Water purification and disinfection are crucial processes to provide safe water to citizens, but the low quality of water sources due to soil/freshwater increasing contamination makes this goal very challenging. Disinfection byproducts (DBPs), produced when chlorine disinfectant reacts with organic matter in water, have a serious impact even at low concentrations on the environment and human health, still not well understood. Effects on human’s liver activity and neurotoxicity were already reported. H2OforAll project aims to assess main DBPs sources and fate through the development of fast, cost-effective and accurate sensor monitoring devices and also by modelling their spread through drinking water distribution systems. In addition, DBPs toxicity and environmental impact will be studied in this project and measures will be proposed to protect drinking water chain. On the other hand, breakthrough water treatments to remove DBPs or avoid their formation during water disinfection processes will be developed, paying attention to their life cycle analysis, costs and risks. A central knowledge base with reliable data on the occurrence of DBPs in Europe and their effects will be created to increase awareness of society and governmental organizations about these drinking water contaminants in order to draw new policy responses and guidance.

AgRibot is a groundbreaking project aimed at advancing robotics as well as augmented and extended reality (AR/XR) technologies within the agricultural sector. The project’s overarching goal is to achieve a range of critical impacts including: improving working conditions, reducing environmental footprint, addressing workforce shortages, and enhancing overall sustainability and competitiveness. In alignment with strategic initiatives such as the Farm-to-Fork Strategy, the Common Agricultural Policy post-2022, and the broader ambition of embracing the Digital Age, AgRibot is poised to drive a transformative shift toward a fair, safer, and resilient agriculture sector.

Clinical skills labs exist in many Universities and University Hospitals, having a high maintenance cost and doesn’t always offer to the medical and nursing students a fully immersive experience. In recent years there is an expansion of ICT in healthcare education, and a number of online resources in the form of Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs), Virtual Patients (VPs) and other on-screen computer or mobile simulation tools have been created with positive acceptance by the students. However, current efforts, luck to provide a cost effective and immersive clinical skills learning experience. Furthermore, Virtual Reality (VR) exists for many years, but it is only lately that the new generation smartphones make VR accessible to a wider audience. There are a few examples of VR resources for healthcare education, and some studies showed promising results. While simulation based training is identified as a valid teaching/learning strategy, little evidence exists for the design and use of virtual reality reusable e-resources in healthcare education. To this extent, there is no development framework for the creation for virtual reality reusable e-resources utilising stakeholder participation. Thus, CoViRR strategic partnership will co-create virtual reality reusable e-resources promoting innovative practices in digital era, by supporting current curricula and fostering open education. The aim of CoViRR strategic partnership is to co-create new pedagogical approaches and in particular virtual reality reusable e-resources for European Medical and Nursing schools. The CoViRR will use participatory design to engage stakeholders (students, healthcare workforce staff, lecturers, clinicians, etc.) in order to co-create low cost, but effective virtual reality reusable e-resources and release them as Open Education Resources. Through CoViRR effective use of digital technologies and open education will be incorporated into Healthcare curricula, in order to enable students to increase their clinical skills by offering both immersive and flexible learning. A multidisciplinary group of experts in online pedagogies, clinical and academic staff, learning technologists, researchers, computer scientists and representatives of medical and nursing students will participate in project activities. Initially identification, consensus and quality assurance of the virtual reality themes and scenarios will be made, followed by training of teaching and technical staff on co-creation methodologies. Next, virtual reality reusable e-resources scenarios and activities will be co-created followed by technical development of them. Then, analysis of feasibility and acceptability of VR Reusable e-Resources, co-creation best practices and recommendations for use will follow. Dissemination of results will happen at two phases: Initially dissemination at local, national and international level using virtual channels to inform about the created VR e-resources in order to attract more learners from other universities for analysing the feasibility and the acceptability and secondly dissemination of the project outcomes through a multiplier event, publications in journal and conferences, social media and websites, press and internal and external networks of partners. Project manager will ensure the high quality and on time activities of the project. The CoViRR outputs will be 9 new virtual reality reusable e-resources for medical and nursing students; trained teaching staff (18) on co-creation methodologies; best practices for the adapted co-creation methodology for virtual reality reusable e-resources; Analysis of feasibility and acceptance of Virtual Reality Reusable e-Resources and recommendations for use in terms of pedagogical aspects; at least 100 trained students on clinical skills having an immersive learning experience. CoViRR expects that students will adopt this new digital pedagogy and improve their clinical skills and competences through immersive learning, while the teaching staff will enhance their e-learning tool co-creation competences and make use of co-creation best practices and recommendation for use. It is also expected increased cooperation between the partners. Thus CoViRR in the long term expect to influence the development of medical and nursing curricula with this digital innovation, foster the quality of the future healthcare workforce and further improve international competitiveness of the partners’ healthcare curricula.

