Europe is experiencing an increasing number of disasters due to natural hazards. The potential for a hazard to cause a disaster mainly depends on the vulnerability of the exposed community to a particular hazard. According to EM-DAT, for the period 1998–2009, earthquakes in Europe rank second in terms of fatalities and third in terms of overall losses. Further, flooding, along with storms, is the most important natural hazard in Europe in terms of economic losses. Actions and measures, can reduce the economic impact of a hazardous event. Within this context, scholars, government agencies, professional organizations as well as local communities seek to understand the three main stages of a disaster (i.e. Normal/Risk Reduction Stage, Emergency Response Stage, Recovery Stage) and take measures to lower the negative impact. The goal of ISTOS is, by the end of the project, to significantly strengthen the Scientific Excellence and Innovation Capacity of the collaborative Advanced Infrastructures and Materials (AIM) laboratory established at the Frederick Research Center (FRC) and the Large Structures laboratory (LSL) established at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). The aim is to turn the collaborative laboratories at FRC and CUT into a Center of Excellence, “ISTOS”, which will be based in Cyprus. The proposed ISTOS project will achieve its goal by creating strong links between the AIM, LSL and two internationally leading research institutions namely the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) of Greece and the PLINIVS Study Centre, University of Naples Federico II (PLINIVS-LUPT) of Italy. Through ISTOS, the research profile and expertise of the staff, of FRC and CUT, will be raised while at the same time enhancing the S&T capacity of the linked institutions.

D^2EPC ambitiously aims to set the grounds for the next generation of dynamic Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for buildings. The proposed framework sets its foundations on the smart-readiness level of the buildings and the corresponding data collection infrastructure and management systems. It is fed by operational data and adopts the ‘digital twin’ concept to advance Building Information Modelling, calculate a novel set of energy, environmental, financial and human comfort/ wellbeing indicators, and through them the EPC classification of the building in question. Under the project vision, the proposed indicators will render dynamic EPCs a realistic, accurate and comprehensive tool that can lead the transformation of the European building stock into zero-energy buildings and stimulate energy efficient behavioural change of the building occupants. To this direction, D^2EPC proposes a digital platform that will enable the issuance and update of new EPCs on a regular basis, integrate a GIS environment and provide, on top, value added services including user-centred recommendations for energy renovation, benchmarking and forecasting of buildings’ performance as well as performance verification services. The proposed scheme will contribute to the redefinition of EPC-related policies and to the update of current standards, along with guidance for their implementation and will introduce incentivisation and restriction practices into the EPC rationale. Additional benefits include enhanced user awareness and engagement on buildings’ energy efficiency, facilitated planning and decision making on local and regional policy level. To accomplish the above, the D^2EPC framework will be demonstrated in 6 sites, while its 12 partners coming from 7 European countries will collaborate and provide their expertise and resources within the 36 months of the project’s lifetime

ClimEmpower will empower five south-European regions with high Climate Change (CC) risk and exceptionally low adaptive capacity to enhance their CC-resilience, establish the regional Communities of Practice (CoP) and co-create the resilient development strategies adapted to the regional needs and potentials. We will achieve this through combination of user-driven climate applications, capacity building and "best practices" transfer from other European projects and regions. Throughout the project the ClimEmpower team will aid the regional administration in organizing the regional CoPs where representatives of "quadruple helix" stakeholders will discuss their Climate Adaptation needs and capabilities, assess potential pathways towards CC-resilient, societally just, and sustainable future and elect sustainable and CC-resilient regional development pathways that are best suited to their needs and capabilities. This activity will be supported by provision of the data driven Decision Support service(s) for strategic CC-adaptation planning, as well as through provision of easy to understand educational materials illustrating the CC risks and possible technological, natural and societal adaptation options and strategies, explaining the use of the project tools, as well as knowledge transfer on existing data, tools and best practices in climate adaptation from successful EU projects and regions with higher adaptive capacity. ClimEmpower will develop new generic interface to C3S Climate Data Store, data driven CC-hazard and -risk assessment services, and semi-semi-quantitative (“screening”) services allowing the users to compare different adaptation strategies. These services will primarily rely on open data and open service infrastructure and on cross-linking of such data with data that can be sampled locally during the project - to complement the pan-European data, improve granularity or to validate the predictions.

PRECEPT ambitiously aims to set the grounds for the deployment and operation of proactive residential buildings. The proposed framework introduces a “plug-n-play” Pred(scr)ictive and Proactive building energy management system (PP-BMS) installed locally at building level, at the Edge-Enable Proactiveness (EEP) device. The proposed PP-BMS is self-adapted, self-learned, -managed, -monitored, -healing and -optimized, requiring no (or minimum) installation costs and no maintenance. PP-BMS transform traditional reactive buildings to proactive ones, increasing their performance (both energy efficiency and occupants’ well-being), exploiting RES, storage, forecasts and energy tariffs. PRECEPT also targets to the development of a real-time digital representation of the intelligent proactive residential buildings by employing 6D BIM technology. Further to that, a set of novel indicators leveraging on the smart readiness rationale will be introduced for rating the Smart Proactiveness of buildings. The proposed indicators will enable the introduction of a reliable framework under which the comparative assessment of the level of smartness and proactiveness of buildings can be regulated and assessed. Also, PRECEPT approach will deliver advanced data visualizations, utilizing big-data and visual analytics techniques, which in conjunction with a social collaboration platform will engage stakeholders to exchange best-practices. Interaction with the grid will be supported in a secured (Hyperledger Fabric) manner through the decentralized EEP device, supporting the implementation of D/R strategies. To maximize its potential impact, PRECEPT demonstrates novel sustainable business models for rendering traditional reactive buildings to proactive buildings that go beyond the energy-related benefits and cost-optimal analysis but include occupants’ well-being, and other services. PRECEPT framework will be demonstrated in relevant environments in 5 use cases, including 250 apartments.