European soils face pressing conditions for their health. An alarming 60-70% of EU soils are considered unhealthy, attributed to factors such as pollution, urbanization, and intensive agriculture, further exacerbated by climate change. This degradation results in economic, societal, and environmental repercussions, including decreased land productivity, migration, land abandonment, and biodiversity loss. Addressing this challenge necessitates holistic measures, especially since soil restoration can take centuries. The project initiative, aligning with various EU policies, emphasizes the importance of comprehensive soil restoration efforts. It plans to establish six Soil Health Living Labs (SHELLs) across diverse EU climatic zones, including Sweden, Spain, Spain-France, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria. These labs are envisioned as innovation hubs, tailored to address the EU's specific soil health objectives, notably objectives 4, 6, and 8. Through collaborative efforts within these SHELLs, the goal is to develop, test, and validate potential solutions, ensuring scalability beyond their immediate regions. iCOSHELLs places a strong emphasis on inclusive stakeholder engagement, from researchers to landowners. Its systematic approach includes building stakeholder capacities, bridging gaps between science and practical applications, deepening understanding of soil indicators, replicating effective soil recovery methods, and championing supportive soil health policies. Additionally, iCOSHELLs seeks to redefine the concept of Living Labs (LLs). Challenging the traditional model, which often revolves around isolated research entities, iCOSHELLs envisions LLs rooted in co-creation, broad engagement, and real-world application. This transformative vision aims to evolve existing SHELLs into standardized, widely recognized labs, setting a foundational blueprint for future LLs. Moreover, as a comprehensive soil data repository, iCOSHELLs promotes collaboration, ensuring replicable.

The built environment and related construction processes are together responsible for up to half of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions. The circular principles can contribute in important ways to achieving the 2050 carbon neutrality target in addition to the zero emissions 2030 target. INBUILT proposes and develops (1) a set of innovative design, retrofit and construction techniques for both existing and new buildings based on the use and/or reuse of locally sourced bio- and geo-materials along with reused and recycled components coupled with (2) a digital platform, as a multi-objective decision-support tool, for the optimisation of the integration such materials in buildings. This can build an integrated strategy in which sustainability and digitalization are embedded into the construction sector. This set of products includes Larged-sized rammed earth blocks, recycled fired and non-fired bricks (with/without bio-sourced insulation), hybrid straw-clay boards, recycled concrete blocks, prefabricated waste wood external and internal wall elements, smart windows with recycled glass and bio-PUR frames, bio-based prefabricated curtain walls, recycled waste paper and textile fibre insulation mats, bio-based recycled insulation sheet panels/infill, and second life PV panels. These solution techniques, already validated at the lab scale and designed following circularity principles, will be up-scaled, demonstrated and tested in real buildings and optimised using the digital platform in a solid life-cycle-based (and social LCA) perspective. A multidisciplinary consortium will support these objectives. Outcomes will positively impact i) European competitiveness of the construction sector in the field of “green” construction technologies ii) decarbonisation of the building stock, iii) increased digitalisation, iv) raise resilience thanks to circular economy, resource efficiency, eco-design and digitization of the INBUILT innovative systems.

ClimaGen will demonstrate how Climate-resilient regeneration and renaturing for, by and with vulnerable neighbourhoods, can help cities and regions in their transitions towards net-zero. 5 Demonstration cities (Belgrade, Gdańsk, Tartu, Torino, and Trondheim), will implement 25% increased share of newly created and/or restored public green spaces in each city. 4 Replication Cities (Cluj-Napoca, Eindhoven, Gernika and Thessaloniki) will experiment with shorter-term co-creative measures with the same objectives and methods to plan for future implementation of the measures. All 9 cities will run their own Work Packages in ClimaGen, supported by 5 cross-cutting concepts and 4 transversal WPs: ClimaGreens will nurture integrated renaturing measures that create resilience at several scales, and avoid maladaptation in the journey to climate-neutrality. ClimaLabs will provide local and regional collaborative governance, with arts, culture and youth, entrepreneurship and financing, and organisational resilience in long-term planning strategies. ClimaImpact will generate evidence-based decision support and valuation of co-benefits, in easy-to-understand and, where possible, visualised formats. ClimaValue will offer outreach, capacity building and policy guidance, with strategic advocacy together with sister projects and close collaboration with Missions/NEB communities, while an evidence-based ClimaGen Guidance Package will disseminate results and knowledge to cities. City Dialogues and cross-cutting Sense-Making Sessions will support local implementation and common learning. Together these define impact pathways to knowledge sharing, scaling and replication. The ClimaGen Games will tie these activities together with a portfolio of participatory, gamified, citizen-science-based methods to engage all partners and stakeholders in an inclusive manner, and to use their diversity as a strength.

