Recent events have demonstrated the need for readiness for medical supply and equipment rapid manufacturing repurposing. Eur3ka will deliver a trusted and unique capability to plug and collectively respond to a sudden demand increased in a coordinated and effective manner at unprecedented scale. Eur3ka mission is to bring together most recent R&I results in (1) Industry 4.0 standards, open automation modular manufacturing production line enablers; (2) industrial international common data space enablers and digital infrastructures; (3) global on-demand and manufacturing as a service platforms; (4) connected and smarter supply networks, and global medical supplies and equipment repositories; (5) the vibrant European and Global network of manufacturing DIH network innovation services and open experimental facilities. The main ambition of Eur3ka is to enable and facilitate global and fair access to (1) a Plug & Respond (P&R) repurposing resource coordination framework for pandemic crisis response, (2) a common open standardized modular manufacturing reference architecture and solutions, and (3) top digitally sovereign cross-sectorial manufacturing networks and capacities that should allow to connect global manufacturing and supply chain capabilities and medical knowledge on-demand and as-a-Service across the globe in an IP-responsive manner to ensure rapid manufacturing repurposing for an increased and sudden demand of medical supplies and equipment. Eur3ka builds and extends the existing Global Network of Advanced Manufacturing Hubs (AMHUBs) to leverage a comprehensive COVID response based on solid socio-tecno-economic pillars that bring together advanced manufacturing and digital enablers that will raise robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness, response, and recovery against current and future pandemics. Eur3ka vision builds on and accelerate current digital transformation industry 4.0 efforts, as well as flexible regulations and tailored workforce re-/up- skilling

The Powder2Power project aims to demonstrate at the MW-scale (TRL7) the operation of an innovative, cost effective and more reliable complete fluidized particle-driven Concentrated Solar Technology that can be applied for both power and industrial heat production. The prototype to be developed and tested is based on the modification and the improvement of an experimental loop built in the framework of the previous H2020 project Next-CSP. It will include all the components of a commercial plant, a multi-tube fluidized bed solar receiver (2 MWth), an electricity-driven particle superheater (300 kW), a hot store, a particle-to-working fluid cross-flow fluidized bed heat exchanger (2 MWth), a turbine (hybrid Brayton cycle gas turbine, 1.2 MWe), a cold store and a vertical particle transport system (~100 m). It is planned to organize the experimental campaign at the Themis tower (France) during one year. Adding an electricity-driven particle superheater will enable to validate a PV-CSP concept working at 750°C that is expected to result in electricity cost reduction with respect to the state-of-the-art. At utility-scale, this temperature allows to adopt high efficiency conversion cycles, typically 750°C for supercritical CO2 (sCO2) cycles. The expected increase in conversion efficiency (sun to power) of the P2P solution with respect to molten salt technology is in the range 5 to 9% and the cost reduction is 5.4%. (LCOE). The hybrid CSP-PV concept enables to reach 9% in efficiency increase and the CSP-only concept 5%. The proposed approach includes the sustainability assessment in environmental and socio-economic terms. A special attention will be brought to elaborate in a transparent way all documents necessary to ensure replicability, up-scaling and to assist future planning decisions. Ten participants from 6 EU countries constitute the P2P consortium. Six participants are industrial and service companies, and four are public research institutions and universities.

Project Ô intends to demonstrate approaches and technologies to drive an integrated and symbiotic use of water within a specific area, putting together the needs of different users and waste water producers, involving regulators, service providers, civil society, industry and agriculture. The project seeks to apply the pillars of integrated water management (IWM) as a model for “water planning” (akin to spatial planning) and to demonstrate low cost, modular technologies that can be easily retrofitted into any water management infrastructure at district/plant level, hence enabling even small communities and SMEs to implement virtuous practices. Technologies and planning instruments complement each other as the first make possible the second and the latter can provide as example or even prescribe the former (and similar technologies allowing virtuous water use practices). Indeed the technologies support the regulators in implementing policy instruments, as foreseen by IWM, for convincing stakeholders (like developers and industry) to implement water efficiency strategies and could include instruments for e.g. rewarding virtuous behaviours (for example: advantageous water tariffs), planning regulations that award planning consent more swiftly or even prescribe the use of water from alternative sources (including recycling). Project Ô has in summary the overall objective of providing stakeholders (everybody using or regulating the use of water in an area) with a toolkit that enables them to plan the use of and utilise the resource water whatever its history and provenance, obtaining significant energy savings in terms of avoided treatment of water and waste water and release of pressure (quantity abstracted and pollution released) over green water sources. This overall objective will be demonstrated in up to four sites each in different Countries of Europe and in Israel, involving industries, aquaculture and agriculture as well as local authorities of different sizes.

CREA aims to promote ICT development and creativity as new drivers able to produce specific structural changes and arrangements in the European entrepreneurial base, to influence the future paths of social change and innovation to a large extent. CREA project wants to validate a new European Model of Summer Academy for students who wants to develop business ideas focus on creativity and ICT and able to explore innovation in advanced fields: new products for new markets, social innovation, meaning drive innovation in old sectors, service innovation, technology driven innovation etc. CREA will test 2 edition of Summer Academy simultaneously organized in 6 European Cities (Milan, Stuttgart, Ljubljana, Newcastle, Tallin, Utrecht), which will end with an international event (CREA ICT Business Idea Contest) for the presentation of results to international investors and the awarding of a prize. The project includes training courses, mentoring activities and the incubation program for start up companies that will be able to use the opportunities of ICT and Creativity to propose new business model with a European vision. The general objectives of CREA project are: - To create European wide system of Summer Academies for university and last year high school students entirely focused on ICT entrepreneurship; - To create a model of Summer Academy action oriented with a strong focus on ICT and entrepreneurial skills development and a rich offer of mentoring, support for business planning, matchmaking opportunities and generation of ICT related business idea; - To stimulate the development of new start up business ideas boosting on ICT and creativity; - To complement and extend similar existing Summer Academy program while strongly focusing on ICT and creativity entrepreneurship; - To organize and promote ICT Business Idea Contests.

Advancing education and training in High Performance Computing (HPC) and its applicability to HPDA and AI is essential for strengthening the world-class European HPC ecosystem. It is of primary importance to ensure the digital transformation and the sustainability of high-priority economic sectors. Missing educated and skilled professionals in HPC/HPDA/AI could prevent Europe from creating socio-economic value with HPC. The Hpc EuRopean ConsortiUm Leading Education activities (HERCULES) aims to develop a new and innovative European Master programme focusing on high performance solutions to address these issues. The master programme aims at catalysing various aspects of the HPC ecosystem and its applications into different scientific and industrial domains. HERCULES brings together major players in HPC education in Europe and mobilises them to unify existing programs into a common European curriculum. It leverages experience from various European countries and HPC communities to generate European added value beyond the potential of any single university. HERCULES emphasizes on collaboration across Europe with innovative teaching paradigms including co-teaching and the cooperative development of new content relying on the best specialists in HPC education in Europe. Employers, researchers, HPC specialists, supercomputing centres, CoEs and technology providers will constitute a workforce towards this master in HPC pilot programme. This pilot will provide a base for further national and pan-European educational programmes in HPC all over Europe and our lessons learned and the material development will accelerate the uptake of HPC in academia and industry. The creation of a European network of HPC specialists will catalyse transfers and mutual support between students, teachers and industrial experts. A particular focus on mobility of students and teachers will enable students to rapidly gain experience through internships and exposure to European supercomputing centres