CULTIVATE uses a multi-actor approach to build sustainability and resilience in urban and peri-urban areas through a ground-breaking online social innovation support platform – The Food Sharing Compass. Built with and for five key stakeholder groups – food sharing initiatives, policy makers, food supply actors, researchers and citizens – the platform will make it possible to navigate diverse food sharing landscapes and cultures, in order to understand, develop, replicate, expand and strengthen sustainable food sharing in Europe, supporting the European Green Deal’s Action Plan, Food 2030, the Farm to Fork Strategy and the EU’s climate change ambitions. The open access Food Sharing Compass will comprise five innovative tools: The SHARECITY200 Database, an interactive automated mapping, tracking and monitoring database of food sharing initiatives that will add more than 100 new locations to the SHARECITY100 Database [https://sharecity.ie/research/sharecity100-database/]; The Food Sharing Calculator, which enables comprehensive and holistic assessment of the costs, benefits and impacts of food sharing for all stakeholders; The Menu of Good Governance, which provides options for developing policy making which facilitates sustainable food sharing; The Library of Citizen Engagement, which supports establishing, expanding and maintaining inclusive participation in sustainable food sharing; The sustainable food sharing Community of Practice, which will be established through a bespoke Amplification Programme to optimise the potential for mutual learning and exploitation of the Food Sharing Compass well beyond the project. In essence, CULTIVATE will establish the EU as the global frontrunner in the development of resilient and inclusive food sharing economies, identifying drivers and implementation gaps and challenging existing theories and practices which currently constrain sustainable food sharing.

CLEVERFOOD will facilitate a society-wide mobilisation of European citizens, including children and youth, farmers, entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, educators, knowledge brokers and policy makers to transform the European food system in alignment with the EU Food 2030 Policy Framework, Farm to Fork Strategy and Fit for 55 Package. By providing targeted support for ongoing and emerging projects, partnerships and networks, implementing a pan-European Food 2030 multi-actor and public engagement mechanism and operationalizing an interlinked multi-level structure of connected Policy Labs and Living Labs, CLEVERFOOD will pave the way for a more regenerative, resilient and plant-based food system. Models for transformative multi-level food system governance and strategies for advancing food policies and legislation will be developed in the Policy Labs by launching a peer-learning program, organising inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogues and bringing together policymakers from all governance levels. Social and technological innovations to support sustainable food system transition will be accelerated in the Living Labs by co-creating strategies for removing lock-ins and building sustainable food value chains, mobilizing impact investors, promoting uptake of new technologies and measuring food system transition progress. Food system science competences of children and youth will be boosted by supporting food system science education activities in the Policy Labs and Living Labs and establishing a network to collaborate on transforming higher education teaching. Public engagement, citizen empowerment and mass mobilization will be maximised by supporting multi-actor, public engagement and citizen science activities in the Policy Labs and Living Labs, unlocking the power of influencers, deploying an interactive food systems exhibition, and designating and supporting permanent competence centres across Europe to ensure society-wide commitment to transform the food system.

The main goal of the eNeuron project is to develop innovative tools for the optimal design and operation of local energy communities (LECs) integrating distributed energy resources and multiple energy carriers at different scales. This goal will be achieved, by having in mind all the potential benefits achievable for the different actors involved and by promoting the Energy Hub concept, as a conceptual model for controlling and managing multi-carrier and integrated energy systems in order to optimize their architecture and operation. In order to ensure both the short-term and the long-term sustainability of this new energy paradigm and thus support an effective implementation and deployment, economic and environmental aspects will be taken into account in the optimization tools through a multi-objective approach. eNeuron’s proposed tools enable tangible sustainability and energy security benefits for all the stakeholders in the LEC. Local prosumers (households, commercial and industrial actors) stand to benefit through the reduction of energy costs while leveraging local, low carbon energy. Developers and solution providers will find new opportunities for technologies as part of an integrated, replicable operational business model. Distribution system operators (DSOs) benefit from avoiding grid congestion and deferring network investments. Policy makers benefit from increasingly sustainable and secure energy supply systems. eNeuron is a high TRL project in line with the Work Programme, by developing innovative approaches and methodologies to optimally plan and operate integrated LECs through the optimal selection and use of multiple energy carriers and by considering both short- and long-run priorities. Through optimally coordinating all energy carriers and vectors, cost-effective and low-carbon solutions will be provided for fostering the deployment and implementation of this new energy paradigm at European level.

The global food system, responsible for up to 37% of GHG emissions, requires urgent transformation due to challenges from urbanisation and unsustainable diets. Additionally, climate change and biodiversity loss exacerbate the vulnerability of European food systems, as seen in recent climate-related disasters like wildfires and droughts, compounded by disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite food abundance in Europe, food insecurity threatens millions of European citizens, necessitating a comprehensive approach encompassing knowledge, technologies, behaviours, and policies that promote healthier and more sustainable food systems. Given citizen science (CS) as a potent tool for achieving these goals, SPOON takes the innovative approach to food insecurity by employing CS to empower citizens in creating a more inclusive and sustainable food environment. SPOON’s four main aims are to: deepen scientific knowledge about food environments; increase capacity of policymakers in data-driven decision-making; foster cross-sector collaboration; increase agency of citizens to change their food consumption behaviour and local food environments; and foster more confidence in citizens in sharing personal food data. SPOON bridges the intention-action gap towards healthier and more sustainable diets by placing citizens at the forefront of transforming the food system through CS integration. SPOON's conceptual framework centres around six CS Labs in Europe, coordinated by local partners and utilising a multi-actor approach. Citizens engage as both researchers and subjects, testing and validating innovative digital tools to collect, analyse and interpret data on their food consumption behaviors and local food environments to then co-design and run small-scale behaviour change interventions together with other stakeholders. SPOON prioritises GDPR compliance and FAIR principles in its data management.

BAMBOO aims at developing new technologies addressing energy and resource efficiency challenges in 4 intensive industries (steel, petrochemical, minerals and pulp and paper). BAMBOO will scale up promising technologies to be adapted, tested and validated under real production conditions focus on three main innovation pillars: waste heat recovery, electrical flexibility and waste streams valorisation. These technologies include industrial heat pumps, Organic Rankine Cycles, combustion monitoring and control devices, improved burners and hybrid processes using energy from different carriers (waste heat, steam and electricity) for upgrading solid biofuels. These activities will be supported by quantitative Life Cycle Assessments. In order to maximize their application and impact to plant level, flexibility measures will be implemented in each demo case towards energy neutrality and joined in a horizontal decision support system for flexibility management. This tool will analyse, digest and interchange information from both, the process parameters and the energy market, including the BAMBOO solutions. As a result, the operation of the plants will be improved in terms of energy and raw materials consumption, and will lay the foundation of new approaches in the energy market. BAMBOO will empower intensive industries to take better decisions to become more competitive in the use of natural resources in a broader context, in the spirit of facilitating the use of larger variability and quantity of RES. BAMBOO consortium comprises strong industrial participation; 6 large companies as final users and 3 SMEs as technology providers, working with experienced RTOs and supporting entities. The private investment associated to BAMBOO is over 7M€ along the execution of the project. Lastly, the transferability potential of BAMBOO is extremely relevant as targeted process and plant improvements offer very high potential applications in other intensive industries.