KATCH_e is a knowledge alliance between Higher Education (HE), companies and research centres to promote the building of competences in the field of product, product-service systems and business models design and development for the circular economy and sustainability, in the construction and furniture sectors.KATCH_e is contributing to the efforts, at national and EU levels, of fostering the transition from a take-make-use-dispose model that depletes natural resources and destroys ecosystems, to a circular model where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible and the generation of waste is minimized.The project focuses on the development of innovative and multidisciplinary training materials targeting HE academic fields of Design, Engineering, Sustainability Sciences and Business Management. Complementary to the KATCH_e theoretical resources (eight modules and an online course), seven tools that support the academic approach but are also suited to the implementation by businesses have been developed.The implementation of the projects' results in academic and company contexts created several case studies that can be used as teaching elements and as inspiration by other companies engaged in circularity and sustainability.The objectives of KATCH_e are:• To develop training materials to encourage cross-curricular learning, connecting mainly with designers and engineers and other relevant stakeholders;• To develop a new educational focus through a cross-sectoral real problem-based learning approach, involving university students, professors, researchers, companies and other stakeholders to integrate circular economy and sustainability thinking in design education, defining as well didactic recommendations for teaching;• To encourage multidisciplinary relationships and to support the exchange of information, experiences and materials between the partners and stakeholders, through the creation of structures (a knowledge platform and a hub) and activities to engage stakeholders from different areas in a systematic and efficient;• To foster the entrepreneurial skills and motivations to students and simultaneously, providing companies and professionals of the target sectors the knowledge to analyse and to define new competitive market strategies in a more circular society, thus favouring the recruitment of future employees and the creation of new companies and business models;• To set the foundation for a strong and lasting knowledge alliance between HE and business: joint development of curricula, development of training materials and suitable tools, co-creation of innovative solutions, etc. for continuing the cooperation after the end of the project period.The KATCH_e consortium is led by LNEG, I.P., Portugal, and is composed of 11 partners from four EU countries: Portugal, Spain, Austria and Denmark. The project's duration was 36 monthes (January 2017-December 2019).

SALTO will perform, for the first time in Europe, fly / recover / refly cycles of a reusable rocket first stage demonstrator. Operating a large-scale vehicle at low altitude, consistent with future European strategic needs, and embedding a set of critical technologies, the project will significantly boost the strategic launchers roadmap, enabling the vision of a future launch fleet improving by 50% space access costs and reducing environmental impacts. SALTO will hence act as a “stepping stone” towards reusability of strategic launchers in Europe which is one of the key leverages to reach such vision. Fully aligned with previous ESA-funded activities (e.g. Themis initial phase Program), SALTO focuses on - Technologies and building blocks maturation up to TRL5/6 for the first stage of a strategic launcher; - Subsystem/system tests with two low altitude system tests (“hop test”) campaigns. SALTO's methodology will combine robust system engineering with technology maturation activities and a stepped demonstration strategy to accelerate experimental learning through the implementation of the Agile methodology. The SALTO project will culminate in flight test campaigns to demonstrate and validate the technologies necessary for a reusable launch vehicle. SALTO will contribute to the cost reduction target for strategic launcher in Europe by addressing ~3/4 (in cost) of all technologies / operations involved in a future European reusable rocket stage. While Europe is currently lagging behind other global players when it comes to reusable launchers, SALTO will reinforce EU’s independent capacity to access space, secure autonomy of supply for critical technologies and equipment, and foster EU's space sector competitiveness. At the end of the project, lessons will be drawn regarding the maturity of the different technological bricks, TRL and readiness for flight tests. A roadmap to increase their maturity will be prepared in view of suborbital tests by 2025.