Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has emerged as a global epidemic, impacting 1 in 10 people worldwide and causing over 114,000 deaths annually in Europe. Despite extensive research, understanding the pathogenic mechanisms driving distinct disease subtypes and how diet influences glucose homeostasis has remained elusive. This knowledge gap leaves individuals with or at high risk of T2D without effective prevention or control strategies, urging a paradigm shift in our approach. The GLUCOTYPES project brings together leading experts in nutrition, metabolic diseases, glycobiology, gut microbiome, epidemiology, and machine learning from five European countries to tackle this challenge. Our strategy capitalises on advancements in wearable technologies, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. We propose to leverage high-temporal continuous glucose monitor data to identify patterns of early glycaemic alterations, a concept we refer to as glucotypes and forms the core hypothesis of our research program. Circulating and adipose tissue glycoproteomics profiling will be used to gain molecular insights into glucotypes. Machine learning algorithms will be applied to investigate the intersection between diet and glucotypes on clinical outcomes and gain mechanistic insights into how diet and gut microbiome influence glucose homeostasis in specific glucotypes. The knowledge derived from these activities will inform a proof-of-concept precision nutrition clinical study to test the efficacy of a precision-based diet on cardiometabolic outcomes and identify markers of beneficial responses to diet. In doing so, GLUCOTYPES will come closer to understanding the divergent mechanisms that influence early glycaemic alterations and how specific diets could ameliorate these alterations. Our work will establish a foundational yet comprehensive scientific groundwork to inform future precision diabetes nutrition strategies to prevent and improve the lives of all people affected by the disease.

Innovation in the food industry has been positioned as a societal challenge with high potential for sustainable competiveness, innovation and growth. This requires the development and further application of technologies for a sustainable food chain; safe foods and healthy diets for all. Particularly, the increase of productivity will contribute to meet the demands of a growing population, but also the market will become more financially sustainable and attractive to the growth of new food businesses. One of the key benefits the SUIT4FOOD project hopes to achieve, is the application and scaling-up of alternative food processes resulting in higher product quality, longer shelf-life, fewer lost sales, reduction in costs due to water and energy. Alternatives to current technologies are also important in support of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Bioeconomy Policy. The overall aim of this strategic partnership is to introduce, teach and train early stage researchers in the area of sustainable Intervention technologies for controlling food safety and stability through a multilateral trans-European cooperation, which fosters both institutional collaboration and innovative problem based learning initiatives. Development of sound Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs), optimisation of alternative sustainable intervention technologies for food processing, transferring knowledge to industry are of great importance to support food industry and food management (traceability, food safety). The specific objectives are outlined hereunder: (i) To develop each participants’ capacity to get familiar with the main principles, mode of action and current applications of a number of physical intervention technologies for controlling microorganisms and enzymatic activity in food matrices. (ii) To build up skills in setting-up these technologies at laboratory, pilot and industrial scale and identifying critical operating parameters. (iii) To provide transversal competences of the participating teachers to develop autonomous initiatives in problem based studies of complex food processes including the quantitative analysis of the microbial and enzymatic activity following the application of these technologies. (iv) To expose the students to current legislation aspects (v) To provide the knowledge of transfer strategies in order to implement these technologies in the European food industry. (vi) To create awareness of public acceptance challenges knowledge transfer strategies and entrepreneurial opportunities to implement these technologies. The consortium of the SUIT4FOOD project will be consisted of experts in different novel food processes from institutions within EU. This include Research and Development Institutes such as: • University of Malta (Malta) which will bring an expertise in ultrasound processing, kinetic modelling as well as on developing (e-learning) educational material in higher education and also on engagement public to scientific outcomes. • National Technical University of Athens (Greece) which will bring expertise in high pressure, pulsed electric field processing of food products, kinetic modelling and developing educational material. • The Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) is bringing expertise in cold atmospheric plasma technology, and high pressure processing and training graduate and post-graduate researchers. • The SP-Technical Research Institute of Sweden (Sweden) will bring expertise in the area of microwave processing and training graduate and post-graduate researchers. • The Spanish National Research Council (Spain) and the Research Group on Quality, Safety and Bioactivity of Plant Foods will bering expertise in the area of UV light processing and training graduate and post-graduate researchers. Industrial partners such as: • Neoplas GmbH (Germany), a service provider for technology transfer, technology development and technology management will bring expertise in the area of plasma processing and scale up issues. • Creta Farm (Greece) is the market leader in deli meats and will bring expertise in high pressure processing in the real food chain. And Stakeholders such as: • The Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI) (Austria) will bring expertise in the area of harmonization of global food safety regulations and legislation. •ILSI Europe (Belgium) will organise webinar recordings and e-learning modules, provide feedback on the teaching material via its Microbiological Food Safety Task Force and provide suggestions for relevant speakers at the workshops and other dissemination events. The target group of this strategic partnership are MSc or early stage PhD researchers working in the areas of food engineering, food safety, process automation, food manufacturing. The programme will aim to promote an interactive participation, which will stimulate frank and open discussions between young and experienced postgraduate researchers.

