As Europe shifts to a bio-based circular economy, a plethora of new packaging restrictions have emerged. MAGNO seeks to improve packaging effectiveness, sustainability, efficient usage, end-of-life (reuse and recycling), and innovative business practices in EU food systems through revolutionary strategies shaped for the ecological transition required by the European Green Deal and EU 2030 climate target plan. These strategies will strengthen the EU food and packaging policy frameworks at a local and regional level. They will also increase social innovation, consumer participation and acceptance of new packaging designs and production models in cross-border food value chains through a web platform and a series of citizen science tools. At the beginning of the project, an overview of Europe’s ecosystems and value chains for different kinds of plastic packaging will be studied. A detailed quantification of impacts and solutions in terms of health, environment, raw materials, and sustainability will then be developed to set the basis of an Ecosystem Digital Twin software. The Digital Twin will be programmed to support the analysis of different scenarios which contributes by not only providing ground-breaking strategies for improving the packaging sector but also identifying the best options in terms of innovative business. The whole project will be supported by the active participation of food multi-actors (researchers, food business operators, food packaging producers, developers of sustainable packaging, packaging converters and recyclers, consumers, and local and regional authorities). Their contribution to the creation of results and validation of the final strategies will prevent and reduce plastic packaging pollution for the food and packaging sectors.

Energy problems play an important role in the global development of industrial and underdeveloped countries. Energy issues are usually accompanied with the challenging trade off of energy production and environmental sustainability. Recently, an offshore reserve of Oil and Gas was localized in the Mediterranean Sea near the Lebanese coast. The Lebanese Government set up a new “Gas and Oil Committee” belonging to the Water and Energy Ministry. The goal of this Committee is to publish tenders for Gas and Oil Offshore inspection and exploitation. An increasing demand for Engineers in the field of new reservoir drilling and fuel raw material processing is expected in the upcoming twenty-five years.The Lebanese Higher Education sector is a well-developed one. This sector regroups one public University which is the Lebanese University and more than 50 private universities. All the Lebanese universities’ curricula are one step behind in the field of Gas and Oil processing. This is due to the fact that the country is not a producer of this kind of raw material. Two refineries were present in the country before the civil war (1975-1989). Those refineries were completely destroyed during the civil war and their actual role has been reduced to the imported fuel storage. This project will address all the above problems by setting up a new teaching curriculum at the Lebanese universities by a joint effort with the European universities members of the Consortium. This project will also help in creating a network of Lebanese and European universities promoting academic excellence through joint research, education, and exchange of experience. This will contribute in the sustainable development of the Lebanese higher educational system and in improving the career prospects of scholars in their home countries.This new curriculum will allow forming engineers who can produce and manage innovation in the chemical, Gas and Oil processing, environmental, and new materials sectors.

EuNIT targets the management and operation of HEIs in Jordan, Lebanon and Libya by focusing on increasing their international activity. In order for HEIs in these countries to increase their participation in international cooperation projects and benefit from opportunities available to them through programmes such as Erasmus+, H2020 and ENI, they require greater expertise in project design and management. EuNIT aims to equip these HEIs with the necessary skills and resources. It will produce:- A comprehensive training programme for 24 selected staff from 8 partner HEIs in Jordan, Lebanon and Libya, combining theory, practical work and international travel, adapted to the needs of South Mediterranean HEIs to enable them to increase their participation in EU initiatives and international cooperation.- 8 EU project design and management units dedicated to EU cooperation and research projects set up in partner HEIs in Jordan, Lebanon and Libya.- A regional network bringing together HEIs in the South Mediterranean region for the exchange of good practices and experience in project design and management.- 2 external training sessions run by Jordanian, Lebanese and Libyan trainers reaching out to HEIs across Jordan, Lebanon & Libya targeting 80 staff.- Massive Open Online Courses in EU project design and management accessible to all HEIs.The project aims to impact the 8 partner HEIs from Jordan, Lebanon and Libya. Then, the dissemination strategy will enable activities to reach firstly all HEIs in Jordan, Lebanon and Libya and secondly other Patner Countries in the South Mediterranean region. HEIs in the countries concerned should become more independent in designing and managing EU projects, being able to increase the amount of project applications they submit, and targeting more closely their needs in terms of developing and modernising their HEI. To this effect, HEIs in the South Mediterranean region will be able to develop sustainable international partnerships.