SafeNav’s ambition is to develop and test a highly innovative digital collision prevention solution that will significantly reduce the probability of collisions, impact damage, grounding, and contribute to safer navigation by a) faster reliable real-time detection of a variety of obstacles (other vessels, fixed installations, submerged/semi-submerged objects, and marine mammals) in the marine environment, using data from state-of-the-art sensors and other relevant sources, and b) effective visual representation of the multi-source data to the navigators for quick COLREG-based decision-making support. To this end, SafeNav unites 10 key partners from the maritime industry and academia, including renowned SMEs, R&D institutes and universities to address the ‘Navigational Accidents’ aspect of the work programme . We will design collision avoidance algorithms built on multi-sensory data input from propriety (LADARTM sensor suite) and off-the-shelf sensors already installed on vessels, extensive statistics of navigational accidents, and other sources (AIS and route exchange services) to create a holistic decision support system (DSS). Processed information from the automatic DSS will feed into SafeNav collision-avoidance algorithms and generate real-time COLREGs-compliant suggestions for the navigator when an obstacle is detected. This reduces pressure on navigators onboard, providing them with efficient decision-making aid and access to visual navigation data on a single graphical user-interface. Sensors will also be used for container tracking, and mathematical models will predict container drift trajectory, transmitting collected data to a SafeNav Navigational Hazard Database available to nearby vessels/stakeholders, facilitating the recovery of lost containers. Moreover, we propose to prevent vessel collisions with cetaceans with optimal-tuned pingers to alert them of an approaching vessels.

Large engineering structures like turbines, bridges or industrial machinery are still manufactured by traditional processes such as forging, casting or by machining from solid blocks. These processes do not allow local control of material properties to achieve a specific function like anti-corrosion or hardness. To meet the functional specifications, engineers must operate within a limited range of design options, with high “buy-to-fly” ratios and long lead times. Unlike any other metal AM technology, wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) produces fully dense metallic structures with no porosity. WAAM is also unbeatable in terms of production times, making it uniquely suited for large and functionally demanding engineering structures. In Grade2XL, we will demonstrate the potential of multi-material wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) for large scale structures. The high printing rate of WAAM, combined with the ability to control material properties down to the nanoscale, will allow us to build strong and durable engineering structures. Grade2XL will deliver multi-material products of superior quality and performance, cut lead times by up to 96% and enable massive cost savings for the maritime and energy industry, as well as for industrial machinery. These outputs will rapidly roll out to other sectors with similar key performance indicators and become an attractive investment opportunity for SMEs. This project will strengthen Europe’s capacity to drive manufacturing innovation globally and withstand growing competition from Asia.

ECHO delivers an organized and coordinated approach to improve proactive cyber defence of the European Union, through effective and efficient multi-sector collaboration. The Partners will execute on a 48-month work plan to develop, model and demonstrate a network of cyber research and competence centres, with a central competence at the hub. The Central Competence Hub serves as the focal point for the ECHO Multi-sector Assessment Framework enabling multi-sector dependencies management, provision of an ECHO Early Warning System, an ECHO Federation of Cyber Ranges and management of an expanding collection of Partner Engagements. The ECHO Multi-sector Assessment Framework refers to the analysis of challenges and opportunities derived from sector specific use cases, transversal cybersecurity needs analysis and development of inter-sector Technology Roadmaps involving horizontal cybersecurity disciplines. The Early Warning System, Federation of Cyber Ranges and Inter-sector Technology Roadmaps will then be subject of Demonstration Cases incorporating relevant involvement of inter-dependent industrial sectors. The ECHO Cyber-skills Framework provides the foundation for development of cybersecurity education and training programmes including a common definition of transversal and inter-sector skills and qualifications needed by cybersecurity practitioners. The ECHO Cybersecurity Certification Scheme provides a sector specific and inter-sector process for cybersecurity certification testing of new technologies and products resulting from the proposed technology roadmaps. The project will develop and operate under an ECHO Governance Model, by which the efforts across the EU Network of Cybersecurity Competence Centres can be coordinated and optimized to provide lasting and sustainable excellence in cybersecurity skills development; research and experimentation; technology roadmaps delivery; and certified security products for improved cybersecurity resilience.

The external borders of the EU have historically been under great pressure, subject to a variety of threats, which include irregular migration and trafficking of narcotics. Within this context, authorities in charge of border and maritime patrol are faced with different challenges that include the heterogeneity of the traffic that undertakes illegal activities in European waters, limitations in the ability to collect and share timely available data among institutional organizations, as well as a lack of assets by the relevant authorities to cover the wide maritime areas under their mandate. Although there has been an expressive investment done in the domain of surveillance technologies and tools, the intake by the competent authorities has been slow, due to lack of uniformity in the integration of such systems with existing surveillance infrastructures. In order to address these challenges, project COMPASS2020 aims to demonstrate the combined use and seamless coordination of manned and unmanned assets to achieve greater coverage, better quality of information and shorter response times in maritime surveillance operations. The proposed solution will be based on an innovative CONOPS that makes use of multiple aerial and underwater unmanned vehicles with improved capabilities, deployed from OPVs or from land, and will be supported by a central, multi-domain and interoperable Mission System (MS) that enables the operation of these platforms from both locations. UxVs may act as deported ship sensors, providing critical mission data to the MS that can then be exploited through dedicated services to be developed in the scope of the project (e.g. Data Fusion and Threat Risk Analysis). The major goal of COMPASS2020 is to demonstrate an operational solution to ensure long range and persistent surveillance, increasing the situational awareness of coast guards and maritime authorities, and, thus, increasing the cost-effectiveness, availability and reliability of the operations.