Projects
Pilot line production of transceiver modules for the next generation of smart RF power applications SMARTEC proposes to raise a unique Power-RF nanoelectronics innovation from TRL6 to TRL8, that will radically transform future transceiver RF-power modules (TRX) and to produce them through a dedicated pilot line. These novel TRX of enhanced performance, smaller size and lower manufacturing cost will be core components of new products, addressing several segments of the RF-power market. SMARTEC paves the way to its stakeholders to access new markets and/or help them sustain their positioning in their industry rivalry, as well as increase their market shares....
Marine Coastal Ecosystems Biodiversity and Services in a Changing World The EU 2020 Biodiversity strategy and 7th Environment Action Programme highlight the importance of halting the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) by preserving ecosystems and fully integrating environmental requirements into policymaking to face climate change (CC). The main challenge to help the EU deliver on these targets is to fill knowledge gaps on inter-relations between CC, biodiversity and ES, and to ensure an effective transfer of knowledge to relevant stakeholders. Marine coastal ecosystems (MCE) are European priority habitats as almost half of its population lives in its maritime...
Ocean-based Negative Emission Technologies - analyzing the feasibility, risks, and cobenefits of ocean-based negative emission technologies for stabilizing the climate In addition to urgently needed emission reductions, the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C highlighted with high confidence that all projected pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C also require the use of Negative Emission Technologies (NETs). The majority of NETs research has focused on land-based methods, however, meeting climate mitigation targets with land-based NETs alone, will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. NET knowledge on the ocean-based counterpart, which has a considerably higher capacity to store carbon, remains...
A revolutionary patent drafting tool powered by cutting-edge AI algorithms The EU’s next innovation and research funding programme, Horizon Europe, will invest €100 billion of public money into research and innovation projects, and the commercialization process will be vital in enabling EU citizens to enjoy the social and economic benefits of this enormous investment. More than 3 million patent applications are filed annually worldwide, a figure that is increasing by approximately 8% each year. Despite this vast number of applications, the cost of filing a patent remains a substantial barrier to individual inventors, universities and research centres, and early stage...
A fully Robotic and 3D Printing solution for large scale building delivery 3D Printing for construction sector is booming in the last few years, emerging as an automated manufacturing process that produce complex shape geometries automatically from a 3D computer design model. Although construction 3D Printing has become a revolutionary technology for building, the industry will have to face many challenges related to scalability, work at heights, delivery system, suitability to adverse environment and initial investments. Aware of the limitations of current 3D printing systems for construction, we have developed Evo Constructor, which is a unique mobile system based on...
All Atlantic Ocean Sustainable, Profitable and Resilient Aquaculture ASTRAL will develop new, sustainable, profitable and resilient value chains for integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) production within the framework of existing, emerging and potential Atlantic markets. The proposal gathers four IMTA labs including open offshore (Ireland, Scotland), flow-through inshore (South Africa) and recirculation inshore (Brazil) systems and one prospective IMTA lab (Argentina), focusing on a regional challenge-based perspective, including fish, mollusc, echinoderm, crustacean and algae species. ASTRAL will increase circularity by 50-60% compared to monoculture baseline aquaculture and will provide a circular business model, boosting revenue diversification for aquaculture producers increasing profitability...
Atlantic ECOsystems assessment, forecasting & sustainability The ambition of AtlantECO is to develop and apply a novel, unifying framework for providing knowledge-based resources to design policies, support decisions making and engage with citizens to encourage responsible behaviour to manage the Atlantic system and protect its Ecosystem Services (ES) provision. The aim of AtlantECO is to determine the structure and function of Atlantic microbiome in the context of ocean circulation and presence of pollutants, e.g., plastics, to assess its role in driving the dynamics of Atlantic ecosystems at basin and regional scales; its potential of being used as a sensor of...
New Technologies, Tools and Strategies for a Sustainable, Resilient and Innovative European Aquaculture The vision of the EU aquaculture industry is to grow substantially in the next decade and to provide annually 4.5 million tons of sustainable food products. To this aim, NewTechAqua intends to expand and diversify EU production of finfish, molluscs and microalgae by developing and validating technologically-advanced, resilient and sustainable new solutions. The organizational approach of NewTechAqua is to group the solutions in 6 different categories: feed, Industry 4.0, sustainable farming, genetics, new species and new products. They will be validated on conventional (Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout,...
