Transformative adaptation is gaining recognition as the appropriate response to climate change as the current adaptive measures reach their limits. In addressing health risks associated with heat waves, air pollution, wildfire emission and pollen, the implementation of comprehensive transformative adaptation remains largely unreported in Europe. healthRiskADAPT’s objective is to develop and implement a health risk assessment system for Mediterranean, Alpine and Continental regions. Its contents and tools will be in line with Climate-ADAPT described Urban adaptation support tool. This will support empowerment of local and regional authorities to make informed decisions in strategic planning, management and daily operational mitigation of health challenges related to climate change. healthRiskADAPT will address the fundamental causes of vulnerability and implement concrete adaptation measures aiming to mitigate the health impacts of climate change. The key details of this approach include: 1) Co-creation with users of integrated transformative adaptation options encompassing technical, nature based, and social solutions, reducing the impact of climate-related risks on human health in both indoor and outdoor environments. 2) Vulnerability assessments, health indicators, and risk indices related to climate change impact on health, considering different temporal and spatial scales. 3) Interactive and user-friendly toolkit for local & regional authorities to assess hazards, vulnerability, and risks specific to their regions. These toolkits will facilitate the prioritization, planning, and evaluation of adaptation options. healthRiskADAPT will use various communication techniques to actively engage with all stakeholders involved in the adaptation process, and develop an upscaling strategy to meet the ambitions of the Climate mission. Furthermore, we seek to enhance the preparedness of the healthcare system to respond effectively to the challenges posed by the effects of climate change.

FLAIR aims at developing an airborne, compact and cost-effective air quality sampling sensor for sensitive and selective detection of molecular fingerprints in the 2-5 μm and 8-12 μm infrared atmospheric windows. The sensor is based on an innovative supercontinuum laser that provides ultra-bright emission across the entire spectrum of interest. Such a light source in combination with a novel type of multipass cell in conjunction with specifically developed uncooled detector arrays will ensure highly sensitive detection. Broadband single-shot 2D high resolution absorption spectra capture will allow highly selective molecular detection in complex gas mixtures in the ppbv levels in real time. This high performance sensor constitutes a breakthrough in the field of trace gas spectroscopy. Moreover, in a hybrid approach, the main spectroscopic sensor will be complemented by a fine particle detector in order to obtain a complete picture of the air quality. Mounted on an adapted and optimized UAV (drone), the sensor will enable pervasive sensing on large scales outside urban environments where air quality monitoring remains challenging, e.g. along gas pipelines or around chemical plants. Also, FLAIR can guide emergency measures in case of chemical fires or leaks, wildfires or volcanic eruptions or even serve for oil and gas exploration or explosives related molecules detection, by far more cost-effectively than for missions on manned research aircraft. As such FLAIR provides a novel and ubiquitous tool addressing air quality related safety issues. The sensor prototype will be tested at TRL 4 in the lab and at TRL 5 on-board a UAV in the context of a well-defined and controlled validation test setting. The project will be carried out by 3 SMEs, 1 industrial partner and 4 RTDs, covering the full value chain (development, implementation and application) of such a sensor for air quality monitoring. Business cases for commercialization routes in a global market will be provided

