Projects

The mission of CORTEX² is to bridge the divide between widespread video-conferencing tools and state-of-the art XR-based solutions, democratising the uptake of next-generation eXtended Reality tele-cooperation among a large number of industrial segments and SMEs. To this aim, our project will provide: (1) Full support for AR experience as extension of videoconferencing systems when using heterogeneous services end devices through a novel Mediation Gateway platform (2) Resource-efficient teleconferencing tools through innovative transmission methods and automatic summarization of shared long documents (3) User-friendly and powerful XR experiences with instant 3D reconstruction of environments and objects and simplified use of natural gestures in collaborative meetings (4) Fusion of vision and audio for multi-channel semantic interpretation and enhanced tools such as dialoguing virtual conversational agents and automatic meeting summarization (5) Full integration of IoT devices in XR experiences to optimize interaction with running systems and processes (6) Optimal extension possibilities and wide uptake opportunity through the delivery of the core system with open APIs and the the organisation of Open calls for extensions towards more technical modules and more use cases in various segments. In order to ensure large adoption and fast scaling of our extended remote cooperation solution, we will use the widespread teleconferencing solution Rainbow from Alcatel Lucent Enterprise as a backbone for our innovative extended reality based tele-cooperation concept, which counts today more than 3 million users worldwide. CORTEX will extend Rainbow to allow for fully interactive XR-based cooperation and will be demonstrated in three pilots: industrial production, business meetings and remote training. Wide uptake will be guaranteed by financement of third-party projects to allow for more technical extensions, wider use-cases and deeper evaluation and assessment.

In recent years, robots are being increasingly deployed outside strictly controlled environments. When faced with unexpected situations, these robots are often incapable of taking appropriate action and require human intervention. The goal of CONVINCE is to advance the capabilities of robots to perform complex tasks robustly and safely within unstructured environments via autonomous and unsupervised adaptation to the environment and operational context. More specifically, the key contribution is to develop cognitive deliberation capabilities that ensure safe robot operation over extended periods of time without human intervention. These capabilities will be integrated into a model-driven software toolchain to allow developers to build application-specific deliberation systems able to i) determine robot’s behaviors required to fulfill a given task, also taking into account the context in which the robot operates and the experience gained during previous executions of the same task, ii) deploy and configure the components that are required to execute these behaviors, iii) automate the analysis of behaviors to ensure that they are safe and secure, leveraging on formal models and tools for design-time and run-time verification. The toolchain shall be based on proven system modeling concepts, particularly from the EU-funded project RobMoSys. Major parts shall be open-sourced with adapters to relevant robotics frameworks like the Robot Operating System (ROS). To ensure real-world applicability, CONVINCE will demonstrate the technology developed in the project on three different real-world use cases, each of which presents unique technical difficulties and utilizes robotic systems of increasing complexity, in different application domains: vacuum cleaner robot, assembly robot, and robotic museum guide.

The usage of fossil resources leading to increasing atmospheric CO2 levels and global climate change should be rapidly replaced by implementing a circular economy. Circular bioeconomy converting sustainable substrates in moderately operating bioprocesses offers a plenitude of solutions. While synthetic biology provides a multitude of tools for strain engineering, their rapid use in hosts for optimal performance under industrial conditions is still challenging. Promising innovations are often trapped in the ‘valley-of-death’ as strain engineering faces a too complex space of putative manipulations. Novel approaches are needed to increase speed and success rate of strain and bioprocess engineering. The bio-intelligent approach, rigorously applied in BIOS, aims to accelerate and improve the conventional ‘design-build-test-learn’ (DBTL) cycle for strain and bioprocess engineering. Interdisciplinary collaboration will bridge microbiology, molecular biology, biochemical engineering with informatics, automation engineering, and mechanical engineering. Novel innovative metrics, biosensors, and bioactuators are developed for bi-directionally communication at biological-technical interfaces. Digital twins are created mimicking cellular and process levels. Integrating AI not only improves prediction quality but also enables hybrid learning, the key reason to increase speed and success rate in the novel bio-intelligent DBTL cycle (biDBTL). The power of biDBTL will be showcased by creating P. putida producer strains for terpenes, polyolefines, and methylacrylate. All are highly attractive products with a high potential for reducing anthropogenic greenhouse footprint. BIOS will open the door to a de-centralized, networked collaboration for strain and process engineering that efficiently links individual expertise for the sake of a symbiotic and rapid progress. BIOS also paves the way to de-centralized bio-manufacturing by implementing autonomous, self-controlled bioprocesses.

One of the central keystones of the digital transformation of society is the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, however recent focus has turned to the energy consumption of the billions of IoT sensor nodes. In order for the realisation of a ‘Green IoT’, low-power sensor nodes are essential, to extend node lifetime, reduce carbon footprint and reduce costs. Spintronics is an emerging technology which has been demonstrated for several key functionalities associated with wireless sensor networks, including sensing, energy harvesting, communication, memories and novel processing paradigms. In SWAN-on-chip a spintronics wireless autonomous node (SWAN) is proposed for low-power edge computing. Three homogeneously CMOS integrated spin-chip modules will be developed and benchmarked in the context of low power IoT nodes (namely magnetic field sensor, wireless power transfer, wake-up receiver) (Objective 1), and these spin-chip modules will be brought together into a SWAN prototype functional demonstrator capable of real world data capture and used for specific end user test cases (i.e. electric vehicles and smart metering) (Objective 2). As well as developing individual spin-chips, a system-on-chip style SWAN-on-chip concept will be validated, with different spintronic functionalities being interconnected via CMOS, either by using multi-functional spintronic stacks or masking techniques to allow multiple spintronics technologies to be processed on a single CMOS wafer (Objective 3). In addition, the SWAN-on-chip concept will be used to validate the ‘spintronics technology accelerator’ platform, where the spintronics equivalent circuit models (Spin-EC) and spintronics multi-project wafer (Spin-MPW) will create a European-level pathway for the fabrication of monolithically integrated Spintronic/CMOS technologies required for boosting devices up the spintronics value chain (Objective 3).

