SSbD4ChEM brings together stakeholders from industry, government, academia, and civil society to develop and promote best practices for safe and sustainable product and process design, through demonstration in 3 case studies. SSbD4CheM aims to meet the EU's strategic objectives for digital, enabling, and emerging technologies, sectors, and value chains by developing a comprehensive Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework that uses new science-based approaches to identify and address potential hazards and risks, and innovative technologies to support the design of safer and more sustainable products and processes. SSbD4CheM objectives include: 1) SSbD framework to facilitate development of the next generation of chemicals and materials applicable to renewable composites in automotive value chain, PFAS-free coatings for textile and cellulose nanofibers as additive in cosmetics to replace plastic microbeads, 2) Development of efficient hazard screening tools for alternative assessment of next generation chemicals/materials/products combining in silico tools and multicriteria analysis, 3) Advanced explorative ex-ante LCA method supported by molecular and data-driven modelling to fill data gaps for (novel) materials and chemicals, 4) Integration of chemical/(nano-)material characterization methods to assess products’ environmental safety, quantify emissions to support occupational and consumer safety limits, 5) Development of alternative, in vitro models, as part of New Approach Methodologies for adequate exposure scenarios, 6) Harmonization and validation of analytical and toxicological methods for proposition to regulatory and standardization bodies to contribute to the development of new standards and facilitate market acceptance of SSbD4CheM project results, and 7) Enhance overall SSbD4CheM impact through stakeholder engagement, training, dissemination and exploitation and drive industrial innovation.

The vision of RECLAIM is to demonstrate technologies and strategies to support a new paradigm for refurbishment and re-manufacturing of large industrial equipment in factories, paving the way to a circular economy. Its ultimate goal is to save valuable resources by reusing equipment instead of discarding them. RECLAIM will support legacy industrial infrastructures with advanced technological solutions with built-in capabilities for in-situ repair, self-assessment and optimal re-use strategies. It will establish new concepts and strategies for repair and equipment upgrade and factory layouts’ redesign in order to gain economic benefits to the manufacturing sector. The technological core of RECLAIM is a novel Decision Support Framework that guides the optimal refurbishment and re-manufacturing of electromechanical machines and robotics systems. The framework uses IoT sensors, novel prediction, and process optimisation techniques to offer machine lifetime extension and thus increased productivity. Innovative fog computing and augmented reality techniques are combined with enhanced health monitoring and failure inspection and diagnosis methodologies that enhance the effective use of materials, improve maintenance capabilities and eventually, drastically increase the return of investments (ROI). RECLAIM re-use approach also fosters servicing and upgrading of legacy equipment. For that, European machinery industry will move from an equipment-based business to a value-added business, where equipment servicing and equipment knowledge are main business drivers. RECLAIM solution will be demonstrated in five real industrial environments to evaluate the lifecycle of the industrial equipment and show the feasibility of the approach for integration and scale-up to other industrial sectors. Having RECLAIM technology available, drastically increased efficiency, lifetime extension and high economic benefit will be achieved and a significant step towards 100% re-use will be made.

<< Objectives >>The project main goal is to prepare EU footwear sector to embrace the challenge of transition to sustainable, human-centric and resilient industry, transcending efficiency and productivity objectives, in line with the sectorial pact for skills (EU Pact for Skills), allying benefits for industry, workers and society. With the outcomes of the project, it is expected to ensure that workers will acquire the needed skills to support green and digital transition in footwear factories across Europe.<< Implementation >>The work programme roles out in 5 WP (including Management), including short training pilot actions outreach Events for a 36m implementation. During each WP implementation it is expected to create relevant results in a combined and comprehensive manner, which will be used within project duration but also after the project lifetime to support the upskill and reskill of workers and managers towards a smoother implementation of I5.0. All partners will be involved in all the WP implementation.<< Results >>The project proposes to develop a multilevel tailor-made upskilling and reskilling scheme and correspondent innovative contents and tools, to implement the presuppositions of Industry 5.0 towards a green and digital transition, making footwear factories a place where creative and talented people can come and work and live a human, multicultural and personalized experience. With this project we will contribute to reshape and bring new competencies to European managers and workers.

Urban areas are seeing an increasing population of older people and existing approaches to care for them are becoming unsustainable creating a European wide societal challenge. Assistive technology can provide them with security that will enable them to live independently e.g. wearing alarms and tracking devices around the arm or neck to alert carers to falls or their location if they wander. However such technology is often unsightly and stigmatises the user resulting in high abandonment rates. The MATUROLIFE project will integrate creative artists and fashion designers into the research team to facilitate design-driven innovation. The project will build on existing technological advances in materials which have produced a highly innovative selective metallisation process that utilises nanotechnology, electrochemistry and materials science to encapsulate fibres in textiles with metal and thereby provide conductivity and electronic connectivity. In this way, better integration of electronics and sensors into fabrics and textiles will be possible. This will give the fashion designers and artists the tools to produce AT for older people that is not only functional but is more desirable and appealing as well as being lighter and more comfortable. Building on exiting best practice the consortium will include societal stakeholder groups representing end users (i.e. older people) who will be heavily involved in the design process as well as giving feedback and direction on the development of AT prototypes contributing significantly to end-user acceptance. The prototypes will demonstrate proof of concept and the industrial scalability of the selective metallisation process will be validated. Thus, the project will end at TRL7. The Assistive Technology produced as a result of the project will benefit all the SMEs in the consortium but particularly those in the creative sector who expect to see sustainable growth and an increase in jobs as a direct result of the project.