Cardiovascular diseases remain the main cause of mortality worldwide; in particular, heart failure (HF) poses complex challenges in clinical practice, as it is associated with a significant variability in aetiologies, manifestations and risks, as well as in its progression and trajectories over time. Clinical risks of HF can vary from reduced cardiac function and regular hospitalisations, all the way to cardiac events and mortality. There is a need for a personalised medicine approach to tailor the care models (i.e. lifestyle changes, medications, interventions) to each HF patient’s risk profile and hence optimise the clinical outcomes. Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions trained from multi-source cardiovascular data have the potential to dissect the precise characteristics of each patient and predict their likely trajectories at an early stage. However, existing AI methods remain a far distance from clinical transfer and adoption due to a common and key limitation: their trustworthiness and acceptance by cardiologists and patients alike have not been achieved. AI4HF will develop the first trustworthy AI solutions for personalised risk assessment and management of HF patients. The project will build on a unique set of big data repositories, trustworthy AI methods, computational tools and clinical results from major EU-funded projects in cardiology. To test robustness, fairness, transparency, usability and transferability, the validation with take place in eight clinical centres in both high- and low-to-middle-income countries in the EU and internationally. AI4HF will develop a comprehensive and standardised methodological framework for trustworthy and ethical AI development and evaluation based on the FUTURE-AI guidelines developed by the consortium members. AI4HF will be implemented through continuous multi-stakeholder engagement, taking into account clinical needs and patient preferences, as well as socio-ethical and regulatory perspectives.

HarWASTing aims to develop innovative business models based on circular economy (CE) principles to promote bioeconomy in rural areas, by implementing a set of scalable and replicable technological solutions to efficiently exploit underutilised biomass from forestry and agriculture to develop innovative and high-value products. These models will support sustainable management practices and will promote an efficient use of natural resources, reducing overall waste generation and post-harvest losses by implementing valorisation processes and fostering CE principles. To this end, a methodology will be implemented to collect, treat and revalorize biomass from forest and agricultural harvest, pruning waste and bioethanol process side-streams, respecting the cascade principle for biomass use. A one-fits-all technology, Hydrothermal Carbonization, for a higher energy efficient treatment of lignocellulosic biomass residues will be combined with Pressurized Hot Water Extraction and innovative post-treatment technologies, to develop high-value added products and avoid any non-valorised side-stream. The whole concept will be demonstrated at small-scale pilot, built-upon existing wood, food and bioenergy value chains to further strengthen their economic and environmental sustainability through synergistic interlinkages between them. Mediterranean, Boreal and Continental bioregions will be studied. The holistic concept is based on the central valorisation route of Hydrothermal Carbonizationand its solid product, hydrochar, that is converted into hybrid wood-hydrochar panels with less than 10% of bio-adhesive for special applications such as fire protection or electromagnetic shielding. A novel support AI-based digital tool for forecasting agroforest feedstock availability will be developed. Innovative digital passports will help to commercialize the panels and bioadhesives. The hydrochar will be offered on a new digital platform which also serves for networking and for publishing of best-practices.

PALLIAKID is an interdisciplinary project aiming to evaluate the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of novel interventions for children, adolescents and young people (AYA) with palliative and end-of--life care needs in different healthcare systems across Europe, with a focus on those factors that influences the active patients' and family caregivers' engagement. PALLIAKID responds to several needs or gaps identified by the consortium clinical partners, grouped into three cornerstones of paediatric palliative care: 1) Early identification of children and AYAs with palliative and end-of-life care needs, 2) Comprehensive assessment of children and their family caregivers' needs, 3) A comprehensive, personalised, interdisciplinary care plan including Advance Care Planning. The proposed solution entails three main results: PALLIAKID Eary Detection System, PALLIAKID intervention (Needs assessment, Advance Care Planning and Patient Journey digital platform); and PALLIAKID XR-based capacity-building program for professionals. In addition, the project will develop policy recommendations, guidelines and standards for patient-centred communication, together with a scale-up strategy to guarantee the project result's’ sustainability and impact. In this sense, PALLIAKID aims to reduce taboos and misunderstandings of paediatric palliative care with its activities and the planned Public Engagement Strategy. The consortium is composed of 19 entities with the needed and complementary expertise and knowledge to respond to the proposed objectives, including the triad perspective (child-family-professional): five clinical sites to co-design and test the PALLIAKID solutions, two European networks, four experts in the needs assessment and ACP tools to be adapted (HexCom and IMPACT), three technological partners, one expert in evaluation, three experts in SSH and one expert in data and ethical issues.