NIMFEIA aims to provide a hardware solution for brain-inspired computing using magnetic materials on the nanoscale combined with advanced spintronics technologies. It is based on the disruptive idea of computation in reciprocal space where nonlinear spin-wave interactions mediated by nontrivial spin textures, such as magnetic vortices, can be efficiently harnessed for reservoir computing tasks like pattern recognition and time series prediction with minimal pre-processing of input data. We will demonstrate the ground-breaking nature of our proposal by meeting four core objectives: (1) Demonstrating the core principles of reservoir computing using GHz-regime spin waves by quantifying and designing nonlinear scattering processes in reciprocal space (TRL 3); (2) Developing an experimental and scalable proof-of-concept device using industrially compatible processes (TRL 4); (3) Demonstrating the utility of the magnon reservoir on a selected pervasive real-world use case, namely gesture and feature recognition from radar data in autonomous driving scenarios (TRL 4-5); (3) Scaling the magnon reservoir to the THz regime by moving towards the edge of the Brillouin zone and through the use of antiferromagnetic materials. While Objectives 1-3 will focus on the validation of the novel technology in laboratory and industrially relevant environment, Objective 4 will provide the groundwork for pushing this technology towards THz frequency operation and 6G compatibility. NIMFEIA will lay the foundations for a new paradigm in nanomagnetic and spintronic technologies that go beyond traditional applications in binary storage and Boolean logic, radiofrequency signal processing, as well as field sensing. It will address major current technological challenges by proposing an energy-efficient computing scheme for edge computing using artificial intelligence.

AI, Data and Robotics (ADR) is omnipresent in our daily lives and key to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing our society. Europe has excellent research centres, innovative start-ups, a world-leading position in robotics and competitive manufacturing and services sectors, from automotive to healthcare, energy, financial services and agriculture. While the essentials are present, European ADR is waiting for exploitation to achieve its full potential. The ADR ecosystem is inherently complex because many stakeholders at many different levels require a holistic strategy towards collaboration to be effective and efficient. The Adra Association, representing the private side of the ADR Partnership, leverages this diversity through its founding organisations (BDVA, euRobotics, CLAIRE, ELLIS, EurAI) and channels it to the benefit of the European ecosystem. The Adra-e CSA proposal is set up in close liaison with Adra Association and includes it as a partner, committed to sustain its outcomes. Adra-e should be seen as the operational arm of the partnership to foster collaboration, convergence and interoperability between communities and disciplines to advance European ADR while safeguarding the interest of European citizens. This is achieved by supporting the ADR Partnership in the update and implementation of the SRIDA, creating the conditions for an inclusive, sustainable, effective, multi-layered, and coherent European ADR ecosystem, leading to increased trust and adoption of ADR, a more competitive supply and demand sides in the EU and raising private investments at the same time.The consortium is composed of leading industry and research organisations with significant expertise in all three disciplines. All are involved in Adra and the associations and partnerships shaping European research. Many of them are supporting the Digitising European Industry initiative from the EC participating in the constitution of Digital Innovation Hubs Network and Digital platforms.

Digital technologies have become pervasive in our daily lives and have fundamentally changed the ways we communicate and interact with information and with each other. We now have access to digital content anytime, anywhere and in a palette of formats, ranging from images, videos, text, speech to virtual and augmented reality experiences. Typically, this has made smartphones, and similar mobile devices, an invaluable source of information and a mean of connection to the world and to others. Yet, by relying almost exclusively on visual and auditory feedbacks, these devices pose evident accessibility issues. Current smartphones and tablets provide accessibility features, but mostly in the form of text-to-speech, which can be impractical and affect literacy, and through connectivity to refreshable Braille displays, which involve an additional peripheral, often bulky and expensive or when small too limited. These devices still prevent the visually impaired access to graphical content and complex notations. A solution would be to develop a specific tablet for the visually impaired, but few of them exist and currently tackle all these challenges. In ABILITY, this will be achieved by proposing a novel cost-effective actuation mechanism for multiline Braille display, relying on fewer and remote actuators able to control independently the Braille cells, and a tablet with innovative multitouch vibrotactile localised feedbacks. This device will provide multisensory interactions and feedback, leveraging AI algorithms for device adaptability to the users’ needs and behaviour for image analysis and predictive writing. The goal is to provide a multisensory device covering the wide range of visual disabilities and needs of the visually impaired population, through combinations of tactile, visual and auditory feedbacks. For this, ABILITY will adopt a user-centred design approach throughout the project to involve the users iteratively in the different design and evaluation stages.

AI is increasingly becoming a significant factor in the CO2 footprint of the European economy. To avoid a conflict between sustainability and economic competitiveness and to allow the European economy to leverage AI for its leadership in a climate friendly way, new technologies to reduce the energy requirements of all parts of AI system are needed. A key problem is the fact that tools (e.g. PyTorch) and methods that currently drive the rapid spread and democratization of AI prioritize performance and functionality while paying little attention to the CO2 footprint. As a consequence, we see rapid growth in AI applications, but not much so in AI applications that are optimized for low power and sustainability. To change that we aim to develop an interactive design framework and associated models, methods and tools that will foster energy efficiency throughout the whole life-cycle of ML applications: from the design and exploration phase that includes exploratory iterations of training, testing and optimizing different system versions through the final training of the production systems (which often involves huge amounts of data, computation and epochs) and (where appropriate) continuous online re-training during deployment for the inference process. The framework will optimize the ML solutions based on the application tasks, across levels from hardware to model architecture. AI developers from all experience levels will be able to make use of the framework through its emphasis on human-centric interactive transparent design and functional knowledge cores, instead of the common blackbox and fully automated optimization approaches in AutoML. The framework will be made available on the AI4EU platform and disseminated through close collaboration with initiatives such as the ICT 48 networks. It will also be directly exploited by the industrial partners representing various parts of the relevant value chain: from software framework, through hardware to AI services.

In PATTERN will world’s first process design kit (PDK) for microwave photonics at ultra-high frequencies above 100 GHz as well as bringing new functionalities into PIC such as magneto-optics isolators and acousto optics modulators (AOM). PATTERN’s approach to ultra-high frequencies is holistic and includes all the aspects such as design and simulation, generation, detestation, modulation, and packaging. To achieve this goal, we propose a massive hybrid integration of several different PIC platforms such as InP and LNOI but also including new materials such as Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG). We also develop co-integration of electronic SiGe chips with PICs which especially a necessity in ultra-high speeds. LNOI is of the most promising emerging materials for PICs that comprises a unique set of interesting optical properties: a high electo-optic coefficient, a high intrinsic 2nd-order nonlinearity, and a large transparency window which makes it ideal for electronics manipulation of light at many wavelengths (EO modulation). InP is an ideal platform for generation and detection of light and YIG is a known magneto-optics material. If put together, truly novel, and advanced functionalities and opportunities arise. In addition, in PATTERN we developed packaging solutions and for such high frequencies which one of the main barriers in this field. Moreover, we also develop software expertise for design automation (e.g. RF signal routing) and end-to-end circuit simulation and design which is extremely challenging at these frequencies. We also demonstrate the capabilities of the platform in 6 different application-oriented prototypes. To achieve these objectives, PATTERN put together the expertise of 10 well know SMEs, RTOs and industrial players to achieve these objectives in 48 months project. Once developed, PATTERN will pave the way for the new generation of advanced PIC products in wide range of applications from telecom, 5G/6G to quantum technologies, LiDAR and sensing.

