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RobotUnion will discover, support and fund 20 European Superstar Scaleups confirmed by top VC investors and global corporates of 4 new market domains for robotics: manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and civil infrastructure. 40 companies developing research will be selected out of a pan-European deal flow of 300 Scaleups through 2 Open Calls. The top 20 will join an acceleration program that will help them progress from TRL4 to TRL7 onwards. This 2 up to 16-months program will provide them with technical and non-technical support services: • Ph-D in residence type of service (the so-called Technical Mentors and Researchers-in-Residence will provide access to knowledge in abilities such as configurability, adaptability, motion, manipulation, decisional autonomy, dependability, interaction, perception, and cognitive ability) • Entrepreneur-in-residence type of support (provided by a pool of world-class training and high-level business mentoring complemented by fundraising mentors) • A voucher scheme to provide access to facilities and technical services across Europe • Up to €200K of free-equity funding for the best-in-class companies. 8 best-in-class companies will start a fundraising campaign led by the VCs and platforms in the consortium leveraging the €8M of public funding with additional €8M of private investment. To this end RobotUnion counts on 5 premier-class RTOs specialized in Robotics at European Level to provide technical support; 4 corporates enabling access to new markets: MADE in Manufacturing, ARLA food in Agri-food, FENIN in Healthcare and FERROVIAL in Infrastructure; CHRYSALIX and ODENSE S&V, as VCs of references in robotics, to lead the fundraising campaigns. Business support partners are FMWC (dissemination), FBA (open call management), ISDI (business acceleration) and BLM (fundraising and access to corporates). RobotUnion will help demonstrate how Europe can lead disruption around Robotics and turn the EU into the EU of entrepreneurial states

The PACIFIC consortium will develop a new, low-cost and environmentally friendly tool for exploring for mineral deposits beneath the surface. The approach will build on the "traditional" passive seismic method, which is capable of providing useful broad-brush background information about the geological and structural setting of mineralised regions, but lacks the resolution needed for reliable identification of ore bodies. Two radically new developments are planned; reflection passive seismics, which is appropriate from greenfields exploration, and the multi-array method, which will typically be deployed during drilling or in brownfields exploration. Both techniques have major advantages over current techniques, namely relatively low cost and minor impact on the environment. Through the participation of two mineral exploration companies in the project, the two techniques will be validated on test sites in Canada and Sweden, thus brought from TRL2 to TRL5. Research on social acceptance and public perception of risk for mining activities will accompany the deployment and testing of the techniques. The PACIFIC consortium comprises a major university and a research institute who will develop the theoretical background and codes for data treatment, a mid-tier mining company and a junior exploration company who will provide logistic support and access to test sites, two small service companies who will conduct the surveys and analyse the data, a geological survey who will conduct research on public opinion, and a company who will manage the project. The PACIFIC project will thereby transfer the fruits of cutting-edge scientific research to industry and launch the development and deployment of new mineral exploration methods. This will enhance the competitiveness of the European mineral exploration industry, contribute to the discovery of new European ore deposits and decrease the dependence of European industry on imported mineral products.

GAIN is designed to support the ecological intensification of aquaculture in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA), with the dual objectives of increasing production and competitiveness of the industry, while ensuring sustainability and compliance with EU regulations on food safety and environment. Eco-intensification of European aquaculture is a transdisciplinary challenge that requires the integration of scientific and technical innovations, new policies and economic instruments, as well as the mitigation of social constraints. Successful eco-intensification of aquaculture will provide more and better aquatic products, more jobs, and improve trade balance by reducing imports. GAIN, besides looking at innovative ways of integrating cultured species, will seek integration with other sectors, in order to promote the implementation of the principles of circular economy in Aquaculture. The GAIN Consortium includes a wide range of complementary expertise and a well blended mix of research institutes and industrial partners, which will ensure the achievement of the following specific objectives: (i) Develop and optimize sustainable feeds, without increasing the pressure on land and fish stocks; (ii) Add value to cultivation, by means of innovative processes, which turn both by-products and side-streams into valuable secondary materials, thus increasing profits and minimizing the environmental footprint; (ii) Improve the management of finfish and shellfish farms, in terms of FCR, fish welfare and reduction of wastes, through the use of sensors, biomarkers, Big Data, IoT (Internet of Things) and predictive mathematical models; (iv) Support integrated policies and address current barriers to the implementation of the principles of circular economy in aquatic production.