The global sports industry is diverse, fragmented and rapidly changing, it is also a large industry and an early adopter. It comprises numerous different sectors and therefor relies on innovation and technology that spans many disciplines. This diverse range of technology disciplines however slows down the innovation process. Cross-sectoral cooperation could accelerate the entrepreneurial behaviour and improve the innovation climate. Effective knowledge transfer however is inhibited by differences in culture and language between industry and academia. This also hampers academic staff to educate students with appropriate transversal skills. The rapid changes in the sports industry are not always mirrored in the relatively static provision of sports engineering education. The specific problems/challenges that this project will address are therefor as follows;1. How to provide the sports industry with appropriate life-long learning solutions?2. How to enable cross-sectoral cooperation in the sports industry?3. How to improve the fit between current HEI curricula and the sports industry?4. How to reduce the cultural barriers between HEIs and sports industry?The project A4SEE will deliver three significant project interventions to address these challenges.1. Creation and delivery of Joint Learning Activities (Industry Collaboration Experience, Special Topics Week and Innovation Marketplace)2. Creation and delivery of Open Online Courses (Sports Engineering Basic, Advanced and Professional Courses)3. Creation and delivery of Innovation Fellowships on sports innovation and emerging technologies. (Academia to Industry, Industry to Academia and Student to Industry)A4SEE Symposia and an on-line platform will be established as dissemination activity. These symposia and the platform will allow students and sports industry employers to connect by means of: Company Presentations, (Technology) Demonstration Market and Academic Insights.

The EFFECTIVE project intends to demonstrate first of its kind and economically viable routes for the production of biobased polyamides and polyesters from sustainable renewable feedstock for the obtaining of fibres and films with enhanced properties, market competitiveness and increased sustainability. Such materials will be applied into eco-designed large consumer products targeting different markets, i.e. construction, automotive, primary and secondary packaging and textile and with the potential of being applied into many other markets (fishing, engineering plastics, agriculture, hygiene and personal care). Following a circular economy approach, the sustainability of the value chains will be further enhanced by the demonstration of an improved end-of-life of the developed eco-designed biobased solutions through the application of monomer regeneration, recycling (for polyamides based fibres and films) and composting/anaerobic digestion (for polyesters based films) processes. The idea that “the end is a new beginning” will indeed drive the products design and realization. The project covers the whole value chain: feedstock production, conversion into innovative biobased building blocks through biotechnological and chemical processes, formulation of innovative biobased polymers (polyesters and polyamides), final products development, end-of-life products management and processing. The project intends to represent a key milestone towards the future industrialization of biobased fibres and films production in Europe foreseeing the mobilization of relevant investments by involved industry partners and fostering the adoption of multi-stakeholders collaboration models to demonstrate effective ways to develop new cases of biobased economy interconnected with circular regenerative economy joining environmental sustainability and economic profitability.

The main goal of DECOAT is to enable circular use of textiles and plastic parts with (multilayer) ‘coatings’, which are typically not recyclable yet. These ‘coatings’ comprise functional and performance coatings and paints as well as adhesion layers. Therefore, novel triggerable smart polymer material systems and the corresponding recycling processes will be developed. The triggerable solutions will be based on smart additives (like microcapsules or microwave triggered additives) for the ‘coating’ formulations that will be activated by a specific trigger (heat, humidity, microwave, chemical). A continuous recycling pilot plant will demonstrate the novel DECOAT principle that allows upgrading existing mechanical recycling by adding tools for sorting by and activation of the trigger. The optimal use of the Creasolv® process for recycling of coated parts will be assessed. The focus is on recycling of the bulk material, but re-use of the coatings materials themselves will also be tackled. Using these recycling processes, circular use of demo cases for outdoor gear, household electronics and automotive parts will be validated. The novel triggerable DECOAT technologies will create new markets for additives, coatings, paints and adhesives fulfilling the recycling need. The concepts will support designers and product developers for making ‘recyclable-by-design’ products. This will create direct business opportunities for the DECOAT partners and serve as examples for promoting DECOAT solutions to the wider stakeholder community. The targeted products (parts) are coated plastic from cars, electrical and electronic equipment and coated textiles which produce annually almost 3.5 million tons waste. DECOAT will lead to a decrease in landfilling of ca. 75% and a reduction in the carbon footprint by at least 30% for these products. By enabling their recycling, DECOAT is expected to generate on medium term a novel market of over 150 million in Europe (or ca 500 jobs).