The M&MEMS project aims at combining the tunability of magnonic systems with the power efficiency and the agility of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), thus empowering a new generation of devices for radio-frequency (RF) communication and microwave signal processing. The consortium brings together 7 EU research groups and 2 industrial partners with a broad range of leading expertise in the fields of magnonics, MEMS, material science and RF electronics. We will first optimize the individual magnonic and MEMS building blocks by simulations and experiments. Then MEMS actuator with permanent magnets will be integrated in standalone PCB demonstrators for the first time. Such M&MEMS chip, which have the capacity to disrupt the wafer-scale based hardware industries, will serve as the cornerstones of a new technology platform bringing spin-wave devices to a new level in terms of energy efficiency, agility, reconfigurability and footprint. Two analog RF electronic functions have been identified by our end-users: an agile-filter with potential application in the field of 5G communication and beyond (NOKIA) and a programmable phase shifter array, the building block of novel directional antenna (Thales). A dedicated Advisory Board (including Rohde & Schwarz and ST Microelectronics) will support the two end-users, having the mission to investigate other possible applications and eventually produce the Roadmap “Beyond M&MEMS”.

As robots are entering unstructured environments with a large variety of tasks, they will need to quickly acquire new abilities to solve them. Humans do so very effectively through a variety of methods of knowledge transfer – demonstration, verbal explanation, writing, the Internet. In robotics, enabling the transfer of skills and software between robots, tasks, research groups, and application domains will be a game changer for scaling up the robot abilities. euROBIN therefore proposes a threefold strategy: First, leading experts from the European robotics and AI research community will tackle the questions of transferability in four main scientific areas: 1) boosting physical interaction capabilities, to increase safety and reliability, as well as energy efficiency 2) using machine learning to acquire new behaviors and knowledge about the environment and the robot and to adapt to novel situations 3) enabling robots to represent, exchange, query, and reason about abstract knowledge 4) ensuring a human-centric design paradigm, that takes the needs and expectations of humans into account, making AI-enabled robots accessible, usable and trustworthy. Second, the relevance of the scientific outcomes will be demonstrated in three application domains that promise to have substantial impact on industry, innovation, and civil society in Europe. 1) robotic manufacturing for a circular economy 2) personal robots for enhanced quality of life 3) outdoor robots for sustainable communities. Advances are made measurable by collaborative competitions. Finally, euROBIN will create a sustainable network of excellence to foster exchange and inclusion. Software, data and knowledge will be exchanged over the EuroCore repository, designed to become a central platform for robotics in Europe. The vision of euROBIN is a European ecosystem of robots that share their data and knowledge and exploit their diversity to jointly learn to perform the endless variety of tasks in human environments.

In order to reinforce European leadership in safe and secure AI technology, we are proposing a virtual center of excellence on safe and secure AI that will address major challenges hampering the deployment of AI technology. These grand challenges are fundamental in nature. Addressing them in a sustainable manner requires a lighthouse rooted in scientific excellence and rigorous methods. We will develop a strategic research agenda which is supported by research programmes that focus on “technical robustness and safety”, “privacy preserving techniques and infrastructures” and “human agency and oversight”. Furthermore, we focus our efforts to detect, prevent and mitigate threats and enable recovery from harm by 3 grand challenges: “Robustness guarantees and certification”, “Private and robust collaborative learning at scale” and “Human-in-the-loop decision making: Integrated governance to ensure meaningful oversight” that cut across 6 use cases: health, autonomous driving, robotics, cybersecurity, multi-media, and document intelligence. Throughout our project, we seek to integrate robust technical approaches with legal and ethical principles supported by meaningful and effective governance architectures to nurture and sustain the development and deployment of AI technology that serves and promotes foundational European values. Our initiative builds on and expands the internationally recognized, highly successful and fully operational network of excellence ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems). We build ELSA on its 3 pillars: research programmes, a set of research units, and a PhD/postdoc programme, thereby connecting a network of over 100 organizations and more than 337 ELLIS fellows and scholars (113 ERC grants) committed to shared standards of excellence. We will not only establish a virtual center of excellence, but all our activities will be also inclusive and open to input, interactions and collaboration of AI researchers and industrial partners in order to drive the entire field forward.

The deluge of big data, accompanied by developments in software and hardware technologies leveraging them, has created new opportunities for research and industry. Europe The main challenges, though, faced by researchers and service providers working with personal data, are stemming from the fact that these data need to be processed in a privacy-preserving way, as they contain sensitive information. Although several technologies have been developed to facilitate the processing of data while preserving privacy, they have not made significant inroads into real use cases, due to several reasons. ENCRYPT will develop a scalable, practical, adaptable privacy-preserving framework, allowing researchers and developers to process data stored in federated cross-border data spaces in a GDPR-compliant way. Within this framework, a recommendation engine for citizens and end-users will be developed, providing them with personalised suggestions on privacy preserving technologies depending on the sensitivity of data and the accepted trade-off between the degree of security and the overall system performance. The ENCRYPT framework will be designed taking into consideration the needs and preferences of relevant actors, and will be validated in a comprehensive, 3-phase validation campaign, comprising i) in-lab validation tests, ii) use cases provided by consortium partners in three sectors, namely the health sector, the cybersecurity sector, and the finance sector, that include cross-border processing of data, and iii) external use cases including privacy preserving computations on federated medical datasets. ENCRYPT will be realised by a multidisciplinary consortium of 14 partners, comprising six companies (including three SMEs, one start-up, and two enterprises), and eight research institutes/universities, and covering the value chain for privacy-preserving computation technologies.

