SmartShip aims to bring together Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) of focused Universities, Research Institutions and Companies oriented into the maritime sector in order to build a holistic integrated ICT-based framework for the sustainable, individualized and completely automated energy management of ships. To accomplish this, it will take advantage of all the know-how that the consortium brings to the project referring to ICT technologies such as Data Analytics, IoT exploitation, DSS use, visualization tools, optimization algorithms and tools and Circular Economy approach methods. Smartship aims to offer a multi-layer optimization in the fields of fuel consumption, energy efficiency and emissions control management, in full respect to the implementation of the requirements of maritime sector regulations and taking into account applications of circular economy concepts in the maritime as well. Knowledge exchange between the partners that are already involved in the maritime sector, the ICT technology industry partners and the academia partners is one of the major Smartship’s objectives and will be materialised through corresponding secondments during the whole project’s timeplan. These synergies aim to build stronger collaboration relationships between the partners with respect to their future exploitation beyond Smartship project. Summing up Smartship will capitalise on available COTS technologies and will deliver an ICT & IoT-enabled holistic cloud-based maritime performance & monitoring system, for the entire lifecycle of a ship, aimed to optimise energy efficiency, emissions reduction and fuel consumption, whist introducing circular economy concepts in the maritime field.

Phoenix aims to develop a fundamentally novel computational model for reconstructing complex software systems, following some massive internal failure or external infrastructure damage. Recovering system operations is a challenging problem as it may require excessive system reconstruction using a different infrastructure (i.e., computational and communication devices named system cells) from the one that the system was originally designed for. Thus, software functionality may have to be remodularised and allocated onto devices with very different characteristics than the ones originally used but with some generic capabilities. Phoenix aims to develop a bio-inspired paradigm for reconstructing nearly extinct complex software systems based on a novel computational DNA (co-DNA) oriented systems modelling approach. The co-DNA will encapsulate logic and program code and will enable the use of analogues of biological processes for transmitting, transforming, combining, activating and deactivating it across computational and communication devices. The purpose of encoding the co-DNA of a system, and computational analogues of biological processes using it, is to enable other computational devices receiving the co-DNA to act as parts of the system that needs to be reconstructed, realise chunks of its functionality, and spread further the system reconstruction process. The Phoenix approach will bring a breakthrough in the current software system design and engineering paradigm. This will be through, not only a fundamentally new way of engineering mechanisms to support the resilience, continuity and recovery of software systems, but also the initiation of a new paradigm of designing and implementing software systems, based on the encoding of a system co-DNA that can trigger processes of self-regulated and incrementally expanding system functionality.

The overall aim of CE-IoT is to develop an innovative framework of interplay between Circular Economy and IoT, to explore novel ways in which this interaction can drastically change the nature of products, services, business models and ecosystems. The CE-IoT framework will be bi-dimensional and bi-directional in terms of circularity, aiming to develop (i) novel circular economy business models and service supply chains to unlock CE-IoT synergies in order to generate direct value for customers/end-users and augmenting resource productivity across economies by forming new ecosystems that eliminate both negative externalities and the need for considerable resources altogether, and (ii) open, circular-by-design IoT architecture, where “smart” IoT objects (e.g., sensors, devices, systems and components) are integrated in the IoT ecosystem through patterns with proven key circularity-enabling properties (scalable connectivity, end-to-end security/privacy, dependability and interoperability) to maximize IoT resource and data harvesting in a new breed of circular-by-design IoT ecosystems. To achieve its overall aim, CE-IoT will undertake research and innovation activities to (i) establish a comprehensive framework with IoT as a key enabling and facilitating technology of the circular economy from a business perspective based on circular economy design patterns, (ii) to develop an open modular, circular-by-design IoT architecture based on IoT architectural design patterns and (iii) to integrate an overarching pattern-driven CE-IoT framework covering both business and technical aspects. CE-IoT will carry out comprehensive evaluation of the CE-IoT framework covering business, technical and legal aspects through two demonstrators in the domains of telecommunication and cloud services and will create conditions for effectuating circular economy principles through seamless integration with IoT technology and to broaden the use of the CE-IoT framework.

The Circular Economy paradigm, accelerated within the context of Industry 4.0, has been increasingly applied both inside and outside the manufacturing domain. The set of new capabilities, skills and competencies developed through I4.0 need to be augmented and enhanced in order to conform to the Triple Bottom Line perspective (profit, people, planet).These enhancements initially affect supply chains management and then expand towards entrepreneurship, business model development, innovation management and societal development. Research shows that there is a significant potential to address the complex challenges towards a more sustainable and resilient society by cross-fertilizing these disciplines through the CE perspective, via provisioning new courses and practical cases. For this reason, the joint CE-I4.0 evolution needs to be grounded on a new set of knowledge and best practices to be provided through both high education (HE) and vocational education and training, demanding systemic ways for sustainable development.CERES recognizes the need to shift the restricted focus of CE from firms to a more extended and system-level view that considers skills, competences and knowledge needs (provided from various business sectors such as e-waste, textiles, renewable energy, etc) to be supplied to HE and VET. This would catalyse the embracement of CE under a social development perspective from the preliminary stage of training and education. In this context, CERES’ new innovation ecosystem, the Circular Economy Digital Innovation Hub (CE-DIH), is aimed to promote connectedness among the stakeholders and to generate a systematised set of services, skills, competences and knowledge able to support the multi-faceted CE domain. The CE-DIH can be strategic not only to raise awareness but also to provide the most suitable and complete set of services able to support the circular enrichment and transition of both companies on the market and individuals in society.

The Social sciences & Humanities for Achieving a Responsible, Equitable and Desirable GREEN DEAL (SHARED GREEN DEAL) project brings together 22 leading organisations from across the EU including 8 universities, 3 research institutions, 8 network organisations and 3 SMEs. Our network partners cover core elements of the European Green Deal cross cutting priorities such as civil society, democracy, gender, energy, environment, circular economy and innovation. Our objectives directly address the call challenge with an aim to share actions, understandings, evidence, insights, responsibilities and benefits across stakeholders including policymakers and civil society. Issues of inclusivity and diversity are at the heart of the project to particularly account for disadvantaged and vulnerable social groups. SHARED GREEN DEAL will meet its objectives through a set of 11 workpackages. It is structured around lessons from a set of 6 social experiments around 6 priority Green Deal topics. Each social experiment will be delivered across 4 member states. Importantly we take a transdisciplinary approach, covering 19 social science and humanities disciplines, with multi-stakeholder, practice-based and policy-science expertise, including gender studies as a key component throughout. The output includes the development of tools (e.g. an online Green Deal policy tracker), as well as translating project findings into stakeholder-specific policy briefs and roundtable events. The partners are committed to continuing to host the transnational network set up post-project to ensure longevity and impact beyond the life of the project. SHARED GREEN DEAL is expected to deliver changes in societal practices and in the behaviour of individuals, communities, and public and private organisations. Through the development of effective new strategies, we will address behavioural change and long-term commitment, trust, social acceptance and buy-in from people, communities and organisations.