In 2014 422 million adults in the world suffered from diabetes, and the increasingly sedentary ways of life will contribute to the “growth” of this disease. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are one of the most common complications of diabetes, accounting for most of diabetic patients’ hospitalization, and being the direct cause for 50% of all non-traumatic amputations. This also implies substantial healthcare costs: compared with “healthy” diabetic patients, the cost of care for patients with a foot ulcer is 5.4 times higher, and across the EU, ulcer complications’ care adds 7- 10 € billion to direct yearly costs. Early diagnosis can have a significant impact on decreasing the impact of DFUs. However, this is not a simple task, as current methods for the diagnosis of DFUs rely only on foot inspection by doctors and decades-old microbiological techniques. Therefore, there is an urgent need for technologies that enable early diagnosis of DFUs so as to minimise their consequences. FeetWell™ is the response to this need: a user-friendly device based on the merging of different monitoring technologies (IR Thermography, Ultrasonography and Dermatoscopy) to facilitate early detection of microvascular and macrovascular foot complications. Moreover, as it is a simple to use device, it will empower patients, making them less reliant on doctor visits and increasing their engagement into their self-care. Feetwell is a strategic project for our company, Metis Baltic, as it will enable us to bridge the gap between previous R&D projects and launch ourselves into the medical diagnostic tools’ market as the developers of the 1st automated diabetic foot inspection device on the market, by 2020 reaching revenues of €16.5 million by 2022, with a ROI of 2.2, and multiplying by 10 our staff. But Feetwell will not only benefit our company, but it will also contribute to reducing the impact of DFUs on EU healthcare systems.

MEDVIEW builds on the growing recognition that achieving good health in a community requires much more than medical and technical solutions available only in selected places and circumstances. Citizens’ health priorities stem from their everyday experiences and needs and differ from professionals’ priorities. There is a growing demand for a more "human-centric" approach to tackle the complexity of achieving overall human well-being. It is widely accepted that involving citizens in the design of products, services, and policies that impact their health, lives, and communities is thought to improve their overall quality and effectiveness. Citizens’ voices can act as a mechanism for change ensuring that the created solutions are more integrated around communities’ needs instead of centered on organisations’ traditional remits. MEDVIEW aims to create an enabling environment for innovation, collaboration, and effective co-creation between industry partners, citizens (patients, community members), health practitioners, doctors, researchers, academia, and policymakers to address the complex issue of human health & well-being. To succeed so, we have carefully selected partners from three WIDENING countries [LT, GR, SLO] and two of non WIDENING countries [LUX, BE] addressing the following selection criteria: - Wide geographical reach, representing a rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and healthcare/wellbeing systems - Specialized expertise and a solid track record of all partners in coordination and support activities both at the national as well as in an international level - Representation of all target groups as defined by the Call The project will ultimately deliver the MEDVIEW Knowledge Valorisation Implementation Guide, a complete practical guide, and the relevant tools comprised of methods, practices, and procedures for the deployment of an open innovation space for effective knowledge valorisation in the field of well-being.

According to the European Commission, around six million young people drop out of school each year – about 14% of all pupils. (http://ec.europa.eu/news/culture/110202_en.htm). Education has a leading role to play for the needs of future society. Many OECD studies such as The Social Outcomes of Learning in 2010, have shown that Education has a crucial impact on improving social progress and well-being, mainly through the development of competencies and skills. There is a need to rethink Education for a modern society and the requirements for the future professionals, in order to be capable to respond to the social-economical demanding’s of the 21st century. STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects are one of Europe’s major education domains. Improving the attractiveness of research careers and other related careers to young people is an important contribution to generate a more skilled workforce capable of facing new technological changes in Europe. The “CREATEskills” project was designed to develop and implement innovative practices, tools and methodologies in primary schools for the establishment of STEM studio classrooms, improving the quality and relevance of the learning process in primary education, more specifically regarding the attractiveness of STEM subjects. Through hands-on activities and based on the logic of the social learning theory, “CREATEskills” contributes effectively to the development of the 21st-century skills among students. The project started with a Research study “Socially Learning STEM in Primary Education - guidelines towards a common framework” in order to develop, test and implement an innovative methodology for STEM Education in primary schools including a Toolkit with STEM teaching materials for primary school teachers and a Teacher’s Guide. For the engagement of a wider community, parents and other communities, a web animated platform was created with a “virtual teacher’s room”, establishing a network among European teachers, a virtual library and home activities and DIY projects for children and family available in all partner languages. The direct target groups were primary school students (6-12 years of age), teachers and parents. We also reached out a wider community, namely science-related Researchers and Organizations, establishing a bridge between schools and work environments. In more details, the project reached 749 primary school students that participated in the pilot phase, 30 primary school teachers and at least 249 parents have used the web platform. All together they have also contributed to the development of primary school STEM strategies for wider uptake of inquiry-based and other innovative approaches to STEM Education.Through these activities, the project addressed the needs that have been identified in the current EU school context, namely: - To promote inter-disciplinary pedagogical approaches, through the collaborative development and implementation of a STEM-related methodology for primary students. Increase primary teacher’s involvement in experimental education by testing and using the Toolkit and engaging in several activities of the project. - To promote critical thinking and 21st-century skills at an early childhood education. - To improve the motivation of European students to scientific culture and professions, as a result of the participation in exciting activities with a strong scientific and pedagogical component and contacting professionals that use this knowledge in their day-to-day work. - To contribute to minimize early school dropout, as a result of the increased motivation for classes and a wider perspective of possible career options, including those connected to scientific fields, with special note to foster gender mainstreaming.In the end, the project's achievements exceed the initial expectations.

VOCORDER develops innovative components based on disruptive technologies that aims to render breath analysis testing a holistic, highly efficient health monitoring apparatus that can be seamlessly integrated into everyday life. The project capitalizes on recent developments on mid-infrared lasers and moves the technology well beyond the state-of-the-art to demonstrate at TRL5 a highly efficient multiple species (gases) breath analysers that can with a 5 sec use of the device, and the use of artificial intelligence-based signal processing, can conclude on the health status of the individual, just like the fictional Star Trek Tricorder. To record and analyze the maximum amount of information on the individual health status completely unobtrusively, exhaled breath is among the most convenient body fluids as can be obtained at large quantities, practically without any causing discomfort to the user, with strong potentially to seamlessly integrate into everyday life. Exhaled breath contains more than 1000 substances which can serve as efficient biomarkers, the measurement of concentration of which can provide a clear provision of the health status of the individual while the diagnosis of some diseases or pathological process in human body can be obtained early. For a truly seamlessly integration in a plethora of settings, VOCORDER examines the ways to render the final instrument compact and potentially inexpensive.