The INSENSION project will create an ICT platform that enables persons with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) to use digital applications and services that can enhance the quality of their lives, increase their ability to self-determination and enrich their lives. The target end users of the proposed solution are capable of using only nonconventional, nonsymbolic means of interaction with their environment. Therefore, the platform aims to provide technological means for seamless, and adaptable recognition of a range of highly individual nonsymbolic behavioral signals of people with PMLD to detect behavioral patterns happening in the context of specific situations. These patterns are translated into the affective ‘intents’ of the end user (their approval or disapproval to the given situation) and allow to communicate them to assistive services. This way an individual with PMLD gains a possibility to seamlessly influence their living environment, through new means of communication with other people, changing conditions of their environment or use new types of assistive digital applications. The project employs recent advances in a range of ICT disciplines equipping the proposed assistive ICT platform with natural behavior recognition mechanisms based on gesture, facial expression and vocalization recognition technologies. This is complemented by novel techniques of artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art Internet of Things models. The research and development of the project is conducted within the inclusive design paradigm, with individual with PMLD and their caregivers directly participating in the R+D process throughout the whole duration of the project. This process links a highly interdisciplinary team of experts of ICT specialists and researchers and practitioners of disability studies and care, with due participation of an assistive technology industry representatives.

Due to the current energy crisis, the EU is reaching a critical point in the energy transition with the Clean Energy Package. Residential demand response (DR) is a promising framework whose potential is completely untapped nowadays. DR-RISE's main objective is to demonstrate the benefits of DR in the residential sector, not only for the end-consumers but for the overall energy system and the actors involved. We will offer a holistic set of tools and services with a twofold objective: increase energy efficiency via optimal management and demonstrate the benefits (not only economic) of DR. The platform will be demonstrated in three different EU countries, focusing on gathering the most diverse environments (e.g., pre-existing energy communities, smart villages, urban blocks of flats, low-income households, etc.). Our approach is completely aligned with the EU's vision to place the citizens at the heart of the solution and empower them so that they can make self-aware decisions. Furthermore, we have developed a methodology around a strong social component that includes a significant co-design process of the tools with the end-consumers, considering vulnerable groups to provide a completely inclusive solution. A first iteration in the pilots will be deployed to assess the DR benefits, including the minimum required devices to do so. Then, building on the previous results, we will iterate a second time by including new hardware and DR approaches to compare the outcomes with the previous baseline. This two-phased methodology will allow us to take corrective measures if needed and assess the potential benefits of multiple sensors and control devices. The platform will therefore reach TRL7/8 by project completion. Furthermore, our plan for dissemination and exploitation, including communication activities, contemplates building the energy helix to reach more than 150 relevant organisations and potentiate clustering activities with initiatives such as BRIDGE and Built4People