Biowaste valorisation is an attractive approach in the framework of the EU Waste Management policies and the development of a circular economy. Waste from biostreams and different biobased sources are being under-utilised as potential resource of valuable compounds. Fertilisers play an important role as suppliers of nutrients relying on their production heavily on fossil mineral resources. European Fertiliser industry is besides very dependent on imports of these raw materials, being vulnerable to supply and pricing policies. Main objective of the proposal is to build up a breakthrough concept of Fertiliser Industry, strengthening European competitiveness and boosting the biobased economy potential, through the development of a new value chain, which will achieve turning solid and liquid residues, specifically ashes of different origins and livestock effluents, into high quality valuable products, a new generation of fertilisers. NEWFERT will focus on a viable and cost-effective industrial nutrient recycling scheme, developing new biorefining technologies aimed at increasing nutrient recovery ratios and mitigating environmental and socio-economical impact of the current fertilisers by replacing non renewable and fossil nutrients with biobased materials in their composition. Projected benefits also include substantial energy savings and CO2 emissions reduction. NEWFERT aims to decrease raw material dependency, prevent resource depletion and reduce the environmental impact increasing significantly the Fertiliser industry sustainability. The work organisation has been designed to link and pursue a successful industrial integration supported by a solid life-cycle cost analysis. The strategy of the work plan is based on 8 workpackages. NEWFERT consortium is lead by FERTIBERIA and composed by a balanced set of 6 partners from 4 European Union member countries: biobased industries, SMEs, RTOs and academic institutions covering nutrients recovery from biobased waste field.

AD4GD’s overall objective is to co-create and shape the European Green Deal Data Space as an open hub for FAIR data and standards-based services that support the key priorities of biodiversity, climate change, and pollution. The focus will be on interoperability concepts that bridge the semantic and technology gaps which currently prevent stakeholders and application domains from multi-disciplinary and multi-scale access to data, and which impede the exploitation of processing services, and processing platforms at different levels including Cloud, HPC and edge computing. This project will enable the combination and integration of data from remote sensing, established Virtual Research Environments and Research Infrastructures, Internet of Things (IoT), socio-economic data, INSPIRE and Citizen Science (CitSci) in an interoperable, scalable and reliable manner. This will facilitate integration by including semantic mappings to different standards and dominant models bridging domain- and data source-specific semantic concepts such as the Essential Variables framework (e.g. the GCOS Essential Climate Variables, the GEOBON Essential Biodiversity Variables), as well as applying machine learning and geospatial user feedback to ensure quality, reliability and trustworthiness of data and transforming spatial scales. The project will make data and services accessible to the EC Knowledge Centres, GEOSS portal, EOSC and other science services as applicable, ensuring the sustainability of the results, and will actively promote data accessibility for community stakeholders and citizen scientists. AD4GD will demonstrate and validate the approach in three pilots whose stakeholders include international organizations, scientists and researchers, citizens, decision makers (e.g. public authorities), and Earth observation (EO) solution developers. The pilots address selected Green Deal priority areas, including cross-domain components: Zero pollution, Biodiversity, and Climate Change.

The quantity and quality of water resources are serious problems in many European areas, mostly being a joined result of climate change and anthropic influences. The BOOST-IN project aims to develop a successful strategy that promotes technological changes, governance schemes, shifts in mind-set and organizational structures in order to solve these problems through a better management of the water sector and application of the circular economy principles, enabling water reuse and recovery of different materials (e.g. energy, nutrients). However, implementation of these changes still faces several barriers (e.g. technology, economy, knowledge, social perception) that need to be overcome. BOOST-IN will achieve these goals by an effective identification, selection (through a specifically designed dynamic funnel method) and transfer of innovative Water Circular Economy Solutions (WACES) to further close and improve the water cycle. The project will develop and apply its approach in six Regions of Opportunity evenly distributed across Europe (Spain, Greece, Germany, France, Italy and Bulgaria) by organization of co-creation workshops to increase public awareness and support for WACES implementation, barriers overcoming as well as by the specific risk management plans design. At the EU level the project will create an active network of stakeholders and set detailed action plans, including different training and education activities targeting water professionals. In order to promote and boost a successful market uptake of circular solutions and maximize the impact, the project will provide expertise on suitable business models and develop standardized quality criteria, as well as facilitate the links between solution providers and potential investors. Moreover, BOOST-IN will upgrade and benefit from the existing Water Europe Marketplace platform that will enable the projects clustering, B2B matchmaking and selections of appropriate WACES solutions for specific user needs.

RECREATE aims to improve the resilience of water supplies and protect the status of natural water resources by facilitating the assessment and inclusion of Alternative Water Resources (AWR) in water management planning for water scarce regions, and to increase awareness and acceptance of and trust in the fundamental role of AWR in climate change adaptation. RECREATE will produce an open access repository compiling knowledge and data on the cost-efficiency, environmental and health impact of different technological and water management alternatives. This repository will be encoded as an independent module into a Digital Decision Support Framework (RECREATE_WT) that, together with 3 additional modules covering climate change impact predictions, adaptation strategies to local context and a decision matrix will be used for co-creating adaptative pathways for water management. RECREATE_WT will compile and assess information on water availability and demand for a given region and organise knowledge on the performance of innovative treatment technologies. It will explicitly consider human health risks associated to potable use, local context (regulatory, cultural, spatial and socio-economical aspects) and water management strategies under different stress scenarios. The tool will provide a decision matrix for pathways creation,thus RECREATE_WT will act as a knowledge orchestrator and a decision theatre environment for co-designing water resource planning pathways RECREATE_WT will be demonstrated in 4 regional case studies (CS) covering different bio-regions (Mediterranean, Continental and Atlantic), and water contexts. CS will focus on the digitalization of the water cycle for integrated water management while demonstrating the cost-effectiveness reliability and safety of the use of new AWR. Full-scale or already available pilots from previous or already on-going projects will be used for RECREATE, optimizing the efforts and maximizing the impact reached.

AI:Liner will enhance the asset management life cycle of sewer networks by designing, developing and validating a suite of cutting-edge technological and digital solutions. The project delivers a modular and interoperable end-to-end asset management tool chain that optimizes planning, operations, maintenance, investment, and reduces costs and risks of unexpected failures. It leverages the momentum of European utilities' digitalization efforts, building on the increasing availability of CCTV inspection data, AI-based fault detection, and recent advances in in-situ monitoring techniques to support the climate-neutral and resilient transformation of Europe's sewer infrastructure. AI:Liner empowers utilities and municipalities to identify intervention needs, enabling strategic decisions on when and where to inspect and rehabilitate sewers with the most appropriate technology, ultimately promoting the adoption of repair and rehabilitation techniques over the traditional excavation required for renewal. AI:Liner promotes the acceptance, trustworthiness and accountability of data-driven solutions, fostering a culture of trust, transparency and responsible use of data among European utilities and municipalities. By bringing together an interdisciplinary consortium that leverages expertise in infrastructure management, digitalization, and social sciences and humanities, AI:Liner enhances the digital skills of the utility workforce and integrates AI ethical principles at the core of technology development, ensuring the sustainable, responsible, and unbiased use of AI. AI:Liner strives to accelerate the digital and green transitions of the water and infrastructure sector, aiding European utilities in delivering high-quality services, maintaining affordable costs, and preserving infrastructure for future generations.