Today only very light AI processing tasks are executed in ubiquitous IoT endpoint devices, where sensor data are generated and access to energy is usually constrained. However, this approach is not scalable and results in high penalties in terms of security, privacy, cost, energy consumption, and latency as data need to travel from endpoint devices to remote processing systems such as data centres. Inefficiencies are especially evident in energy consumption. To keep up pace with the exponentially growing amount of data (e.g., video) and allow more advanced, accurate, safe and timely interactions with the surrounding environment, next-generation endpoint devices will need to run AI algorithms (e.g., computer vision) and other compute intense tasks with very low latency (i.e., units of ms or less) and energy envelops (i.e., tens of mW or less). NimbleAI will harness the latest advances in microelectronics and integrated circuit technology to create an integral neuromorphic sensing-processing solution to efficiently run accurate and diverse computer vision algorithms in resource- and area-constrained chips destined to endpoint devices. Biology will be a major source of inspiration in NimbleAI, especially with a focus to reproduce adaptivity and experience-induced plasticity that allow biological structures to continuously become more efficient in processing dynamic visual stimuli. NimbleAI is expected to allow significant improvements compared to state-of-the-art (e.g., commercially available neuromorphic chips), and at least 100x improvement in energy efficiency and 50x shorter latency compared to state-of-the-practice (e.g., CPU/GPU/NPU/TPUs processing frame-based video). NimbleAI will also take a holistic approach for ensuring safety and security at different architecture levels, including silicon level.

Cell and gene therapies offer a massive paradigm shift from current treatment options and hold the potential to cure previously untreatable diseases. Naturally-occurring and genetically modified T cells with chimeric antigen (CAR) or T cell receptors (TCR) have demonstrated remarkable curative capacities against advanced hematologic malignancies but have shown limited efficacy in treating solid tumors. Major barriers hindering the full antitumor potential of T cells are the immunosuppressive signals and persisting antigenic stimuli within the tumor microenvironment that inexorably push T cells into a highly dysfunctional state called “exhaustion”. Herein, we propose a groundbreaking technology, T-FITNESS, which will enable antitumor T cells to become refractory to exhaustion. At the core of the platform are microRNA (miRNA)-based synthetic logic circuits capable of rewiring the transcriptional networks orchestrating T cell exhaustion. By harnessing the power of CRISPR/Cas genome editing, we will integrate sensors of miRNAs upregulated in exhausted cells into untranslated regions of one or more transcription factors driving T cell exhaustion, to enable their fine-tuned downregulation. We will validate the reprogramming efficacy of T-FITNESS by performing extensive functional analyses in vitro and in vivo and advance the best circuits towards the clinic by developing an automated cGMP-compliant manufacturing process for point-of-care production of T-FITNESS-edited CAR-T cells. To develop this innovative platform, we will bring together a multidisciplinary consortium of academic and industry partners that combine their unique expertise in T cell therapy and immunology, synthetic biology, genome editing, cGMP manufacturing, bioinformatics, and communication. Easily integrable within CAR-T, TCR-T, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) platforms, T-FITNESS will unleash the curative potential of T cell therapy for the benefit of an ever-growing number of cancer patients.

Nearly 746,000 people sustain a spinal cord injury every year, with dramatic human, societal and economical cost, leading to impairment or even complete loss of motor functions. Motor Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs) translate brain neural signals into commands to external effectors. BMIs raise hopes that limb mobility may be restored, providing patients with control over orthoses, prostheses, or over their own limbs using electrical stimulation. In spite of spectacular results, taking neuroprosthetics into daily practice has proven difficult. Currently, neuroprosthetics are restricted to assisted trials in laboratories, and require regular retraining of a decoder in a supervised manner within controlled environments. They include various components (recording device, antennas, base station, computers connected to effectors, etc.) that are complicated to install and to use. Building on the consortium's unique experience in clinical chronic BMIs, the project will address major methodological and technological breakthroughs to achieve the first assistance-free motor neuroprosthetics system. NEMO BMI project will conduct the exploration of assistance-free and easy to use portable neuroprosthetics including wireless neuronal activity recorder, a real-time neuronal activity decoder based on integrated technologies, and a spinal cord stimulator. A first objective is the crucial improvement of usability, by introducing an auto-adaptive framework to train the decoder in an adaptive manner during the neuroprosthetics unsupervised use. Brain-guided spinal cord stimulation activating patients’ limbs with an automatic stimulus pattern optimization is the second project objective. A third objective is the exploration of miniaturized embedded solutions by taking advantage of a novel neuromorphic hardware architecture. NEMO BMI technologies will be studied offline and online in two ongoing clinical trials, and will be critical to specify the next-generation assistance-free BMI.

The Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region faces rapid population growth (currently about 400 million inhabitants) as well as political and socio-economic instabilities. These challenges, experienced by a part of the world that is already hot and arid, are exacerbated by droughts and the extreme weather conditions associated with rapid climate change. Extremes of temperature, in combination with increasing air pollution and windblown desert dust, could in the near future lead to intolerable conditions, ultimately compromising human habitability and promoting migration. Since climate change and air quality share many common sources, it appears logical to focus on the development of amelioration strategies that combine the goals of limiting climate change and reducing air pollution. It has been estimated that mankind may have a relatively small-time window - up to the middle of the century - in which to implement solutions to these challenges, particularly as far as climate change is concerned. Edu4ClimAte will engage Advanced Partners (from France, Austria, Germany, Finland) to strengthen the scientific excellence of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from twin islands of widening countries (Greece, Cyprus) with a view to establish a “regional hub of knowledge” in air pollution and climate change research and innovative solutions, engaging their respective surrounding ecosystems from the quadruple helix in addressing these societal challenges over the wider EMME. Edu4ClimAte will enhance local, regional, and international clusters led by its consortium with a view to build the foundation of an inclusive European Universities Alliance made of Advanced and Widening HEIs in Climate & Atmospheric Sciences to optimally support the current EU Green Deal ambition and its regional challenges, train and educate the next generation of researchers and innovators to achieve the EU long-term 2050 climate-neutrality objectives.

Thrid-generation, single-molecule long-read sequencing technologies such as Nanopore and Pacbio are revolutionizing transcriptome research and are expected to outcompete short-reads sequencing for gene expression studies. However, technical and bioinformatics challenges exist to the realization of this full potential. In this project, we will train a team of excellent Doctoral Candidates to become the European and world leaders in the field of long reads transcriptome sequencing (lrRNA-seq). The team will address three fundamental aspects of current barriers to the progress that these technologies face. a) Obtaining high-quality sequencing and preprocessed data from improved library preparation protocols and bioinformatics preprocessing methods, b) Establishment of benchmarked analysis pipelines for the application of these approaches to genome annotation and isoform usage analysis both in bulk and single-cell samples, and c) Extension of long reads to multi-omics applications for the study of regulatory biology. Additionally, DC will follow an intensive and comprehensive training program composed of scientific and soft skills training, including activities related to pressing societal challenges such as climate change, diversity and inclusion, and the ethics of science. Students will complement their education through secondments in top European laboratories and Companies as well as through exposure to a network of worldwide experts in the field of RNA research.

