The unemployment rate of the partner countries is among the highest in Europe (IT 9,7 % -SRB 12,1% -MK 16,6% - Cy 8,2% - SP 14,1% - BU 5,8% - FR 8.9% ; source taken from national statistics). And homeless, migrants, people in marginalized conditions are the more affected from this lack of employment. Their condition of marginality is often due to lack of opportunities, economic possibilities and stimulus. On the other side, the areas covered by partners, metallurgic/enterprises and welder, are strategical sectors where new and increasing skilled labour force is required. In the last years, the job offer is augmented and had to face a diminishing job demand, as young people are not considering VET as a possible career for their future. The SMELT project- : Skilling Marginalized people to Enter Labour Market, is aiming to face the paradox of job vacancies that are available but cannot be filled, by promoting a new model for solving this workforce shortage and support vulnerable and marginalized people in acquiring and developing key competences strategical for the labour market. Marginalisation, is often due to a lack of adequate education and/or specific technical skills, which contribute to cut off those people from the labour market and, as a consequence, exacerbates their social isolation and marginalisation, which in turn, further hinders their access to the labour market. This vicious cycle perpetuates inequality, marginalization, poverty and isolation.Combining expertise and experiences of association/NGOs working with marginalized people, enterprises, VET centres and educational institute proceeding from 7 countries, the project is expecting to promote the access to VET and low-skilled professions (in the specific the welder one) through organizing specific training courses.The training course will be shaped for this specific target group mixing/merging technical workshops to learn the welder profession and classes to increase digital skills and soft skill to facilitate people’s access into the labour market and, more in general, into social tissue. Specific courses will be carried out to explain how to create a CV, where to send it, how to find job offers and to reach the job center. The idea at the basis is to foster their inclusion and participation in the society.The project is addressed to people living in situations of social marginality, namely vulnerable people who are normally excluded from the labour market, as often as a consequence from the society as well, because of their age or their lack of skills, homeless, migrants, people who do not have access to training or have not the possibility to acquire specific professional skills. The project foresee the realisation of 3 IOs: a training to explain vulnerable people the most fundamental information on rights in the workplace, principal contact of where to find a job, a training course, how to write a cv and hoe to send it, which will end with the co-creation of an Easy handbook on the Labour Market, accessible and easy to read to all; a more technical and practical training course “VET for all – training new welder workers” aimed at increasing job opportunities and developing specific skills in the welder sector; and the IO3, indeed, will be a ITEM to Improve The life of Marginalised people, namely the creation of an item, useful in the daily life of vulnerable people, co- created by the participants of the welder course and specialised workers. The innovative aspect resides in the formula of the training and its aims. We believe in an active participation of the direct beneficiaries of the project as well as in their essential contribution to create effective products able to impact their lives and those of people living in the same marginalisation. For this reason, the training modules proposed are followed by a moment of co-creation where participants, educators and trainers will give birth to innovative outputs able to trigger a solidarity mechanism – where people can give back something to the society. The SMELT project is expected to improve vulnerable people lives and support them in find their personal path, increasing their self-respect and giving back their dignity, enabling them to form social connections, enrich their knowledge, engage with professionals of the field, familiarise themselves with training, getting the opportunity to ask questions and seek meaningful support.

The TresClean project will develop high-throughput laser-based texturing for fluid-repellent and antibacterial metal surfaces using innovative industrial high-average power ultrashort-pulsed lasers in combination with high-performance scanning heads. These technologies will be applied to produce self-cleaning and aseptic machine parts for food industry (e.g. components in contact with biological fluids) and home appliances (e.g. dishwashers) by utilising a beam delivery method over areas that can reach 250 mm2. In the first phase of the project the basic research activities for the surface design will be implemented together with a subsequent robust and scalable processing technologies and the development of the required laser sources and scanning systems. With the purpose of meeting the end users’ requirements all the activities included in the first phase will be defined in detail in accordance to the predefined physical limits of the system technology. The design of surface structures and definition of the characterization methods will inform the subsequent work on two different technologies (DLIP and LIPSS) for the production of the needed structures, with respect to the process robustness and the scalability. In the second phase the technologies developed will be up scaled to a high throughput production of functional surfaces. The laser systems and high speed scanning unit will be combined. Work on the upscaling of the processes on simplified geometries (2D) and development of processing strategies for the defined demonstrative parts will be performed. Then the final demonstration, the testing of the added functionality and the high throughput production will be done on the defined parts from the end-users in the last phase of the project

Digital servitisation of manufacturing allows to produce on-demand customised products, with high quality, flexibility and short lead time. Although this is a win-to-win situation, there is a lack of methodologies. To reverse this trend, the project Lasers4MaaS will spearhead innovations in manufacturing technologies and digital platforms with associated services. The ultimate goal is to enable a 6-point strategy (reconfigure, connect, control, predict, improve, comply) to operationalise the smart, decentralised and sustainable factories of the future. Lasers4MaaS is set to deliver breakthroughs that merge manufacturing technologies with cutting-edge digital innovations. It marks significant scientific and technical advancements in several areas: the latest advances in dynamic beam shaping and modular production schemes to maximise flexibility and reconfigurability; harmonized protocols and distributed/centralised ledgers for data interoperability across factory boundaries; IIoT solutions for remote monitoring/predictive maintenance; real-time AI-based decision support for improved product quality; advanced physics-based digital twins; life cycle-based tools for environmental impact and costing assessment. The Lasers4MaaS digital platform, with its comprehensive range of services and breakthroughs, will be demonstrated in automotive, fusion, food packaging, aerospace and hydrogen sectors, which are considered strategic sectors for reaching the Green Deal objectives. This consortium comprising 4 academic partners, 8 industrial partners and an industry advisory board, ensures a seamless progression from TRL 4 to 6 with well-defined exploitation routes, while supporting standardisation initiatives, such as digital product passport, and facilitating training initiatives and knowledge transfer.