The food and drink industry is the EU's biggest manufacturing. However, this industry is one of the most water and energy intensive industries worldwide while the companies belong to that sector produce a lot of waste. Specifically, the food and beverage industry consumes 56% of the available water for industrial and urban use. Additionally, food processing embeds 28% of the total energy used for production, while the total direct energy consumed by the European food industry amounted to 28.4 Mt oil equivalent, while 30.6 Mt of food waste are produced in this industry. Although, huge steps have been made in increasing the water use efficiency through the use of modern technologies and methods, there is limited effort from the food and beverages industry to minimize freshwater use during the raw material processing. In addition, high water consumption in industrial areas lead to increased production costs due to the fact that the tariffs for public wastewater treatment can be very high in European cities as well as the industrial electricity prices can also be very high. Currently, solutions for wastewater treatment in industries include the use of clarification, membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, process water polishing, disinfection with water treatment chemicals and UV, and biological treatment technologies. However, the use of these technologies under a water-waste-energy nexus is very limited. AccelWater’s project main objective is to optimize freshwater water consumption in the food and beverage industry under a water-waste-energy nexus by introducing beyond state-of-the-art water reclaiming, reusing and Artificial Intelligence enabled monitoring and control technologies will permit the use of reclaimed water in the manufacturing processes of food and beverages and on the same time will allow waste and energy reclamation, optimization and management, and consequently will result to environmental and socioeconomic sustainability.

FEEDACTIV focuses on the development of innovative aquaculture feed based on natural bioactive compounds that boost the immune system of farmed fish. Various species of marine microalgae as well as seaweed and land based herbal plants are going to be used as enrichment of the fish feed and hopefully as partial fishmeal substitution with low cost ingredients. The use of natural compounds, polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3, ω-6 and ω-7), phenols, carotenoids and protein from marine and land based flora, aims to improve the breeding and quality of farmed species while drastically reducing the annual cost of the aquaculture companies by focusing on the processes that boost the immune system of the fish. The production of these functional products will cover the consumers’ demands for the consumption of foods with increased functionality and absence of any chemical additives giving them the following comparative advantage over the competition. The overarching objective of this project is to form an international and inter-sectoral network of organizations working on a joint research programme in the fields of aquaculture and feed formulation. Therefore, FEEDACTIV will bring together experts from industry and academia that specialize in interdisciplinary/inter-sectorial, yet highly complementally, research areas of Aquaculture, Animal Feed Production, Feed/Food safety, Process Analysis and Design of food products. It is a joint research and innovation project that will develop a strong partnership involving 8 partners from 3 European countries (Romania, Greece, and Italy) and with different technical backgrounds from the academic and non-academic sectors (SMEs). The execution of the project and the knowledge sharing will be based on secondments (exchanges) of research and innovation staff with an in-built return mechanism strengthening collaborative research among the different countries and sectors.

Maintaining a healthy diet requires sufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables. However, nowadays, the fast pace of modern lifestyle discourages individuals from reaching their optimal daily intake via consumption of fresh fruits/vegetables, ultimately creating an increasing demand for natural, nutritive, healthy and personalized ready-to-eat snacks. It is also an accepted actuality that there is a lack of healthy food snacks for personalized nutrition in the market. Hence, the development of such products, which can also be tailor-made to the needs of specific groups (young children, elderly, diabetic, sportive etc.), is a long-awaiting innovation. FRIETS project aims in training crossdisciplinary scientists from 5 European countries, in collaboration with international SMEs, for the development and marketization of personalized, nutritious and innovative, soft fruit smart snacks that contain no added sugar, sodium or chemical preservatives, as a palatable way to increase daily fruit consumption. FRIETS smart snacks will include novel processed berries (strawberry, raspberry and blackberry) with superior quality and nutritional characteristics, as well as extended shelf-life. Pre-harvest management practices will be optimized for cultivating high-quality berries. Low impact post-harvest technologies will be developed and optimised including (1) mild and energy efficient drying techniques (e.g. osmotic dehydration, freeze drying, microwave vacuum drying or their combination) using limited or no sugar or salt, and low temperatures, (2) composite or multi-layered edible coatings, based on micro- and macro-algae components, including encapsulated or non-encapsulated natural functional ingredients. Life Cycle Analysis and socio-techno-economic analysis will be implemented for the sustainable development of new products. FRIETS implementation will be based on staff secondments, strengthening collaborative research among different countries and sectors.

