MOOC-2-PRAC-4-UNAKLIM: „From Massive Open Online Course to Practice for Environmental-, Nature- and Climate Protection with 4 Consortium Countries: Creation Courses in Environmental Topics using Blended Learning”OBJECTIVEMOCC-2-PRAC-4-UNAKLIM, the cross border massive open online course targets adult learning. Its topics are “green”, e.g. environmental topics, renewable energies and others. Cross cutting modules are environmental project management, international communication, biological-natural modelling, simulation or basic STEM courses. We act in the context of Furthering Education Adult Training, Digital Learning, environmental topics. Unemployed adults shall improve their reintegration chances into the labor market. Principle is Open Access Digital Learning. A variety of courses is offered and can be combined in modules to gain certificates. Several certificates can be combined into a degree. Participants learn independent of geographical location, time of the day and at their own speed. An innovative training concept (Handbook and Tool Kit) to upskill MOOC trainers will make the course interactive, lively to prevent premature dropout. Potential trainers can download it for free. In a Train-The-Trainer-workshop we test it before Handbook and Tool Kit go public.We add a Blended Learning Tool Kit, face-to-face exercises, in seminar rooms (communication, leadership, Project Management), laboratories (chemical, biological analyses), assembly halls (i.e. building solar panels), in the field (i.e. water and soil sampling). The Tool Kit enables trainers to select experiments based on individual needs.5 PARTICIPANTS of 4 countries Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania cooperate, among them 2 NGOs, 2 Universities and 1 Research Institution. Hochschule Anhalt: coordinator, focus biomedical engineering, renewable energies, digital applications. ubb eV.: focus on social and environmental projects. Polip: NGO, focus on young people education, entrepreneurial topics: Oradea University, focus on geography and Digital Learning, MEERI PAS: the Polish Academy of Science, focus on geothermal and renewable energies.ACTIVITIES•MOOC design with structures, functions•Input of “green” topics•Innovative training methods Concept for MOOC Digital Learning•Train-The-Trainer concept, Handbook,Tool Kit, Test in a TTT course•Blended Learning Concept, Handbook, Tool Kit.2 Multiplier Events and 4 Transnational Meetings are planned. A Marketing concept and Sustainability & Exploitation Plan will determine the MOOC’s future after funding. FURTHER ACTIVITIES ARE a project website, partner meetings, newsletters, excursions, disseminations.METHODIC MANAGEMENT COMPONENTS•Project Management Office (PMO), steering group•Meetings, minutes, quality circle, project review •General Assembly•Stakeholder Advisory BoardTOOLS TO ENSURE PROJECT PROGRESS: Null-Hundred-Method, Task & Allocation Table, Gantt-Chart, Critical Path Analysis, Milestone Trend Analysis, Report templates, communication strategy, Responsibility Matrix.PROJECT RESULTS are DISSEMINATED by email, blogs, websites, Twitter, Facebook, networks, conferences, publications, fairs, on local, regional, national and international level – by digital, paper, shared on EPALE and Erasmus Results Platform.EXPECTED RESULTS•MOOC server with courses, modules, test and module recommendation, participant network platform•Innovative Training Handbook•TTT Handbook•Blended Learning Handbook•Newsletter IMPACT ON TARGET GROUPS ON LOCAL, REGIONAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL Enhanced expertise, mutual learning, knowledge transfer in an international environment. Multiplier events and dissemination activities create attention of local, regional and national public, create synergies and strengthen the participating organizations and the local regions.•Consortium: sharpened profile, improved self-esteem, scientific upskill•Participants, end users: knowledge upskill, better qualification, work mobility, better jobs, less poverty•Trainers: upskill to digital and blended courses•Institutions: knowledge upskill, visibility, networks•Politicians: decisions support by sharing new knowledgeLONG TERM BENEFIT AND IMPACT IN EUROPE AND BEYONDMore green networks in remote regions, better international cooperation and adult learning quality, increased cross-border knowledge and people mobility, reduced European expert shortage, stronger European competitiveness, new job opportunities in Europe and worldwide, less poverty, better inclusion of the unemployed into society, more green jobs, contribution to European Climate Protection Targets.We comply with UN Sustainability Goals and support the Mobility Strategy 2020 for European Higher Education Area, European inventory on validation of non-formal / informal learning 2014, EPALE strategies, European Education&Training Strategy 2020. Europe 2020 Strategy Climate&Energy Targets, National Digital Agendas.

