URBREATH vision is to develop, implement, demonstrate, validate and replicate a comprehensive, community participation and NBS-driven urban revitalisation, resilience and climate neutrality paradigm that will ultimately radically enhance the social interactions, inclusion, equitability and liveability in cities. Specifically, the aim of the URBREATH project is to implement hybrid/Natural Base Solutions putting at the heart of the decision-making process the communities within a city. Advanced techniques, particularly Local Digital Twins and AI, and social innovation will facilitate the achievement of its vision. The project will have four phases: 1. Inception, 2. Development, 3. Piloting, 4. Transition. The preliminary results of a single Phase are evaluated within the following Phase so to allow for feedback before releasing the final version. The Inception phase will define the methodology to be followed for the project development and will deliver the project functional and technical requirements. The second phase will release the URBREATH technical framework, consisting of tools to manage the whole data value chain and to support end-users to collaborate on the design and creation of NBS to be used in the city/district. It will be used to monitor and take decisions on the NBS to be implemented/deployed in the Piloting phase (evidence-based decision making), that involves 4 Front Runner Cities in 4 different climatic zones: Cluj-Napoca (RO - Continental), Leuven (BE Atlantic), Madrid (ES Mediterranean), and Tallin (EE Boreal). During the Transition phase, all the information, results and lessons learnt from the previous steps will be collected and analysed to provide recommendations and foster replication activities and the uptake of project outputs at the end of its lifespan. To this aim, 5 Follower Cities are involved: Aarhus (DK), Athens (EL), Kajaani (FI), Parma (IT), Pilsen (CZ), linked to the Front Runners for climatic zone and/or dimension.

Cooperation, between Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (KAMK) and the Azerbaijan Tourism and Management University (ATI), is based on development cooperation projects. The aim of this project was to commence Erasmus+ mobility cooperation between KAMK and ATI. The quantitative and qualitative aims of the project were achieved even though the practices and procedures required by mobility cooperation were new to ATI and starting up cooperation demanded considerable work and guidance from the coordinator. We particularly value the fact that ATI considered mobility cooperation so important that its students have been sent on exchange without Erasmus+ funding when mobility funding for this project ended.The student exchange started in spring 2016 when two students arrived at KAMK and during the same period, an expert exchange from ATI to KAMK was also implemented. ATI’s Head of International Affairs participated in KAMK’s International Week. The visit by the Head of International Affairs was an important opening for cooperation to begin. During the exchange, in addition to exchange-based cooperation, project cooperation was discussed and both parties became familiar with the practices of both universities. According to the visiting Head of International Affairs, no other university in Azerbaijan had previously implemented mobility cooperation with a Finnish university. The obtained mobility funding supported the project’s actions, deepened cooperation and created new opportunities for cooperation. Changing the incoming person’s teacher exchange to a staff exchange supported the implementation of the project more effectively than the teacher exchange.The teacher exchange from KAMK to ATI took place in spring 2017. KAMK delivered lectures on development cooperation project themes and it was an inseparable part of the teaching delivered by the university. During the exchange, developing ATI’s teaching delivered in English and creating the exchange process for incoming students (accommodation, orientation and procedures) were discussed. KAMK has supported and guided ATI particularly in the procedures linked to incoming students and staff exchanges also at other times during the project. The project has significantly enabled and promoted internationalization at ATI by making internationality visible in the university and instilling a higher awareness of the importance of internationality to the university than previously existed.

Maailmalla riehuu tällä kertaa koronavirus, joka on vaikutuksiltaan paljon laajempi kuin monet aiemmin koetut epidemiat. Koronaviruksella on mittavat terveydelliset, sosiaaliset ja taloudelliset vaikutukset. Sen takia toimeenpantujen kansalaisten oikeuksien rajoitukset koskevat suurinta osaa maapallon väestöstä eikä varmaa tietoa pandemian loppumisesta ole. Rajoitusten maltillisen poistamisen ehdoksi on niin Suomessa kuin muuallakin määritelty massiivinen viruksen leviämisen mittaaminen. Erilaisia menetelmiä tartunnan mittaamiseen (esim. vasta-ainetestit) on useita, mutta mittausten hyödyntämiseksi laajemmin tarvitaan valtava tietokanta, jonne kaikki mittauksista saadut tiedot voidaan tallentaa. Lisäksi tarvitaan tekoälyyn ja data-analytiikkaan pohjautuva järjestelmä, jolla em. tietoja voidaan hyödyntää pandemian maantieteellisen ja ajallisen levinneisyyden selvittämiseen. Nämä mittaustiedot yhdistettynä muihin pandemian leviämiseen vaikuttaviin ilmiöihin ja niistä saatuihin datoihin voivat tekoälyn menetelmiä käyttämällä ennakoida pandemian käyttäytymistä, leviämistä, voimistumista/heikentymistä sopivien torjuntatoimien suunnittelemiseksi nykyisen ja tulevaisuuden pandemioita varten. Tämän kokonaisuuden kehittämishankkeen esisuunnittelu ja pilotointi Suomessa on tämän hankkeen tavoitteena. Vaikka koronavirus on tällä hetkellä tutkimuksen kohteena, on tavoitteena, että kehitettävä järjestelmä (alusta) on myös sellaisenaan sovellettavissa muiden vastaavien tarttuvien tautien levinneisyyden seurannassa ja ennakoinnissa. Tautien, kuten malaria, HIV, tai vaikka influenssat.

This action supports physical and blended mobility of higher education students and staff from EU Member States and third countries associated to Erasmus+ to any country in the world. Students in all study fields and cycles can take part in a study period or traineeship abroad. Higher education teaching and administrative staff can take part in professional development activities abroad, as well as staff from the field of work in order to teach and train students or staff at higher education institutions.

This is a project for higher education student and staff mobility between Programme Countries and Partner Countries. Please consult the website of the organisation to obtain additional details.