A bio-based system covers all sectors that rely on biological resources (animals, plants, micro-organisms and derived biomass, organic waste), processes, and principles.The development of a bio-based economy has been emphasized in EU Green Deal to decrease dependency on non-renewable energy and material resources, maintain food security, and decarbonize the economy.However, considering limited land and biological resources in the EU,sustainable and just development of industrial bio-based systems calls for special attention to material circularity, carbon emission, & iLUC risks of bio-based systems, as well as social objectives. BioRadar takes a system perspective to fill the indicator gap in material circularity, environmental impacts, and social impacts of industrial bio-based systems and develop digital monitoring tools for policy-makers and investors. BioRadar identifies circularity opportunities in industrial bio-based systems through biological and technical loops.Material Circularity Indicators(MCIs) are required to assess how well a bio-based system performs in the context of a circular economy.MCIs will help to incorporate circularity as design criteria in developing new bio-based systems, from material choice to new business models.Such indicators will also allow policy-makers to investigate the transition of bio-based systems from linear to circular. Environmental impact assessment of industrial bio-based systems calls special attention to energy use, water consumption, carbon emission, and land use indicators.For this, BioRadar aims to develop frameworks and metrics to evaluate carbon emission and assess the carbon capture and utilization potential, develop methods to evaluate iLUC risks of bio-based systems, and explore climate change mitigation and adoption opportunities for the whole supply chain of industrial bio-based systems. Further,BioRadar aims to identify social development objectives, formulate action plans for social impact assessment.

The MOZART project aims to advance the state-of-the art in robotic handling and manipulation of soft and heterogenous objects. The approach we take is a radical departure from existing manipulator approaches as we will develop a new concept for manipulation through the use of deformable manipulation surfaces supported by AI-powered control and learning tools. The manipulation surface is able to change its curvature locally and through this manipulates objects on the surface. The manipulation surface has three constituent elements. A conventional modular electronics layer responsible for communication, power, and computation, an actuation layer based on origami mechanisms, and finally, a soft poro-elastic sensing skin. The hardware development is complemented by a distributed control application programming interface which is built on cellular automata and deep learning. The framework includes basic and coordination primitives that allow for manipulation of individual objects and groups of objects, respectively. For demonstration we have chosen three target demonstrators in the food handling industry which are descaling fish, sorting of chicken and presentation of chicken. The final pillar of the project is an integrative-interdisciplinary social sciences and humanities approach that tackles the transition of the role of the operators today to more high-skilled jobs in the future. It also addresses the general ethical challenges surrounding food production to ensure sustainable technology development in terms of social and ethical as well as ecological consequences. The core research is complemented by a comprehensive dissemination and communication package that targets all relevant stakeholders. Finally, a clear exploitation plan including standardisation is described which will transition the AUTOMATs from TRL 5 at the end of the project to a product ready to impact the food packing industry four year after the end of the project.

The digital and circular economy (CE) transition of bio-based industries is a critical objective for Europe’s climate ambitions and its economic competitiveness. Given the urgency of these demands, Europe’s bio-based industries need to leapfrog over past digital technologies and implementations, pioneering innovative solutions for creating bio-based products and services that are circular, as well as environmentally and socially sustainable. To realise these ambitions, the bi0SpaCE project will deliver a suite of technologies, services, guidance frameworks, and standards, combined into the open-access bi0S platform, for rapid deployment and scaling of (CE) solutions and services across bio-based industries and their value chains. bi0SpaCE will advance the creation and implementation of Industry 4.0 enhanced Digital Product Passports (DPPs), linked to an International Dataspace (IDS) compliant CE dataspace, enabling the creation of dynamic and decentralised DPPs for secure and trustworthy sharing of CE and sustainability performance data of bio-based products across the value chain, as well as providing transparency of green and CE claims to consumers. bi0SpaCE brings together a consortium consisting of 1 HEI, 4 RTOs, 1 SMEs, 1 industrial assoc., 2 large industries, and 1 startup, across 5 EU and 2 associated countries, over a 36-month project period. The knowledge and technologies created in bi0SpaCE will be demonstrated and validated across 4 complementary bio-based sectors: (i) paperboard production, (ii) eco-industrial parks with bio-based energy and products producers and consumers, (iii) plant-based products and cosmetics, and (iv) bio-derived industrial chemicals.

Major disasters (e.g., Ponte Morandi, 2018) highlighted the critical condition of many European civil infrastructures due to inadequate maintenance, unforeseen operating conditions, and extended usage. Regular inspections of all types of infrastructures are essential to assess their health, guide maintenance and repair, and extend service life. SARAH adopts a human-centred approach to develop a safe-by-design integrated digital solution that supports maintenance and repair decision and planning, order, intervention and reporting. Leveraging metaverse technologies and egocentric augmented reality solutions, the system empowers infrastructure supervisors and intervention workers by providing real-time assistance, fostering skill development, and improving their Occupational Safety and Health. The solution, rooted in Human Factors: a/ identifies issues in civil infrastructures in a rapid, cost-effective and safe manner thanks to innovative sensors deployed on-site (corrosion, soil nail and anchor, structural crack) possibly via an unmanned aerial system (load up to 1kg); b/ fastly and accurately assesses the needs for repair (98 % of issues properly ranked) using a Digital Twin of the infrastructure able to run in real-time (reduced order, automatic continuous calibration) and proposes prioritised timely interventions, considering risk assessment using a Decision Support Engine (80% ad hoc correct advice for inspections); c/ launches extra inspections (either with autonomous aerial system or human), and provides remote support to the intervention workers (80% satisfaction, evaluated via interviews); d/ delivers certification report generated using generative AI, after intervention and repair (at least 2 types of reports generated). With this approach, SARAH offers a game changer for infrastructure inspection, maintenance and repair.

The next generation of energy performance assessments and certificates ought to address the transformation into an era where an increasing amount data are available on the operational use of buildings, and the buildings can be observed with ever increasing details via a larger number of stakeholders. The EUB SuperHub project will support the evolvement of the certification process in the EU by development of a scalable methodology to view, assess and monitor the buildings through their lifecycle (embedded energy, costs etc.). The EU Level(s) initiative is already leading a way of a new, holistic view of the buildings taking into account sustainability principles (LCA, LCC etc.) for residential, commercial and public buildings. Energy performance assessments and certificates of buildings therefore need to evolve to reflect the technological development, the needs of the society, and within the EU, they must be consistent throughout Member States. Holistic view of buildings, social and technological shifts in the society require a change in the way we observe and handle the built environment helping incentives to yield in energy efficiency and investments.