The transition to renewable energy, particularly through the widespread adoption of distributed solar PV systems, is hindered by significant technical, social, financial, and regulatory barriers. Key challenges include energy poverty and inequality, especially in Mediterranean regions where inefficient housing and rental systems exacerbate the issue. Limited awareness, bureaucratic hurdles, and inadequate financial incentives further slow adoption, while integrating decentralized renewable energy into existing communities remains complex. Unlocking the full potential of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) requires clear benefits, accessible financial tools, and innovative technologies to enhance the efficiency and longevity of PV systems. SOCIAREM will accelerate the adoption and profitability of PV systems within RECs by overcoming these barriers through an innovative, implementable solution integrated with collective self-consumption schemes. The project will develop advanced tools tailored to diverse socio-economic and geographical contexts, enhancing efficiency, minimizing energy losses, and maximizing renewable energy use. Blockchain-enabled platforms will facilitate secure, decentralized peer-to-peer energy sharing, improving energy autonomy and resilience. Inclusive social data spaces will ensure fair energy distribution while safeguarding privacy, addressing energy vulnerability, and promoting social equity. Citizen engagement will be fostered through gamification and educational tools, ensuring participation across different cultural and behavioural profiles. A consortium of universities, R&D centres, and companies will drive SOCIAREM’s development, ensuring strong scientific and market expertise. The project’s solutions will be tested in four European RECs—Switzerland, Cyprus, Portugal, and Italy—while incorporating insights from Egypt. By reaching TRL7, SOCIAREM will validate its tools’ effectiveness, providing a scalable and sustainable model for RECs.

Our aim is to revolutionise the combat against food fraud and enhance transparency in our food supply chains. How? By establishing and mobilising The European Food Fraud Community of Practice (EFF-CoP), a sustainable Research and Innovation eco-system of food fraud researchers and end-users based on solid sociological principles. We have gathered a diverse group of stakeholders in our consortium, scientists, regulators, large and small-sized industry, the organic sector, existing networks with >4200 members, and more to lay the groundwork. They are catalysers to reach out rapidly to a large number of prospective EFF-CoP members. That is only the beginning. We will set out to understand the needs of the various stakeholder groups and the network structure to prioritise content and enhance information flows, and we set up the EFF-Hub as our virtual headquarters, an interactive collaborative space. From there, series of activities will be rolled out – sharing existing research and innovation resources and educational materials, developing new ones – Good Practice Recommendations, factsheets, and case study materials, and we will host engaging virtual and live events to facilitate interactive collaboration. These events involve food fraud festivals, gamification-based training courses, living labs, ‘authentic appetites’ podcast series, the EFF-CoP on Tour program, webinars, virtual cafes, a food fraud incident preparedness workshop, and dedicated events for the future generation. Our goal is to cultivate a vibrant community of over 5000 members at the end of the project, all dedicated to combating food fraud and learning from each other. To ensure our EFF-CoP stands the test of time, we are not only implementing the proven concept of ‘CoP design for evolution’ but also a comprehensive exploitation strategy and business plan. Together we will work towards a future with enhanced authenticity, traceability and transparency within our food supply chains.