Slovenia was identified as a region lagging in innovation within the Horizon2020 WIDESPREAD 2014-1: Teaming call for proposals, and this is is particularly noticeable in the country's forest-based value chain. However, the vital core of Slovenia’s renewable resource-based value chain has retained access to international markets and a significant production capacity in spite of an overall workforce reduction. Therefore this industry exhibits a strong potential for growth, which was identified in the Smart Specialization Strategy of Slovenia. The Smart Specialization Strategy of Slovenia calls for inter-sectoral networking and integration of the wood chain in the design of homes and working environments of the future. It promotes research and innovation deriving from traditional knowledge and skills related to wood and wood-compatible natural materials and seeks to increase added value and export of companies by 15% by 2023. In order to leverage this potential by facilitating collaborations between industry and academia in this sector, the Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation Centre of Excellence (InnoRenew CoE) was established. With support and guidance from the advanced partner, Fraunhofer WKI, scientific research and development activities will be transferred rapidly and effectively to the industry and through them to society in the form of innovative new products and processes.

With excellence in research, innovation, and application into economy and society, the new Centre of Excellence, Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation centre of excellence (InnoRenew CoE) will improve sustainable building practices by combining the existing concepts with the Restorative Environmental Design (RED) paradigm, which combines sustainable building practices with biophilic design. This will increase the competitive advantages of the affiliated renewable resource-based construction industry, and create innovation and market pull for RED-based materials and products (holistic living environment). Consequently, innovation and market pull for material recovery and higher added value renewable resource based and energy carriers will be initiated. Research and development activities will seek the optimal intersection of performance and sustainability, including economic, environmental and societal indicators. With support and guidance from the advanced partner, Fraunhofer WKI, scientific research and development activities will be transferred profitably and efficiently to the industry and through them to society in the form of innovative new products and processes.

The transformations (societal, economic and technological) which emerged since the 1990s affected also the sector of cultural heritage protection and management (changes in conceptual basis, technological tools, legislation, scientific background, education, development of new forms of market-based heritage expert services). HERISTEM strategic partnership is created with the aim to meet these challenges and to overcome shortcomings of the university curricula where the ‘heritage’ disciplines (archaeology, art history, ethnology, history...), are still traditionally taught mostly for academic/research purposes. To this end, the most important task of the project is more systematic incorporation of STEM knowledge in education and research in heritage discipline. Recent achievements of STEM in understanding the nature and characteristics of different materials, inorganic and organic, humans, animals, plants etc., have demonstrated great potential for increasing our understanding of cultural heritage, and, hence, for developing better strategies for its protection and management. The ‘central’ discipline in HERISTEM project is archaeology. As the most interdisciplinary of all heritage disciplines it deals with different material/physical aspects of various objects of heritage, ranging from small objects, architecture, objects of art, to cultural landscapes, covering so most of the field of cultural heritage. In addition to this, it is the archaeological heritage which is today threatened the most by spatial development, and required best possible experts.HERISTEM is conceived as a strategic partnership for implementing STEM sciences in university curricula of heritage disciplines. Today, there are no single department or institute in Europe which can effectively educate students in all domains of knowledge and methods needed in contemporary heritage research, STEM topics included. By creating a partnership, our project aims to provide effective transfer of knowledge, skills and good practices, primarily for the students of heritage disciplines, increasing so their capacities in job markets. But this process is two-way; also the STEM students will have more chances to pursue their careers in the heritage domains. Last, but not least, HERISTEM partnership is also aimed at additionally assisting to the initiative for accreditation of joint MA degree in ‘applied archaeology (PROARCHE) of the Universities of Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade and Sarajevo, which is planned in next few years. The partners are 6 universities (Belgrade, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Koeln, and Cambridge), 1 museum (Serbia) and 2 private enterprises (Slovenia and Croatia). By joining their capacities and expertise the HERISTEM partnership is able to provide effective coverage of all major STEM topics currently required in the professional heritage sector. Museum and two private enterprises were selected as the most likely types of institutions for further professional careers of students, and for training them in actual working environments. Is expected that more than 700 BA and MA students of various heritage-oriented disciplines will be reached directly, and much more indirectly (with online courses and materials). The principal teaching/learning activities:a)5 intensive courses (7 working days each): intensive teaching (70 – 100 hours; 25 – 30 students; 4 – 6 teachers) of STEM topics in heritage (bioarchaeology, geoarchaeology, remote sensing, GIS, laboratory analyses of materials, data computation, museography). b)2 seminars, (a) for staff training in e-teaching tools and (b) a seminar in entrepreneurship and job markets in heritage sectors (for students and junior staff). c)Blended student mobility; aimed at individual students to upgrade their knowledge obtained at intensive courses, ‘hybrid mobility’, a program combining studying and practical assignments at private enterprises.d)teachers mobility; short training for increasing capacities.e)production of teaching materials for e-teaching platform.Other activities (conference, exhibition, publications ...) are aimed to support and disseminate the results of the major teaching/learning activities. The principal results of the projects will be students mastering new methods and techniques (STEM-related) who will also get experiences in professional working environments. New BA, MA and PhD thesis induced by the project are expected. Teachers will upgrade their knowledge and create new networks, significantly increasing interdisciplinarity of the university curricula. Potential long-term benefits include the enriched knowledge of students, future professionals, and teachers. Partners will definitely continue and expand their collaboration (e.g. joint e-teaching platform will remain in use after the project; initiative for MA joint degree in 'applied archaeology'). Improved teaching will also reflect in the professional heritage sector.

The European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS) was designed as a pan-European distributed infrastructure with the vision of replacing the traditional science-for-art approach to conservation through the new widely interdisciplinary sector of Heritage Science (HS) to improve the understanding and sustainable preservation of cultural heritage. E-RIHS was admitted in the 2016 ESFRI Roadmap and is now preparing its step 2 application to take the legal form of an ERIC. The E-RIHS Implementation Phase (E-RIHS IP) consortium brings together representatives of the national nodes of the countries that expressed their willingness to support the establishment of the ERIC and one permanent observer. It aims at enabling the E-RIHS implementation phase and preparing the operation of E-RIHS ERIC, also in support of its positioning as the reference RI for the HS domain at the EU and global level. The objectives and methodology underpinning the E-RIHS IP work plan target and intend to overcome the bottlenecks highlighted in the recommendations of the 2020 ESFRI monitoring report, the EC High Level Expert Group report (2020) and the ERIC step 1 assessment (2021). Coordinated actions are dedicated to: (i) implement the E-RIHS governance structure and finalise its distributed architecture; (ii) support the E-RIHS management with strategies and related implementation plans regarding HR, procurement, risk management and quality system; (iii) maintain and build upon the established E-RIHS excellence in user access and foster FAIR open access with the design of the DIGILAB platform; (iv) strengthen international cooperation, cultivate synergies and consolidate the HS community around E-RIHS, while establishing E-RIHS in the landscape of EU RIs and global initiatives; (v) secure the ERIC sustainability and unlock its socioeconomic impact potential by providing E-RIHS with an updated business plan and a marketing strategy tailored for its new lifecycle phase.