European process industries need to address resources, materials and environmental constrains by improving its flexibility and performance through cognition capabilities, as existing in human intelligence. Digitisation is the main enabler for such capabilities. CAPRI will develop, test and experiment an innovative Cognitive Automation Platform (CAP) for Process Industry Digital Transformation, enabled by cognitive tools that provide existing process industries flexibility of operation, improvement of performance across different indicators (KPIs) and state of the art quality control of its products and intermediate flows. The CAP encompasses methods and tools for governing six Digital Transformation pathways (6P, Product, Process, Platform, Performance, People, Partnership), a Reference Architecture with four levels of cognitive human-machine interaction (industrial IoT connections, smart events processing, knowledge data models and AI-based decision support), a set of reference implementations, both commercial and open source, for batch, continuous and hybrid process industry plants, and a toolbox of cognitive solutions for planning, operation, control and sensing. The CAP will be modular and scalable, so that advanced applications could be developed and integrated on top of it and its validation will take place addressing manufacturing challenges in industrial operational environments of three outstanding process sectors: asphalt (minerals), steelmaking, and pharma industry (chemical). CAPRI results could be applied to a wide range of problems and challenges in future cognitive plants. CAP Platform and the cognitive tools included in it can be replicable in areas of production planning, control, automated processes and operations of virtually all SPIRE sectors. A strong and experienced consortium of 7 EU companies and 6 RTOs will ensure maximum exploitation and replication of the systems developed.

The overall objective of s-X-AIPI is to research, develop, test and experiment an innovative toolset of custom trustworthy self-X AI technologies (autonomous AI that minimizes human involvement in the loop an exhibit self-improving abilities). AI applications will help workers to deal with external and internal influences and enable agile and resilient reaction of European process industry processes and products? lifecycle for a true integration into the circular manufacturing economy ecosystem. The aim is to provide existing process industries and its workers with agility of operation, improvement of performance across different indicators and state of the art AI-based sustainability tools for the design, development, engineering, operation and monitoring of their plants, products and value chains. Demonstration at four representative industrial use cases (asphalt, steel, aluminium and pharmaceutics) will generate a showcase portfolio of trustworthy AI technologies (data sets, AI model and applications) integrated into an innovative open source toolset available for industry and research as an example of self-X AI technologies integrated in actual process industries? value chains. s-X-AIPI toolset of AI technologies will include an innovative AI data pipeline with autonomic computing capabilities (self-X AI and autonomic manager), architecture, realistic datasets together with their respective algorithms derived from the demonstration in four realistic use cases of process industry. s-X-AIPI technologies will consider workers? heterogeneous skill levels and self-adaptation capabilities to the actual profile of the worker respecting their human-in-the-loop role. s-X-AIPI will be performed by an interdisciplinary consortium (AI integration and Big Data analytics, use case process understanding, modelling and digital platforms, research, industry, SME [4 companies, 1 industrial], communication, exploitation, standardisation).

The objective of OMICRON is to develop an Intelligent Asset Management Platform with a broad portfolio of area-specific innovative technologies to enhance the construction, maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the European road network. This project will improve the whole asset management pipeline focusing on four pillars: the implementation digital inspection technologies; the development of a road Digital Twin; the construction of a Decision Support Tool; and the development of smart construction and intervention solutions for road infrastructures. OMICRON’s Intelligent Platform will be interconnected by a BIM-oriented Digital Twin linked to the Decision Support Tool, which will enable the industrialisation and automation of a number of road management tasks which currently still have a high labour component. OMICRON’s developments will address the entire road network system including pavement, bridges, tunnels, lighting or signalling systems. These improvements will result in a) an increase of the safety levels in road intervention actions, affecting both road users and personnel; b) an increase in the capacity of the road network; c) an overall improvement of the efficiency of road intervention processes; and d) a subsequent reduction of maintenance costs. The group of technologies developed in the project will be implemented in a virtual demo and four real demonstrators that belong to CEF corridors from two European countries: Spain and Italy. The technologies developed in OMICRON will achieve a TRL 7 after the demonstration phase. The consortium is formed by 16 partners from 7 EU countries, including road managers and associations; emergency, routine and extraordinary maintenance contractors; civil engineering companies; smart solution developers; drones and robotics experts; research centres; universities; ICT developers and integrators; communication and dissemination managers; business model managers and innovation and project managers.