“Collaborative Smart Grids” (CSGs) are a promising concept built on digital technologies and economic and organizational structures, directly linked to the empowerment of consumers, the promotion of behavioural change and increased collaboration among all stakeholders. CSGs require a new vision but also innovative business models and technology developments around energy production, distribution and consumption to be successful and sustainable. The multidisciplinary and multilayer concept embedded in CSGs is essential to contribute to greener and smarter energy systems in our societies. SMARTGYsum - SMART Green energY Systems and bUsiness Models- will train 15 ESR for 36 months to enable the implementation of the Smart Energy vision, focusing on different technical and socioeconomic aspects that conform Electric Energy Systems (EESs) and CSGs, providing an excellent basis to develop their future careers in Power Electronics, Electric Engineering, Material Sciences, ICT, Data Sciences but also energy capturing of value, value chains, finance & investments, management of energy markets, economical and policy instruments, etc. As a result, there will be a network of academic and industrial partners closely collaborating following a transferable, inter and multidisciplinary approach, aimed at raising the employability and career opportunities of ESRs within the public and the private sectors, as well as their potential for conducting innovation, entrepreneurship and for impacting in the European society at medium and long-term.

Food security is a global challenge and is impacted by, rapidly compounding effects including climate change, supply chains, human labour shortages, driving the need for traceability, and technological innovation and automation to name a few. The latest important price increases of agricultural row products show the limitations of the available resources. Through this Joint Undertaking, the AGRARSENSE consortium of 57 partners (including 4 affiliates) plan to take agricultural technology and productivity to the next level, beyond the State-of-the-Art, by combining some of the most advanced organisational capabilities from across European industrial 16 Large Enterprises, 25 SMEs and 16 Research & Technology Organisations (RTOs), from 15 countries. The development of the most advanced sensory and autonomous agricultural capabilities requires a sophisticated governance structure, ensuring that all partners are aligned across Use Cases and Work Package deliveries. The AGRARSENSE consortium has one of the world’s leaders in Forestry automation, Komatsu, as Project Coordinator. The AGRARSENSE project goal of creating a holistic ecosystem of sensory and automated capabilities will further extend Europe’s lead in optimizing and securing agricultural value chains. To drive such an ambitious impact agenda, we have selected seven Use Cases which will, collectively, contribute to solving the challenges outlined. These Use Cases are Greenhouses (UC1), Vertical Farming (UC2), Precision Viticulture (UC3), Agri robotics (UC4), Autoforest (UC5), Organic Soils & Fertilizers (UC6) and Water (UC7). These Use Cases are fused together by the most advanced hardware, software and system integration technologies, which will drive new solutions for partners and the collective AGRARSENSE impacts at scale.

This action, entitled “Development of high reliability motor drives for next generation propulsion applications”, is a 4-year research focused training program. It is aimed to form a coherent Research and Innovation Staff Exchange network so as to address technical challenges facing the electrifying transport industry, with a focus on high-reliability electrical traction drives. Transport electrification has been considered as a major advancement to reducing CO2 emissions and improving energy efficiency. At the heart of the propulsion systems are electrical traction drives. But technological developments are still at an early stage. Industries are trying out different traction drive technologies. Permanent magnet synchronous motors, induction motors, reluctance motors and DC motors-based traction drives are all found in use while they have their inherent advantages and drawbacks. In academia and industry, there are no consensus on the best traction drive for a single application. Existing technologies cannot meet the ever-growing market needs for safe, fast, green and affordable transportation. Major challenges include demands for very high torque density, power density, fuel efficiency and fault tolerance, pushing the devices and components to their physical and material limits. Particularly operating motor drives at high speeds and harsh environments require a new mindset of component and system design for safety-critical high-reliability requirements, as well as multidisciplinary approaches to combine multiphysics (e.g. thermal, stress) with the conventional electromagnetic and electronic designs. This program will bring together EU’s leading universities and industries, and utilise the latest technological discoveries in power electronics, motor drives, drivetrains and control, sensors and monitoring, communications, big data and artificial intelligence. The outcomes will be significant to impact on EU transport sector, EU research landscape and EU economy.