The name “Mind Over Matter” symbolizes the humankind’s aspiration to create a better world. STEAM, as a means to truly shape the world in a positive way, is perfect as a medium, as it shapes young minds so that they can use their creativity and intellect to transform the matter into something that is useful, sustainable and adds value to the world. The MoM project identifies and leverages the opportunities inherent in STEAM educational activities that will engage and inspire young people to follow STEM pathways through education and into both STEM and new emerging STEAM careers. We distinguish between these two in the following way: STEM encourages deep specialisation within a scientific discipline. STEAM educational activities integrate the Arts and creativity with a broad range of sciences in an interdisciplinary approach that draws knowledge from across a diverse range of expertise. This creative combination allows young people who might not immediately self-identify as a candidate for a STEM pathway to have a positive experience of STEM subjects in the context of something that more readily captures the imagination, and is project and goal-oriented than detail-focused. This can then lead to a growing interest in a STEM specialism or further work in a STEAM-oriented career.Therefore, the first objective is to develop hands-on, inquiry-based approaches to education which will demystify science and scientific processes in order to increase young people’s confidence in approaching STEM. In order to achieve it, partners will implement analyses of best practices existing on EU level and define improvement that has to be implemented according to the relevant researches. Analyses will define the methodological approach that has to be implemented when creating STEAM activities in order to attract young people who aren’t interested in STEM fields. The methodology developed will be based on an environment conducive to high youth engagement, an investment from the youth in their learning, problem solving in the context of the real world, and a non-traditional format where the educator facilitates the development of ideas without being prescriptive.In order to test the developed methodology, 40 STEAM pilots will be developed and tested with 500 young people in online and offline environment. The main target group are young people, 13 to 18 years old, divided into age groups 13 to 15 and 16 to 18. The selection will be implemented in a way that young people who are generally less interested in STEM careers and education will be invited to attend the education (around 80% of young people not so interested and 20% young people interested in STEM). STEAM pilots will be based on a problem connected to SDGs that participants will address in teams using available equipment and materials The proposed methodology will not have a pre-set prescribed outcome, but will instead enable participants to collaborate on a variety of innovative solutions. Teams will present solutions to each other, thereby multiplying the learning outcomes across the group. Their confidence and interest will be measured at the beginning of the educational activities and at the end in order to prove if the pilots had impact on their educational and career considerations. It is expected that 10% of participants will report an increase in motivation and confidence in pursuing STEM and STEAM careers. That will impact the second project objective, which is to sustain the interest of youth in STEM and STEAM carriers. Besides the youth enrolled in project activities, through intensive dissemination activities we will reach other young people. For it, we will use videos of STEM and STEAM experts from the business sector, policy-makers and young people enrolled in STEM education and careers. The aim of the campaign is to send a message that young people can become STEM and STEAM experts regardless of their current perceptions of what STEAM is. We will demonstrate the different educational and career paths that STEM and STEAM experts had, allowing some to recognise themselves in those experts. An evaluation of the proposed methodology will result in detailed methodology guidelines that will be disseminated with the pilots toward educators from formal and non-formal education contexts. They will be provided with materials developed and supported in the process of testing either existing pilots or in the creation of new pilots. That will give the consortium the opportunity to test the methodology in different environments. We will communicate the project results to the Ministries of Education and Youth in order to raise questions about the existing STEM education implemented in the formal education system and its possibilities for improvement using the developed methodology and pilots.

The main objective of the HEFESTO project is to redesign the engine deck/firewall area of a helicopter in CFRP in order to obtain the greatest weight reduction possible (greater than 10%) and fatigue resistence improvement over the traditional titanium structure. In order for this to be feasible, the CFRP must be adecuately protected against heat and fire. The object of the HEFESTO project is therefore also to demonstrate a novel all-in-one multilayer coating effective to thermally isolate and fireproof CFRP in order to resist the operating conditions and fire hazards in the immediate area of a helicopter motor. The multilayer coating, which is composed of an aerogel (to thermally insolate), a ceramic (to fireproof) and an intumescent layer (to actively firefight), will be applied to the redesigned helicopter engine deck/firewall. The resulting structure will be fire tested to demonstrate it fireproof according to CS-29 standards, and also tested under constant temperature condicions representative of the motor area to demonstrate that the coating thermally isolates the CFRP at temperatures which are acceptable for this material to maintain its mechanical properties completely intact. The most appropriate configuration and application method for the mutli layer coating will be identified so as to make it practical, light, cheap and efficient.

The objective of this project is to provide innovation support services in 2015 and 2016 to SMEs in the regions covered by the consortium members. These innovation support services will be differentiated for two groups of SMEs: a) SMEs that have been selected as beneficiaries of the SME instrument, phase 1 or phase 2. For these companies, the consortium members will offer Key Account Management (KAM) services, which are accompanying services for the SMEs to identify weaknesses in their innovation capacities and suitable external coaches throughout their participation in the SME instrument. b) SMEs that have high potential for growth and internationalisation but that need to improve their innovation management capacities. These companies will receive direct assessment services from the consortium members in order to detect barriers and develop and implement an action plan in order to enhance such capacities and overcome the detected barriers.

Water-scarce regions in Sub-Saharan Africa are most vulnerable to climate change and fluctuations in seasonal rainfall patterns. Agriculture is the most important economic sector in those areas and adaptation strategies must include technical support to subsistence and smallholder farmers who need to apply innovative technologies and practices to cope with environmental stresses and create revenue generating activities. The DIVAGRI project proposes a wide range of bio-based innovative solutions adapted to specific conditions in target countries. Ecosystem restoration in combination with diverse crop production in regenerative agricultural systems, mobile biorefineries for biomass conversion to high-value compounds and bioenergy, and the highly innovative clay-based micro-irrigation system “SLECI” (Self-regulating, Low Energy, Clay-based Irrigation) are solutions developed by DIVAGRI. In addition, building on community participation and co-development of collaborative business models, the project will enable smallholder farmers to increase income and generate new economic opportunities while guaranteeing food security, real rural opportunities, and sustainability. The focus of this project is not only on the primary production sector but also on the food and bio-based industries, thus promoting new partnerships between producers, processors, retailers and consumers and opening new sustainable avenues for businesses, services and value chains in support of rural communities. Developing innovative bio-based technologies characterised by the efficient use of resources and utilisation of waste and by-products, DIVAGRI contributes to the EU research priority of making the transition towards circular agriculture and bioeconomy.