The objective of the CORE 4.0 project is the implementation of the High Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) Lost-Core (LC) technology for the manufacturing and commercialization of a new Closed-Deck Aluminium Block for the M9T Diesel Engine, one of the next generation Euro 7 engines of Renault. The aim is to bring the HPDC-LC technology, which is currently at TRL 6 up to TRL9 for market take up. For this purpose during the project (2016-2018) the new Closed-Deck Aluminium product and the HPDC-LC process will be validated for the capacity of manufacturing 2.000 blocks in a continuous manner. The objective of the project and the consortium is extended by 12 months for market activities to meet the commitment to provide Renault with 75.000 units by 2019 under an exclusivity agreement. From this date on, the consortium will be free to address other customers. During the project, a business model and an specific plan for the production of 1Million new blocks in the following 6 years, which implies more than 100 new qualified jobs and incomes over 150M€ for the consortium, will be validated. The consortium, industry driven, has been carefully selected with actors to play a key role in the commercialization process. 4 partners of the consortium are from industry, one of them is an SME (FerroCrtalic), two of them first time applicant (FerroCrtalic and Rauschert) and other a research and technology organization.

Energy-Intensive Industries (EII) in Europe are characterized by very high energy production costs as well as by an important level of CO2 emissions. Energy production costs account for up to 40% of total production costs in some EII, while EII emissions represent a quarter of total EU CO2 emissions. EII are therefore directly concerned by the EU 2014 Energy/Climate Package, which sets a global objective of 40% reduction of GHG emissions and 27% increase of energy efficiency by 2030. The report on energy prices and costs for some energy-intensive sectors published by the European Commission showed for example that natural gas prices for European ceramic companies increased by around 30% between 2010 and 2012 and they were four times higher than in Russia and more than three times higher than in the USA. Similarly, electricity costs were two times higher in the EU than in the USA and Russia. Such figures clearly confirm that energy is a crucial element for the competitiveness of our industry. Therefore, an integrated approach to process innovation is proposed within ETEKINA project covering design, simulation, operating conditions and process management together with breakthrough technology for waste heat recovery. The overall objective of ETEKINA project is to improve the energy performance of industrial processes. For this to be possible, the valorisation of waste heat by a turnkey modular Heat Pipe Based Heat Exchanger (HPHE) technology adaptable to different industry sectors will be addressed within the project and demonstrated in three industrial processes from the non-ferrous, steel and ceramic sectors in order to demonstrate: (i) the economic feasibility of the solution, and therefore (ii) its market potential.

Present approaches to increasing resource efficiency in manufacturing companies are mainly focused on single process optimisation. A wider and integrated optimisation is assumed to have significantly higher savings potential.In fact, a pilot study has been performed by Greenovate!Europe, showing resource saving potentials of 70% Such a strategy should include optimisation across the interfaces between different steps in complex production chains and different companies involved in the overall value chain In that sense, MEMAN consortium brings together 15 partners from 6 countries represented by industrial enterprises, SMEs mainly, and service companies experts in eco-innovative models, working on improving the competitiveness of the metal mechanic sector, through the full validation of new business models that allow the collaboration of companies in the whole value chain in order to reduce global impacts in terms of energy and other resources MEMAN project will implement an approach to optimise resource efficiency across 3 manufacturing value chains cases, integrating an analytical toolbox based on MEFA and LCA and providing practical decision-making support. Furthermore, new business models will be developed to support the implementation of global energy and resources efficiency along the 3 value chains. Energy characterisations considering the whole value chain, will be also developed within MEMAN The consortium has the capacity and ambition of exploiting and reaching the market with the results of the project, at an international level, in terms of technology and business models. Hence, the technologies developed and the synergies created in the project would have the impact estimated bellow - Energy consumption and CO2 emission reduction for the final product between 20-30% from cradle to gate and between 30-35% from cradle to grave - Product's LCC reduction between 10-20% from cradle to grave The budget and the final requested EC contribution reaches 5.998.686€

The EC and national public officials are well aware of the economic importance and supply risk of Critical Raw Materials and are promoting solutions which are feasible, reliable and cost-effective to reduce this dependence. SALEMA addresses this concern for the CRM-reliant high performance Aluminium grades required in electrical vehicles. Changing the input materials required to produce these advanced alloys, SALEMA proposes a circular economy model using scrap metal as an alternative source of Critical Raw Materials and the substitution of CRM for commonly available alloying elements. These developments will be deployed in four industrial pilots (High Pressure Die Casting, Cold and Hot Sheet Stamping, and profile Extrusion), representing the most relevant processes in aluminium manufacture for lightweight automobiles. SALEMA puts together an industrially and user-driven consortium that represents the whole sector of aluminium in automotive applications, who will extensively work during 3 years to proof that the presentedmeasures are competitive, technically feasible and contribute towards circular economy strategies and sustainability goals. The project addresses in a coordinated and cooperative manner the key challenges in the different levels of the value chain: improving scrap classification and sorting systems to turn scrap into a valuable raw material; demonstrating the feasibility to substitute CRMs in alloying systems; developing recycled aluminium alloys with improved mechanical performance; optimizing High Pressure Die Casting, sheet metal Stamping and Extrusion processes in a timely and cost-efficient manner in order to ensure the adoption of the developed alloys. SALEMA will deliver 4 industrial pilots, validate the new developed Al alloys with 5 car-part demonstrations in 5 industrial case studies, which guarantees a prompt industrial deployment and take up.

SmartEnCity’s main Objective is to develop a highly adaptable and replicable systemic approach towards urban transformation into sustainable, smart and resource-efficient urban environments in Europe through the integrated planning and implementation of measures aimed at improving energy efficiency in main consuming sectors in cities, while increasing their supply of renewable energy, and demonstrate its benefits. The underlying concept of the proposal is the Smart Zero Carbon City concept, where city carbon footprint and energy demand are kept to a minimum through the use of demand control technologies that save energy and promote raised awareness; energy supply is entirely renewable and clean; and local energy resources are intelligently managed by aware citizens, as well as coordinated public and private stakeholders. This approach will be firstly defined in detail, laid out and implemented in the three Lighthouse demonstrators (Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain, Tartu in Estonia and Sonderborg in Denmark). The three cities will develop a number of coordinated actions aimed at: • Significant demand reduction of the existing residential building stock through cost-effective low energy retrofitting actions at district scale. • Increase in RES share of energy supply, through extensive leveraging of local potentials. • Enhance the use of clean energy in urban mobility, both for citizens and goods, by means of extensive deployment of green vehicles and infrastructure. An extensive use of ICTs is planned to achieve integration and consistency in demo planning and implementation, and to enable further benefits and secure involvement of citizens. These actions will be aligned to city-specific Integrated Urban Plans (IUPs), and the process will be replicated in two Follower cities: Lecce, (Italy), and Asenovgrad (Bulgaria) to ensure adaptability and maximize the project impact. Additionally, a Smart Cities Network will be setup to support project replication at European scale.