The visually impaired and the elderly, often suffering from mild speech and/or motor disabilities, are experiencing a significant and increasing barrier in accessing ICT technology and services. Yet, in order to be able to participate in a modern, interconnected society that relies on ICT technologies for handling everyday issues, there is clear need also for these user groups to have access to ICT, in particular to mobile platforms such as tablet computers or smart-phones. The proposed project aims at developing and exploiting the recently matured and quickly advancing biologically-inspired technology of event-driven, compressive sensing (EDC) of audio-visual information, to realize a new generation of low-power multi-modal human-computer interface for mobile devices. The project is based on two main technology pillars: (A) an air gesture control set, and (B) a vision-assisted speech recognition set. (A) exploits EDC vision for low and high level hand and finger gesture recognition and subsequent command execution; (B) combines temporal dynamics from lip and chin motion acquired using EDC vision sensors with the auditory sensor input to gain robustness and background noise immunity of spoken command recognition and speech-to-text input. In contrast to state-of-the-art technologies, both proposed human-computer communication channels will be designed to work reliably under uncontrolled conditions. Particularly, mobile devices equipped with the proposed interface technology will facilitate unrestricted outdoor use under uncontrolled lighting and background noise conditions. Furthermore, due to the sparse nature of information encoding, EDC excels conventional approaches in energy efficiency, yielding an ideal solution for mobile, battery-powered devices. ECOMODE is committed to pave the way for industrialization of commercial products by demonstrating the availability of the required hardware and software components and their integrability into a mobile platform.

My-TRAC project aims to deliver an innovative application for seamless transport and an ecosystem of models and algorithms for Public Transport – PT user choice simulation, data analytics and affective computing. My-TRAC stands out from other technologies due to three main reasons. First, My-TRAC fosters unprecedented involvement of users during, before and after a trip through a smart Human-Machine interface and numerous functionalities such as crowdsourcing, group recommendations, data exchange. Second, the application implements a vast array of technologies, such as affective computing, Artificial Intelligence and user choice simulation, that fuse expertise from multiple fields. Third, My-TRAC facilitates engagement of multiple stakeholders by seamlessly integrating services and creating connections between Rail operators, Mobility-as-a-Service and other PT providers. My-TRAC application is a travel companion designed to operate similarly to a human companion; understanding traveller’s attributes and state-of-mind to derive conclusions from vague information as any human does. In addition, My-TRAC will be the traveller’s gateway to various services related to using PT, having Rail in the epicentre. My-TRAC application will also provide predictive information concerning disruptions and disturbances. It will not only display data but analyse them through innovative algorithms to provide improved recommendations. My-TRAC also involves PT operators through the “operators’ interface” where they can retrieve and visualize aggregated data on users’ movements and state-of-mind that will assist in strategic and dynamic operations. Data that the operators retrieve are aggregated and anonymized while all models and algorithms are applied on the mobile device of the user, seamlessly integrating the “privacy-by-design” concept. The consortium will test the idea in 4 pilot locations with the cooperation of local operators: NS (NL), ATTIKO Metro (GR), FGC (SP), Fertagus (PT).

Multi-cloud applications refer to applications that dynamically can distribute their components over heterogeneous cloud resources and still hold the functional, business and non-functional properties (NFP) declared in their SLAs. The main objective of the DECIDE action is to provide a new generation of multi-cloud service-based software framework, enabling techniques and mechanisms to design, develop, and dynamically deploy multi-cloud aware applications in an ecosystem of reliable, interoperable, and legal compliant cloud services (DECIDE DevOps Framework). DECIDE will provide a set of architectural patterns and the needed tools (DECIDE ARCHITECT) to develop and operate (following the DevOps approach) multi-cloud aware applications that can be dynamically self-adapted to be re-deployed using the best combination of cloud services. DECIDE will also set up an ecosystem of trusted, interoperable and legally compliant cloud services (ACSmI-Advance Cloud Service meta-Intermediator) and the required mechanisms to register, discover, compose, use and assess them. One of the key innovations of the DECIDE solution relies on the development of the OPTIMUS deployment simulation tool capable of evaluating and optimizing the resulting non-functional characteristics from the user’s perspective considering a set of given cloud resources alternatives. The OPTIMUS deployment simulation tool, together with the continuous deployment supporting tool (DECIDE ADAPT), will provide the most adequate deployment application topology based on a set of users’ requirements automating the provisioning and selection of deployment scripts for multi-cloud applications. Three use cases will be conducted to validate. DECIDE will innovate by tackling with multi-cloud and non-functional aspects and moreover by incorporating a DevOps approach to the whole solution DECIDE outcomes, covering the specific needs of different multi-cloud applications for on-line gaming, e-Health and Network management.

The Consortium of 13 members from 4 different countries (BE, ES, GR, RO) and 3 different sectors (NGOs, educational institutions, Industry representatives) has been established to develop an employability micro credential program for the most-scarce soft skills in the labour market in order to address youth unemployment on the one hand and to speed up the achievement of the EEA on the other hand. To identify these sets of skills, the consortium will undertake a needs analysis within three countries: Greece, Romania and Spain. This analysis will be undertaken in close collaboration with industry/employability partners and the TVET sector, paving the foundations for inter-sectoral collaboration and the formulation of joint approaches towards a pressing challenge: a rising mismatch of labour supply and demand. The employability micro credential concept will be piloted with 500 participants in each of the 3 selected countries , for a total of 1,500 direct beneficiaries. The employability micro credentials will assess the skill level of the potential employees, giving reference to both the employers for the knowledge of the individual and the training needs for the VET institutions. This will be facilitated in two major ways: (1) by engaging industry/employment actors in designing the curricula and (2) by signing memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with employers for long-term collaboration and support throughout and beyond the implementation of the project. Impact will be tracked and measured and the employability program will undergo improvements before being spread to other countries. Sustainability of the employability micro-credentials and job placement program will be ensured with knowledge transfer to the local JA members as well as local TVET and employer/industry partners. The Consortium has structured its activities into 6 work packages (WP), scheduled to run for 36 months.