ATLANTIS aims at enhancing resilience and Cyber-Physical-Human (CPH) security of the key EU Critical Infrastructures, going beyond the scope of distinct assets, systems, and single CI, by addressing resilience at the systemic level against major natural hazards and complex attacks that could potentially disrupt vital functions of the society. The mission of ATLANTIS, which involves 39 European partners with complementary roles and skills, is to improve the resilience and the protection capabilities of interconnected ECI exposed to evolving systemic risks due to existing and emerging large-scale, combined, cyber-physical threats and hazards, guarantee the continuity of operations, while minimizing cascading effects in the infrastructure itself, the environment, other CIs, and the involved population, enabling public and private actors to meet current and emerging challenges by adopting sustainable security solutions. The mission of ATLANTIS will be achieved by - Improving knowledge on large-scale, vulnerability assessment and long-term systemic risks. - Improving the systemic resilience of ECI, through novel, adaptive, flexible, and customizable security measures (“by design”) and tools (“by innovation”). - Improving effective cooperation among CI operators and government security stakeholders, while preserving CI autonomy and sovereignty. - Delivering an open TRL-7 technological framework that will provide the ECIs with AI -based solutions for increased AWARENESS, CAPABILITY and COOPERATION in managing systemic threats. The ATLANTIS solution will be validated and demonstrated in 3 large-scale cross-border and cross-sector pilots: - LSP#1: Cross-Border/Cross Domain Large Scale Pilot in Transport, Energy and Telecoms (Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and France); - LSP#2: Cross Domain Large Scale Pilot in Health, Logistics/Supply Chain and Border control (Cyprus, Greece and Croatia); - LSP#3: Cross-Country Large-Scale Pilot in FinTech/Financial (Spain, Germany, Cyprus).

LAGO will deliver the foundation for a trusted EU FTC Research Data Ecosystem (RDE) to address the so-called “Data Issue” in the FCT research landscape, i.e., the lack of domain-specific data in sufficient quality and quantity to enable appropriate training and testing of the developed methods, platforms and tools. LAGO will be instrumental in identifying common barriers and subsequently providing the structural, governance and technical foundations to foster and innovate data-oriented research collaboration among LEAs, security practitioners, relevant EU agencies, academic and industry researchers, policy makers and regulators. For this purpose, LAGO will develop an evidence-based and validated multi-actor Reference Architecture for the FCT RDE for these actors to deposit, share and co-create data and tools for FCT research purposes based on common rules, protocols, standards and instruments in a trusted and secured environment. The envisaged Reference Architecture and accompanying governance framework will be based on the design principles of decentralisation, data sovereignty, data quality, openness, transparency and trust and comply with EU values and principles on data protection, privacy and ethics. The Reference Architecture will be accompanied by a TRL-7 Reference Implementation of added-value technological tools to ensure practical realisation of the Reference Architecture as multiple data spaces and across the full range of concrete usage scenarios. A Roadmap will finally provide the consolidated rules, conditions and considerations for the actual deployment of the EU FCT RDE. The ultimate ambition of LAGO is to go beyond the creation of a common repository in order to innovate the FCT data-oriented research sphere by creation the crucial foundations for the sustainable, safe and trusted creation, co-creation, sharing and maintenance of training and testing datasets for the FCT research domain.

To face the grand challenge of transforming the energy system to include at least 42 % photovoltaic energy in 2050 (as forecasted in a scenario by IRENA), our proposed project, SITA, aims to explore innovative concepts for tandem solar cells based on two technologies with strong competence base in Europe: Silicon Heterojunction (SHJ) and high bandgap Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 (CIGS). A novel tandem concept with a 2-terminal (2T) approach requiring no additional cables or electronics will be developed, enabled by recent and further development in wide gap CIGS devices leading to high efficiency (>18%). SITA will demonstrate the durability of the new modules under realistic outdoor conditions delivering the next generation of stable inorganic tandem solar modules with superior device efficiency (>30%). SITA’s technology will build on and increase the efficiency of SHJ modules by a factor of 1.5 with marginal increase in the use of the costliest raw materials. This in turn leads to a considerable reduction in area related system costs of up to 25 % per installed power and a corresponding reduction in the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Tandem-junction efficiencies have recently approached or even surpassed the single-junction Shockley-Queisser limit for prototype devices. SITA will address the remaining limitations in terms of stability, scaling and manufacturing costs, as well as environmental impact.

The TRIUMPH project aims to initiate the development of a future PV cell technology node, based on an advanced triple junction cell concept, that is widely considered to be the next technology node to come after tandems. Presently, there is considerable amount of attention and research and development (R&D) activities devoted to Pk/Si tandems and already promising cell efficiencies, reliability and outdoor performance results have been obtained. The highest efficiency reported for a 2-terminal (2T) Pk/Si tandem is 29.8%, which has already gone past the Auger limit of Si. Therefore, in TRIUMPH, we plan to venture a step further than tandems by targeting TRIple junction devices, that can add the extra “OOMPH” (hence the name TRIUMPH) needed to reach efficiencies even >33%. These 2T triple junction devices will be based on perovskites for the middle and top cells and silicon for the bottom cell and will build on the knowledge garnered in the field of Pk/Si tandems. Additionally, cost-effective processing techniques that are industrially viable will be selected for scale-up developments, with minimal upscaling performance loss and degradation during reliability testing and outdoor monitoring. As we enter the tera-watt (TW) era of PV deployment, using earth-abundant materials and enforcing circularity become necessities. Towards this objective, we not only explore options that reduce critical raw materials (CRM) such as silver (Ag) and indium (In) in the triple junction devices, but also apply design for recycling principles to the triple junction modules. The consortium consists of 14 complementary partners from both research institutions and industry, each bringing their best forte to the table, which will help to establish the pathway and the value chain for future multi-junction modules. In this way, TRIUMPH would help the European Union (EU) to maintain its technological leadership in the PV domain for the future generation of PV technologies.

