"<< Background >>Digital technologies in education are an area of strong development in innovation in all sectors of higher education. However, in music education, this process is held back by difficulties in the development of training in instrumental and vocal practise, which may be particularly complex in the case of multiple performers who play and/or sing together, particularly in the example of chamber music. Performing together cannot be assimilated to a lecture or discussion, in which teachers and students interact verbally. As a result, the didactical development for the primary departments in this area is stalled, although there are some promising technological solutions. It is necessary to test these solutions in the academic environment to see how well they meet the needs of higher education. This could be the starting point for a methodological, technological and organizational study toward an overall assessment of current technical possibilities and their possible practical uses, by creating a specific model of integrated digital didactics tailored to the needs of higher education in chamber music. The research and development of new tools, materials and pedagogical models for higher education in music will respond to the needs of the sector at various levels: 1) for teachers, to define some categories of teaching activities that can be completed with the use of digital technologies and their technological requirements, together with the required digital skills and any necessary training to achieve these skills; 2) for students, to define requirements for equipment, technologies and digital skills needed to participate in such ""digitalized"" activities; 3) for directors, to define the requirements, available options and levels of implementation for the organization and facilities in institutions of higher musical education.<< Objectives >>The main objectives of the project are to: -- analyze the state of the art in digital technologies suited to teaching practices in chamber music, with particular reference to solutions for synchronized live streaming between different environments, thus allowing several musicians to perform together while distanced; -- explore the different types of usage and educational settings in which digital technologies could find a valid application, in addition to analyzing related requirements in technological and digital skills of teachers and students; -- define a model of integrated digital education specific to higher education in chamber music in various forms, such as integrating instruction live and through distance learning. This is proposed by means of digital technologies adopted for students in attendance in order to develop their ability to use music technologies, and through the creation of mixed live / virtual music classrooms with part of the students in live attendance and others participating through distance learning;-- articulate the model on different levels in order to make it applicable in different contexts with different needs and means; -- offer a concrete and immediately applicable contribution to higher education in music in terms of an innovative methodological model for integrated digitalized education in the field of chamber music; -- make available to the sector recorded tools and resources to facilitate the application of the method;-- propose, through the direct and indirect impact of this project and by the dissemination of the project results, validation for the integration of digital technologies in chamber music instruction in higher education in music, particularly in consideration of the fact that this instruction is currently held back by the lack of specific research.<< Implementation >>The following primary activities are planned in order to achieve the project objectives: - a collection of best practices in the use of digital technologies in higher music education; - research on the international state of the art in digital technologies for streaming available through open source applications; - analysis of the needs for integrated digital teaching in higher musical education, with particular reference to chamber music; - elaboration of an innovative methodological model for integrated digital didactics in the sector, applicable at different levels and in different situations; - analysis and documentation of the requirements for the implementation of integrated digital instruction in higher music education at different levels, including requirements for equipment, internet connectivity and any technological skills required of teachers and students; - collection and archiving in an open repository of digital educational content useful for the implementation of the proposed innovative teaching methods in this specific field; - training of both teacher and researchers in project partner institutions to develop and test the methodology, texts and tools of the project; - project pilot testing in the participating conservatoires from 6 European countries (IT, RO, HU, ES, BE, SI) for field verification of the proposed model of integrated digital education in chamber music; - production of documents, materials and tools useful for the development of innovation in higher education on chamber music content consistent with the outcomes of the pilot testing; - wide distribution of the model and results throughout Europe and internationally.<< Results >>The IVMS project is expected to produce: - Project result no. 1: a research report on “Digital technologies in Higher Education for Chamber Music. State of the Art Analysis” ; - Project result no. 2: the “New In Media Stat Virtus Method for Distance Training in Vocal – Instrumental Chamber Music: Guidelines for Teachers ; - Project result no. 3: the “New In Media Stat Virtus Method for Distance Training in Vocal – Instrumental Chamber Music. Handbook for Applied Technologies” ; - Project result no. 4: the web database of educational resources “In Media Stat Virtus Repository: digital OERs for training in vocal – instrumental chamber music”; - Project result no. 5: the distance learning program for teachers “eCourse – Introduction to the In Media Stat Virtus method for the development and delivery of distance training in vocal – instrumental chamber music”; - Directed experimentation and validation of said results in six European institutions of higher musical education and/or conservatoires; - European and international distribution of the results through events open to professionals in the sector in six countries and the open distribution and online use of results."

