Climate warming is driven by increased concentrations of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) e.g., CO2 and CH4, in the atmosphere. Existing observatories are able to capture GHG information for large-scale global assessments, but short-term natural variability and climate-driven changes in atmospheric CO2 and CH4 remain less known. There is also currently a lack of sufficiently precise, autonomous, and cost-efficient GHG sensors for GHG monitoring at sufficient spatial scale, and in hard-to-reach areas. MISO will develop and demonstrate an autonomous in-situ observation platform for use in hard to reach areas (Arctic, wetlands), for detecting and quantifying carbon dioxide and methane gasses, using a combination of stationary and mobile (drone) solutions and requiring minimum on-site intervention when deployed. To achieve this objective, MISO will improve detection limit and accuracy of a NDIR GHG sensor, which will then be used in three observing platforms (a static tower, a static chamber and a UAV-mounted sensor) operated with the help of a central base unit. All elements will be designed for operation in harsh environments and with minimum human intervention. The static observatories will be powered by a unique geothermal device. Communication between the three observatories and a data cloud will use a combination of P2P, G4/G5/LTE, LORAWAN and wifi technologies. The specifications of the platform will be co-developed with stakeholders from academia, monitoring and measurement systems, industry and policy. A clear DCE strategy and focus on short-term impact management and medium and long-term commercialization will target several user groups including industries and representatives of main monitoring systems and infrastructures (e.g., ICOS). This will support innovative governance models and science-based policy design, implementation and monitoring. Sustainability performance and competitiveness in the domains covered by HE Cluster 6 will be enhanced.

Graphene and 2D materials (2DM) have proven superior optoelectronic properties and performance in a plethora of applications with respect to conventional materials. Despite that, specific integration and processing challenges are impeding the industrial uptake of 2DM. In particular, the wafer-scale integration of high-quality and defect free 2DM layers, without disrupting the process-line Si foundries, has not been demonstrated. Next-2Digits will introduce the direct wafer-scale integration of 2DM in PICs using two additive technologies: i) semi dry transfer of Graphene layers for full wafer scale integration and direct die processing and ii) Laser Digital Transfer of pristine 2DM pixels directly on the stack without the need for post-processing. This will enable defect-free interfaces offering high carrier mobility and large bandwidth, paving the way for the next generation of on-chip Photodetectors (PDs) and Modulators which will be validated at TRL5 in three use cases: 1. A miniaturized LiDAR with integrated graphene PD offering high resolution (100nm), high resolution and responsivity >0.5A/W validated in a biomedical OCT imaging system. The project will foster the incorporation of 2DM in PICs and MEMS foundries, enabling future industrial uptake and significantly shorter time-to-market for 2DM-based devices. Companies will be able to offer PIC-based components with (up to 6x times) lower power consumption, lower size (in orders of magnitude) and more than 50% reduced cost. Widespread adoption of such devices will lead to almost €25M of yearly revenues associated with at least 80 new jobs by 2030 for the partners, as well as environmental and social impacts.

Air pollution poses a great environmental risk to health, accounting for nearly half a million premature deaths each year in Europe. Biogas production is an enabling technology to achieve net-zero emissions, while accelerating the energy diversification in Europe. Both, air quality control and biogas production demand critical improvements in sensor technology. SYMPHONY will develop a new technology enabling the implementation of dense networks of cloud-connected, low-cost, portable and easy-to-use sensors, capable of multi-target detection for applications in air quality control, pollution monitoring, industrial process control and safety. SYMPHONY will address this challenge by making key developments in silicon photonics, neuromorphic circuits, artificial intelligence, integration, and packaging, while exploiting state-of-the-art silicon microelectronics for ultra-low power edge computing with artificial intelligence, and the connected sensor network for spatially-resolved analysis and prediction. The main focus of SYMPHONY smart sensors are gases related to the biogas production and gases that have been identified by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) as highly pollutant and contributing to the greenhouse effect, such as CO2, CH4 and NO2. SYMPHONY smart sensors will be validated in three different relevant scenarios: city pollution monitoring in Cyprus, process control and leakage detection in biogas micro-plants in multiple locations in Europe. With this ambition in mind, SYMPHONY has gathered a transversal consortium, comprising three academic institutions, two research institutes, four companies and two end-users, coming from seven different countries in Europe. The consortium covers the full value chain, including silicon photonics, neuromorphic circuits, silicon microelectronics, integration, packaging, artificial intelligence, gas sensing, the internet of things, biogas production and air pollution monitoring.

Transformative adaptation is gaining recognition as the appropriate response to climate change as the current adaptive measures reach their limits. In addressing health risks associated with heat waves, air pollution, wildfire emission and pollen, the implementation of comprehensive transformative adaptation remains largely unreported in Europe. healthRiskADAPT’s objective is to develop and implement a health risk assessment system for Mediterranean, Alpine and Continental regions. Its contents and tools will be in line with Climate-ADAPT described Urban adaptation support tool. This will support empowerment of local and regional authorities to make informed decisions in strategic planning, management and daily operational mitigation of health challenges related to climate change. healthRiskADAPT will address the fundamental causes of vulnerability and implement concrete adaptation measures aiming to mitigate the health impacts of climate change. The key details of this approach include: 1) Co-creation with users of integrated transformative adaptation options encompassing technical, nature based, and social solutions, reducing the impact of climate-related risks on human health in both indoor and outdoor environments. 2) Vulnerability assessments, health indicators, and risk indices related to climate change impact on health, considering different temporal and spatial scales. 3) Interactive and user-friendly toolkit for local & regional authorities to assess hazards, vulnerability, and risks specific to their regions. These toolkits will facilitate the prioritization, planning, and evaluation of adaptation options. healthRiskADAPT will use various communication techniques to actively engage with all stakeholders involved in the adaptation process, and develop an upscaling strategy to meet the ambitions of the Climate mission. Furthermore, we seek to enhance the preparedness of the healthcare system to respond effectively to the challenges posed by the effects of climate change.

The Chips JU project E2PackMan contributes to strengthen innovation and packaging production in Europe to improve the ecosystem for leading edge / advanced electronics. Integration of more functionality in smaller volume is still the major driver in microelectronics. In order to facilitate further miniaturization, assembly and packaging (A&P) is becoming of increasing importance for the value chain of a microelectronic product. To secure the future of electronic products "Made in Europe", we need a big push to strengthen innovation and production in the A&P sector. Thus E2PackMan will push materials research as well as innovative equipment and process developments. The focus of this research will be on catalyzing industrial production capabilities in Europe, both strengthening the production capabilities of the large semiconductor suppliers in Europe and creating a network that enables SMEs to produce their innovative devices in Europe. A world-class consortium of 60 partners from 13 European countries has been brought together to push advanced packaging in Europe towards heterogeneous system integration: The E2PackMan -EU project tackles a coherent approach that includes the whole value chain from material, process and technology developments validated by test-builds including the interface of the package to the chips and to the board/system.