The traditional media landscape is in the middle of a monumental shift: boundaries between professional media houses, prosumers and small creators are blurring, the speed of communication and publishing is increasing, audiences are seeking more user-driven and accessible multimedia experiences. MediaVerse (MV) is an answer to this shift: a decentralized network for intelligent, automated, and accessible digital asset management systems, where traditional stakeholders and other media owners can share, enrich, verify, and monetize multimedia content. With this, MV aspires to disrupt current practices of working in isolated silos, while enabling secure and traceable media exchange. An instance of MV can be deployed as a node in the decentralized MV network, and provides its users with a blockchain-enabled rights management solution, AI-powered identification services and smart contracts that automate cross-network rights negotiation and content monetization. Following the European way, MV aspires to help users create and publish content, while keeping control over the content shared. For this, several AI-driven features are implemented towards supporting automated editorial content moderation and identification, authoring immersive experiences, making content accessible, and providing actionable insights through social analytics and collaboration tools. Integrated content adaptation services ensure the distribution of the created media over several networks, platforms and end-devices. The project will be validated through large scale pilots in the field of citizen journalism and co-creation of immersive and inclusive media, foreseeing also a STARTS-inspired use case that involves artistic experiments and practices, pushing forward creativity for a critical approach to user-centric media.

digital-water.city’s (DWC) main goal is to boost the integrated management of waters systems in five major European urban and peri-urban areas, Berlin, Milan, Copenhagen, Paris and Sofia, by leveraging the potential of data and smart digital technologies. DWC will create linkages between the digital and the physical worlds by developing and demonstrating 18 advanced digital solutions to address current and future water-related challenges; namely the protection of human health, the increase of performance and return on investment of water infrastructures and the involvement of citizens in urban water management. Areas of application of DWC digital solutions range from groundwater management, sewer maintenance and operation, wastewater treatment and reuse to urban bathing water management. DWC combines cutting-edge digital technologies such as augmented reality, open source software, cloud computing, real-time sensors, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and decision support systems. DWC integrates the development of digital solutions in a dedicated guiding protocol to cover the existing gaps regarding ICT governance, interoperability, ontology and cybersecurity. Ultimately, DWC will provide an interoperable free flow of information among stakeholders and across the water value chain. DWC will generate the necessary conditions for co-creation and open innovation by the establishment of Community of Practices aiming at integrating stakeholder knowledge, ensuring the transferability of the digital solutions in other European or international contexts, supporting knowledge transfer beyond DWC and creating durable binding between European cities. The large scale assessment and communication of the benefits provided by the digital solutions in five major cities will serve as lighthouse, raising the awareness of European cities for a necessary digital transformation, and opening new market opportunities for DWC partners and European providers of digital solutions.