The 21st-century teaching and learning system is evolving to respond to global challenges of economic competitiveness, a greater focus on educational equity, and a demand for impactful educational solutions and enhanced return on investment. Yet, education is an unpredictable industry. If one is launching a startup in the Educational Technology (EdTech) niche, s/he needs to be prepared for the specific challenges that will face while attempting to enter into this market. At the same time the EdTech industry has exploded on a massive extent; the competition is huge and to stand out one must be unique in multiple ways. Nevertheless, the European EdTech entrepreneurship ecosystem needs a lot of support since it is less advanced than the one in the US or China. The ENTER project is at the forefront of this challenge, by improving the quality of entrepreneurship education around EdTech, bringing together academic and industrial partners with entrepreneurial experience and with expertise in educational technologies and learning pedagogies, aiming to empower undergraduate & postgraduate students, faculty members, researchers, educators as well as university alumni to become EdTech entrepreneurs. An innovative curriculum and a set of complementary services, such as a network of experienced mentors and the Learning Innovation Hubs, will be created for helping the target audience to improve their entrepreneurial skills, through recognising business opportunities and validating their business assumptions in the EdTech space. The ultimate goal of ENTER is to improve: a) the skills and knowledge of young entrepreneurs interested in the EdTech market, using best practices from pedagogy, technology and entrepreneurship, b) the quality of innovative & impactful EdTech products and ultimately c) the number of EdTech startups in Europe that grow exponentially, for the benefit of diverse learners and organisations addressing real learning/teaching needs and the EU economy at large.

Three place-based innovation ecosystems in Cyprus, Greece and Bulgaria partner together to create an Excellence Hub for Future Cities and Regions in Southeast Europe (SEE). The METACITIES Excellence Hub is a sustainable network that offers a common platform for collaboration, cross-fertilization, and best practices sharing across borders, sectors and disciplines on knowledge production, circulation and use. Founded upon a joint R&I strategy, a nexus of collaborative links across sectors, joint research, innovation and outreach activities as well as business modelling and sustainability plans, the collaboration aims to benefit citizens, stakeholders, regional ecosystems and the whole SEE region. The thematic focus on future and metaverse cities necessitates the definition of ambitious R&I agendas and the uptake of advanced digital technologies. Digital Twins (DT) of future cities/regions provide accurate and reliable reference representation seamlessly unifying the physical, digital and human worlds and enabling stakeholders to assess the effects of any changes before investments and implementations actually occur. The proposed Open Digital Twin Framework facilitates co-development of complementary future city domains along with their equivalent DTs. The applied Quadruple Helix Model forges synergies among actors and alignment of public and private sector priorities for regional development. PoC studies, small-scale pilots and feasibility assessments validate project outcomes. Green Business and Operation Models will be developed for future and metaverse cities, as well as for the METACITIES Excellence Hub. Investment and Sustainability Plans will mobilize the communities of the three innovation ecosystems to progress faster in joined efforts. Common investment plans for R&I, infrastructures and support for real-life experimentation, aim to leverage national, regional and European funds as well as crowd funds and private capital in a synergetic manner.