HDHL Food4Health addresses the intertwined challenges of food and diet-related Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and Climate Change by fostering collaboration and aligning research efforts across food, health, and environment areas. Through a participatory approach, HDHL Food4Health widens the HDHL network and organises co-creation workshops to identify common Research & Innovation (R&I) priorities. It aims to overcome siloed approaches by coordinating activities among government, academia, industry, and citizens, enhancing societal impact at national and regional levels. Leveraging its connections with researchers, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders, HDHL supports its members in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by aligning food and health systems. The initiative facilitates joint funding calls and implements transdisciplinary research actions to maximise impact and address urgent societal challenges. By promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange, HDHL Food4Health aims to catalyse a shift towards healthier and more sustainable food systems, ultimately contributing to improved public health and environmental sustainability. The main objective of HDHL Food4Health is to align common R&I priorities among funding programmes by identifying research and policy needs, whilst continuing to align both with the Horizon Europe (HE) Partnerships and the needs identified by the European Commission.

The CSA links different initiatives and facilitates the integration of results from these initiatives, so that a maximum use of these results can benefit the regulatory process. The CSA is designed to facilitate this process and show European leadership on chemical safety, including nano’s. The aim of this activity is to coordinate and support for risk assessment, management and governance by streamlining data acquisition, collection and management on regulatory orientated toxicology testing of nanomaterials, exposure monitoring, LCA, and disposal and treatment of waste nanomaterials. A number of topics were not included in NANoREG, as they fell outside the scope of that call. The principles enshrined in NANoREG will through PROSAFE be transferred to as many other member states and non-EU states as possible. Nano-safety can be considered to improve significantly when Safe by Design is internationally accepted to guarantee safety. But it lacks agreed definitions, guarantees, and therefore confidence for acceptance. PROSAFE will facilitate and promote the acceptance of Safe by Design within the EU-COM, its Member and Associated states. Consideration is given to regulatory developments including challenges raised by the convergence between nano and biotechnologies. To prepare for the future, after decades of playing EHS catch-up on innovations that became major environmental hazards like lead, asbestos, PCB’s, a shift is needed towards a proactive approach of demonstrating safety and sustainability in pre-commercial innovation. Priorities are: •Move from generalized discussions to case specific differences •Improve characterization of nanomaterials and require reporting on their use •Increase funding for research on ecotoxicology and environmental fate and behaviour •Use value chains assessments when considering environmental impacts •Commit to environmentally sustainable and socially robust innovation.

If biodiversity is to be placed back on a path to recovery, new tools and knowledge are required to redirect financial resources from destructive economic activity towards nature-positive investment. The financial system consists of interacting and dynamic actors who value certainty (rules and governance structures) and efficiency (outcome transparency and low monitoring costs). We aim to create a unifying framework and technology that creates the enabling conditions for nature-positive investments. Activities that protect and restore biodiversity (such as nature-based solutions) are frequently unique, multi-actor efforts carried out at a local scale with positive, but complex outcomes. We resolve this by establishing a categorisation of nature based solutions (NBS) alongside a menu of good governance structures and a library of stakeholder engagement. This will draw on expertise and best practice in natural capital and economics to streamline decision making and accelerate transaction completion by standardising the investment process and creating the enabling conditions for large-scale finance. To accelerate nature-positive business models, we create a data analytics and underwriting engine to advance conventional project appraisal and risk assessment and account for and model expected outcomes. We will assess and validate our approach across diverse real-life case studies (learning sites). Our findings and approach will initiate a twin green and digital transition that resolves transaction complexity and creates the enabling conditions for large-scale investment that are required if the EU is to achieve its biodiversity goals. Our outcomes will identify remaining gaps in the Taxonomy and support policy forming through evidence-based recommendations and we will co-design, develop and establish pathways for skills and knowledge accelerators for the European financial services industry.