Today, the fresh produce supply chain is highly unsustainable: 33% of the produced fruit and vegetables is either lost or wasted, of which 10% occurs during long-term storage. This loss also has a major financial impact on the food industry. For stored apples, pears and blueberries alone, the global economic loss equals €6.1 billion per year. However, a significant part of current storage losses could be prevented if only continuous monitoring of stored products was possible so that appropriate measures can be taken. In the MAX-FRESH project, we will develop the innovative ISS-Monitor: world’s first automated multi-species trace gas sensor that can simultaneously and in real-time detect low levels of 7 volatile gases that indicate ripening, fermentation, damage or rotting of stored fruit. Once unfavorable conditions are detected, the ISS-Monitor will provide automated alerts to enable timely and effective interventions by its customers. The ISS-Monitor has the potential to reduce losses of stored fresh food by 50%, extend storage life with 20%, and reduce post-harvest chemical treatments with 50%. The MAX-FRESH project builds on a functional prototype of the ISS-Monitor which demonstrated proof-of-performance in a relevant environment. During the MAX-FRESH project, we will take the final steps required to launch the ISS-Monitor on the market. To do so, we apply for €2.2 million (77%) from the EC. The MAX-FRESH project will be performed by a complementary consortium of 3 market-leading industrial partners and 1 academic partner, combining cutting-edge technologies with unique expertise. After completing the MAX-FRESH project in 2023, the ISS-Monitor wil be ready for market launch. By doing so, the ISS-Monitor will make an impact on the global food production system by contributing to sustainable food production for the ever-growing world population. Sales of the ISS-Monitor will generate cumulative revenues of €110 million for the MAX-FRESH consortium.

Higher agility for the European Manufacturing Industry is the main MOTIVATION for the openMOS project. While automated systems are appealing to achieve high productivity and quality requirements, their sensitivity to change is becoming increasingly a bottleneck to substantial reduction of lot sizes and more frequent change-overs. The project VISION is to enable full economic sustainability of the production systems based on intelligent modular plug-and-produce equipment. To achieve this, it is focusing on three main innovation strands: 1) embedding plug-and-produce capabilities into automation devices, robots and machines, 2) enabling vertical and horizontal connectivity between plug-and-produce automation components and higher level control and business functions, and 3) creating a easily extendable and adaptable manufacturing operating system (MOS) that permits the easy introduction of new products, work orders and changes in the equipment and allows easy deployment of optimisation and changeover management strategies. The targeted INNOVATION is a common, openly accessible plug-and-produce system platform which allows all stakeholders in the automation system value chain to come together and jointly develop and exploit solutions. Therefore, the project is proposing to integrate well established plug-and-produce system concepts from many years of research in this field, into industrial-relevant technology platforms which have emerged in recent years. As the vast majority of components/ devices/ machine manufacturers and system integrators are SMEs, plug-and-produce can only be achieved by placing specific SME requirements at the forefront: solutions by, and for, SMEs. The RTD approach will be driven by proposed industrial scenarios and pilot implementations which will be carried out to systematically test and validate the readiness of the targeted exploitable results in three key industrial sectors (white goods, automotive and electronics).

Air pollution poses a great environmental risk to health, accounting for nearly half a million premature deaths each year in Europe. Biogas production is an enabling technology to achieve net-zero emissions, while accelerating the energy diversification in Europe. Both, air quality control and biogas production demand critical improvements in sensor technology. SYMPHONY will develop a new technology enabling the implementation of dense networks of cloud-connected, low-cost, portable and easy-to-use sensors, capable of multi-target detection for applications in air quality control, pollution monitoring, industrial process control and safety. SYMPHONY will address this challenge by making key developments in silicon photonics, neuromorphic circuits, artificial intelligence, integration, and packaging, while exploiting state-of-the-art silicon microelectronics for ultra-low power edge computing with artificial intelligence, and the connected sensor network for spatially-resolved analysis and prediction. The main focus of SYMPHONY smart sensors are gases related to the biogas production and gases that have been identified by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) as highly pollutant and contributing to the greenhouse effect, such as CO2, CH4 and NO2. SYMPHONY smart sensors will be validated in three different relevant scenarios: city pollution monitoring in Cyprus, process control and leakage detection in biogas micro-plants in multiple locations in Europe. With this ambition in mind, SYMPHONY has gathered a transversal consortium, comprising three academic institutions, two research institutes, four companies and two end-users, coming from seven different countries in Europe. The consortium covers the full value chain, including silicon photonics, neuromorphic circuits, silicon microelectronics, integration, packaging, artificial intelligence, gas sensing, the internet of things, biogas production and air pollution monitoring.