More than ever, Europe needs cybersecurity. With the constant development of new malicious software, cyberattacks have been on the rise. Due to new attack vectors and encryption, novel attacks are undetectable to humans and simple rules and signatures. Without holistic and interdisciplinary cybersecurity solutions, the citizens’ lives, well-being, money and other assets are at risk. The PERUN project will strengthen the European cybersecurity by providing novel solutions powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, to analyse and counter emerging cyberthreats to software, firmware and hardware in an efficient and cost-effective way. The PERUN project aims to enhance the security and resilience of digital infrastructures - national-level cybersecurity infrastructures, education and research networks, critical energy infrastructures, digital infrastructures of NGOs providing critical services and security operations centers (SOCs) across various sectors - by developing advanced cybersecurity solutions that leverage AI/ML technologies. To this end, PERUN will produce a set of innovative methods and algorithms to analyse data and detect new types of malware, as well as a collection of high TRL tools and products using new scientific approaches, all validated by representatives of the critical sectors. The results will be communicated and disseminated, not only to reach a broad range of stakeholders, but also to raise public awareness of cyberthreats. The tangible results of PERUN will be applied in five real-life scenarios pertaining to critical sectors such as nonprofits, energy, telecommunications, private SOCs and CERTs/CSIRTs. Owing to their high TRL and versatility, they will be an instant boost to Europe’s cybersecurity, whilst increasing its strategic autonomy and technological advantage.

This project is on the modularization of continuing education and professional development by microcredentials in higher education (MCE), in particular in the context of the European Commission's Recommendation to the Council of Ministers on microcredentials and the planned steps in 2021-2025 for the recognition of microcredentials in Member States. As a contribution to this process, MCE contributes to the further conceptualization of microcredentials as cornerstones for the expansion of continuous education and professional development (CEPD) and to transformative institutional developments in interaction with national and EU frameworks. Partners will build on results of their existing collaborations on short learning programs and on the Common Microcredential Framework developed with the European MOOC Consortium. Both collaborations have proven their relevance at the micro-level of concept and design, the meso-level of institutional strategies and conditions, and the macro-level of national and EU policies and strategies. In the further conceptualization of microcredentials, MCE adds the learner perspective as a core dimension. The project is thereafter focusing on institutional development in alignment with European and the national frameworks for microcredentials. The objectives of MCE respond to this by:- further developing and operationalizing the concept of microcredentials in European universities, taking into account the learners' perspective;- supporting institutional development for organizing and creating the conditions for developing transformative modular education and microcredentials;- Delivering an evidence-base for the dialogue with policy makers at national and EU level developing policies for CEPD and frameworks for microcredentials.Within the project, bottom-up and top-down processes will therefore continuously meet. The MCE approach is multi-level and multi-stakeholder oriented, looking for impact on stakeholders to realize transformation.

The main objective of the iDev40 project proposal is to achieve a disruptive or “breakthrough change” step toward speedup in time to market by digitalising the European industry, closely interlinking development processes, logistics and manufacturing. Ultimately, the project aims at suitable digital technology advancements to strengthen the electronic components and systems industry in Europe. It addresses various industrial domains with one and the same approach of digitalisation towards competitive and innovative solutions. The new concept of introducing seamlessly integrated development together with automation and network solutions as well as enhancing the transparency of data, their consistence, flexibility and overall efficiency will lead to a significant speedup in the time to market (T2M) race. iDev40’s unique approach addresses: • AI learning, Data Life Cycle Management and IP Protection • Embedding Digital Development in Digital Production (the digital twin) • Close the Knowledge loop in product life cycle management along the supply chain • Collaboration 4.0 and Development of highly skilled R&D and Manufacturing Teams • Prove the innovated technologies on selected use cases in real productive environment Progress in mastering these challenges will significantly impact the productivity of future design processes embedded in an Industrial Internet environment. The global state-of-art technologies already offer tremendous diagnostics algorithms, machine controls, simulators, optimizers, etc., but only an extensive framework like iDev40 can combine them into effective integration into the development process enabling such powerful simulations like “digital twins” that ever more govern the hardware, manufacturing service and business functions. To cope with the exceptional complexity it becomes even more crucial to be competitive leaders in developing virtual representations of real physical implementation.