Europe is at the beginning of a major transition to a low carbon economy and is experiencing substantial growth in the expansion of renewable energy generating capacity. However, parallel to this technological investment, many Member States are witnessing increasing levels of local opposition to individual projects, particularly for wind energy, which is now the cheapest form of energy generation. This has a range of consequences including increased deployment costs/delays, increased regulatory demands, reduced market support and highlights a major social challenge for the energy transition. In response to this, MISTRAL aims to nurture a new generation of researchers who can effectively evaluate the complexity of social acceptance issues facing the deployment of renewable energy infrastructure and propose innovative solutions in a variety of research, government and business contexts. It will do this by fostering a vibrant inter-disciplinary environment to change the way we understand and respond to declining social acceptance of renewable energy infrastructure and engage a wider range of inter-sectoral stakeholders to develop innovative solutions. MISTRAL will also provide an innovative training environment where young researchers can develop advanced skills in research and transferable skills, benefit form a range of diverse secondment experiences and debate current issues with some of the world leading researchers in the field, in order to develop advanced capacities for progressing Europe’s energy transition.

The WaterProof project proposes a resource efficient solution convert CO2 emissions from waste(water) processing into green consumer products. At the heart of the WaterProof concept is an electrochemical process that converts CO2, originating from waste incineration and wastewater processing, to produce formic acid. This reaction is paired with the generation of high-energy oxidants, which are used to remove persistent contaminants from wastewater thereby contributing to a clean water cycle with zero-waste. The energy to run the electrochemical process is provided by waste incineration facility. The formic acid is a feedstock for the production of Acidic Deep Eutectic Solvents (ADES). These ADES are used to extract precious metals from water treatment sludge and incinerator ash. Additionally, the formic acid is used for fish leather tanning to sustainably produce fish leather and will be tested in consumer cleaning products. The WaterProof technology results in a GHG reduction based on CO2 utilization, replacement of fossil feedstock and by industrial electrification. In the WaterProof project, a TRL 6 plant is constructed, including innovative downstream processing. The conversion of CO2 from wastewater treatment and the CO2 captured at a waste incinerator is demonstrated in two consecutive campaigns. To maximize impact of the WaterProof technology, life-cycle assessments and a full business case analysis are initiated in the early stage of the project to provide targets for technology development. A marketing and deployment strategy is developed to ensure social acceptance of the WaterProof technology. Besides the reduction of GHG emissions, WaterProof will have societal impact by, creating awareness trough interaction with policy makers and civil society and the creation of new jobs in innovative fields. By targeting an industry as essential as waste(water) treatment, WaterProof aims to create a concept that can impact society and climate on a big scale.

The main objective of BioRural is to create a pan-European Rural Bioeconomy Network under which related stakeholders will cooperate to promote the currently available small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas to increase the share of Bioeconomy, giving increased value in such remote areas. Such framework will contribute in bridging the gap between the available novel high-end bio-based solutions and the everyday European rural life by assessing the existing situation of European rural Bioeconomy, capturing grassroots-level needs and ideas, promoting effective exchange of knowledge and information and investigating the possible opportunities for regional development through the expansion of bio-based solutions integration in rural Europe. This way, BioRural will develop a transition framework towards a sustainable, regenerative, inclusive and just circular Bioeconomy across all Europe at local and regional scale and support innovators to scale-up inclusive and small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas. To do so, the project will: (i) Assess and evaluate the current performance of the European rural Bioeconomy in the EU and identify factors affecting innovation adoption and diffusion of bio-based solutions in rural areas; (ii) Create four regional Rural Bioeconomy Platforms (RBPs) that will form a European Rural Bioeconomy Network (ERBN); (iii) Assess and promote success stories of bio-based solutions in rural areas; (iv) Develop and continuously optimise an online open stakeholders’ tool, named BioRural Toolkit; (v) Facilitate knowledge exchange and capacity building for the European rural Bioeconomy through a series of workshops in local, regional and European level; (vi) Create rural development blueprints for regional and business scale-up of resilient and circular bio-based solutions in rural areas and (vii) Disseminate and communicate all activities for maximum visibility and rural Bioeconomy expansion.

The «Geo-ergon Paideia» project (in Greek: Γεωργών Παιδεία - Γεωργών Παιδιά) is a transnational exchange program which aims at training school students of the secondary level of education in becoming future eco-farmers. The main purpose of the project is to implement a sustainable strategic partnership between European universities –research centres, municipalities and schools in order to reinforce the concept of agricultural education and sustainable development in rural areas through an integrated interdisciplinary approach. University of the Aegean is coordinating the project and is responsible for the project management as well. A school from Greece (Gymnasium of Geraki in Lakonia), a school from Romania (Gymnasium school Adrian V. Radulescu), Municipality of Evrotas (Greece) and Municipality of Murfatlar (Romania) constitute the partnership along with IZES (Germany) and KEAN (Greece).The project's objectives are:1. Setting up a series of online open courses on eco-farming and start-up business2. Teaching agricultural entrepreneurship to school students3. Providing learning environment for current and future eco-farmers in innovative entrepreneurship4. Empowering a large number of students, parents, and stakeholders to set-up or develop their own business5. Supporting school students, through capacity building, to ensure the sustainability of the natural environment and the development of the local economy.6. Development of a network which will include students, stakeholders, entrepreneurs, academic professionals to promote innovation and sustainability in the agricultural sector in rural regions.7. Enhancement of transnational cooperation among schools in Europe.The program is addressed to students attending the second class of lower secondary school (gymnasium), who live in the selected rural areas in Greece and Romania. Apart from the students the participants of the project (around 200) include farmers, the parents of the students, local and governmental authorities, young entrepreneurs, academic professionals and researchers and stakeholders.The training program is organised with the following transnational learning activities:a) open courses “Start-up Farm” to school students at the Gymnasium of Geraki in Greeceb) open courses “Start-up Farm” to school students at the Gymnasium School Adrian V. Radulesku in Romania andc) Experiential learning workshop in Saarbrücken (Germany) through a study visit at the research institute IZES and the Bliesgau UNESCO Biosphere ReserveThrough multiplier events (Local workshops with stakeholders and Final Event -Networking) all the interested parts will participate in social dialogue for the development of eco-farming business sector , exchange knowledge, good practices and innovative methods of entrepreneurship.The expected results could be summarized as:1. Raising awareness of school students regarding professional perspectives in the agricultural sector in their region. 2. Raising awareness regarding the importance of transferable skills for professional development. 3. Introduction of school students to basic concepts of entrepreneurship . 4. Development of an integrated educational approach towards a rural sustainable development concept .5. Ideas for the development of a new summer school on eco-farming. 6. Increase in students’ business skills and positive attitude towards launching their own farm company. 7. Transfer of entrepreneurship-related knowledge and experience, between project partners, and stakeholders. This program intends to develop an integrated approach in order to bridge the gap between skills, education and labour market needs at local level in the agriculture sector that could potentially serve as a model for future use and adjustment. In addition, this project will promote interdisciplinary collaboration among different organizations, institutions and stakeholders. The development of a network of stakeholders will enhance the exchange of good practices and further collaboration leading to potential synergies.The intellectual outputs produced by the project will be available to the wider public through the e-learning platform, managed by the University of Aegean. An open access policy will be maintained throughout the duration of the project and at least two years after the completion of the project.