Projects

ERA-NET Cofund on Blue Bioeconomy - Unlocking the potential of aquatic bioresources The ERA-NET Cofund BlueBio will act to unlock the potential of aquatic bio-resources to create jobs, economic growth and provide food, nutrition and bio-based products and services. Thus, paving the way for a sustainable and competitive Blue Bioeconomy in Europe. The goal is to identify new and improve existing ways of bringing bio-based products and services to the market and find new ways of creating value in the Blue bioeconomy. The objectives of BlueBio are to establish a coordinated R&D funding scheme that will strengthen Europe’s position in...

Ecologically and economically sustainable mesopelagic fisheries The overall goal of MEESO is to quantify the spatio-temporal distributions of biomass, production and ecosystem role of mesopelagic resources and to assess options to sustainably manage and govern their exploitation. To reach this goal, MEESO will create new knowledge and data on the mesopelagic community, its biodiversity, drivers of its biomass, its role in carbon sequestration, its role in the oceanic ecosystem and its interactions with the epipelagic community which includes several important commercial fish stocks. Besides applying state of the art experimental and quantitative methods, MEESO will develop and implement new acoustic...

The opening of rural areas to renew rural generations, jobs and farms European economic, social and territorial cohesion is threatened by the unequal development of growing urban and declining rural areas. RURALIZATION develops a novel perspective for rural areas to trigger a process of ruralisation as counterforce to urbanisation, that is, a development towards a new rural frontier offering new generations stimulating opportunities for economic and social sustainability within a rural context. These opportunities will serve both existing inhabitants of rural areas, to overcome the dilemma between place attachment and lack of economic opportunities, and rural newcomers who bring novel...

Tropical and South Atlantic climate-based marine ecosystem predictions for sustainable management Sustainable management of human activities affecting Atlantic marine ecosystems is critical to maintain its health and to support the blue economy of the bordering countries. TRIATLAS will contribute to this by delivering knowledge of the current state and future changes of the Atlantic marine ecosystems. We achieve this through a basin-wide approach integrating research from the North and South, that closes critical knowledge gaps in the Tropical and South Atlantic which impede an understanding of the entire basin. We bring together an interdisciplinary team of marine ecologists, physical oceanographers,...

Innovative, low cost, low weight and safe floating wind technology optimized for deep water wind sites Many elements of an offshore wind farm become more expensive as depth increases: mooring, anchoring and dynamic cables are the most obvious. However, deep water areas also pose additional challenges for installation and O&M strategies. FLOTANT project aims to develop an innovative and integrated Floating Offshore Wind solution, optimized for deep waters (100-600m) and to sustain a 10+MW wind turbine generator, composed by: a mooring and anchoring system using high performance polymers and based on Active Heave Compensation to minimise excursions, a hybrid concrete-plastic...

PivotBuoy - An Advanced System for Cost-effective and Reliable Mooring, Connection, Installation & Operation of Floating Wind "The main project objective is to reduce the cost of energy (LCOE) of floating wind by 50% through the validation of the ""PivotBuoy"", an innovative subsystem that reduces the costs of mooring systems and floating platforms, allows faster and cheaper installation and a more reliable and sustainable operation. The PivotBuoy system combines the advantages of Single Point Mooring systems (SPM - pre-installation of the mooring and connection system using small vessels) with those of tension-leg systems (TLPs - weight reduction, reduced mooring length...

Decentralised technologies for orchestrated cloud-to-edge intelligence The emerging spring of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will enable innovative applications exploiting the myriad of connected sensors and appliances embedded in every corner of modern life. Currently, AI requires high computational resources only available in high-performance data centers; therefore, realizing an architecture capable of securely processing this unprecedented amount of remotely sensed and potentially sensitive data, as well as conveying timely responses to pervasive configurable actuators is a non-trivial endeavour, requiring the cooperation of multiple parties.To address these challenges, DECENTER aims to realise a robust Fog Computing platform, covering the whole Cloud-to-Things Continuum, that...

An Open Innovation Ecosystem for upscaling production processes of lightweight metal alloys composites LightMe project targets on the setting up of a self-sustainable open innovation ecosystem for the upscaling of industrial processes concerning lightweight metal alloys (aluminum, magnesium and titanium) composites. It is evident that although the last two decades a high number of research projects has been dedicated in the development of new composite lightweight metals for industrial applications (e.g. according to Scopus, more than 1000 publications concerns this field in the last 5 years), only a very limited number of such cases has been finally commercialized and reached...

