The overall objective of FRONTIERS is to establish a program supporting science journalists residencies in European research institutions through a financial support to third parties mechanism. The program aims to and contribute to tackling the challenges of science journalism, specifically in the highly challenging area of Frontier research, as well as increasing the opportunities of interaction between research institutions and science journalists. The residency program will be established based on the principles of journalistic independence and the need for coverage of frontier (as oppose to other types of) research. To ensure a smooth and successful operation, we will develop a coordination and support office (CSO) that will oversee the development and implementation of the residency program and the ongoing management and monitoring. The CSO will also provide support and complementary services including a general and frontier science helpdesk for journalists, researchers and staff from hosting research institutions, matchmaking services to help journalists find hosting institutions. Our project activities will be supervised and accompanied by a strong advisory board consist of actors from the areas of science and science journalism, ensuring the independency and credibility of the program. Resident journalists and researchers and research staff participating in the program will also benefit from training activities and content contributing to the creation of meaningful journalists-researcher collaboration and the generation of high-quality and credible science journalism products. During the project, we will also benchmark the FRONTIERS residency program to other available programs offering fellowships to science journalists, and implement best practices to ensure the quality of the program. Finally, we will explore paths towards sustainability the residencies through additional funding channels.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a key solution to address the challenges of conserving natural resources, yet the lack of standards and the difficulty in IS standardisation due to its cross-sectoral nature and additional bottlenecks impede the uptake of IS solutions. RISERS aims to address such bottlenecks through the development of a roadmap towards IS standardisation, promoting resource sharing and the integration of new R&I results to support IS. To this aim, we will operate in several dimensions: (1) Identification of gaps and opportunities in existing sectoral practices and standards for the uptake of priority IS synergies; (2) promote the uptake and contribution of R&I results to IS standardisation through identifying demand-led R&I priorities, as well as through identifying barriers and enablers to market entry for innovative IS solutions; (3) engaging the policy community in IS standardisation through suggesting new or adjusting existing policy Frameworks and initiatives. These activities will be conducted through constant engagement of experts and stakeholders from the industry, standardization bodies, academia, policy, funding bodies and additional relevant stakeholders and continuous dissemination op results and knowledge for their uptake, fostering community building, knowledge exchange and cross-sectoral collaboration. Based on the knowledge developed and gained in all these activities, RISERS will develop a roadmap for developing new or adjusting existing directions IS standardisation to promote circularity of resources. In the long run, thorough facilitating IS standardization RISERS will contribute to, among others, effective use of resources and cross-sectoral interoperability in resource sharing, easier market entry for innovative IS enabling technologies, improved integration of R&I results in IS standardization, cost savings & new revenues from increased adoption of IS and increased EU participation in international standardization.

With 75% of the EU’s citizens living in urban areas, the potential of circular economy for European cities is clear. However, one of the main issues hindering a widespread deployment is that compared to industrialized economies, circular economy business cases are often perceived as risky by investors, often because the business models are poorly described or understood. InvestCEC will develop a replicable model for the implementation of circular economy projects in cities and regions across Europe, while taking into account all relevant stakeholders. Specifically, the model will address the city and region’s needs, support entrepreneurs in making their circular economy solution investment ready, and include the investment program set up and management. The model viability will be then demonstrated in the city of Klagenfurt, Austria as a test case. InvestCEC will also develop a platform for the stakeholders involved in a circular economy project to communicate, exchange information, as well as monitor the project and its progress. A tailored replication plan including replication materials and replication activities will be established in order to encourage the replication of the model in other local and regional settings across Europe. Alongside the model’s development and demonstration, the project will carry out prospective activities and implement measures to support the transition towards circular economy, including policy-related work, information exchange events, marketplace of circular economy solutions, and additional resources, tools and guidelines for the use of all stakeholders.

As the solid waste management crisis is growing in its urgency, humanitarian aid practitioners are faced with the question of how to manage environmental challenges linked with aid that is being shipped across various humanitarian settings. One of the sound solutions how to address this challenge is to open up a streamline of cooperation between humanitarian aid operators and the bio-based sector allowing them to explore the application potential of bio-based products, systems, and innovative technological solutions. Bio4HUMAN aims to contribute to the identification of bio-based solutions for solid waste management that have the potential to be applicable in various humanitarian settings. To achieve this goal, Bio4HUMAN will conduct a scoping exercise that will come up with a list of solutions but also identify existing supply chain gaps. Following that, it performs life cycle assessments of the proposed solutions and evaluates their applicability with regard to socio-economic and governance aspects. To explore if solutions fit the purpose of key solid waste management stakeholders and to explore the possibility of their acceptance by the community, local businesses, and local authorities, Bio4HUMAN conducts a feasibility evaluation process in 2 African locations. Simultaneously, the project will develop a replication roadmap that will contribute to the future replicability of the solutions identified. Altogether, all of the Bio4HUMANs actions will help to improve ways of addressing waste management challenges under humanitarian contexts and to the reduction of waste littered in the environment. In the long run, Bio4HUMAN is expected to contribute to the development of innovative and sustainable value chains that will benefit consumers and citizens in Europe and beyond.