targeted activities in response to societal, scientific, policy and operational challenges. A first annual workplan based on the roadmap is provided as part of the proposal. The EJP Soil consortium unites a unique group of 26 leading European research institutes and universities in 24 countries. The consortium has developed this proposal in close collaboration with its programme owners and has secured over 40M€ in co-funding and 10M€ for external calls over 5 years.


SESAR2020 PJ07-W2 OAUO Optimised Airspace Users Operations

The PJ07-W2 Optimised Airspace Users Operations (OAUO) aims at defining and validating improved Airspace Users processes and tools related to their interaction with the ATM Network Operations in SESAR 2020. The current ATM environment based on static flight plans is evolving through SESAR towards Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) in order to improve Airports and ATM Network performance.  PJ07-W2 shall develop and validate the following three SESAR Solutions: •	Solution PJ.07-W2-38 Enhanced integration of AU trajectory definition and network management processes •	Solution PJ.07-W2-39 Collaborative framework managing delay constraints on arrivals •	Solution PJ.07-W2-40 Mission trajectories management with integrated Dynamic Mobile Areas (DMA) Type 1 and Type 2  PJ07-W2 addresses the following objectives: •	develop requirements and validate procedures and workflows for Flight/Wing Operations Centre to interact with ATM stakeholders and especially with the Network Management Function (NMF), with regard to trajectory definition, and to ensure continuity in the Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) process throughout the trajectory life-cycle •	smoothly integrate AU Priorities and Preferences in collaborative processes at Airports and in Network Demand Capacity Balancing (DCB) processes, allowing those processes to perform multi-criteria optimization tasks involving many stakeholders •	develop high level of automation to reduce the need for Airspace Users and flow managers to intervene through intensive coordination, which is critical for integrated processes to work on an operational scale •	improve the interoperability between AUs and the NMF Operations •	allow AU Flight Operations to provide the ATM NMF with the most accurate input on the true demand at any time (at planning phase) •	get from NMF an improved, harmonised picture of the ATM constraints for evaluating their impact on operations •	refine and validate the Mission Trajectory and the DMA concepts


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

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


Enabling Chemical Propulsion System for the Growing Small Satellite Market

NanoAvionics is developing novel small satellite (below 150 kg) market oriented product – green chemical propulsion system which is innovative, as it makes use of an environmentally friendly propellant, and is a low cost integral plug and play design offering great economic advantages to the growing small satellite market, which presently suffers from the availability of a low cost high performance propulsion solution.   High performance propulsion systems are one of the technologies required by small satellites in order to allow them to fulfill their full market potential enabling small satellites to be as capable as those well above 150 kg. This feasibility study will help to determine and set the targets for the final shape of the product according to the requirements of the target customer groups as TRL-6 (current maturity level of the product) is a crucial point at which extensive product design decisions must be undertaken and finalized. This feasibility study will perform the following tasks:  1. Identify the market potential of the proposed propulsion system; 2. Determine the level of customer demand and market interest in the product;  3. Develop a technology IPR strategy, and develop a solid business model for development of the product within the company.  The business model will include a sales strategy and a plan for productionizzation of the design and subsequent manufacturing.  This project will result detailed feasibility report, including a business plan which will summarize small satellite propulsion system market research, IPR strategy, business model including sales strategy, and consideration of strategic partnerships for production and manufacturing operations. NanoAvionics plans to carry out this feasibility study and prepare an elaborated business plan during the 6 months period.