Global demand for minerals is growing rapidly, driven by rapid population growth, urbanisation and an increasingly diverse range of technical applications. Global material supply chains linking the extraction, transport and processing stages of raw materials have become increasingly complex and today involve multiple players and product components. An interactive platform that provides transparency about existing approaches and information gaps concerning global material flows is needed to understand these global supply chains; developing this capability is critical for maintaining competitiveness in the European economy. Against this backdrop, the proposed MinFuture project aims to identify, integrate, and develop expertise for global material flow analysis and scenario modelling. Specific activities include: • the analysis of barriers and gateways for delivering more transparent and interoperable materials information • the assessment of existing model approaches for global material flow analysis, including the demand- supply forecasting methods • the delivery of a ‘common methodology’ which integrates mineral data, information and knowledge across national boundaries and between governmental and non-governmental organisations; • the development of recommendations for a roadmap to implement the ‘common methodology’ at international level; • the creation of a web-portal to provide a central access point for material flow information, including links to existing data sources, models, tools and analysis; MinFuture brings together 16 international partners from across universities, public organisations and companies, to deliver new insight, strategic intelligence and a clear roadmap for enabling effective access to global material information.

Numerous attempts of implementing transition pathways across Europe illustrate the difficulty of designing policies that combine efficient climate action and justice considerations. One reason is that the socially diverse, and thus also geographically dispersed demands and vulnerabilities of potentially affected groups do not appear as a well-structured input at any stage of the policy-making process. Therefore, TANDEM will test an innovative transdisciplinary approach in five different case studies in Spain, Belgium, Finland, Poland and Austria that address controversial transition policies in energy and mobility affecting urban and rural populations. The TANDEM project aims to design a methodology allowing policy makers to create and implement inclusive and just transition pathways by involving potentially affected citizens, public authorities, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders. It relies on combination of accessible and complementary methods: deliberative visioning build on art-based approaches, system mapping, assessment and appraisal methods. These methods constitute the backbone of a series of three deliberation panels with citizens. In these panels TANDEM invites participants to create their visions, perspectives and narratives on just transition policies and to define their own criteria and interventions. This deliberation process will guide a systemic impact assessment that will inform individual appraisals of the interventions. Public authorities will be involved at the beginning and end of each panel to provide insights on political, social and economic factors that should be taken into consideration. Furthermore, private companies will be invited to participate through interviews and surveys. TANDEM will thus develop a transdisciplinary approach to identify and analyse emerging inequalities of low-carbon transition policies, as well as to co-design socially fair and effective alternative transition pathways with stakeholders.

The objective of BioRen is to develop techno-economical competitive drop-in biofuels for road transport from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). A higher value fuel is targeted: glycerol tertiary butyl ether (GTBE) is a promising fuel additive to both diesel and gasoline that improves engine performance and cuts harmful exhaust emissions (i.e. fine dust). It can be blended in higher amounts than e.g. ethanol, without having to change the engine. Bio-ethanol and bio-isobutanol from OFMSW are required intermediaries in this innovation path towards GTBE. Their specific business case as second generation drop-in fuel will be compared to the bio-GTBE business case, to select the most sustainable option for building a demo plant. The project will develop a pretreatment method, industrial 2G Saccharomyces strains that produce ethanol and isobutanol respectively and chemical dehydration to convert isobutanol into isobutene. The isobutene is converted into GTBE by adding Category 1 glycerol, another problematic waste stream. The resulting fuels (ethanol, isobutanol and GTBE) will be tested in engine tests to provide feedback regarding their performance, emission results and fuel use. This ambitious project is continuously monitored by LCA, techno-economic, market and regulatory and IP analysis in order to come up with a realistic business plan. The developed processes will be integrated in a revolutionary MSW treatment plant that combines the most efficient technologies of material reuse, and is currently looking into optimising the profitability of its organic waste fraction. The project consortium has all the required players to succeed: 3 RTO’s address the research challenges, 7 SMEs either bring in their technological developments or are a scale-up partner that bring the processes to min. TRL5. The project is led by a financial consultancy that invests in the MSW demonstration treatment plant.

Conference Industrial Technologies and Materials for Sustainable Europe is planned in Krakow on June 2-4, 2025 as part of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It will be organized by the Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences (IGSMiE PAN), the Division of Strategic Research, and Malopolska Voivodship (MV). Major topics and themes will be consulted with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which will also participate in event funding. The scope will cover aspects of sustainable industrial technologies and materials. It will be organized as a cyclical flagship event of the European Union - EUIndTech2025. Under the program of Horizon Europe‘s cluster 4: “Digital, Industry and Space”, the conference will mobilize key players worldwide around the theme of the industrial technologies of tomorrow, gathering stakeholders from scientific and research units, industrial companies, start-ups, European partnerships, administrative bodies and NGOs. EUIndTech2025 will focus on increasing the competitiveness and resilience of the EU industry and its transformation, having regard to the most important strategic developments in the area of manufacturing, net-zero industry, critical raw materials and advanced materials.