Air quality still poses a challenge to health, ecosystems and climate in Europe, despite decades of positive developments. Since the adoption of the first EU legislation on ambient air, the process knowledge has increased, the remote and in-situ observing technologies have undergone major developments, and new potent ICT infrastructures have emerged. Low cost sensing technologies have enabled a paradigm shift in air quality monitoring, triggering new research needs and opportunities in order to underpin the new capabilities. VIDIS will develop strategic partnership of VINCA Institute (SR) with leading international counterparts known for research on low-cost sensing (ENEA (IT), NILU (NO), Queensland University (AU)). VIDIS will establish scientific collaboration and networking and generate new knowledge that will allow the society to meaningfully utilize the new technologies, e.g., the emerging democratized data collection. VINCA is recognized in atmospheric research and in-situ monitoring including low-cost technologies. In order to fully capitalize on and improve this expertise, there is a need to establish a strategic partnership with institutions excellent in areas VINCA has been pursuing. VIDIS will improve observing capabilities and develop quality systems needed to ensure meaningful data integration. It will develop artificial intelligence and machine learning methods allowing to integrate the new types of data into existing information systems. Building on methods and data collected from ongoing projects of all partners, VIDIS will establish collaborative research, education, training and dissemination activities, early stage researcher training and mobility, and support early stage researcher career development also in research administration and stakeholder contact. This will increase the innovation capacities of VINCA and partners, improve VINCA’s collaborative potential, and contribute to excellence of European research and innovation.

Temperature measurements are crucial in countless technological developments, accounting for 80% of the sensor market throughout the world. The pitfalls of temperature readouts at the biomedical battleground are mostly represented by the currently achievable spatial resolution. To address key issues, such as intracellular temperature fluctuations and in vivo thermal transients, a technique able to go clearly below 1 μm is highly and urgently needed, as the traditional contact-based sensors and near infrared thermometers are not suitable for measurements at that tight spatial range. To overcome these limitations requires a non-contact thermometry approach granted with sub-micrometer resolution, also providing real-time high relative thermal sensitivity values. The goal of NanoTBTech is to develop a 2-D thermal bioimaging technology featuring sub-microscale resolution, based on nanothermometers and heater-thermometer nanostructures. We will design, synthetize, and bio-functionalize nontoxic luminescent nanostructures, operating essentially beyond 1000 nm, for in vivo nanothermometry and nanoheating. Furthermore, to monitor the temperature-dependent nanostructures’ luminescence we will develop a novel imaging system. The effective delivery of that major advance in 2-D thermal bioimaging will be implemented through two impactful biomedical showcases: highly spatially-modulated intracellular magnetic/optical hyperthermia and in vivo detection and tracking of cancer. In the long-term, we foresee our technology having a broad impact on non-invasive clinical imaging and theranostics. For instance, the accurate measurement of temperature gradients´ sources will be an invaluable tool for real-time control of thermal therapies, thus making them harmless for the patient. Multiple conceptual breakthroughs can be further envisaged from the proposed 2D-thermal imaging system, credibly spreading its impact towards non-biomedical technological areas.