KAUNO MIESTO SAVIVALDYBES ADMINISTRACIJA

Unleashing future-facing urban hubs through culture and creativity-led strategies of transformative time

T-Factor challenges the waiting time in urban regeneration - i.e. the time in-between the adoption of the masterplan and its actual realization - to demonstrate how culture, creative collaboration and wide engagement can unleash vibrant urban hubs of inclusive urban (re)generation, social innovation and enterprise.  The project targets early stage regenerations in a diversity of historic urban areas in London, Bilbao, Amsterdam, Kaunas, Milan and Lisbon, and provides their PPPs with a unique ecosystem of capacity-building for radically new city-making approaches. Leveraging local coalitions of actors, we will use the masterplans of the targeted regenerations as the starting point to steer collective inquiry into their meanings and narratives, co-create visions of future spaces, and put them on stage via meanwhile uses and experiences. Throughout the process, culture and creativity will support voice and engagement, and help enrich and steer the masterplans towards heritage and culture-relevant innovation and enterprise, and social and cultural integration. Via trans-disciplinary action research, we will keep track of change, and build on the insights to add iteratively new layers of collective reflection and action. This learning by making will continuously inform masterplans and PPPs, consolidating, adjusting and providing new directions of urban development rooted in shared goals of sustainable city-making. T-Factor will work as an international community of practice, delivering an innovative city-mentoring model which will create multiple collaborations between the pilot cities, advance cultural and creative hubs, universities, enterprises and social organizations partnering the project, so as to shape an international movement of capacity-building and knowledge co-creation for the transformative time in urban regeneration leveraging heritage, culture and creativity.


Stepping-up IPM decision support for crop protection

The ‘IPM Decisions’ project proposed here will accelerate impact from farm Decision Support Systems (DSS) for IPM, as advocated in the Sustainable Use Directive.  The impact of DSS in crop protection has been constrained by regional and sectoral fragmentation of actors, inadequate testing of DSS and quantification of their benefits, DSS addressing single pests whilst farmer decisions need to account for multiple pests, and DSS which are insufficiently risk-averse.   We will address these constraints and enable innovation by creating a ‘one stop shop’ delivering DSS, data, tools and resources through a pan-European online Platform and an ‘IPM Decisions Network’. The latter forming a community of users and stakeholders.  Users will be farmers and advisers, and applied research or industry organisations that deliver or develop DSS.  Each type of user will access the Platform via a tailored Dashboard, specific to their requirements.  The project consortium brings together multi-actor participants from research, crop protection industry, ICT, meteorological services, policy, farming, advisory and extension organisations.  Participants in IPM Decisions are also participants in relevant European projects and networks, enabling efficient engagement and impact.  The focus will be on delivering DSS for key pests of major outdoor crops. Integrating key examples of contrasting DSS on the Platform will address urgent needs and demonstrate that the Platform has the functionality required for wide impact.  Longevity of the Platform and Dashboards beyond the life of the project will be aided by minimizing the resources required to maintain and update the system, and a realistic business plan.  Software, scientific publications and research data will be open access. IPM Decisions addresses all the requirements of part A of SFS-06-2018-2020. The outcomes from this project will support the EU wide demonstration farm network to be established under part B of the call.


SMEs and non-profits are currently at a disadvantage due to high barriers to using outdoor advertising, which in principle could be one of the most effective advertising channel for small businesses: (1) running outdoor advertising campaigns currently requires significant investment (>€1000) and commitment and (2) outdoor advertising has limited targeting options and therefore low efficiency for local businesses having few physical locations and niche target groups.  Intenova addresses this challenge in a scalable way and uses strategy which aims to maximise the impact on the competitiveness of SMEs and non-profits. Intenova develops an outdoor advertising platform based on digital displays attached to cars. The content of the display is changing in real-time based on targeting preferences (car's location, time, audience, and budget limits) set by the advertiser through a bidding platform. The platform creates flexibility and opportunities for business model innovation for SMEs and non-profits who are now able to (1) deliver messages to exactly those communities that are relevant for their business and (2) organize outdoor advertising campaigns even with very limited budgets thanks to more precise targeting and low setup costs. Field testing has shown that compared to other outdoor advertising channels, SMEs were able to increase the number of received quotes by up to 150% and sales by up to 50% for the same budget.  Intenova has validated the business concept, run pilot projects using printed stickers, and is expecting revenues of €150 000 in 2016. The proprietary digital display technology was demonstrated in summer 2016 together with the first version of the software platform. For full-scale commercialization, Intenova needs to prepare for mass-production of the display, refine software modules and algorithms.  Intenova’s ambition to become one of the leading providers of digital outdoor solutions has potential to generate in excess of €1 billion annually.


