Depopulation, mostly characterized by emigration of young people, is occurring in rural areas all over Europe. This has brought to an ageing phenomenon, as well as the emergence of several structural problems such as fewer job opportunities, degradation of infrastructures and a decreasing offer of services of general interest. However, the revolution in digitalisation with an increase of remote and location-free work opportunities is offering the chance to redirect some rural migration flows back. Interventions are thus needed to take up this opportunity and build on trends such as multi-local living to promote new greener, smaller, sustainable and innovative growth models. It is there where SMART ERA intervenes. The project will foster resilience in rural areas, by upgrading and co-designing, co-developing and co-validating with local communities a set of smart solutions, integrated within Smart Innovation Packages (SIPs) able to tackle pressing socio-economic and environmental challenges and promote a community-led transition pathway that will empower rural people to act for change. SMART ERA’s main ambitions are: a) building the first large-scale European-wide solution for systematic rural data screening and smartness analysis; b) using co-design methods and techniques to involve residents and stakeholders in the design and validation of SIPs, as well as in the collection of old and creation of new data sources; c) proposing a unified Smartness/Digital Maturity assessment method; d) providing unique and timely evidence-based and performance-focused recommendations to upgrade the new local, national and European policy instruments and enhance their efficiency and efficacy in supporting smart villages across the EU; e) fostering cooperation among pilot regions, as well as among the four EU macro-regional strategies and improve their rural communities’ ability to address socio-economic and environmental challenges.

The mobility ecosystem is rapidly evolving, whereby we see the rise of new stakeholders and services. Examples of these are the presence of connected and automated vehicles, a large group of organisations that rally to establish various forms of share mobility, with the pinnacle being all of these incorporated into a large Maas ecosystem. As these new forms of mobility offerings start to appear within cities, so do the new ways in which data are being generated, collected, and stored. Analysing this (Big) data with suitable (artificial intelligence) techniques becomes more paramount, as it leads to insights in the performance of certain mobility solutions, and is able to highlight (mobility) needs of citizens in a broader context, in addition to a rise in new risks and various socio-economic impacts. Successfully integrating all these disruptive technologies and solutions with the designs of policy makers remains a challenge at current. let alone being able to analyse, monitor and, assess mobility solutions and their potential socio-economic impacts. nuMIDAS bridges this (knowledge) gap, by providing insights into what methodological tools, databases, and models are required, and how existing ones need to be adapted or augmented with new data. To this end, it starts from insights obtained through (market) research and stakeholders, as well as quantitative modelling. A wider applicability of the project’s results across the whole EU is guaranteed as all the research is validated within a selection of case studies in pilot cities, with varying characteristics, thereby giving more credibility to these results. Finally, through an iterative approach, nuMIDAS creates a tangible and readily available toolkit that can be deployed elsewhere, including a set of transferability guidelines, thus thereby contributing to the further adoption and exploitation of the project’s results.

The project aims to raise excellence in science and value creation through deeper and geographically inclusive cooperation in alliance of higher education and research institutions in 5 widening and 4 science-leading European countries, to support the shift towards a regenerative economy paradigm. Global competitiveness and visibility of the HE institutions in widening countries are to be improved by creating critical knowledge and research mass through cooperation with leading European research institutions in the area of the regenerative economy directly aimed towards the twin green and digital transitions. This is to be achieved through clearly defined and measurable sub-goals: -To achieve a more balanced circulation of talents leading to a diverse and inclusive research community and innovative research outcomes, by organising exchanges, short visits and conferences participations; -To reinforce the role of HE institutions in innovative ecosystems, by bringing additional expertise and resources by European leading research-intensive institutions to support the development of innovative ideas; -To mainstream practices and tools for open knowledge and data sharing; -To make progress toward reforming the research assessment system, including career assessment; -To improve links between science and business by providing access to networks, resources and expertise to support the development of business partnerships and collaborations; -To promote gender equality, diversity and inclusiveness; -To accelerate society’s green and digital transition to support ERA Policy Agenda action 11; -To encourage collaboration with third-country entities to support ERA Policy Agenda action 9. The project contributes to the aims of empowering universities as actors of change in R&I by promoting cross-sectoral collaboration between universities and other actors in the R&I ecosystem, improving their knowledge valorisation capabilities and contributing to raising excellence in science.

The project aims to strengthen significantly the research capacity and scientific excellence at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ni (FEUN) by enhancing networking activities with Poliedra - Polytechnic University of Milan (POLIEDRA) and Oslo Metropolitan University (OSLOMET) in the field of smart and resilient urban and regional development using state-of-the-art data analytics and optimization tools in a data-rich environment. This is to be achieved through the following objectives: - Enhancing the scientific capacity of FEUN by establishing a Laboratory of Land Economy and Urban Analytics (LEUA) at FEUN where the researchers from POLIEDRA and OSLOMET will perform training activities, transfer knowledge and best practices, conduct workshops and seminars aimed to include early-stage researchers and FEUN staff; - Raising the research profile of FEUN staff through strengthening research experience and collaborative research and joint papers with researchers from leading European universities - Creating a long-term scientific strategy of FEUN for stepping up and stimulating scientific excellence in the field of smart and resilient urban development analysis using contemporary quantitative tools of data analytics - Enhancing career prospects for early-stage researchers, through short-term exchanges, workshops, seminars and summer schools, with renowned researchers in the field -Strengthening administrative and project management skills of staff at FEUN, by establishing Project Management unit to deal exclusively with the preparation of project proposals, administration and financial management of projects. The project addresses the specific challenge of enhancing networking activities between a research institution from the widening country and two internationally leading European counterparts. By strengthening the research management and administrative skills of the coordination institution from the WB country, the project will help raise its research profile.