StandICT.eu 2023’s principal goal is to create a European Standardisation Ecosystem, by: a) launching & managing a robust and efficient facility with € 3,000,000 funding earmarked over 36 months & 10 Open Calls, the StandICT.eu Fellowship Programme; b) empowering contributions from ICT standardisation experts letting their voices be heard, also in the Standardisation Observatory; c) pursuing the training of next generation of ICT standardisation experts, engaging with National Standards Associations & PPPs; d) ensuring hi-level steering of StandICT.eu 2023 by means of an authoritative Expert Group (the EAG) who tap directly into the WGs & TCs of SDOs, tackling EU priorities, challenges & gaps; e) Creating an engaging & influential Foresight Committee (the EUOS-FC) to keep momentum in policy discussions, in-synch with the MSP. StandICT.eu 2023 builds on the success of the 2018-19 StandICT.eu initiative, moving from the existing 700+ community, the grants platform & processes, the standards watch. Moreover, StandICT.eu 2023 is proposed by a lean Consortium, coordinated by the same organisation leading the precursory initiative –Trust-IT Srl (IT), an SME with over 15 years’ experience of managing complex EC-funded projects in ICT– including 2 experienced partners: Dublin City University (IE), a major player in SDO WGs & TCs and in educating future ICT Standards experts, & Australo Interinnov Marketing Lab SL (ES), an SME specialised in stakeholder engagement, with their agile methodology approach. All Consortium Partners bring to the project their impressive international network in ICT standardisation. Principal outputs: The StandICT.eu Fellowship Programme, with 10 Open Calls, 1000+ proposals received, 400+ funded Experts & 50+ External Evaluators; 5,000+ significant ICT Standards uploaded in the Observatory; 10 Webinars, 10 Workshops, 2 Standards Assemblies, 2 ICT Standards Impact Reports, a truly engaged, multi-stakeholder ICT Standardisation Community, well representing SMEs and Academia.

Large Research Infrastructures in the field of frontier Physics have opened new observational windows to the universe and explore the structure of matter in extreme detail. These advancements require high levels of expertise and sophistication. On the other hand, society, lacking this level of expertise, merely observes these developments through outreach activities but does not actively contribute in the development of new scientific knowledge. This fact induces a gap between frontier science and society that can spawn misconceptions about the content, context and mission of public funded frontier science. The REINFORCE project comes to answer to the questions: a) Can citizens contribute in the development of new knowledge in frontier science? b) Can citizens apply this new knowledge to solve societal problems? c) How can we integrate citizen feedback? REINFORCE goes beyond outreach programmes and aims to minimize the gap between Society and Large Research Infrastructures in the field of Physics through the: i) development and implementation of 4 cutting-edge Citizen Science projects in the fields of Gravitational Waves, Neutrino Astronomy, Particle Physics and Cosmic Ray interplay with geoscience and archaeology with citizens: Citizens will analyze data and support the optimization of sensitive detectors in order to enhance their discovery potential. ii) implementation of a participatory design in citizen science: Communities of citizens will be developed, trained and empowered to contribute in the scientific mission of Large Research Infrastructures. iii) effective inclusion of sensitive citizen groups as well as the active interaction with secondary and tertiary education. iv) Aggregating best practices in a pan-European policy roadmap. REINFORCE aspires to engage more than 100,000 citizens across Europe and beyond, to help enhance society’s science literacy and awareness and to contribute in the production of scientific knowledge by citizens for society.

Lack of knowledge and awareness of the importance of long-term soil health is a major driver of soil degradation affecting its capacity to provide ecosystem services. The ‘Soil Deal for Europe’ Mission proposes a novel approach to R&I for impact, based on Open Science and strong stakeholder and citizen engagement. PREPSOIL will adopt a proactive approach to co-create with stakeholders, leveraging on both offline and online facilities, with the ultimate purpose of generating long-lasting interaction spaces. Furthermore, PREPSOIL will provide the first assessments and efforts towards an improved knowledge base and awareness level on soil health for multiple stakeholders. PREPSOIL’s web portal is envisaged as the European “one-stop-shop” for all information, resources and digital engagement tools for the Mission stakeholders. It will offer an open-source workspace, including collaboration instruments, ready to be expanded to meet requirements from the Mission. This interaction and engagement strategy supports stocktaking and dialogue to understand how regional ‘soil needs’ assessment, supported by harmonised monitoring mechanisms, can lead to action in Living Labs (LLs) and Light Houses (LHs) for soil health. An ambitious 'soil needs' appraisal campaign will be carried out. In combination with other actions, it will provide direction and capacities for the future national soil health monitoring mechanisms, as well as mapping and preparing the implementation of regional LLs through model business plan guidance.

The FairFuture project addresses the pressing need for climate adaptation, with a particular focus on vulnerable communities. The objective is to develop and test inclusive adaptation measures that are tailored to local vulnerabilities, with a particular emphasis on just resilience in order to prevent an exacerbation of existing inequalities. In collaboration with local and regional authorities (LRGs), national governments, and community-led initiatives, FairFuture will integrate climate risk assessments into local plans and policies. The project will operationalise Resilience Action Labs with the objective of co-developing equitable adaptation actions, measuring effectiveness, and promoting a broader understanding of just transformation in climate resilience. The FairFuture project aims to enhance local resilience, well-being and equity, providing a framework for inclusive decision-making and scalable adaptation strategies.

Europe calls for the emergence of virtual worlds that characterises themselves for being open, transparent, inclusive, ethically and environmentally responsible, but also capable of restoring the technological sovereignty of EU industry in the global scenario of competition. Such European virtual worlds would foster the following benefits: a) Higher accessibility, greater freedom and control, lower barriers to entry and more equitable distribution of resources; b) Interoperability, privacy and security as well as data ownership: open human-centric virtual worlds would be able to interoperate with each other; c) More innovation, creativity, and social benefits: open human-centric virtual worlds would foster a collaborative environment where developers and users could work together to create new experiences and features. In that regards, the overarching aim of OPENVERSE is to contribute to laying the foundations of such European virtual worlds by establishing a knowledge base on it, setting up and animating a community of stakeholders, testing a methodology that combines user co-creation and XR in real world cases of industrial and societal relevance, exploring relevant ethical, legal, IPR and single market challenges, and producing industry standards as well as a technology and policy roadmap and recommendations to guide the future establishment of the Open virtual worlds concept in Europe and worldwide.