AGRI-BIOCIRCULAR-HUB is a first-of-its-kind excellence hub in sustainable agriculture and circular bio-economy aimed at strengthening R&I capabilities and innovation ecosystems of 3 Widening countries, including one emerging ecosystem (PL, LV and UA). Building on experience of 2 more developed countries (ES and BE), and in particular on a frontrunner region (“Catalonia”), a leading European regional ecosystems in the field, we aim to respond to the common needs and challenges of these ecosystems, fully aligned with key strategic areas for the development of the smart specializations of these regions. By bringing together relevant European and regional actors, with track record in R&I ecosystems and bioeconomy, we aim at leveraging the q-helix innovation model by creating and strengthening links between academia, business, government and society: - To promote and foster cross-border and interregional R&I cooperation, we will design and deliver a long-term R&I action plan, across key strategic R&I themes towards a sustainable and biocircular agriculture; - To enhance the R&I capabilities of 3 targeted Widening countries, we propose to design, pilot and scale up (TRL3-6) a pipeline of R&I business cases, driven by regional challenges and local innovative SMEs; -To foster and promote transfer of knowledge and good practices across regions, we will deliver capacity building, training and networking activities for innovation and entrepreneurship diffusion as well as tailored mentoring module targeting the needs of an emerging ecosystem – UA; - To promote entrepreneurship, provide support in bringing innovations to farmers, we will deliver an open innovation and entrepreneurship mentoring programme; - To promote innovation, biocircular and sustainable agriculture practices, we propose development of a cascade funding scheme to support SMEs engaged in the development and adoption of smart and circular technologies and innovation towards sustainable agriculture.

To reduce climate impact of aviation, decarbonisation is a major challenge. Current combustion chambers are burning hydrocarbon fuels, such as kerosene or more recently emerging SAF products. Hydrogen is also considered today as a promising energy carrier but the burning of hydrogen creates radically new challenges which need to be understood and anticipated. HESTIA specifically focuses on increasing the scientific knowledge of the hydrogen-air combustion of future hydrogen fuelled aero-engines. The related physical phenomena will be evaluated through the execution of fundamental experiments. This experimental work will be closely coupled to numerical activities which will adapt or develop models and progressively increase their maturity so that they can be integrated into industrial CFD codes. Different challenges are to be addressed in HESTIA project in a wide range of topics: - Improvement of the scientific understanding of hydrogen-air turbulent combustion: preferential diffusion of hydrogen, modification of turbulent burning velocity, thermoacoustics, NOx emissions, adaptation of optical diagnostics; - Assessment of innovative injection systems for H2 optimized combustion chamber: flashback risk, lean-blow out, stability, NOx emission minimisation, ignition; - Improvement of CFD tools and methodologies for numerical modelling of H2 combustion in both academic and industrial configurations. To this end, HESTIA gathers 17 universities and research centres as well as the 6 European aero-engine manufacturers to significantly prepare in a coherent and robust manner for the future development of environmentally friendly combustion chambers.

The project focuses on developing novel technologies and materials characterization that are to be used synergistically to create advanced possibilities for terahertz radiation control. International team expertized in materials synthesis and terahertz science will direct its efforts towards the development of innovative quasi-optical technologies which will help finding the solution for efficient use of dielectric and semiconductor crystalline materials, including nanocomposites and coplanar structures, and their application as functional elements in terahertz radiation control devices, ultimately targeting market-ready innovative products. A range of such materials will be considered for thorough investigations of potential application in electro/acousto-quasioptical devices to control THz radiation. Optimization of transmission, absorption, refraction indexes, loss tangent, the dielectric constant will be made based on experimental measurements and computer simulations. The project's scope will include semiconductor materials in which light-induced photogeneration of charge carriers is possible. The effect of photogeneration on the parameters of these materials will be used to develop efficient quasi-optical cells, which are key elements of control devices. The project brings together an international multidisciplinary network of organizations from academia and industry that will work coherently on the innovative research program on quasi-optical technologies and related material engineering. Participants will exchange skills and share knowledge, strengthening links between countries and promoting interaction between involved economics sectors. Reaching the goals related to the implementation of advanced quasi-optical technologies will open new market possibilities for engaged non-academic project participants, ultimately becoming beneficial for European society globally.