BEHOLDER revolutionises urban security through an integrated and cost efficient platform for real-time detection, assessment, and response to CBRN-E threats. The project addresses the challenges posed by the lack of standards and integration capabilities in current CBRN-E detection systems. Its innovative approach combines IoT-enabled sensors, advanced AI anomaly detection, and seamless integration with smart city infrastructure. The key objectives include the detection of CBRN-E threats in public spaces through IoTisation, the improvement of vulnerability assessments for law enforcement, the enhancement of modelling capabilities for resource planning, and the fostering of market uptake through stakeholder engagement. BEHOLDER utilises cutting-edge technologies such as SmartFurniture, environmental sensor networks, and specialised detectors like IMS+FP, HoloZcan-IoT, RadNano, and BME688 sensors. The project's methodology emphasises a collaborative and capability-driven agile approach, involving stakeholders from the outset. Real-world pilots in urban environments will demonstrate the system's effectiveness, paving the way for wider adoption. By addressing the evolving threat landscape and enhancing urban security, BEHOLDER aims to create safer, more resilient, and better-prepared environments for all. This translates to substantial economic savings, potentially preventing millions of euros in losses from disruptions to critical infrastructure and public services. In a simulated chemical attack scenario in Eindhoven, BEHOLDER could save an estimated €259 million by reducing fatalities, injuries, and healthcare costs. Moreover, the project’s proactive approach fosters a sense of security among citizens, promoting greater public confidence and resilience. By enhancing preparedness and response capabilities, it contributes to safer, more resilient, and economically vibrant urban environments across Europe.

Recent disaster events, like the 2021 flood in Germany showed clearly, that even the best alert systems and top first responder organisations can not prevent fatalities and serious damage on property without having prepared the citizens how to act and react during disaster situations and crises, understand alerts and follow instructions. B-Prepared offers a cost-effective solution for building a culture of disaster preparedness with a multi-actor approach in realistic historical scenarios. B-prepared builds on a freely accessible massive collaborative knowledge base and data hub, demonstrating its usefulness via three demonstrator applications: a cooperative multiplayer VR serious game, simulating real disaster scenarios for the safest near-real experience; an interactive gamified mobile app with age-appropriate content and enhanced accessibility to people with specific functional needs for the widest possible reach; and an LMS system to effectively and comparably measure preparedness levels achieved by VR and/or mobile users on a unified scale. Players can take different roles to solve puzzle tasks in an immersive experience. Teamplay, collaboration and communication are keys to survival, strengthening the culture of mutual assistance and cooperation in danger. Player behaviour and gameplay logged in a privacy-preserving way helps collect data on in-game behaviour which serves assessment of preparedness but will also be shared with other synergic research in the same field. A large-scale virtual reality hackathon series will demonstrate its features. The open beta will be publicly available as a giveaway, inviting stakeholders via direct outreach. After closing beta, the game will be available in a non-profit freemium model where in-game purchases are replaced by in-game donations for relief organizations, with a small percentage kept for maintenance and further development.

This multidisciplinary four year project aims to establish a solid scientific base and stakeholder awareness for mass deployment V2X solutions. DriVe2X will develop new knowledge, tools, models, and technologies to cope with a V2X-based mass EV deployment in future. It will study and consolidate the understanding on the behavioural uncertainties linked to V2X and develop policy tools to support increasingly complex decisions on V2X roll-out in European smart cities. DriVe2X will implement advanced artificial intelligence techniques that efficiently capture the flexible energy potential from smart charging in building parking lots, homes, and charging stations, and match it with the distribution networks’s localized needs in order to research dynamic marketplaces for exchanging and trading V2X flexibility locally. DriVe2X will develop next-generation slow, lower-cost bidirectional charger units (from TRL3 to TRL7), that will be tested under different use cases in five demonstrators. DriVe2X embrace the EV user’s perceptions and expectations as critical success factors in V2X uptake and upscaling to a mass deployment future. Thus, DriVe2X innovates by inquiring and eliciting the social determinants of V2X, explicitly including it in the development of novel V2X technologies, tools and solutions. DriVe2X’s overall objective is to contribute to accelerate the uptake of V2X by i) deepening the state-of-the-art knowledge on this nascent field, ii) developing new V2X technologies and solutions suitable to mass EV deployment and iii) producing policy tools and insights in support of relevant decision makers. DriVe2X will advance state-of-the-art in V2X flexibility markets by establishing novel retailed marketplace, V2X charger technology by making them smarter, more efficient, cheaper and compact, the social side of V2X by providing empirical patterns and V2X upside studies by developing mass-deployment scenarios and roll-out strategies.

FITTER-EU (FITTER) aims to contribute to existing research on the origins, dynamics and determinants of inequalities and enable anticipatory governance to support a fair and inclusive twin transition in Europe. The project innovates by the formulation and development of an ecosystem (FITTER ecosystem) that pivotally includes a highly interactive and gamified Digital Platform powered by an Intelligent Predictive Decision Support System. Through a co-creation methodological approach, this ecosystem will enable policymakers to predict which social groups may be at risk of being adversely affected by twin transition policies under different scenarios, with the option to simulate the implementation of these policies to assess inequalities and social exclusion risks. The Digital Platform within the ecosystem will provide proposed mitigation measures and better practice guides that can be used to curve potential negative effects of policies on identified at-risk groups. The FITTER ecosystem also incorporates wider platform connectivity capability and better practice guides which, through a foresight engagement process, will help to meet the needs of the engaging FITTER Cluster Community Group of Stakeholders (CCGS). The CCGS includes key pan-European members such as policymakers, civil society organisations including trade unions, as well as business angels among other targets.

The overall objective of PEERS is to advance and reinforce existing policy through practitioner-driven pre-normative standardisation processes, which will enhance the development of a European Better Practice ecosystem. The project aims to support the effective strengthening of preparedness and response in the field of DRR and CBRN-e through standardisation. The ecosystem brings together Europe's disaster risk management for natural hazards and CBRN-E and European research policy-making, societal stakeholders standardisation bodies, and industry stakeholders to strengthen European resilience to all hazards through a comprehensive engagement and consultation governance mechanism.