European Training Network in Low-energy Visible Light IoT Systems Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are driving a revolution in lighting systems due to their superior energy efficiency, and are already entering the Internet of Things (IoT) market with embedded sensory functionalities. By bringing connectivity to every LED bulb, Visible Light Communication (VLC) offers the opportunity to write the next chapter of the LED revolution with the language of ubiquitous networks. With VLC networking still in its infancy, ENLIGHT’EM will take the unique opportunity to design IoT systems that leverage the low baseline energy consumption of LEDs to jointly deliver lighting and...

CrItical RAw materials extraction in enviroNmentally protected areas CIRAN will develop, test and validate processes to arrive at systemic policy-making, balancing environmental protection and societal needs for accessing critical raw materials (CRMs). This will be achieved through: 1) streamlined permitting procedures in environmentally protected areas; 2) modern policies and social contract frameworks that reconcile the protection of environmentally sensitive areas and domestic sourcing of CRMs in the EU; and 3) the development of a community of practice to support the uptake of the CIRAN recommendation and that will remain active after the project funding period.CIRAN proposes a logical framework that...

FlexIble, predictive and Renewable Electricity powered electrochemical toolbox For a sustainable transition of the catalyst-based European chemicaL industrY The FIREFLY project rises to the sustainable evolution of the catalyst-based chemical industry, towards its electrification and reduced third-party dependence on metals and fossil energy. The controversial sustainability challenges and opportunities in catalysts recycling/production and catalyzed chemical processes motivated the synergy of 16 partners proposing the FIREFLY concept, relying on the development of: i) Electro-driven technologies for metal recycling from spent, waste, and off-specification catalysts available in Europe—including a modelling, optimization, and engineering approach; ii) Efficient integration of renewable electricity; iii) A...

Depolymerizable bio-based multifunctional closed loop recyclable epoxy systems for energy efficient structures Materials, especially advanced materials, are the backbone and source of prosperity of an industrial society” (Materials 2030 Manifesto). The Green Deal and the Digital Decade establish high-priority policies for Europe, where 70% of all technical innovations are directly or indirectly attributed to advanced materials. Lightweight and high-strength materials have consistently played a key role in the construction of fuel-efficient and high-performing transportation structures. Lightweight materials such as glass and carbon fibres composites are commonly used due to their intrinsic properties such as high mechanical performance. However, the poor...

Coastal Climate Resilience and Marine Restoration Tools for the Arctic Atlantic basin The CLIMAREST project - Coastal Climate Resilience and Marine Restoration Tools for the Arctic Atlantic basin - integrates multiple expertise into a holistic approach, to develop a toolbox designed to establish guidelines for ecosystem restoration and to enhance climate resilience in coastal communities. The concept is to develop, test and optimise a modular toolbox that integrates expert knowledge, scientific information, multilevel stakeholder and community involvement, ecosystem service improvement analysis, cost-benefit analysis, priority of actions, and custom designed protocols for restoring and monitoring multiple coastal habitats. The toolbox framework...

Blueprint for Atlantic-Arctic Agora on cross-sectoral cooperation for restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and increased climate resilience through transformative innovation A-AAgora aims to develop the implementable NbS (Nature based Solutions) through innovative governance structures and technological architecture. It targets to boost resilience to climate change and mitigating its impacts in coastal areas. It identifies synergies by promoting a deliberative process to complement other priority areas within the EC Mission - by setting a Community of Practice and developing a digital knowledge system. It develops NbS at three replicable demonstrators (Demo-PT, Demo-IE, Demo-NO), which can upscaled. The project seeks improved...

Locative Games for Cultural Heritage Locative Games are in the process of entering the mainstream, in cultural heritage they can improve access by offering alternative experiences and widening audiences, they can aid in preservation by managing footfall and focusing digital assets, and they can increase engagement and allow visitors to see their heritage in new ways. However, existing design approaches and infrastructures for locative heritage are bespoke and poorly integrated with existing visitor structures. There is also a lack of guidelines on what is ethically desirable in these digitally mediated spaces, and how designers might mitigate against unintended consequences or...