Facing to the challenge of future highly automated vehicles, where occupants can freely orient themselves to engage in non-driving activities. This new environment prompts questions about how car occupants will actually sit, what activities they will engage in, and how they will informed through the HMI to keep them in the loop if necessary. AWARE2ALL aims to pave the way towards Highly Automated Vehicles (HAVs) deployment in traffic, by effectively addressing the changes in road safety and changes in the interaction of different road users caused by the emergence of HAV through the development of innovative technologies along with the corresponding assessment tools and methodologies. AWARE2ALL will develop safety and HMI systems that will be interrelated through achieving a holistic understanding of the scene to ensure safe operation of the HAV. AWARE2ALL proposes a common conceptual universal safety framework for considering Human Machine Interaction (HMI). The project will be built on the results of projects funded under H2020 and other R&D programmes addressing the identification of new safety-critical situations and the most likely positions and postures considering the expected HAV applications. The main objective of AWARE2ALL is to address the new safety challenges posed by the introduction of HAVs in mixed road traffic, through the development of inclusive and innovative safety (passive and active) and HMI (interior and exterior) systems that will consider the variety of population and will objectively demonstrate relevant improvements in mixed traffic safety.

During the past few years many projects and initiatives were undertaken deploying and testing Automated Vehicles (AVs) for public transportation and logistics. However in spite of their ambition, all of these projects stayed on the level of elaborated experimentation and never reached the level of a large-scale commercial deployment of transport services. The reasons for this are many, the most important being the lack of economically viable and commercially realistic models, the lack of scalability of the business and operating models, and the lack of user oriented services required for large end-user adoption of the solutions. The ULTIMO project will create the very first economically feasible and sustainable integration of AVs for MaaS public transportation and LaaS urban goods transportation. ULTIMO aims to deploy in three sites in Europe 15 or more multi-vendor SAE L4 AVs per site. A user centric holistic approach, applied throughout the project, will ensure that all elements in a cross-sector business environment are incorporated to deliver large-scale on-demand, door-to-door, well-accepted, shared, seamless-integrated and economically viable CCAM services. We target the operation without safety driver on-board, in a fully automated and mission management mode with the support of innovative user centric passenger services. ULTIMO’s innovative transportation models are designed for a long-term sustainable impact on automated transportation in Europe, around the globe and on society. The composition of the consortium ensures the interoperability between multiple stakeholders by making adoption of new technology at minimum costs and maximum safety. The integration of the ongoing experiments of previous AV-demonstrator projects ensures highest possible technical and societal impacts from the very beginning of the project, as well as during the project lifetime and even long after its completion.

EuPRAXIA is a distributed, compact and innovative accelerator facility based on plasma technology. It has been selected for the 2021 Update of the ESFRI Roadmap. In its first phase, its consortium of 51 institutes and industry partners will construct an electron-beam-driven plasma accelerator in the metropolitan area of Rome, thus bringing innovation, potential for spin-off companies, state-of-the art scientific applications and a vibrant international user community to the middle of Italy. In its second phase, EuPRAXIA will build one laser-driven plasma accelerator at a site to be chosen between several options in Europe. EuPRAXIA will serve users in ultra-fast science, e.g. on high-resolution medical imaging, deeply penetrating positron annihilation spectroscopy for materials and with Europe’s most southern free-electron laser (FEL). It will offer fascinating capabilities for research on biomolecules, viruses and microscopic processes. EuPRAXIA will thus be a transformative step in the development of ultra-compact accelerators and applications. The Preparatory Phase project EuPRAXIA-PP will prepare its full implementation.

A major roadblock for silicon-based optoelectronics and its quantum applications is that conventional cubic silicon has an indirect band gap, and hence it is optically inactive. ONCHIPS will capitalize on a recent breakthrough from within its consortium: growth and optical characterization of a revolutionary new material: hexagonal germanium-silicon (hex-GeSi), which is a silicon-based, optically active, direct-bandgap semiconductor. Building on this discovery, ONCHIPS' key objectives are as follows: (1) We will for the first time grow advanced hex-GeSi heterostructures for quantum technology applications. (2) We will realise spin qubits in quantum dots in hex-GeSi. (3) We will create spin-photon interfaces in hex-GeSi, made possible by the direct bandgap of the material. (4) We will build single-photon detectors for wavelengths beyond 2 micrometers, optimized for emission from hex-GeSi. This project is well aligned with the scope of the call, and will foster the integration of electronic and optoelectronic functionalities based on a silicon-based direct-bandgap semiconductor, using a combination of facilities and expertise that is available only in Europe. Hence ONCHIPS will establish a strong contribution to European innovation leadership in electronics, photonics, emerging enabling technologies in general, and quantum technologies in particular, making our contributions highly relevant for the work program. This new material has the potential to be compatible with standard silicon-based semiconductor technology, benefitting from established roadmaps on miniaturization and scalability.

The Internet has had a revolutionary impact on our world. The vision of a Quantum Internet is to provide fundamentally new Internet technology by enabling quantum communication between any two points on earth. In synergy with the ‘classical’ Internet that we have today, a Quantum Internet will connect quantum processors to achieve unparalleled capabilities that are provably impossible using classical communication. The mission of the Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA) is to build a global Quantum Internet made in Europe – by developing a full-stack prototype network, and by driving an innovative European Quantum Internet ecosystem capable of scaling the network to world-leading European technology. Building on its proven track record in teamwork, which has already resulted in world first Quantum Internet technology, QIA advances this mission in two complementary objectives: The first is the realization of a full-stack prototype network able to distribute entanglement between two metropolitan-scale networks via a long-distance backbone (>500 km) using quantum repeaters. The second is the establishment of a European platform for Quantum Internet development, which will act as a catalyst for a European Quantum Internet Ecosystem including actors all along the value chain. QIA’s network will enable advanced quantum-network applications and prepare the ground for secure quantum computing in the cloud, thanks to our new generation of end nodes including both processing nodes and low-cost photonic client devices. Nodes in the metropolitan network will be interconnected via hubs that allow the scalable connection of hundreds of end nodes, paving the way for early adopters. The long-distance backbone will be realized using fully functional quantum repeaters unlocking Pan-European end-to-end quantum communication. QIA’s prototype network will operate on standard optical fibers and serves to validate all key sub-systems, ready to be scaled by European industry.