The Europe 2020 strategy identifies actions to boost growth and jobs. The HEIBus project addresses the flagship of innovation union, youth on the move and agenda for new skills and jobs. The main HEIBus contributions have been the developed models designed to boost the cooperation actions between HEIs and companies. Using previous experience from other European project and new and fresh ideas, innovative models have been generated, tested and imported to new implementations. The project started with a comprehensive review of HEI-company cooperation models to identify and analyze implementations where students were directly involved in collaborative actions with HEI experts and companies. Models in which HEI experts and companies work together to the same end, were also studied. In addition, different levels of company involvement in education at HEIs were also searched and detailed. The purpose of this review was to serve as basis for the further HEIBus model implementations. Throughout the HEIBus, two rounds of project implementations took place. The feedback from the first round of projects was used to improve the implementations done in the second one. With the aim of providing smart and innovative cooperation methods between HEIs and companies, the following models were tested: - Multidisciplinary Real Life Problem Solving (RLPS)- Expert Level Real Life Problem Solving (EXPERT)- Flexible Mentoring of Students by Companies (Flex Mentoring)In RLPS, teams of students were given a real life problem by a company. The student teams compete against each other to solve the problem, in the most effective way and following the company requirements. The same method is planned on virtual implementation. This improves performance of education system, facilitating the entry of students to the labour market and developing students’ skills on real life cases. For companies, this promotes new research and innovations and helps the development of new products and services. The companies benefit by getting better match for their labour needs, including easier path to labour mobility. In addition, this cooperation model can be easily integrated in engineering courses that follows Project Based Learning methodologies.EXPERT is similar to RLPS but, on this occasion, the problem is solved by HEI experts. This enables companies to bring more complex problems to be solved. This promotes innovation and knowledge transfer throughout the union, and increases the skills of HEI experts and work life relevance of education. In this case, the links established between the companies and HEI experts involved in the different cases of study, continue after the HEIBus through the Expert Support Service web platform. Flex Mentoring is a set of methods to involve companies in education at HEIs. Each company has a student group, mentored throughout the studies of the group. These methods are divided on different levels depending on the amount of involvement needed from the company. Flex Mentoring improves the quality and work life relevance of the education, gives HEI students and staff new skills and work life contacts. For companies, Flex Mentoring gives better labour force, easy access to recruiting and to knowledge transfer from HEIs. The number and quality of the dissemination activities, done in the three year project, demonstrate the utility and significance of the HEIBus models.

ROBOMINERS will develop a bio-inspired, modular and reconfigurable robot-miner for small and difficult to access deposits. The aim is to create a prototype robot that is capable of mining underground, underwater or above water, and can be delivered in modules to the deposit via a large diameter borehole. In the envisioned ROBOMINERS technology line, mining will take place underground, underwater in a flooded environment. A large diameter borehole is drilled from the surface to the mineral deposit. A modular mining machine is delivered in modules via the borehole. This will then self-assemble and begin its operation. Powered by a water hydraulic drivetrain and artificial muscles, the robot will have high power density and environmentally safe operation. Situational awareness and sensing is provided by novel body sensors, including artificial whiskers that will merge data in realtime with production sensors, optimising the rate of production and selection between different production methods. The produced high-grade mineral slurry is pumped to the surface, where it will be processed. The waste slurry could then be returned to the mine where it will backfill mined-out areas. ROBOMINERS will deliver proof of concept (TRL-4) of the feasibility of this technology line that can enable the EU have access to mineral raw materials from otherwise inaccessible or uneconomic domestic sources. This proof of concept will be delivered in the format of a new amphibious robot Miner Prototype that will be designed and constructed as a result of merging technologies from advanced robotics, mechatronics and mining engineering. Laboratory experiments will confirm the Miner’s key functions, such as modularity, configurability, selective mining ability and resilience under a range of operating scenarios. The Prototype Miner will then be used to study and advance future research challenges concerning scalability, swarming behaviour and operation in harsh environments.