The alarming state of freshwater ecosystems today: Freshwater ecosystems degraded due to barriers / other morphological changes; loss of wetlands / floodplains; over abstraction of surface / ground waters; land management that reduces infiltration / generates pollution! Millions of euros and hours in ecosystem restoration works have made improvements, yet not stemmed the tide of biodiversity loss. The overwhelming complexity and diversity of approaches, the sheer mass of sometimes contradictory data, the frighteningly heavy toll that failures take on public perception of the potential for Europe to succeed, the lack of media understanding of the challenges and our potential to deal with them – all of these demand a multi-pronged, country-by country campaign to consolidate recent scientific advances and innovations and to train the media to communicate them and the evidence that Europe can indeed halt biodiversity loss. EcoAdvance will co-create, through broad consultations and crowdsourcing, a user-friendly Prone2Success Checklist cataloguing the climate, environmental, economic, scientific, technological and human factors, country by country, that can make a difference and how to duplicate them. EcoAdvance will consolidate recent scientific advances, drive media messaging and put a persuasive human face on freshwater ecosystem restoration successes - all from the perspectives of the people who did them, pursued, supported, tested, modified, demonstrated or evaluated them. By identifying and showcasing successful people, science and solutions that are “bending the curve”, EcoAdvance will bring guidance from personal journeys to support current leaders, scientists and decisionmakers who face some of the same challenges and dilemmas the successful have already navigated, as they try to figure out: Will this work? Is it worth the money, time and effort? Is it the right thing to do for our community and our circumstances?

The ambitious plan for an energy transition in Europe now seeks to achieve a low-carbon climate-resilient future in a safe and cost-effective way, serving as an example worldwide. In many European countries, the phase out of nuclear and coal generation has started with a transition to new renewable sources comprising mainly of solar and wind for electricity generation. However, solar and wind are variable energy sources and difficult to align with demand. Hydropower which strongly contributed during the last century to industrial development and welfare, provides high flexibility and storage services required for ensuring energy security and delivering more solar and wind power onto the grid. Hydropower has all the characteristics to serve as an excellent catalyst for a successful energy transition. Building from this extensive programme of consultation, the Hydropower Europe Forum (https://hydropower-europe.eu/) has developed from 2018 to 2022 a Research and Innovation Agenda (RIA) as well as a Strategic Industry Roadmap (SIR). The Consortium is particularly motivated (1) to integrate its RIA and SIR into the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan roadmap establishing links with national authorities and (2) to consolidate its strong networks into a sustainable association serving not only the hydropower sector but the whole renewable energy sector contributing towards the European Green Deal. Built on the more than 600 stakeholders representing all sectors, who actively participated through the Hydropower Europe Forum, ETIP HYDROPOWER will further align and coordinate the industry RIA and SIR strategies to provide consensus-based strategic advice to the SET Plan covering analysis of market opportunities and R&I funding needs, biodiversity protection and ecological continuity. Another goal is, in one with Europe and the latest EU climate and energy related policies, deepening the understanding of innovation barriers and exploitation of research results.

The transformation of Europe’s energy system creates both challenges and opportunities for the hydropower sector. Hydropower needs to seek out value within the electricity market aligned with other sources of renewable and sustainable energy, whilst operating and building plants in environmentally sensitive and acceptable ways. The call H2020 LC-SC3-CC-4-2018: “Support to sectorial fora”, item 2: “bringing together stakeholders of the hydropower sector in a forum” provides a unique opportunity to bring together the hydropower community and to develop a Research and Innovation Agenda, and a Technology Roadmap mapping implementation of that agenda. These will support implementation of research and innovation for new hydropower technologies and innovative mitigation measures. The HYDROPOWER-EUROPE project delivers these objectives through an extensive programme of stakeholder consultation. The consortium brings together six different associations and networks spanning the whole research and industry value chain. These networks, along with representatives of civil society and European and national authorities, will form the initial stakeholder consultation base. Through an extensive, cyclic programme of consultation – both online and through various regional, European and International workshops – research needs and priorities will be established supporting development of the Hydropower Research and Innovation Agenda. The consultation process also facilitates discussion around issues and perceptions affecting the implementation of hydropower in Europe. Conclusions from this will underpin development of the Technology Roadmap, addressing any issues affecting uptake of the research and innovation agenda. Finally, the HYDROPOWER-EUROPE project will also consider ways in which the forum, established through this initiative, may become sustainable beyond the 3-year project programme, so supporting uptake and implementation of the research and innovation agenda.

EULAC Focus addresses the whole set of topics included in the Call. It delivers a significant contribution to the improvement of EU–CELAC relations through a better understanding of the three dimensions selected by the call: cultural, scientific and social. The main objective is that of “giving focus” to these three dimensions of EU–CELAC relations, with a view to determining synergies and cross-fertilization, as well as identifying asymmetries in bi-lateral and bi-regional relations. Research is focused on areas crucial to explain the current state of relations between EU and LAC, and will be pursued at two levels: a) research activities; b) strategic set of recommendations. In order to guarantee high impact, the research is pursued in six interdisciplinary WPs, organized “matricially”. Three are “horizontal ”: Cross-cutting pathways, Towards a common vision for EU–CELAC and Dissemination and outreach. The other three are “thematic/vertical”: Cultural, Scientific and Social Dimension, and not only intersect the horizontal WPs but also interact between them. To achieve the objectives, the project is organized by the multidisciplinary and well balanced consortium of19 members from 15 counties. The consortium represents a unique group of highly competent and experienced institutions, composed specifically for the purpose of this project,comprising, in both regions, Gov Research Agencies, Research institutes, Universities, University Association, and two International European – LA Organizations active in analytical and policy oriented research and dissemination. EULAC Focus builds upon the outcomes of prior mapping conducted at the bi-regional level and will facilitate access to end-users, as well as feeding into the work of the EU-LAC Foundation and informing bi-regional networking activities of the JIRI and T-AP’s work. The number of partners has been carefully defined to ensure project goals and proper diversity, while allowing for efficient project management.