Controller Working Position / Human Machine Interface - CWP/HMI

PJ.16 project aims to reduce development and operating costs of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP). These savings will ultimately benefit airlines and their customers. It achieves this by delivering the ATM Master Plan goals (defined by the European Air Traffic Management (ATM) community) for a more efficient deployment of human resources,  a progressive increase in automation support, the implementation of virtualisation technologies and  the use of standardised and interoperable systems whilst increasing the safety level.   Within the PJ16 proposal, there are two innovative solutions: The first solution develops a concept for separating the Controller Working Position (CWP) from the datacentre where the data is produced. This lean and efficient use of ANSP infrastructure tackles the issues presented by fragmented European ATM systems and country-specific architectures, enabling Europe to move to an interoperable, cost-effective and flexible service provision infrastructure. Decoupling of the CWPs should enable a more efficient use of the most valuable and expensive resource, the human. By enabling increased flexibility the ANSPs should better manage staffing for prevailing traffic conditions and assure service continuity.   The second solution deals with new methods of controller interaction with the Human Machine Interface (HMI), applying mature technologies from other domains to ATM. This will increase controller productivity, reduce workload, stress level and enable the use of SESAR advanced tools, safely facilitating performance based operations. Furthermore, the use of modern thin client technology and the processes for developing HMI solutions are investigated, aiming at more efficient CWP development and operation.  PJ16 has expertise from most of the ANSPs in Europe, the major European industrial partners, the leaders of research domains in the previous ATM R&D phase and has an expanded knowledge pool including new participants from Eastern Europe.


European Joint Programme for the Integration of Radiation Protection Research

The proposed European Concerted Programme on Radiation Protection Research (acronym: CONCERT) aims to contribute to the sustainable integration of European and national research programmes in radiation protection. It will do so by focusing resources and efforts in five key directions: • Bring together the elements of the European scientific communities in the fields of radiation effects and risks, radioecology, nuclear emergency preparedness, dosimetry and medical radiation protection, whose joint expertise is essential to continue the development of radiation protection knowledge in a multidisciplinary mode to reduce further the uncertainties in radiation protection. • Strengthen integrative activities between the various areas of expertise, in particular biology, biophysics, epidemiology, dosimetry and modelling as well as fostering the use of existing infrastructures and education and training activities in radiation protection. • Stimulate and foster scientific excellence, by setting up and co-funding advanced research programmes with the potential to enhance current knowledge and the scientific evidence base for radiation protection. • Exchange and communicate with all stakeholders, including the professional organizations concerned with radiation protection, the regulatory organizations across Europe, the public and media where necessary, and the international community of scientific, technical, legal and other professional experts in radiation protection. • Foster the harmonious application of available scientific basis for radiation protection practices across Europe, by bringing together scientific and technical expertise in radiation protection issues, standard setting know how, particularly with respect to the implementation of the Euratom Basic Safety Standards (BSS) at the legal, administrative and operational level. To reach its goals, CONCERT will have seven Work Packages each of which will focus on each of the key directions.


Researchers' Night: It's Your Friday to Discover!

The LT2016 Researchers’ Night projects for 2016 and 2017 will take place in major Lithuanian cities, i.e. Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda, Siauliai and Moletai, as well as in rural areas. The project aims to enhance public recognition of researchers and their work through bringing scientists and public closer to one another and thus increasing an understanding of the impact of researchers' work on citizen's daily life as well as encouraging young people to choose careers in science and research. Both events will offer a broad range of varied activities addressing all categories of the public at large, regardless of age and scientific background, i.e. notably: Meetings and activities together with researchers; Lectures, discussions; Visits to open laboratories; Real life observations and experiments; European corners; Various contests, games, exhibitions, movie and online broadcast watching. All the activities planned will actively involve researchers and will offer a balanced combination of "serious" activities and funny ones to be attractive for the general public. Activities will be hosted in labs, lecture halls, meeting places, cafes, while in the rural areas they will take place in schools or public spaces. Some activities conducted in the main sites will be broadcasted online. Common concept for the Night in 2016 and 2017 will be Learning about Technology Futures. Therefore activities of Researchers’ Night projects in 2016 will be organised with focus on Virtual Reality thus building foundations for the Night in 2017 which will focus of "science futurity" or Futures of technologies. Both events will be finalised with the grand event unifying different fields - music, science and cinema. We expect at least 500.000 people made aware of the Researchers' Night and its objectives through the awareness campaign and 11.500 direct attendees to the various events planned in 2016 as well as in 2017.


