Contributing to reach the European Green Deal objectives and the Europe 2050’s goals, the SEANERGY Project aims to provide a solution for exploiting the untapped potential of EU-ports energy’s system by implementing the SEANERGY Master Plan which assesses stakeholders to execute the necessary activities towards transforming ports, regardless of their geographical context, into active members of the clean energy and fuel generation grid of EEZ. Activities such as training, reskilling, awareness spreading and communication channels creation, will set the basis of the green port transitioning, creating spaces of dialogue and teaching among all agents of the industry (private and public), which will, in turn, boost the development and integration of these technologies, along with prepared professionals that will be able to manage and implement them promptly, securely and efficiently. The SEANERGY project will be developed in 3 stages: (1) understanding of actors and port E&F systems and identifying limitations; (2) developing the Master Plan and Handbook, which will serve as a training manual for stakeholders, as well as implementing the Industry-Academy programme to train future professionals in clean energy technologies and fuels and how to apply the knowledge in ports; (3) expanding the scope of the Master Plan beyond Europe.

Bioeconomy and Circular Economy Fair Network (BioFairNet) is designed to support hotspots and specific value chains heavily reliant on greenhouse gas (GHG)-intensive industries into leaders of a sustainable bio-circular economy via a digital cooperative network. The network, understood as a digital platform and stakeholder engagement, maps, informs, transfers knowledge, and provides an exchange of communication among stakeholders to support their ecological transition. The following is achieved through instances of co-creation, testing, and validation the final product is constructed with those majorly involved aiming to close the gap on this topic between experts, public administration, businesses, and other stakeholders. The project is a deep dive into two sectors- agriculture and mining, and using a co-creation process, describes the current practice - envisions in both practical, social and economic terms what these sectors will look like post-transition and then maps a pathway to get there. The insights and tools required to support this pathway will be translated into a web-based transition tool that is both developed and implemented with end-users. In fact, the final product (network, identified as BioFairNet) that this project aims to build wants to be an item created with the stakeholders themselves.

The Farm to Fork Strategy of the European Green Deal has acknowledged the potential of algae to become an important source of alternative low-carbon footprint protein and contribute to improve the sustainability and competitiveness of the aquaculture sector. Nonetheless, the European algae industry is still at an early phase lagging behind the overall increase seen at a global level, mostly driven by Asia. Within this context, INNOAQUA aims to pave the path towards the upcoming sustainable and diversified EU in-land aquaculture industry by leaning on the demonstration and mainstreaming of innovative algae-based foods and solutions, and ecology, circularity and digitalization concepts. To this end, the project will address main barriers hindering the growth of the sector, starting with the demonstration at a pre-commercial level (TRL6-7) of the operational, technical, and socio-economic robustness of digitally enhanced integrated fish and algae RAS-IMTA cultivation systems, continued by the piloting of optimised processing techniques following biorefinery principles and the formulation of high added value seafood products. All this, accompanied by a dedicated waste minimisation and valorisation strategy to help optimizing and increasing its economic and sustainability performance. Moreover, INNOAQUA will also work on understanding how consumer perceptions and social norms influence the consumption of innovative seafood products by co-creating the products together with end-users and simulating their uptake in digital models of communities to identify effective market deployment and penetration strategies. Lastly, INNOAQUA will be enhanced by the adoption of a multi-level outreaching strategy which will the development of robust dissemination, communication and exploitation plans, materials for skills development and activities to foster international cooperation, aimed at fostering knowledge transfer and ultimately helping maximize the project’s scope and impact.

UPCYCLE aims to demonstrate novel circular value chains that transform currently non-recyclable mixed plastic waste into biodegradable and recyclable materials for packaging applications. Building on the promising results of the H2020 UPLIFT project, UPCYCLE addresses specific scalability hotspots to reach economic viability. The project scales up its novel plastic biorefinery and ecopolymers with a strategy that leverages: (1) A Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design framework to ensure safety (i.e., non-toxic materials), a reduction in GHG emissions (-30%), and economic viability (<40% selling price); (2) AI-powered fast-track innovation for process intensification; (3) A versatile biorefinery process to valorise mixed plastic waste (both fossil- and bio-based) and secondary biomass residues; (4) A smart polymerisation and formulation strategy using bio-based, degradable additives to tune biodegradability and enhance technical performance for four selected packaging use cases. Leveraging a multidisciplinary consortium of top-tier academic institutions and industry leaders, UPCYCLE is poised to create significant impact in the packaging industry. UPCYCLE’s ecopolymers, derived from plastic and biomass waste streams, promote a viable circular business model for European recyclers, polymer processors, compounders, and packaging producers. Moreover, our strategy demonstrates how renewable and upcycled building blocks and additives can be blended into commercially available polymers to delivers novel PHA-, PLA- and Furan-based packaging formulations, to successfully modulate degradability and technical performance, based on the application. By providing the tools to improve properties and economic viability of polymers systems that are already in the market, we provide a fast-track pathway towards impact.