The SLEEPING BEAUTY project aims to rejuvenate neglected urban, peri-urban, and rural spaces across Europe through the integration of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) and the core values of the New European Bauhaus (NEB). By addressing diverse climatic contexts, this initiative promotes sustainable, inclusive, and resilient communities. The project leverages NBS to enhance biodiversity, foster natural beauty, and provide multifunctional public spaces, aligning with NEB’s principles of sustainability, beauty, and inclusiveness. SLEEPING BEAUTY seeks to transform underutilized and overlooked spaces into vibrant, biodiverse areas that reconnect people with nature. This holistic, co-creative approach combines innovative design and artistic interventions, encouraging collaboration among citizens, experts, and local stakeholders. These efforts will help reshape public spaces, strengthen community ties, and foster a shared sense for caretaking of environment. By emphasizing the creative re-use and revitalization of spaces, the project will demonstrate how integrating NEB and NBS can lead to improved well-being, enhanced biodiversity, and more resilient and beautiful communities. The project’s six pilot sites will serve as showcases for replicating and scaling NBS-NEB solutions across Europe, contributing to a systemic shift in how we design, interact with, and maintain public spaces in close connection with nature and cultural heritage. The initiative promotes long-term societal transformation, focusing on strengthening human-nature relationships, cultural identity, and collective action to address pressing societal challenges like climate change. SLEEPING BEAUTY’s unique blend of artistic co-creation, sustainable spatial planning and innovation will push beyond traditional NBS approaches, setting a new gold standard for innovative, inclusive, and aesthetically compelling public spaces enabled by NEB-NBS and a new Natur-Baukultur.

WLF aims at fostering a positive Work-Life-Flow (WLF) in post-Corona legacy arising from remote working and social distancing. WLF refers to the dynamic equilibrium between an individual’s professional and social roles. The EU-Directive 2019/1158 (European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019) on work-life balance and their concretization at national levels (e.g., in Spain The Royal Decree-Law 6/2019, of March 1) and the aim of the International Labour Organisation for ‘Decent Work’ (Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) show relevance of WLF. Because of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, work and life is changing and becoming focused on remote work. This will change practices and boundaries of work and life.Mastering a healthy WLF is a challenging key competence to maintain an effective work performance while increasing social, physical and mental health, including working parents and informal carers. A needs analysis of reports (Joint Research Council of EC) and trends in European policy on key competences and work-life balance discovered a skills gap. Such non-cognitive skills are underdeveloped across the EU’s education systems but expected to grow in importance. Therefore, the projects’ competency-based approach to WLF, is key to foster individual well-being within current and future workforce. The WLF envisioned competences represent one of the eight key competences of life-long learning (“Personal, social and learning to learn”) identified by the Council of the European Union.The objectives of WLF are to offer three main outcomes/products apart of new knowledge on WLF: to develop and test an a) innovative concept- and web-based self-assessment tool for WLF linked to EFQM model b) innovative blended, virtual/distance training materialsc) integrated solution (assessment tool and training) to tackle the skills gap on WLF-related competences of future and current professionals for a positive WLF to reduce negative health- and performance-related outcomes. Related to these objectives the project activities will range from research for WLF-index development and educative materials to the assessment tools software and multimedia training implementation, its real-world testing of the integrated solution at HEI and companies. WLF uses a scientific-practitioner approach for developing an assessment WLF-index and blended multimedia virtual/distance training materials to yield the most transferable results. Desktop research on the contents for the assessment tool and training materials will be applied. Findings will be aligned with the Excellence dimensions as described in the EFQM Model. The software implementation will build upon researched parameters and make use of the existing design of LOPEC’s Personal Excellence Tool. Multimedia modules (animated screens, video clips, virtual add-ons) of the overall training solution will be developed by multimedia specialist UBT. The project will follow a combination of the agile software development approach and the rapid prototype cycle with its parallelism of development and testing (Alpha, Beta & Gamma Cycles).The WLF project envisions a transnational approach since cultural and national legislative contexts need to be taken into account. In this sense, the assessment tool allows transnational comparisons. Project partnership consists of four HEI and three business partners. The choice of the partners was based on criteria as knowledge and experience in WLF relevant fields, existing networks for dissemination and impact possibilities, sustainability of the project measures, experience in European projects. The partners complement each other: The university partners (UB, UC, UBT, WIT) are experts in the fields of occupational health, WLF and health-promoting organizational processes, ‘Decent Work’ and HRM. IBK is a leading expert on the topic of Excellence and an EFQM’s certified Partner Organization and will provide the software for the assessment tool. IIE and Eskilara represent the industrial end-user and will be involved in development and testing. The project result will be a multilingual and pilot-tested E-Platform providing a web-based Assessment tool and virtual Training Solution to diagnose and manage WLF. This E-Platform will enable students and employees to foster key competences for positive WLF based on identified potentials. For the HR sector, it allows an evidence-based identification of improvement areas for HRM and training to integrate in appropriate WLF strategies. Dissemination will done regionally and inter/nationally using the partnerships’ and Advisory Boards’ networks as well as congresses and journals.Short/medium benefits will be analyzed for students and employees. In a longer term, benefits are economically and educationally the development of a new ICT-based training product. For society, WLF seeks a more resilient and psychologically healthy current and future European workforce.