Montanuniversitaet Leoben (Austria), Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg (Germany), University of Petrosani (Romania), University of Leon (Spain), Technical University of Crete (Greece), Silesian University of Technology (Poland) and Mittweida University of Applied Sciences (Germany) have joined forces to create a strong and unique European University in the field of Responsible Consumption and Production (RCP): EURECA-PRO. As one of the successful European University Alliances of the second call of the Erasmus+ call for proposals, EURECA-PRO intends to now expand its project in the field of research and innovation. The overall objective of this RE-EURECA-PRO proposal is to enhance the research and innovation dimension and thus transformative potential of the EURECA-PRO Alliance, in line with its shared, integrated, long-term 2040 vision and mission as well as in synergy with its extensive education dimension as set out in the EURECA-PRO Erasmus proposal submitted in February 2020.

University of Leoben (Austria), Technical University Freiberg (Germany), University of Petrosani (Romania), University of Leon (Spain), Technical University of Crete (Greece), Silesian University of Technology (Poland) and Mittweida University of Applied Sciences (Germany) are seven higher education institutions located in six different EU member states that have joined forces to create a strong and unique European University in the field of Responsible Consumption and Production (RCP): EURECA-PRO. It has a two-fold societal and planetary mission. On the one hand, it holistically contributes to the highly topical issue of RCP under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, and on the other hand, it effectively contributes to the transformation of the European Higher Education Area complimentarily to SDG 4. Innovation is the key to reaching the targeted CO2 reduction and associated sustainability practices of the EU Green Deal until 2050. Its realization is based on new technologies and processes that integrate material and resource flows of in the sense of the Circular Economy and on responsible consumption behaviours that are aligned with societal expectations concerning the fight against climate change. Inclusive, borderless and integrated Education supports more competent and skilled graduates that can contribute to this grand European societal challenge.By 2040 EURECA-PRO is the global educational core hub and interdisciplinary research and innovation leader in qualitative environmental and social framework development for RCP of resources and goods. This comprises technological, ecological, policy, economic and societal aspects and their transfer into society and industry. Staff and future graduates will have sustainable, interdisciplinary, intercultural and systemic thinking engrained in their natural way of operation, fostering a prosperous societal development and a healthy economy while at the same time relieving environmental pressures.

Heritage as a source of identity, sharing, cohesion and history safeguards European values and cultivates broad European mentality of inclusiveness. This project aims to investigate the potential of heritage-based innovation for sustainable economic and social development in rural and urban communities in Poland, Greece and Romania and to identify best practices for fostering heritage-based innovation across the region and beyond (in pan-European and international collaborations). An Alliance of universities of widening (Poland, Greece and Romania) and non-widening countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Spain) will develop specific measurable methods, tools and procedures for material sustainability in heritage. The main goal of the HI-EURECA-PRO project is to reach research excellence based on the heritage of regions in HEIs of three widening countries through targeted innovations supported by EURECA-PRO Alliance partners. To implement the above general goal, industrial, cultural, and mining heritage demos are planned to become Demos pilots in the actions of the project. Therefore, in accordance with the priorities and objectives of the call, the development of innovative methods, tools and processes for material sustainability in heritage will: • Create a robust regional innovation ecosystem including all parameters of the innovation quintuple helix: environmental, social, economic, political and academic • Introduce new and upskilled knowledge, which will be available to all interested parties. • Contribute to new research careers in HE with hands-on experience in involving the industry, the society and the government • open new roads for collaboration between the HEI and the market sector in the testing and application of sustainable materials, tools and methods • Will support the knowledge creation and transfer in the green and digital transition by upskilling the educational tools and methods in the green transition era