Twelve-member IPANEMA consortium implements competences of participating academic & industry beneficiaries and 3rd country partners to 1) create a knowledge/experience-sharing network of scientists, entrepreneurs & end-users in the multidisciplinary field of biosensors for POCT (point-of care testing); 2) develop innovative bottom-up approaches for fabrication of low-cost POCT devices & implementation of paper-based nucleic acid testing (NAT); 3) pursue applications in 3 important industry sectors – healthcare, agrifood & environmental monitoring. Research & Innovation (R&I) activities will be focused on developing low-cost paper-based isothermal NATs, their integration into microfluidic devices and optimization for use in a) tissue engineering b) agrifood (poultry/plant/fungal) pathogen detection c) detection of toxigenic freshwater Cyanobacteria causing harmful algal blooms. Secondments & trainings will enable researchers to acquire both technical & soft skills needed for converting scientific knowledge & ideas into products & services. Strong involvement of 5 SME partners from France, Serbia, Israel, Portugal & US contributing their proprietary knowledge on revolutionary novel materials for microfluidic devices & DNA extraction kits, domain expertise in agrifood sector, unique portable sensing systems & handheld devices for isoNAT quantification, will help researchers focus their efforts on development of innovative products for real-life use. Several transducing methods (colorimetric, fluorescence, SPR, electrochemical, microwave & magnetic) and smartphone-based read-out methods will be investigated for POCT use. Renowned beneficiaries including academic INRA, WUR, INESC & BIOS together with 3rd country partners: Columbia University, Prokhorov General Physics Institute and Xi'an Jiaotong University, will provide transfer of cutting-edge knowledge and technical expertise in effect yielding good basis for long term collaboration and joint R&I projects.

The challenges and major HiCONNECTS objectives are to transform the centralized cloud platform to decentralized platforms which include edge cloud computing in a sustainable, energy-efficient way. This will bring cloud services including Artificial Intelligence (AI) closer to the IOT end-users, which enables them to really use the COT and IOT efficiently. The technologies underpinning this revolutionary step include the development of high-performance computing, storage infrastructure, network interfaces and connecting media , and the analysis of IOT sensors and big data in real-time. This major step forward will enable, for example, the mobile clients (during the 5G deployment phase and 6G exploration) to move among different places with minimum cost, short response time and with stable connection between cloud nodes and mobile devices. The main underlying technology to be developed by the HiCONNECTS consortium, comprising large industrial players, universities and RTOs, and many SMEs, can be summarized under the title: heterogenous integration (HI) which is needed to meet the computing power, bandwidth, latency and sensing requirements for the next generation cloud and edge computing and applications. The HI revolution brings the electronic components and systems (ECS) into a new domain, which combines traditional silicon wafers integrated circuit (IC), InP based high speed electronics , and Si and InP photonics devices and interconnect. The HiCONNECTS ambition is to demonstrate, through HI development, a leap in computing and networking reliability and performances across the full vertical and horizontal ECS value chain (i.e. essential capabilities and key applications) in a sustainable way. In addition, HiCONNECTS will focus on the development of next generation design, algorithms, equipment (HW/SW), systems and Systems of Systems (SOS).

The ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections has led to more than 7.031.249 cases and 403.112 deaths globally as of June 8, 2020. Although most infections are self-limited, about 15% of infected adults develop severe pneumonia that requires treatment with supplemental oxygen and an additional 5% progress to critical illness with hypoxaemic respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and multiorgan failure that necessitates ventilatory support, often for several weeks. Worldwide, infections and death from SAR-CoV-2 continue during June with more than 110.000 new cases every day despite lockdown in Europe and oversees. What started as a temporary sanitary issue, has morphed into a more permanent and long-lasting pan epidemic outbreak. One efficient manner to limit COVID-19 spreading and an adequate mean of better managing the COVID-19 outbreak is through unrestrained availability of fast, efficient, accurate and cost-effective point-of-care tests (POCT). Here we propose C-POCT-S, a rapid (<30 min), sensitive (200 vps/mL), selective (SARS-CoV-2), and inexpensive ( < 20 Euros) solution to address this medical need. C-POCT-S is based on a combination of several technologies such as the use of COVID-19 specific nanobodies (VHH), magnetic nanoparticles with high magnetic strength and a VHH modified interfaces, all integrated in a a hand-held surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based POC test (C-POCT-S) for the screening of the presence/absence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in nasal and salvia samples. The aim of this project is to complete product optimization, performance validation in a clinical setting and manufacturing quality control for C-POCT-S and completion of its technical file, to enable declaration of conformity and affixing of CE mark.