Demand for agricultural commodities from EU agrofood systems are driving land use change in biodiversity-rich countries in the Global South, leading to major biodiversity losses. Tackling the EU’s global biodiversity footprint is a top EU policy priority. The science demonstrates the need for transformative change in economic, social, and financial models for safe and just transitions, but there is limited knowledge on how to achieve transformative change in practice, which requires navigation of biodiversity, climate and equity trade-offs and synergies. TC4BE will support transdisciplinary research on different dimensions and scales of telecoupled agrofood systems, engaging diverse stakeholders, including EU and producer-country policy-makers and Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Scenarios and modelling of EU agrofood systems transformations, will be complemented by analysis of EU governance, trade, legal, consumer, collective action and sustainable finance levers and social innovations. In three producer countries (Cameroon, Colombia, and Kenya), TC4BE will generate methods for and assess land use change drivers, at-risk biodiversity hotspots, and the effectiveness of Sustainable Landscapes Initiatives. In six landscapes TC4BE will explore relationships to nature, perceptions of socio-ecological histories and futures, rigorously evaluate SLIs, and conduct regenerative enterprise case studies using a structured landscape learning process. Transformative change pathways will be co-generated by diverse stakeholders recognizing plural values and informed by new evidence, decision-making tools and training modules. The overall process will strengthen the capacity of participating stakeholders (care-knowledge-agency) to influence biodiversity and equity outcomes. A global dialogue, facilitated by the Global Landscapes Forum will link the transdisciplinary processes between the scales, supported by additional dissemination and communication activities.

Marine microbial communities perform critical life sustaining functions on Earth and represent a vast unexploited treasure trove of bioresources that have the potential to strengthen the European blue economy. To unlock this hidden potential, as well as responsibly conduct biodiscovery from marine microbes requires multiple developments. We need to amalgamate and apply advanced technologies to elucidate the composition, interactions and functional repertoire of the marine microbiome, while concomitantly ensuring sustainable and equitable exploitation, maintaining ocean health, and improving ocean literacy through an improved appreciation of ocean microbes. To address these needs, BlueRemediomics will: (1) develop and provide an integrated bioinformatics platform to explore the marine microbiome potential; (2) establish innovative culturomics and high-throughput screening platforms to experimentally exploit consortia of marine microbes; (3) apply the platforms to identify and develop natural products derived from marine microbes; (4) foster aquaculture and ecosystem services that embody the “do no significant harm” principle; (5) maximise equitable access to ocean microbiome resources and increase awareness of the marine microbiome to a diverse range of stakeholders; (6) Provide training, tools and resources to a variety of stakeholders. To achieve these objectives, BlueRemediomics interlinks an advanced “Discovery Platform” with “Applications”, so designed to facilitate cyclical and iterative crosstalk. By federating multiple, currently fragmented key data resources, the Discovery Platform will accelerate new product identification and development, reduce resource dependence, raise consumer benefits and address key societal issues. New modalities in access and benefit sharing will be established that balance sustainable and equitable use of marine genetic resources with intellectual property protection.

The Ocean plays a crucial role in the global C cycle, taking up approximately 25% of the CO2 we emit to the atmosphere, and thus slowing the rate of climate change. The future trajectory of this sink will affect the timing and intensity of the modifications to human processes that we need to undertake in order to stabilise atmospheric CO2 at 450ppm. Our ability to measure and model this sink is limited (evidenced by significant discrepancies between measured and modelled C uptake) with the current frontier area of research being a suite of biological processes related to higher trophic level behaviour within the so called biological C pump. This involvement of higher organisms suggests that human activities (fishing, energy and mineral extraction) has the capacity to affect the ocean C sink however we lack the ability to quantitatively link direct human pressures and ocean C storage. Ocean ICU will measure these key processes and evaluate their overall significance, transferring those that are important into models that inform the IPCC process and in this way contribute to resolving the observed model data mismatch of Ocean C sink estimates. We will take this message directly to the COP in support of the ambition the UNFCCC has to include the ocean C sink in the global stocktake. We will use the fundamental knowledge we acquire around biological systems to evaluate the ability of human interventions in the ocean to alter the carbon cycle and produce management tools that allow the tension between resource extraction and C storage to be addressed. This component will involve extensive dialogue with end users and stakeholders and lead to a Decision Support Tool that will constitute a major contribution to our ability to deliver the Green Deal by allowing us to ask questions around how to manage fisheries and resource extraction in a changed ocean in 50 years time.

Low risk pesticides (LRP) including (i) plant extracts (ii) semiochemicals like pheromones and allelochemicals, (iii) microbial pesticides, are gaining ground in the global market, as substitutes of synthetic pesticides. In addition, new microbial solutions (phages, protists, microbial consortia) and ds-RNA pesticides are emerging, low-risk solutions expect to reach the market in coming years. Despite on-going regulatory efforts by the European Commission, we are still lacking a concrete risk assessment (RA) scheme relevant to LRPs, a point which blocks LRPs reaching the EU market. RATION timely comes to address these regulatory constraints and aims to develop a novel RA scheme, supported by the necessary guidance on methods and tools, tailored to the specific characteristics of established and emerging LRP solutions. This main goal will be achieved through a series of interrelated WPs aiming (i) to map the current status of LRPs in Europe and identify main regulatory constraints (WP1). In this quest it will be supported by a stakeholders forum composed of all relevant actors (industry, regulators, academics, famers, general public); (ii) to develop and validate, through a proof-of-concept exercise, innovative RA (and associated tools) for microbials (WP2), plant extracts, semiochemicals, pheromones (WP3) and, ds-RNA (WP4); and from there (iii) build a harmonized RA for all LRP and determine its socioeconomic impact (WP5), (iv) to effectively communicate and disseminate the new RA knowledge and its associated tools developed by RATION to relevant actors ensuring sustainability beyond project duration (WP6). RATION will benchmark EU regulatory science, uplift blockers holding back LRP uptake by the EU market and motivate research innovation in plant protection. To achieve these goals 22 partners from academia, industry and regulatory bodies, representing 10 member states and 2 non-EU member states, will join forces in a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary effort.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and lung cancer (LC) are leading causes of deaths and intertwined chronic inflammatory processes associated with metabolism reprogramming, clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), intestinal dysbiosis, and maladaptive immunity. CVD prone-tobacco users exhibit a 1-2% yearly incidence of LC. Low dose computed tomography screening programs reduce LC mortality by 20%. Beyond epidemiological scores, risk identification, early cancer detection and interception are mostly based on cell autonomous approaches. Understanding pathophysiological failures linking CVD to LC would allow to take steps for prevention. Based on metabolo-metageno-proteo-immuno-gen-omics, our PREVALUNG prospective study conducted in CVD tobacco consumers allowed to unveil four drivers of early carcinogenesis leading to actionable biomarkers that can be harnessed to pioneer personalized interceptive measures. Four main objectives will be harnessed by 7 academic partners (transdisciplinarity and trialists in interception), 3 diagnostic Biotech Cies and one nutrition Foundation. First, refine and validate in retro- and pro-spective cohorts (>60.000), the 4 classifiers relying on the 4 inflammatory drivers (autophagy/innate immunity/intestinal barrier defects and CHIP) to implement patient stratification. Second, develop and validate robust friendly-user tools monitoring such biomarkers for routine risk assessment. Third, demonstrate the actionability of these biomarkers through a biologically-informed multi-arm randomised trial testing measures targeting each of the 4 main drivers of inflammation using food supplements or pharmacological agents (metformin, anti-NKG2A/PDL-1 Abs, IL-1 inhibitor, probiotics respectively) in addition to diet and life-style changes to return to homeostasis. Fourth, to adapt a secured interface between patients and clinical researchers using these new tools to the longitudinal monitoring of the interceptive measures.

