The InPlasTwin main goal is to strengthen the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI), Slovenia, and the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), Greece, research and innovation capacity in micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) analysis through networking, knowledge sharing, and research collaboration with leading European institutions. This will be achieved by fostering strategic partnerships with the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium, the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway, and Technical University of Denmark (DTU), renowned for their expertise in MNPs analysis. Access to advanced equipment and training will empower JSI and AUA to excel in MNPs analysis, including extraction, quantification, identification, characterization, and plastic additive analysis. AUA, with its hydroponics and crop cultivation experience, will share its insights while gaining knowledge on MNPs generation from agricultural plastics and its effects on crop quality. Collaboration with the NGO FoodScale Hub (FSH), Serbia, will expand the reach of JSI and AUA's research and reputation and raise awareness about plastic pollution in the agri-food sector. Moreover, twinning activities with VITO, IMR, and DTU will facilitate skills transfer for efficient project management and administration. The project also prioritizes promoting diversity inclusion and ethical practices within JSI, AUA, and FSH, all representing widening countries. The InPlasTwin objectives will be achieved through well-defined twinning activities, including short-term exchanges of both early-stage and senior researchers, organization of training and workshops, thematic scientific meetings, and dissemination of findings within the scientific community, industries, and the public. InPlasTwin aims to advance MNPs research, foster partnerships, disseminate knowledge, and promote responsible research practices in MNPs analysis, which will ultimately contribute to improved environmental sustainability and food safety.

The BioeconomyVentures project aims to build the reference platform for bioeconomy-based start-ups and spin-offs seeking to gain access to finance, becoming the main meeting point in the European bioeconomy. Our solution, aligned with the European Bioeconomy Strategy (2018) and the vision and strategy of the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), is based on a threefold approach: 1) Building and leveraging the first of its kind bioeconomy entrepreneurship ecosystem, boosted by the BioeconomyVentures Ambassadors Programme (AAP). 2) Creating and validating an assessment methodology for qualify and quantify the needs of the start-ups and spin-offs though the BioeconomyVentures Evaluation Matrix 3) Designing, developing and executing an interactive one-stop-shop- platform that will serve as a main meeting point for the bioeconomy entrepreneurship field, bringing together relevant groups of stakeholders (start-ups, spin-offs, investors and corporates) and integrating, on one single access point, high-quality services aiming to unlock the innovation potential and uncover opportunities to build relationships and partnerships across the BioeconomyVentures network. The consortium forms a strong pool of experts along with the fields of bioeconomy and business with a track record managing entrepreneurship programs. Its partners have been intentionally selected by their expertise and geographical reach, bringing together 6 different countries (IE, ES, BE, AT, IT, RS) to consolidate the maximum outreach of the initiative. It consists of 9 partners with complementary competences: 5 clusters or networks of start-ups, spin-offs, corporates and investors (IBF, FF, FOOD+I, FSH, and FSH), 2 innovative SMEs (ENCO, ALC) with an important background in providing services and training to entrepreneurs, the main Pilot Plant Facility in Europe (BBEPP) and one Research and Innovation Centre specialized in venture development within the bioeconomy field (AITIIP).

STELAR will design, develop, evaluate, and showcase an innovative Knowledge Lake Management System (KLMS) to support and facilitate a holistic approach for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and AI-ready (high-quality, reliably labeled) data. The STELAR KLMS will allow to (semi-)automatically turn a raw data lake into a knowledge lake. This is achieved by (1) enhancing the data lake with a knowledge layer, and (2) developing and integrating a set of data management tools and workflows. The knowledge layer will comprise: (a) a data catalog offering automatically enhanced metadata for the raw data assets in the lake, and (b) a knowledge graph that semantically describes and interlinks these data assets using suitable domain ontologies and vocabularies. The provided tools and workflows will offer novel functionalities for: (a) data discovery and quality management; (b) data linking and alignment; and (c) data annotation and synthetic data generation. The KLMS will combine both human-in-the-loop and automatic approaches, to leverage background knowledge of domain experts while minimizing their involvement. To reduce manual effort and time, it will increase the automation of finding and selecting relevant data sources, configuring, and tuning the involved data management tools, and designing, executing, and monitoring end-to-end data processing workflows adapted to different user needs. The KLMS will include specialized tools and functions for geospatial, temporal, and textual data. An organization, ranging from a data-intensive SME to the operator of a data marketplace, will be able to use the STELAR KLMS to increase the readiness of its data assets for use in AI applications and for being shared and exchanged within a common data space. The STELAR KLMS will be pilot tested in diverse, real-world use cases in the agrifood data space, one of the nine data spaces of strategic societal and economic importance identified in the European Strategy for Data.

WiseFood aims at developing smart digital applications that will empower citizens to make healthier and more sustainable food choices. It will leverage state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques and tools, combining the factual knowledge representation capacity of Knowledge Graphs with the natural language understanding, generation, and reasoning abilities of Large Language Models. These will allow us to build novel tools that democratize access to reliable food-related information and go beyond the current levels of personalization and contextualization offered by existing food recommenders. The developed applications will be user-friendly and integrate seamlessly into daily life, not requiring specialized IT skills or devices. Our goal is to bridge the divide between knowledge, intention, and action with end-to-end intelligent solutions. A human-in-the-loop approach with food domain experts, including nutritionists, will be applied to ensure alignment with national policies and guidelines. Living Labs implementing a multi-actor approach are foreseen to co-create the envisioned solutions. These will take place in three different countries, Ireland, Hungary, and Slovenia, with the latter being an already established and operational short food supply chain Living Lab. The outcomes of WiseFood will enhance the overall food ecosystem, by promoting healthier dietary habits, reducing the ecological footprint of food consumption, and fostering a culture of well-informed and eco-conscious citizens.

SUNFUSION endeavors to comprehensively address a novel process of microalgae and oleaginous yeasts conversion into shipping and aviation biofuels, by advancing state-of-the-art core technologies: (i) innovative PBR and open raceway ponds for microalgae and yeasts cultivation and optimization; (ii) a concentrated solar thermal (CST)-coupled continuous hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) reactor with solar energy covering the thermal needs of the process; (iii) a solar-aided thermal energy storage (TES) system which at later stages will be fully integrated to the overall process; (iv) hydrotreatment units to obtain the final, advanced sustainable biofuels; (v) recovery of gaseous and aqueous streams from HTL and synergistic cultivations of microalgae and yeasts that will be recycled to the microalgae cultivation leading to a zero emission and zero waste process. HTL is a thermochemical process used for the production of sustainable biofuels from the depolymerization and repolymerization of highly moist organic biomass, having the inherent advantage of avoiding the cost-intensive part of biomass drying. These points will introduce high-risk/high-return novelties that will play an impactful role in forwarding the process subcomponents to TRL 4. At least 7 L of biocrude from microalgae and 1 L from yeasts are planned to be produced and upgraded. A testing period of above 12 months will take place under on-sun conditions at temperatures exceeding 350oC, with the solar-to-biocrude energy efficiency target set to exceed 50%, which is an ambitious number that will allow the sustainable transformation of solar energy to energy carriers in the form of biofuels. Finally, an overall process assessment will take place to evaluate the technology in terms of technical, economic and environmental aspects. The visionary concept beyond SUNFUSION project envisages the integration of the main components of the process in a mobile platform that will be operational in off-grid places.