"Who we areThe team consists of two universities, the Business Academy SouthWest (Denmark) and the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Denmark's cluster organisation and innovation network for energy production (Energy Innovation Cluster) and the private DOB-Academy (The Netherlands), which specialises in offshore energy education for professionals. 3 partners, the universities and the Energy Innovation Cluster already work together in the EU INTERREG project Inn2POWER (2016-2020). With the DOB Academy was operational cooperation on a smaller scale. The DOB Academy is a new team member.What we have done so far?In Inn2POWER, an Offshore Wind Energy MBA was developed and implemented. Target group are the offshore wind energy companies and their employees in the North Sea region. The accreditation application for a joint degree programme has been submitted. Accreditation is expected by the end of 2020.How we workThe connection between university, industry and cluster organisations is essential for success. Therefore, universities and the cluster organisation are represented in this consortium. From Inn2POWER we bring an extensive network to other cluster organisations and companies. With the DOB Academy as a private further education provider, new and additional know-how in the implementation and marketing of further education offers is added. What we will do in the Erasmus + ProjectCurrently the Offshore Wind Energy MBA is a basic version with 9 modules and a master thesis. Many topics that are important for the offshore wind industry and its further environment for the use and development of renewable energy could not be considered in it yet. They are essential for the further development of the offshore wind industry and the realization of the expansion of renewable energy production. With a content expansion, which is also accompanied by a geographical expansion of the target group, the needs of the industry are better represented and the Offshore Wind Energy MBA becomes more attractive for companies and participants.The Offshore Wind Energy MBA has been developed on the basis of the training needs formulated by the industry and academic content and didactic contributions. It is necessary to reformulate the entire content and didactic strategy after this first development phase in order to significantly develop all aspects further. A key aspect here is online teaching and learning, which has so far only been marginally considered, but is essential for an MBA with an international orientation. The suitability and possibilities of digital learning are examined and tested for their applicability in the present context. The qualification of the lecturers is also an essential aspect for the implementation of new digital learning forms. What methods do we use to achieve these goals?The close cooperation between university and industry has been a key success factor so far and will be continued. Our project work is a regular process of coordinating the results of the project team with our external stakeholders and, vice versa, regular input. Advisory boards have been set up in Denmark and Germany since 2018 and are staffed by representatives from industry. In addition, we involve further cluster organizations in these coordination processes.Partial results are presented and discussed in Knowledge Salons and other formats of events and publications (e.g. via LinkedIn) on a broader scale to the industry.In addition, we also broaden the focus beyond the industry. Knowledge about how such an industry-specific MBA has been developed and implemented can be transferred to other industries. As universities in Europe have only marginally participated in the further education market so far, we see a necessity and great potential to abstract from the specific sector offshore wind and to distil a general concept for an ""Applied MBA"" from our experiences and concepts and to present it to universities, representatives of other sectors, organisations and companies as a model and thus initiate a process to create further such sector-specific Applied MBAs in Europe. This will contribute to strengthening the link between tertiary education and the economy, which will also have innovation effects for the universities and for the competitiveness of the respective sectors.At the end of the project, an Offshore Wind Energy MBA course of study will be developed further in essential aspects, which will be implemented specifically and made available as a general model.We see a long-term impact in the strengthening of the offshore wind industry in Europe and thus a contribution to strengthening the supply of renewable energy. With this model, we present a cross-sectoral presentation of how the tertiary education sector can create innovative educational offers together with the economy and thus contribute to the competitiveness of companies and branches."

The FLEXI-GREEN FUEL project will advance the production of next generation biofuels for shipping and aviation by developing and improving integrated technologies for a complete conversion of #1 lignocellulosic residue biomass (LIGN) and #2 the organic fraction of municipal waste (OFMSW). Project targets are to significantly reduce the cost by improving the performance of the produced biofuels regarding the efficiency, the environment and society. Semi-continuous organosolv pretreatment is used for the separation of cellulose and hemicellulose fractions from lignin, aiming at optimal conversion of each stream. As lipids are far superior bio-crudes towards hydrocarbon fuels, this project we will develop and optimize three efficient methods to convert sugars to lipids (fungal fermentation, algae dark fermentation and lipid rich larva production), which will be further converted via advanced hydrotreatment (HDO/isomerization) to diesel range (C16-C18) alkanes. We will combine this with the utilization of furans (from pentose/hexose sugars) via condensation (C-C coupling) and hydrodeoxygenation routes to allow production of drop-in aviation fuels. And with utilization of lignin fast pyrolysis via selective fractionation, hydrodeoxygenation and alkylation towards aviation fuels (C8-C17) and/or bunker type fuels (>C18). Whole system analysis assess economic (TEA) and environmental (LCA) performance indicators and benchmark against conventional aviation and shipping fuels.

The food chain is a sector that is vulnerable particularly to being jeopardised both by accidental events of contamination and intentional threat attacks. Since these incidents in most cases have cross-border impacts, effective collaboration among a wide range of international stakeholders is required to prevent where possible, or otherwise cope with these challenges. Unfortunately, at the European level, efficient tools for the identification and analysis, response and communication, and appropriate mitigation of, in particular, foodborne chemical (C) and biological (B) threats are either limited, or completely absent. The vision of the REACTION project is to increase Europe’s resilience towards foodborne chemical and biological (CB) threats. While in the food safety and food security arena, a significant number of successful international projects and initiatives are already underway, we believe that the food defence sector urgently requires additional attention. Our overall goal is to strengthen Europe’s food defence capability to respond to intentional malicious attacks, through (a) the development of a data-driven monitoring tool for food defence, (b) the development a cost-efficient and streamlined CB threat identification pipeline, (c) the development of AI-supported food defence management tool, (d) the creation of a European-led International Food Defence Expert Forum, and (e) the design of an information awareness raising campaign for CB threats. REACTION is driven by an experienced consortium of 14 leading European Institutes, Universities (including SSH experts), national food safety and defence authorities, agri-food chain representatives, as well as technology providers, who will cooperate with an International Advisory Board of world-class actors from the food defence arena.

Maritime transport represents the centre of global trade with about 90% of the goods’ volumes and values worldwide. Nowadays, containerships are built with the same basic design principles as the older smaller container ships, without accounting for possible consequences that could impact safety. Cargo fires represents one of the most important threats of this kind of ships (also for ferries with container on the truck). On one hand, fire causes large losses of humans and/or cargoes, on the other hand fire is impacting coastal zone and marine protected areas. Currently, there are no requirements for the installation of fixed fire detection systems above the weather deck of a container ship. Innovative strategies for containership fires prevention and management (OVERHEAT) main goal is to prevent and manage, in case of occurrence fire accidents on board of containerships. OVERHEAT brings novel fire management solutions for Prevention, Early Detection and Response which are key aspects to assure safety of people and the protection of the environment. The development of a Digital Solution (DS) will provide the overall situational picture on board and surrounding the vessel. Furthermore, integration of IoT sensors (fixed and mobile) and UAS will provide the ad-hoc system for the prevention, early detection and rapid response of fire. Best practice and assessment of safety culture will be conducted to prevent fire and understand how people perceive safety. Hence, OVERHEAT prepares a truly new generation of digital fire management solutions: complete, seamless, real time and in line with IMO regulations (integrated in the vessel IT infrastructure). The impact of the proposed solution will be initially evaluated by performing validation activities in simulated environment and then executing demonstration activities in a real environment, with use cases that will be identified, described and detailed during the research activities, to prove the feasibility and benefits.