TRISTAN’S overarching aim is to expand, mature and industrialize the European RISC-V ecosystem so that it is able to compete with existing commercial alternatives. This will be achieved by leveraging the Open-Source community to gain in productivity and quality. This goal will be achieved by defining a European strategy for RISC-V based designs including the creation of a repository of industrial quality building blocks to be used for SoC designs in different application domains (e.g. automotive, industrial, etc.). The TRISTAN approach is holistic, covering both electronic design automation tools (EDA) and the full software stack. The broad consortium will expose a large number of engineers to RISC-V technology, which will further encourage adoption. This ecosystem will ensure a European sovereign alternative to existing industrial players. The 3-year project fits in the strategy of the European Commission to support the digital transformation of all economic and societal sectors, and speed up the transition towards a green, climate neutral and digital Europe. This transformation includes the development of new semiconductor components, such as processors, as these are considered of key importance in retaining technological and digital sovereignty and build on significant prior investments in knowledge generation in this domain. Development strategies leveraging public research funding that exploit Open-Source have been shown to boost productivity, increase security, increase transparency, allow better interoperability, reduce cost to companies and consumers, and avoid vendor lock-ins. The TRISTAN consortium is composed of 46 partners from industry (both large industries as well as SMEs), research organizations, universities and RISC-V related industry associations, originating from Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Switzerland.

Micro-bolometer sensors are compact, light, low power, reliable and affordable infrared imaging components. They are ahead of the cooled infrared sensors for these criteria but lag behind them in terms of performance: - Existing micro-bolometer technologies have thermal time constants around 10 msec. This is more than 10 times that of cooled detectors. - Moreover, there is no multispectral micro-bolometer sensor available today for applications such as absolute thermography and optical gas imaging. BRIGHTER will develop 2 new classes of micro-bolometer solutions to reduce the performance gap with their cooled counterparts: - Fast thermal micro-bolometer imaging solutions with time constant in the 2.5 to 5 msec range, that is to say 2 to 4 times faster than that of today’s micro-bolometer technologies. Read out integrated circuits able to operate up to 500 frames per seconds will also be investigated. - Multi-spectral micro-bolometer solutions with at least access at the pixel level to 2 different wavelengths in the range 7 to 12 µm. The developments will focus on pixel technology, Read Out Integrated Circuit, low power edge image signal processing electronic, optics, and image treatment algorithms. All stakeholders of the value chain are involved: academics, RTO, micro-bolometer manufacturer, algorithm developers, camera integrators and end users. They will collaborate to define the best trade-offs for all use-cases. The 2 new classes of products that will spring from BRIGHTER will generate concrete benefits. They will make it possible to save on material and energy in the manufacturing sector, perform efficient and affordable monitoring of infrastructures and trains, contribute to autonomous vehicles sensor suite, decrease the road casualties among Vulnerable Road Users, better control gas emission in cities and industrial areas. These new usages served by the European industry will allow Europe to increase its market share in the infrared imaging industry.

EdgeAI is as a key initiative for the European digital transition towards intelligent processing solutions at the edge. EdgeAI will develop new electronic components and systems, processing architectures, connectivity, software, algorithms, and middleware through the combination of microelectronics, AI, embedded systems, and edge computing. EdgeAI will ensure that Europe has the necessary tools, skills, and technologies to enable edge AI as a viable alternative deployment option to legacy centralised solutions, unlocking the potential of ubiquitous AI deployment, with the long-term objective of Europe taking the lead of Intelligent Edge. EdgeAI will contribute to the Green Deal twin transition with a systemic, cross-sectoral approach, and will deliver enhanced AI-based electronic components and systems, edge processing platforms, AI frameworks and middleware. It will develop methodologies to ease, advance and tailor the design of edge AI technologies by co-ordinating efforts across 48 of the brightest and best R&D organizations across Europe. It will demonstrate the applicability of the developed approaches across a variety of vertical solutions, considering security, trust, and energy efficiency demands inherent in each of these use cases. EdgeAI will significantly contribute to the grand societal challenge to increase the intelligent processing capabilities at the edge.

The mission of the Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA) is to build a global Quantum Internet made in Europe – by developing a full-stack prototype network, and by driving an innovative European Quantum Internet ecosystem capable of scaling the network to worldleading European technology. Building on its proven track record in teamwork, which has already resulted in world first Quantum Internet technology, QIA advances this mission in two complementary objectives: The first is the realization of a full-stack prototype network able to distribute entanglement between two metropolitan-scale networks via a long-distance backbone (>500 km) using quantum repeaters. The second is the establishment of a European platform for Quantum Internet development, which will act as a catalyst for a European Quantum Internet Ecosystem including actors all along the value chain. QIA’s network will enable advanced quantum-network applications and prepare the ground for secure quantum computing in the cloud, thanks to our new generation of end nodes including both processing nodes and low-cost photonic client devices. Nodes in the metropolitan network will be interconnected via hubs that allow the scalable connection of hundreds of end nodes, paving the way for early adopters. The long-distance backbone will be realized using fully functional quantum repeaters unlocking Pan-European end-to-end quantum communication. QIA’s prototype network will operate on standard optical fibers and serves to validate all key sub-systems, ready to be scaled by European industry. In this first SGA we will advance towards the long-term objectives set up in the FPA project. Here we present in detail how work will be implemented during this first phase of the SGA.