The OLEUM project will generate innovative, more effective and harmonized analytical solutions to detect and fight the most common and emerging frauds and to verify the overall quality of olive oils (OOs). By a core group of 20 partners from 15 countries OLEUM will undertake RESEARCH ACTIVITIES based on the development of IMPROVED and NEW ANALYTICAL METHODS by targeted and omics approaches with the aim: i) to detect new markers of the soft deodorization process; ii) to discover illegal blends between OOs and other vegetable oils; iii) to control OO quality (e.g. freshness); iv) to improve the organoleptic assessment with a Quantitative Panel Test, based on current official methods, and supported by tailored reference materials for better calibration of the sensory panels coupled with rapid screening tools to facilitate the work of the panelists. The most promising OLEUM solutions will be subjected to VALIDATION in conformity with internationally agreed standards by peer laboratories. OLEUM will recreate a realistic “deodorization scenario” by producing tailored, soft deodorized OOs by lab-scale and up-scaled pilot plants to apply analytical solutions to known samples. Substantial KNOWLEDGE and TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER activities will be envisaged to aid in implementation of: a) a web-based easily-accessible, scalable and constantly updated OLEUM DATABANK, containing all the information from OLEUM research and other reliable international sources, will be available for download data and spectra and to help achieve satisfactory harmonization of analytical approaches among control laboratories; b) the OLEUM NETWORK of relevant OOs stakeholders to maximize the impact of proposed analytical solutions. Finally, a robust dissemination strategy by the OLEUM project aimed at effectively sharing results with all stakeholders in the OO supply chain has the potential to improve consumer and market confidence, and preserve the image of OOs on a global scale.

Networking of automated instruments on unmanned platforms, e.g. AERONET-OC and RADCALNET, has proved to be the most effective way to provide validation data for Copernicus optical missions. The re-use of data from each site for many optical missions (S2, S3, PROBA-V,MODIS,VIIRS,L8,Pléiades,ENMAP,PRISMA,SABIAMAR,etc.) gives a huge economy of scale. The existing AERONET-OC and RADCALNET networks are based on multispectral instruments, which are expensive to acquire and require modelling associated uncertainties to cover all spectral bands of all sensors. Recent advances in opto-electronics facilitate the use of miniaturized hyperspectral spectrometers, with reduced price. Industrial production of video surveillance cameras greatly reduces the price of pointing systems for scientific instruments. Improved LEDs can provide a stable light source for relative calibration and continuous autonomous monitoring of radiometers. Webcams (for remote inspection of instruments and maintenance support) and data transmission have become cheaper allowing reducing the running costs and improving the reliability of autonomous instrument systems. The objective of the HYPERNETS project is to develop a new lower cost hyperspectral radiometer and associated pointing system and embedded calibration device for automated measurement of water and land bidirectional reflectance. The instrument will be tested in a prototype network covering a wide range of water and land types and operating conditions. Quality controlled data with associated uncertainty estimates will be provided automatically for the validation of all optical satellite missions. Preparations will be made a) for the new instrument design (and associated calibration service) to be commercialized with an expected lifetime of at least 10 years and b) for the networks to be further expanded to become the main source of surface reflectance validation data for all spectral bands of all optical missions for at least the next 10 years.

Cities and regions in Europe (EU) and Community of Latin American & Caribbean States (CELAC) face shared and urgent global-local challenges to integrate practical actions with strategies to achieve greater inclusion, biodiversity, climate change adaptation and environmental quality. Many cities share problems of landscape fragmentation caused by rapid growth, urban sprawl and economic restructuring. Poorly planned urbanisation leaves a legacy of cities lacking the green areas needed for ecosystems to provide the services essential to human life. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) have the potential to help reverse these trends, and our combined EU-CELAC palette of socio-cultural, ecological and governance contexts represents a huge opportunity to move forward - faster, together. CONEXUS will co-produce, structure and promote access to the shared, contextualised knowledge needed to support cities and communities to co-create NBS, and to restore urban ecosystems, to help drive the required step-change in urban policy and practice in EU and CELAC countries. It adopts a planetary health perspective: healthy landscapes and ecosystems are vital to support human life, and humanity must restore, create and care for these landscapes and ecosystems in a reciprocal, ongoing and iterative relationship. This transdisciplinary project uses nature-based thinking (NBT) to bring together community, private, public and research partners to meet this challenge, and experiments with novel co-production methods to deliver NBS innovations in ‘Life-Lab’ pilots. The project’s core concept is to co-create context-appropriate NBS for ecosystems restoration and sustainable urbanisation in CELAC and EU cities, using a place-based approach (place-making, place-keeping and place-prescribing), solving problems together with citizens. The CONEXUS cities are: in CELAC - São Paulo, Bogotá, Santiago and Buenos Aires; and in the EU - Lisbon, Barcelona and Turin.