Market Opportunity Confirmation for Biomimetic Tissue Matrix Products

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


LIETUVOS NACIONALINE VARTOTOJU FEDERACIJA ASOCIACIJA

Heating And Cooling Know-how and Solutions

The objective of Heating And Cooling Knowhow and Solutions (HACKS) is to achieve market transformation for heating and cooling (HAC) appliances by motivating consumers to replace old and inefficient equipment with new energy efficient equipment; and to encourage solutions that consume less fuel, lower energy bills and improve users’ comfort and health. In the EU, almost half of all buildings have individual boilers installed before 1992, with efficiency of 60% or less. The associated energy savings of a speedy replacement are immense.   To achieve these goals, 17 HACKS partners in 15 countries will raise awareness on HAC economic and environmental benefits via a communication campaign, and 15 dedicated national online platforms that will provide clear, understandable information. The focus will be on HAC appliances (e.g. boilers for space and water heating, local space heaters, etc.), but also on solutions that lower the energy consumption and avoid the installation of new equipment (shading systems, thermostats, taps and showerheads).   HACKS will engage consumers by assisting them during the purchasing process of new HAC equipment. The online platforms will provide tools to receive customized information, interactive comment functions, product information, and direct links to the suppliers of the product. The online platforms will also provide guidance on how to improve consumers' situation while avoiding the purchase of unnecessary equipment as well as how to use and maintain devices.  Finally, HACKS will work with all relevant stakeholders (“the multipliers”) that participate in the decision-making process of consumers by setting up strategic partnerships to promote and facilitate the purchase of energy efficient installed appliances. HACKS will place a strong emphasis on installers, retailers and consumer organisations because of their proximity to the consumers and capacity to involve and bring guidance on energy efficient equipment directly to them.


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


European startups fail to scale, which often is the reason why they also fail in general. To avoid this, Startup ecosystems have to be connected and support the flow of startups from one ecosystem to another. Like nature‘s ecosystems, startups follow the path of least resistance or rather of the biggest opportunities, flowing like rivers downstream, from smaller ecosystems to the larger ones. Following such logic, this Project will connect smaller startup ecosystems to the larger ones through building awareness and capcaity for scaling and providing Soft-landing support. Soft-Landing Project will: (1) organize 40 1-week Startup Ecosystem Discovery Missions with 200 participants from 4 Consortium hubs to Germany, Netherlands, France, Lithuania, Silicon Valley, and India in order to build awareness about the ecosystems and build bridges between them; (2) organize 40 ecosystem discovery mission follow-up events; (3) support the exchange of 60 speakers/mentors for Consortium hubs‘ events; (4) send 96 startups and scaleups from the 4 Consortium hubs for 1-month Soft-landing stays in the Destination ecosystems; (5) organize the European Soft-landing conference on startup migration, connecting startup ecosystems and soft-landing support; (6) produce a White Paper with policy reocmmendations; (7) provide practical advice on scaling and the available soft-landing support on the project‘s website www.soft-landing.eu and build the community around it.  Consortium partners are veteran startup ecosystem development hubs, 3 of them have worked on the same Startup Europe projects before (Startup Scaleup, LIFE, Digistart) all of which have been succcessfuly implemented. The Consortium members understand the Call‘s objectives fully and drawing on their previous Startup Europe‘s project implementation experience have designed a practical, realistic and at the same time ambitious project that will connect European statup ecosystems and help startups and scaleups to scale.