European innovation performance continues to increase, yet inequalities, particularly in access to investment, are still noteworthy. There is a need to close the performance gaps, which are still visible between Strong Innovators (North and West EU) and Moderate and Emerging Innovators (South and East EU mostly). A major asset to successful and sustainable business growth relies upon awareness and strong communication between innovative sectors and investors on available resources, their access and interventions by public/private funders. Improving networking between innovation ecosystems is key to the success of growing businesses and driving continued economic development. HER FUND’s ambition is to foster knowledge-sharing and synergies between innovation actors, existing initiatives/projects in order to support the next generation of startups, with an emphasis on women-led companies and gender-conscious investors. These interactions will notably lead to best practices’ identification, capacity-building activities and guidelines. Strengthening and broadening an interregional collaboration hub will promote a more competitive EU and a more sustainable, inclusive, diverse and resilient world. This will be done in a community-driven, cross-functional, cross-sectoral, multiplier based way, with partners bringing together communities of experts from different deep-tech sectors from around Europe and beyond. HER FUND will 1) transform less connected territories into recognized and attractive innovation valleys that pool and reward investments, 2) create bridges between EU innovation ecosystems increasing access to capital and investment in less connected innovation ecosystems and allowing local start-ups benefiting from foreign investments, 3) raise the number of gender conscious investors in Europe for support to women-led companies, 4) boost women entrepreneurship, especially in Moderate and Emerging Innovators offering them access to more funding opportunities

In line with the call H2020- LCE-03-2014, ORC-PLUS focuses on increasing the technological performance of renewable energy systems, reducing costs and improving dispatchability. The aim is to develop an optimized combination of innovative Thermal Energy Storage-TES (specialized for CSP scale 1-5 MWe) and engineering solutions to improve the number of production hours of an existing small CSP plant, located in a desert area and coupled with an ORC system. With an optimized TES solution, it is possible to extend periods of energy production of a CSP plant (also during non-solar radiation), eliminating or minimizing the need to burn fossil or renewable fuels in hybrid or back-up systems. Nowadays, efforts are being devoted to R&D on TES for large-scale plants, though large potential for small/medium-scale CSP installations exists. ORC-PLUS is in the spectrum of “large scale prototype to pre-commercial scale demonstration”. The technology proposed is based on a solar field, using a thermal oil as Heat Transfer Fluid and ORC power unit coupled with an innovative TES. Experimental demonstration of two different industrial prototypes of TES systems will be performed in relevant environment (TRL 6). For each prototype, a simulation model of the pilot processes will be developed, with prototypes of TES systems. The models will be optimized on the basis of the characteristics of the site and power load, to determine conditions and relevant parameters of the real scenarios for each application and to select the TES technology best fitting the needs of the targeted sector. Final result will be an industrial pilot plant used to validate the technology in a real operational environment and to demonstrate its feasibility (TLR7). Validation includes an analysis of the techno-economic viability and environmental impact, and of the replicability of the pilot plant final design. This proposal is supported by three support letters of ESTELA, ANEST and Green Energy Park (Morocco).

DINOSAR aims to develop Copernicus based algorithms to support smart farming applications that can be used worldwide, clouds, or no clouds. At the moment, most EO based crop monitoring tools are based on optical satellite inputs. In areas with substantial cloud cover the use of these applications is extremely limited. To be able to introduce more sustainable crop management practices, reliable and continuous time series on crop phenology and health throughout the growing season are needed. This will support farmers to match agricultural inputs (fertilisers, pesticides, water) with what the crop actually needs, decreasing their environmental footprint. DINOSAR will do this by integrating the diagnostic power of optical, infrared and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signals. With the DINOSAR project we intend to kickstart a revolution in EO-based solutions that tackle challenges in agriculture (under clouds) by making full use of the Copernicus infrastructure. We intend to take the existing methodology a step further by designing a multi-sensor operational monitoring method for a single crop (sugarcane) capable of operating on large data volumes, and then extrapolating this approach to practical field cases and to other crops (and geographies) for which the application of EO-based applications has been underexplored. Rather than looking at optical and SAR based data as two parallel signals, we will focus on integrating the two early on in the processing chain. This has not been done before. Sugarcane in Colombia is our initial test-case, but we will not stop there. DINOSAR will also develop a methodology integrating the combined observations from optical, infrared and SAR EO satellites to monitor other crops in other geographies.

Waste in humanitarian Operations: Reduction and Minimisation (WORM)'s overall objective is designing guidelines and support actions for circular economy in the humanitarian sector. WORM focuses on two selected settings: field hospital deployments, and humanitarian livelihood programmes with a waste picking component. Across these settings, the project focuses on several cross-cutting focus areas: • the integration of bio-based technological innovation solutions in the humanitarian context, • using procurement as a gatekeeper for waste avoidance, and gateway to integrate innovative solutions, • improvements in waste management, and the use of less polluting waste treatment methods, • a specific focus on the sustainable livelihoods of waste pickers, and • policy development, advocacy and a heightened local awareness of improved waste management in the relevant local contexts. Following a multi-actor approach, WORM brings together medical humanitarian organisations and humanitarian organisations with livelihood programmes with innovation and supplier clusters, procurement service providers, logistics service providers, waste management service providers and academic partners. WORM seeks to involve a myriad of different stakeholders in data collection and policy development, including but not limited to, humanitarian actors positioned in the field during an operation, local waste management companies, start-ups focusing on bio-based solutions, policymakers (both local and global), and research institutions. WORM includes partners from low- and middle-income countries (esp. Kenya, Viet Nam) since humanitarian operations are often implemented in these contexts. WORM will focus on these contexts in their local awareness campaigns for improved waste management.

The intensification of extreme weather events, coastal erosion and sea-level rise are major challenges to be urgently addressed by European coastal cities. The science behind these disruptive phenomena is complex, and advancing climate resilience requires progress in data acquisition, forecasting, and understanding of the potential risks and impacts for real-scenario interventions. The Ecosystem-Based Approach (EBA) supported by smart technologies has potential to increase climate resilience of European coastal cities; however, it is not yet adequately understood and coordinated at European level. SCORE outlines a co-creation strategy, developed via a network of 10 coastal city ‘living labs’ (CCLLs), to rapidly, equitably and sustainably enhance coastal city climate resilience through EBAs and sophisticated digital technologies. SCORE will establish an integrated coastal zone management framework for strengthening EBA and smart coastal city policies, creating European leadership in coastal city climate change adaptation in line with The Paris Agreement. The Coastal City Living Lab (CCLL) is a new concept that expands the Living Lab approach to coastal cities and settlements. CCLLs will be set up to address specific climate challenges, and their effectiveness will be assessed by different stakeholders through innovative monitoring systems and cutting-edge modelling approaches. SCORE will develop CCLLs in a network of 10 cities which learn from each other in different frontrunner and follower roles. SCORE will involve citizen science in providing prototype coastal city early-warning systems and will enable smart, instant monitoring and control of climate resilience in European coastal cities through open, accessible spatial ‘digital twin’ tools. SCORE will provide innovative platforms to empower stakeholders’ deployment of EBAs to increase climate resilience, business opportunities and financial sustainability of coastal cities.