The current European plant-protein landscape is flawed. Heightened societal awareness of the environmental impact of consuming animal-based protein is driving the public’s awareness of alternative, sustainable sources of dietary protein. Yet, production systems are focussed heavily on the production of feedstock for direct transfer into animal sectors in an attempt to counter the EU’s over-dependency on imported feed. In essence, there is an absence of premium supply chains - farmers miss out on added-value opportunities that exist within the crops they already grow across Europe. There is a need to increase resilience in farming systems to mitigate against increasingly volatile climate patterns and to support farming systems to meet Farm-to-Fork strategic objectives. Built on the principles of co-creation, innovation and demonstration, VALPRO Path will design, validate and deliver sustainable and competitive plant protein crop systems and value chains. Focussed on underpinning economic value for all actors in the supply chain, it will exploit beyond state-of-the-art innovations, demonstrating and evaluating potential across 5 multi-stakeholder ‘living lab’ innovation production systems (IPSs). With strong industry involvement, the project will deliver a stronger ecosystem for plant protein production, supported with robust evidence of the social, economic, environmental, climate and health benefits. VALPRO Path will deliver new, sustainable business models, showing how focussed research can come into practice. Sustainable diversification of rotations with grain legumes will support the transition to more environmentally sustainable farming. European agriculture is at a juncture in regards to the sustainable provision of dietary protein. It can embrace opportunities presented through existing innovations that are integrated into real-life scenarios to support stakeholders realise the new market opportunities that exist for indigenous, fully traceable plant protein.

<< Background >>The society as a whole is undergoing a rapid digital transformation and all parties are being asked to be able to cope and succeed in this newly introduced digital era. This project answers the needs for digital upskilling and the needs for innovative learning and teaching practices in the sector of higher education. A thorough needs analysis was conducted for the project target groups -namely for art educators, art students and art institutions- on how they could thrive in a digital environment. Art educators need to be able to keep up with today’s digital transformation that affects all sectors of the economy, including creative and artistic jobs. Their personal digital competencies have to be elevated and their skills in creating innovative digital curricula needs to be cultivated. Art students need to be exposed to the concept of digital art and to the possibilities and outlets that this field can offer them in the future. The students represent the next generation of workforce and they have to be able to respond to change brought by digitization. The Art higher education institutions need to be able to offer innovative, trans-disciplinary and contemporary programmes to their students. All institutions have to be aligned and able to keep up with the broader societal needs and the needs of the labor market. By incorporating digital art courses in their curricula, art institutions can increase their visibility, reinforce their reputation, and attract talent and funding.<< Objectives >>The specific objectives that the project aspires to address are listed below:1.Develop and make available Educational and Knowledge Resources on integrating digital art elements into the teaching practices of Art Schools.2.Provide training opportunities for arts academics in innovative digital art elements and trans-disciplinary approaches to expand their capacity with curricula design, delivery and assessment at the intersection of arts & technology. 3.Provide opportunities for arts students to develop digital skills and competences.4.Promote the lifelong learning dimension of art schools by facilitating the uptake of digital art short-duration learning courses leading to micro-credentials.<< Implementation >>With regards to project results and in particular for developing Project Result 1: Training Module for art educators on Digital Arts, the following activities will be undertaken: A1. Needs assessment; A2. Establish learning objectives; A3. Structure definition; A4. Training Materials and A5. Evaluation. For developing Project Result 2: Pedagogical Framework (Curriculum) on Digital Arts for one core and one elective digital art course, the following activities will be undertaken: A1. Planning; A2. Research; A3. Content & Methods and A4. Materials & tools. For developing Project Result 3: Curriculum for a short-duration learning course on the basics of digital art leading to micro-credentials, the following activities will be undertaken: A1. Research & Planning; A2. Course design & Micro credentials and A3. Peer review & Evaluation.Also, other project activities will relate to project management in terms of progress and quality monitoring, project meetings, multiplier events, as well as, activities designed to serve dissemination, communication and exploitation purposes.<< Results >>The Project Results are listed below:R1. Training Module for art educators on Digital ArtsA Training Module addressed to teachers to provide them with knowledge, skills and approaches on digital art. The goal of the training is for the teachers to develop competences and understanding on how to integrate digital elements in their traditional analogue art curricula.R2. Pedagogical Framework (Curriculum) on Digital Arts for one core and one elective digital art courseA Pedagogical Framework (Curriculum) including pedagogical tools, methods and resource materials for teachers for the incorporation of digital art courses in higher school education art programmes. The framework will be designed so as to support teachers in the delivery of high-quality learning and teaching based on best practice research and relate it to the most effective way that students learn.