The overall goal of MEESO is to quantify the spatio-temporal distributions of biomass, production and ecosystem role of mesopelagic resources and to assess options to sustainably manage and govern their exploitation. To reach this goal, MEESO will create new knowledge and data on the mesopelagic community, its biodiversity, drivers of its biomass, its role in carbon sequestration, its role in the oceanic ecosystem and its interactions with the epipelagic community which includes several important commercial fish stocks. Besides applying state of the art experimental and quantitative methods, MEESO will develop and implement new acoustic and trawling technologies necessary for the knowledge and data generation in relation to this largely unknown and remote part of marine ecosystems. MEESO includes a significant amount of in-kind financing for technology development and scientific surveys. MEESO will apply the new knowledge and data to determine the potential of the mesopelagic biomass to be sustainably exploited for products included in the human food chain. For the first time combining leading experts in science, engineering, fisheries and governance, MEESO will develop commercial fishing and processing technologies and mapping of contaminant and nutrient contents to explore the basis for a viable fishery and creation of jobs. Mesopelagic organisms represent one of the largest unexploited resource left in the world's oceans, with a recent biomass estimate at 10 billion metric tons. The new tools and technologies, as well as assessment and management roadmaps, developed in MEESO will establish the trade-offs between exploitation, sustainability and viability of the resource, and identify options for its governance.

The AQUABIOPRO-FIT main objective is to promote efficient utilisation of European aquaculture, fisheries and agriculture side streams in feeds and nutritional supplement products promoting fitness and health. To this end, we will develop side stream biomass processing technologies to up-concentrate nutrients and bioactives maintaining product quality and minimising waste. The safety, bioactivity and acceptance of the developed ingredients and products will be documented through cell, animal, taste panel and intervention studies with humans, namely athletes and patient groups. Technical, marketing, economic and environmental studies will complement the documentation portfolio of the AQUABIOPRO-FIT concepts and products. The developed knowledge and principles will be further systematised in net-based training modules, which will follow the intellectual property rights of the developed methods and products. Information material will be created for educating the public and raise awareness of the importance of circular economy and promote acceptance for side stream bio-based products in end markets.

SUSHEAT develops and validates, up to TRL 5, 3 novel enabling technologies: high-temperature heat pump (HT-HP), Phase Change Material (PCM) bio-inspired Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system, and Control & Integration Twin (CIT) system; for heat upgrade in top-level labs. It will attain an efficient heat upgrade up to 150-250 °C thanks to the use the innovative Stirling-based HT-HP, working with hellium and enlarging the industrial exploitability of heat upgrade systems, reaching a COP up to 2.8 for temperature ratios of 1.2. The integration of innovative TES will ensure a reliable, flexible, and customizable heat delivery with full decoupling from any waste heat recovery and renewables availability. Moreover, its CIT will provide user-friendly tools and a digital twin for the control system and advising industrial stakeholders, based on smart decision-making algorithms. SUSHEAT will bring an effective self-assessment of the most suited heat upgrade system integration including not only its key enabling components but, beyond, also leveraging on off-the-self RES-based units, particularly solar thermal collectors even enlarging the feasibility of Concentrating Solar Power systems that can extend its operation working at low temperature. Two case-studies are replicated for validation at TRL5, and 4 additional cases are analysed in-depth to cover other sectors as Pulp & Paper, Beverages, Petrochemical, Textile & leather and basic metals. By developing industry-focused self-assessment tools, and directly engaging different industrial stakeholders, SUSHEAT will contribute to identify the target industrial processes and sites which would benefit from the concept, rising awareness of various heat upgrade benefits within the industry and providing solutions to maximize the industrial efficiency while contributing to the sector’s decarbonization, reducing the GHG emissions up to 145 gCO2/kWh (excluding solar contribution and based on EU 2020 intensity and the use NG).