The RTI Summit 2025 (“A Research and Technology Infrastructures Ecosystem for Breakthrough Science and Innovation”) will provide a platform to connect policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders to advance the European strategy for Research and Technology Infrastructures (RIs and TIs). Aligned with the ERA(European Research Area) Policy Agenda 2025-2027 and the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass 2025, this conference underscores the pivotal role of RIs and TIs in driving Europe's green and digital transitions, fostering industrial competitiveness, and enhancing technological sovereignty. RIs enable groundbreaking research by offering access to state-of-the-art facilities, fostering cross-border collaboration, and supporting open science. TIs complement RIs by providing the resources and expertise needed to scale technological innovations, de-risk industrial investments, and foster the uptake of new technologies in companies in the EU. The RTI Summit 2025 will bring together stakeholders from RIs, TIs, industry and the surrounding innovation ecosystem to discuss best practices and how to overcome structural, geographical and financial barriers. The effort will kick-start the work under the new EU strategy for RIs and TIs and support Europe’s industrial competitiveness and green ambitions.

The main objective of the TT-Net initiative is to create a sustainable European infrastructure to support novel robotic technologies on their path to market. TT-Net will develop and test mechanisms for sharing expertise and physical research infrastructures, and a unique multidisciplinary approach that enhances cross-fertilisation of ideas between academia and industry. We transform successful national structures and mechanisms used by Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK; merging them into a Europe-wide, composite, technology transfer system. Together we will test and improve a four-stage process to accelerate the path to market for new robotic technologies. The first stage involves promoting state-of-the-art industrial and professional service robot technologies to over 1,200 end-users and robot developers (from industry and academia) in a bidirectional exchange of views and opinions about robotic research trends, needs and technology developments, and soliciting participation in TT-Net. The second stage involves technical and business feasibility studies for both end-users and robot developers at about TRL 5. The third stage implements first field trials at TRL 6 for a novel technology and then produces complete TRL 7+ robotic automation solutions at end-user sites. The fourth stage is the completion to TRL 9, facilitated within TT-Net but happening outside project control. Accelerating the path to market of new robot technologies will increase Europe’s market share in both industrial and professional service robotics. Installing European-standard robotic automation at end-user sites instead of the present national-standard automation will contribute substantially to increasing the competitiveness of Europe's manufacturing sector and in particular SMEs.

The DARE2X project is proposing a disruptive approach to decarbonising ammonia (NH3) production: development of sorption-enhanced plasma-catalytic synthesis. NH3 is the chemical produced in the second highest quantities globally and is responsible for 1.8% of global CO2 emissions. Furthermore, its demand is expected to increase drastically in the coming decade through its huge promise as a green fuel. As a result, decarbonisation of NH3 production is an essential goal for decarbonisation of the EU economy by 2050. The timing is vital in starting the push for future production technologies for green NH3, to meet the expected increase in demand. The main challenges for realising European green NH3 production is to transition away from fossil fuel-based, centralised Haber-Bosch facilities, to decentralised, dynamic systems that can be coupled directly to renewable electricity generators at or near the point of use. This does, however, require significant developments. DARE2X will overcome these barriers through the following game-changing solutions: (i) reactors utilising non-thermal plasma to drive NH3 synthesis; (ii) novel, more active catalysts using low-CRM materials, iii) stable and efficient NH3 sorption materials for in-situ NH3 separation. These innovations will be integrated into a single sorption-enhanced plasma-catalytic device that will be validated at TRL4. The economic, environmental and social feasibility will be assessed through LCA, LCC and a social acceptance study. To meet these objectives, DARE2X combines world-leading research institutions and innovative and R&D-performing SMEs specialised in renewable technologies, materials engineering, and technology demonstrations. The novel DARE2X approach has the potential to make decentralised production of green NH3 cost-competitive, providing European self-sufficiency of this vital future fuel, and creating European scientific and innovation excellence that will spawn new companies and create jobs.