Improving and Integrating European Ocean Observing and Forecasting Systems for Sustainable use of the Oceans Although the Ocean is a fundamental part of the global system providing a wealth of resources, there are fundamental gaps in ocean observing and forecasting systems, limiting our capacity in Europe to sustainably manage the ocean and its resources. Ocean observing is “big science” and cannot be solved by individual nations; it is necessary to ensure high-level integration for coordinated observations of the ocean that can be sustained in the long term. EuroSea brings together key European actors of ocean observation and forecasting with key...
FAST and Nano-Enabled SMART Materials, Structures and Systems for Energy Harvesting The project's overall concept is centred on the scaling up of novel, mass-production nano-manufacturing techniques invented by FAST-SMART partners for synthesis of nano-structured smart materials and component manufacturing for energy harvesting applications to significantly improve the material quality and structural reliability (>50%~100% improvement) and reduce overall materials and processing costs (by 30%) through shortening the process chains and improving material processing efficiency, being focused on less and free rare-element dependence materials (such as lead-free piezoelectric and Hf-free half-Heusler thermoelectric materials) as well as on new energy harvester designs considering...
Multiple-use-of Space for Island Clean Autonomy The overall Aim of MUSICA is to accelerate the roadmap to commercialisation of its Multi-Use Platform (MUP) and Multi-use of Space (MUS) combination for the small island market, and de-risk for future operators and investors, by validation to TRL7 and providing real plans to move to mass market commercialisation. The MUSICA solution will be a decarbonising one-stop shop for small islands, including their marine initiatives (Blue Growth) and ecosystems. The overall Aim of MUSICA will be achieved by developing a replicable smart MUP. MUSICA will advance the existing FP7 funded MUP concept developed by...
Big Data applications for Black hole Evolution STudies The BiD4BEST ITN will offer doctoral training in one of the most visible areas of astrophysical research, the formation of supermassive black holes in galaxies. A coordinated research training effort in this field is needed now to mobilise the community in Europe and prepare a core group of young scientists in anticipation of new observational data in the early/mid 2020s from future space missions with strong European involvement. These data will have the quality and volume to yield transformational science on the formation of black-holes in galaxies, as long as the necessary...
Community-based development schemes for geothermal energy CROWDTHERMAL aims to empower the European public to directly participate in the development of geothermal projects with the help of alternative financing schemes (crowdfunding) and social engagement tools. In order to reach this goal, the project will first increase the transparency of geothermal projects and technologies by creating one to one links between geothermal actors and the public so that a Social Licence to Operate (SLO) could be obtained. This will be done by assessing the nature of public concerns for the different types of geothermal technologies, considering deep and shallow geothermal installations separately,...
EXPAND II - Widening participation of countries and stakeholders in JPI Urban Europe through capacity building in urban policy, funding and research EXPAND II intends to support the implementation of the JPI Urban Europe Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2.0 (SRIA 2.0) and advance the R&I programme by (1)supporting JPI Urban Europe’s widening activities towards new countries, stakeholders and partners, (2)facilitating the transition from SRIA 2015 to SRIA 2.0 in terms of enhancing formats, instruments, strategic partnerships, and programme management, and by(3)improving availability and accessibility of research results for cities, funders, policy and decision makers. Since transformations to sustainable and...
A Blockchain-based Middleware Platform for Food Tracking Ledger Builder FOrLedger, an innovative low-code development platform that allows software companies oriented to agrifood supply chain businesses to develop blockchain-based software quickly with minimal coding, minimizing the need for extensive coding experience. These applications support growers in the traceability and in the certification of food products by using the Blockchain technology and Smart Contracts. It helps them build transparency beyond the “one step down, one step up” traceability principle. Furthermore, it improves the integrity of product data and drives efficiencies for stakeholders. The novelty of FOrLedger lies in blockchain technology togetherwith model-driven...