Over the last 20 years, femtosecond lasers have led to a host of novel scientific and industrial instrumentation enabling the direct measurement of optical frequencies and the realization of optical clocks, a Nobel Prize winning technology. Initially developed for fundamental science, the potential of femtosecond lasers for a wide range of cross-disciplinary applications has been demonstrated, including e.g. those in optical telecommunication, photonic analog-to-digital conversion, ultra-high precision signal sources for the upcoming quantum technologies and broadband optical spectroscopy in the environmental or bio-medical sciences and many more. Although, impressive cross-disciplinary demonstrations of the potential of femtosecond lasers are numerous, the technology has been hampered by its large size and high cost per system. The existing mode-locked semiconductor diode laser technology does not fulfil the needed performance specifications. The aim of the FEMTOCHIP project is to deliver a fully integrated chip-scale mode-locked laser with pulse energy, peak power and jitter specifications of a shoebox sized fiber laser system enabling a large fraction of the above-mentioned applications. Key challenges addressed are large cross-section, high gain, low background loss waveguide amplifiers, low loss passive waveguide technology and chirped waveguide gratings to accommodate high pulse peak power, to suppress Q-switching instabilities and to implement short pulse production by on-chip dispersion compensation and artificial saturable absorption. Therefore, the FEMTOCHIP consortium is composed of leaders in CMOS compatible ultra-low loss integrated SiN-photonics, rare-earth gain media development and deposition technology as well as ultrafast laser physics and technology for design, simulation and characterization to identify and address the key challenges in demonstrating a highly stable integrated femtosecond laser with table-top performance.

In the modern network economy, a typical industrial firm in Europe spends about 60% of their turnover on purchased components. More than half of the entire income of a firm is directly routed through to its suppliers. Hence, not only from the perspective of an individual firm, but from the perspective of European competitiveness the management of the buyer-supplier interface, i.e. professional Purchasing and Supply Management (PSM), is crucial. For that, world class training and education of purchasers are necessary. In a previous Erasmus+ strategic partnership project PERFECT (2015-1-DE01-KA203-002174) we empirically identified the skills characteristic for successful purchasers and developed a harmonised Pan European curriculum and a MOOC on PSM Fundamentals (www.project-perfect.eu). However since then, a new development gained unpreceded momentum, the fourth industrial revolution (I4.0). Cyber-physical systems with autonomous machine-to-machine communication are re-shaping parts of our economy. The PSM is one of the areas that is most strongly affected. Hence, the skill set purchasers need to manage and organise such systems and to efficiently prevail in an I4.0 world is changing, too. Within education as well as in industry there is a strong demand for directions on how to manage this change in general and how to educate and prepare the purchasing workforce in particular. The aim and innovation of this proposal therefore lies in a) identifying those skills which are likely to prevail and those which are newly added to the profile of a European purchaser to develop an I4.0 PSM Skill framework and b) developing a module-based course for higher education to teach these skills and c) to develop new, gamification and playful interaction oriented didactical elements for purpose student-centred teaching approach, including a gamified MOOC.The challenge is that currently very little knowledge is available on how to react to the I4.0 induced change from an educational perspective. The following questions arise:•How will the purchaser in the I4.0 have to act?•Which skills and knowledge are purchasers likely to need in I4.0?•And how to train current students as purchasers of the future in an efficient, modern way (i.e. student-centred), i.e. already reflecting the new technologies?The PERSIST consortium consists of five partners University Twente, TU University Dortmund, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Edge Hill University and EUB Bratislava with complementary skills in order to achieve the project objective and milestones. It brings together leading universities in PSM, European project management competence and practical exposure (e.g. associations and industry partner) with a very strong background and international network in PSM. For the evaluation and dissemination of project results the project consortium will be supported by an advisory board and associated partners.PERSIST uses a set of methods, including expert interviews and Delphi for the generation and verification of knowledge. For the practical application of a novel and student-centred teaching format, a module-based course using gamification elements and playful interaction concepts will be designed and created to train I4.0 changes. To design the module-based course the project PERSIST follows the didactic approach of Constructive Alignment for the design of competence-oriented lectures in academic contexts, starting with the definition of competence-oriented learning outcomes. Upon completion of PERSIST the following will be available:1.Providing a framework for PSM Skills in I4.0 for academics and practitioners (knowledge, skills and traits)2.Description of a multi-perspective approach to the collection of future competence requirements for PSM managers in the context of I4.0 (best practice world café, expert interviews and Delphi study)3.Describing a procedure for using gamification elements and playful interaction concepts in teaching courses (accessible tool-set using modern didactical tools such as online digital learning elements, gamification, MOOC)4.Developing a module-based course with digital and gamification elements for I4.0 PSM Skills5.Developing and providing open-source learning material to prepare students and professionals for the changes in PSM in the era of I4.0, e.g. gamified MOOCPERSIST will support Europe to seize the chances I4.0 is presenting, at a crucial interface. I4.0 is a great chance for the industrialised economies of Europe, which, however, have to get enabled to coin the revolution. On the long term, PERSIST is addressing an exceptionally strong lever to provide the European economy with a competitive advantage through embracing inevitable change.Via new learning and teaching methods in I4.0 PSM the students will form the future workforce in PSM in the I4.0 era and will lead to a better communication and understanding in strategic buyer – supplier relations.

Challenges presented by aircraft electric propulsion requires the development of new airborne technologies that enable expanding the electrification technology trend already impacting other areas, like ground transportation or the autonomous generation/usage of electricity from renewables, to efficient and economical air transportation. Those intended technologies must be capable of producing a highly efficient, lightweight, and compact aircraft electrical system that can supply the electric power for propulsion as well as for other uses while keeping electromagnetic emissions under safe limits compatible with airborne equipment operation and human safety. In addition, they shall control heat up of the system by enhanced thermal dissipation through a proper thermal management system. With this aim, EASIER will bring together a multidisciplinary team in order to achieve the following objectives: 1. Investigating EMI filtering solutions with less volume and weight. 2. Investigating EWIS technologies with less radiated EMI, less volume and lower weight. 3. Improved heat transfer from electrical systems to the aircraft exterior. 4. Optimization of the integration of electrical systems with significant mutual impact. 5. Engagement with airframers and regulatory agencies. 6. System trade-off analysis and technology identification. 7. Roadmapping of hybrid/electric aircraft key enabling technologies in terms of EMI and thermal management. To achieve the objectives a strong partnership is established among all members of the EASIER consortium from EU and US who will collaborate following a coordinated plan, with the Industrial Advisory Board and other consortium(s) executing areas 1-3 from the call.