To effectively respond to the challenge of decarbonisation in the maritime industry, regulations on both international and national levels are introduced. These are driving the industry to use green fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the problem for the industry is that the cost of using green fuels is significantly higher than the cost of using fossil fuels. Green fuels are an inevitable trend in the maritime industry, the inherent high efficiency and low total cost of ownership of fuel cells, compared with internal combustion engine technology, will make fuel cells a competitive alternative. Blue World will provide the maritime industry with a high-efficiency HT-PEMFC system with an integrated carbon capture feature applicable for auxiliary power and propulsion. The fuel cell system addresses the problem of high cost of using green fuels. The objectives for the Blue World fuel cell system in 2030 are:1) Superior electrical efficiency of up to 60%, 2) Low-energy carbon capture which allows for an efficient capturing of up to 100% of the carbon emissions. This project will develop and test a 1MW fuel cell system with the phased goal of 1) a net electrical efficiency of 55%, 2) to achieve the low-energy carbon capture feature.The technology is currently in TRL 5 and is expected to reach TRL 7. Blue World's HT-PEMFC system shows a higher efficiency and better TCO than enigne in the maritime sector. With the successful implementation of the project and achievement of the system objectives in 2030, we will create the foundation for a CO2 reduction of approx. 27,000 tons and a fuel cost saving of 40-50 million EUR, compared to internal combustion engines with both technologies running on bio-methanol. We would create around 500 new direct jobs. This will strengthen EU’s positions within the maritime industry, where EU players have taken lead in decarbonising the industry, while securing EU's leading position in innovative technology.

Science plays a major role in the development of a society. Despite this, the general population of Romania has little knowledge about the impact of research on all aspects of life. In this context, events that advertise science among the general public are very welcome. Another strong argument in favor of organizing the science popularization event is that this kind of events usually take place in major cities, while in small and medium towns they are very rare, so their population is missing the opportunity to discover science from a different perspective; in turn, this lack of information facilitates the occurrence of stereotypes about scientists and their work and about the usefulness of scientific research, which ultimately discourages young people to pursue a career in R&D. The main concept proposed for 2024/2025 is to reduce the passive presentation of what means to be a researcher, by involving the people directly in different interactive activities (workshops, games, competition, debates etc.). The project is constructed around four basic ideas: Future through past; Health and wealth through a clean environment; Economic development through technology and innovation; Science for future: Research begins at school. An important objective is also the future utilization of information gathered during the event, in order to enable cooperation between relevant actors that are committed to support scientific collaboration that may generate new opportunities for research and industry and new knowledge and know how that can be shared by confronting new ideas and viewpoints. Regarding the audience, the Dissemination Strategy will be directed towards various user groups, such as: the general public, especially young people, the scientific community, public institutions, NGOs, policy-makers, various associations, businesses etc. The partners have the complementary skills to assure the achievement of the project objectives and the future exploitation of the results.

ModBioTerp aims to train 10 exceptional candidates in biochemistry, AI-guided enzyme modeling, laboratory-directed evolution, and synthetic biology. The focus of this project is on the natural product class of terpenoids, which are the largest and most chemically diverse class of natural products and hold immense potential for biotechnological applications. With the latest EU policy on critical technologies from September 2023, which includes biotechnology and specifically mentions synthetic biology, ModBioTerp is well-poised to address these challenges. Terpene synthases (TPSs) are the enzymes responsible for generating the structural diversity found among terpenoid natural products. These elegant enzymes mediate complex carbocation-based cyclization and rearrangement cascades with various electron-rich linear and cyclic substrates. Terpenes are abundant in plants, bacteria, and fungi, and also form the basis of all life through sterols and other very basic metabolites. The biochemistry of terpene synthases is at the core of ModBioTerp with the focus on the challenge of translating a given enzyme model into the understanding of the product profiles of terpene synthases and providing a strong product prediction tool based on the enzyme models developed. The project will explore and exploit the chemical and biological diversity of terpenoids and develop a new fundamental biochemical understanding of these enzymes, ensuring the technological leadership of Europe. With this project, we will unlock the vast potential of terpenoids and lead the way toward sustainable and innovative biotechnological solutions. In ModBioTerp 10 Doctoral candidates (DCs) will spend their research and training time in academic and industrial groups, that are global leaders in the field of terpenoid biochemistry and enzyme modeling. All DCs will also spend time with secondment partners to learn new techniques and be immersed in different scientific environments.

EDUC counts among the pioneer University Alliances supported by 2019 Erasmus+ call. During recent years, EDUC established a truly trans-institutional EDUC community of students and academic staff. However, performance gaps between EDUC members from Widening and non-Widening countries persist, especially in R&I and adoption of ERA policies. In EDUC-WIDE, we will reinforce the Alliance via 4 main aims: 1. Ensure that the principles of Open Science are becoming an integral part of the research process and infrastructure of EDUC Universities. 2. Introduce responsible research assessment as standard practice in EDUC and reach out to policy makers to make institutional and national environments supportive for reformed research assessment. 3. Prepare EDUC researchers for diverse career tracks outside of academia and promote the development and implementation of the Gender Equality Plans in Widening countries. 4. Initiate and scale-up R&I collaboration of EDUC Universities and their ecosystems and contribute to tackling of major societal challenges: the Green and Digital Transition, EU Missions, and UN SDGs. To achieve aims 1-3, we will establish expert groups on the topics of Open Science, Research Assessment, and Career Diversity and engage them in strategy building, knowledge transfer, staff exchange, training and the introduction of advanced R&I practice across the EDUC Alliance. To achieve aim 4, we will extend our interactions with ecosystem and global partners and develop R&I funding component with two bottom-up programmes: (1) Seed Projects, small scale projects preparing grounds for long-term R&I collaboration and (2) Access to Research Infrastructures, mutual use of R&I facilities within EDUC. Thus, we will empower the EDUC to claim a central role in regional transitions to knowledge-driven economy and society. While embedded in regional ecosystems, EDUC-WIDE has a robust European dimension and will contribute to 15 out of the 20 Actions of the ERA Policy Agenda.

The HyperTargIPS-NK project aims to combine novel technologies from three research laboratories and a stem cell company to develop a revolutionary therapeutic modality for patients with devastating refractory malignancies. The treatment we propose is based on allogenic transplantation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived natural killer (NK) cells, genetically modified to a hyperactive state to ensure high potency NK cell targeting and destruction of tumor cells. CAR NK-based cancer treatment is an extremely promising new therapeutic avenue. However, the full potential of CAR NK therapies will only be achieved when an off-the-shelf product is rapidly accessible to patients in need. IPS with its unlimited expansion potential is the ideal cell source for NK-based products, however, improved efficiencies of NK cell production, suitably activated status, and resistance to immune suppression would need to be achieved. We have several breakthrough technologies to address these issues with 1) a novel iPS cell differentiation system based on our newly identified metabolic regulators that can be easily scaled to generate billions of functional NK cells, 2) identified and validated several novel and state-of-the-art CAR, non-CAR and TRUCK based regulators of NK activation to elicit the hyper activated NK cell state and prolonging NK survival, and 3) improved NK response to tumors via tumor microenvironment remodeling. We will target the NK cells towards three life-threatening cancers for which novel treatment options are urgently needed as they are considered among the most lethal cancers; i.e. Pancreatic cancer, Glioblastoma, and Acute Myeloid leukemia (AML). Our iPS culture system, NK activation systems, and gene editing systems, have already been designed towards GMP compatibility. Taken together, these advances ensure that once this study is successful, our Hyper-Targ-IPS-NK cells are poised for rapid translation towards the clinic with our industrial partner.