SHAPES aims to create the first European open Ecosystem enabling the large-scale deployment of a broad range of digital solutions for supporting and extending healthy and independent living for older individuals who are facing permanently or temporarily reduced functionality and capabilities. SHAPES builds an interoperable Platform integrating smart digital solutions to collect and analyse older individuals’ health, environmental and lifestyle information, identify their needs and provide personalised solutions that uphold the individuals’ data protection and trust.Standardisation, interoperability and scalability of SHAPES Platform sustain increased efficiency gains in health and care delivery across Europe, bringing improved quality of life to older individuals, their families, caregivers and care service providers. SHAPES Large-scale Piloting campaign engages +2k older individuals in 15 pilot sites in 10 EU Member States, including 6 EIP on AHA Reference Sites, and involves hundreds of key stakeholders to bring forth solutions to improve the health, wellbeing, independence and autonomy of older individuals, while enhancing the long-term sustainability of health and care systems in Europe. SHAPES’s multidisciplinary approach to large-scale piloting is reflected across 7 themes that, together, provide a clear understanding of the reality of European health and care systems and enable the validation of cost-efficient, interoperable and reliable innovations capable of effectively supporting healthy and independent living of older individuals within and outside the home. Building an ecosystem attractive to European industry and policy-makers, SHAPES develops value-based business models to open and scale-up the market for AHA-focused digital solutions and provides key recommendations for the far-reaching deployment of innovative digital health and care solutions and services supporting and extending healthy and independent living of older population in Europe.

The SHIELD project seeks to revolutionise early detection of pancreatic cancer, focusing on individuals with high heritable genetic risk. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a 5-year survival rate of less than 10%, primarily due to late-stage diagnosis. Consequently, 85% of PDAC cases are identified too late for curative treatment. However, early detection can significantly improve outcomes, increasing the survival rate to 42% with surgical intervention. There is a pressing need for better early detection methods, especially for those with familial or genetic predispositions. The only FDA-approved biomarker, CA19-9, is limited to monitoring treatment response due to its lack of sensitivity and specificity, while imaging methods ofter fail to detect early-stage cancers and cause a strain to the healthcare system due to their cost and limited availability. SHIELD aims to validate a new blood-based diagnostic test designed for early PDAC detection in high-risk individuals and pilot an early detection programme in Greece, Slovenia and Lithuania. Developed by partner Reccan, this test uses a 5-plex multiple immunoassay to analyze protein readouts and provides a probability score for pancreatic cancer. Initial studies with over 450 samples showed excellent performance with >91% sensitivity and >96% specificity. The project will validate the test's clinical performance in a prospective multi-center study across seven EU countries, targeting individuals with familial or genetic predispositions. It will also identify new protein biomarkers for other high-risk indications, such as new-onset diabetes (NOD). Collaboration with national screening authorities will help integrate this test into existing programs, and partnerships with patient organizations will enhance recruitment. SHIELD envisions transforming pancreatic cancer diagnostics by increasing the 5-year survival rate to 30% by 2035 in Europe. This action is part of the Cancer Mission cluster of projects on “Prevention & early detection (early detection heritable cancers)

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal of female cancers, often termed a “silent killer”. DISARM’s overall approach to tackle the significant gaps in hereditary OC management lies in tackling both key elements of risk assessment and early detection. The project will investigate multifactorial risk assessment versus standard practices in 4 EU Member States (MS) (Lithuania, Portugal, Czech Republic, and Greece), and will upscale and validate a set of easy-to-use, highly accurate and affordable technologies in five countries (UK, Lithuania, Portugal, Czech Republic, and Greece). Several intelligent digital assets will optimally support and enhance our clinical studies, while a range of multifaceted activities will ensure the future uptake and adoption of DISARM solutions. The project aligns with the Innovation Action character of this topic by focusing on both mature technologies that can be upscaled in routine healthcare and on emerging technologies that have already shown a potential to justify larger scale validation activities. Our ultimate ambition is to holistically investigate the preconditions and set the stage for rolling out proven solutions in routine OC risk assessment, and in parallel to create further evidence for the introduction of novel promising elements in early detection programmes. DISARM gathers 26 partners from 12 countries (10 EU MS, the UK and Canada), thereby exhibiting a significant geographic coverage, strengthening European and international collaboration and ensuring widespread diffusion of the project results. This action is part of the Cancer Mission cluster of projects on ‘Prevention and Early Detection (early detection heritable cancers)

Urban food systems and ecosystems (UFSE) demand immediate action. CITIES2030 innovative approach have a great opportunity to attract the best researchers, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, cities and all agents of the UFSE as well. The main goal of CITIES2030 is to create a future proof and effective UFSE via a connected structure centered in the citizen, built on trust, with partners encompassing the entire UFSE. CITIES2030 commit to work towards the transformation and restructuring of the way systems produce, transport and supply, recycle and reuse food in the 21st century. CITIES2030 vision is to connect short food supply chains, gathering cities and regions, consumers, strategic and complement industry partners, the civil society, promising start-ups and enterprises, innovators and visionary thinkers, leading universities and research across the vast diversity of disciplines addressing UFSE, including food science, social science and big data. CITIES2030 actively encourage the participation of citizens by delivering a trusted UFSE, moving consumers from being passive recipients to active engagement and motivated change agents. This objective is achieved via multiple tools delivered by CITIES2030 such as the CRFS Alliance, a community of practice supported by a digital platform, reaching all over Europe and beyond. This approach will enable policy developments, innovation actions within result-driven Labs, and enhancements on a pan-European scope with a global reach. Cities and regions will improve resilience and sustainability, and their leadership will create short food supply chain and ecosystems enabling local investments, trans-borders and transnational deployment. A blockchain-based data-driven UFSE management platform will secure intelligence and coordination actions by delivering an accurate, almost real-time digital twin of the whole supply chain, e.g. from production to waste management, but also on key enablers of resilience and sustainability.

Sust-HEIn project aims to boost the transition of HEIs in Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Spain to green, sustainable institutions, by fostering the whole-institution approach to sustainability through systems thinking. More specifically Sust-HEIn aims at:1. Enhancing the implementation of whole-institution sustainability policy in HE using systems thinking2. Implementing innovative approaches to teaching on sustainability through systems thinking3. Enhancing the skills and competences of educators, staff and students to integrate sustainability and engage in sustainability activities/processes, especially fostering the inclusion of vulnerable groups4. Strengthening cooperation of HEIs with local communities and other partners in developing and implementing local sustainability initiatives for the inclusion of vulnerable groups5. Promoting the adoption of national guidelines for sector wide sustainable transition of higher education through whole-system approach6. Promoting the establishment at EU level of common principles and guidance on HE whole-institution approaches for sustainability.The objectives will be achieved through the implementation of the following clusters of activities:- Mapping and review of the state of the art of institutional sustainability self-assessment and integration of systems thinking- Development of whole-system sustainability model - Piloting of whole-system sustainability model - Promotion of national guidelines and common principles on sustainable transition of higher education at EU level- Dissemination and Exploitation of the proposed solution.Over 40.000 persons (HEIs students, academic & administrative staff, policy-makers, local actors and communities) are expected to benefit from the project, by increasing their skills on systems thinking and sustainability, by being involved in local community sustainability for the inclusion of vulnerable groups, by raising their awareness on sustainable transition of HE etc.