AIMS5.0, a collaborative Innovation Action aims at strengthening European digital sovereignty in comprehensively sustainable production, by adopting, extending and implementing AI-enabled hardware and software components and systems across the whole industrial value chain to further increase the overall efficiency. Vulnerability of existing supply chains in crisis shows the need for shorter supply chains and for keeping production in Europe. AI enabled fabs will be given more output and higher sustainability, which makes them more competitive on a global scale. New technologies from IoT and based on semantic web ontologies, ML and AI will help to enable the transformation from Industry4.0 to Industry5.0, to create human-centric workplace conditions and to enable the transformation of European industry to climate-friendly production. Above all, sustainability and resilience will be improved. In essence, AIMS5.0 will deliver: - AI-enabled electronic hardware components & systems for sustainable production - AI tools, methods & algorithms for sustainable industrial processes - SoS-based architectures & micro-services for AI-supported sustainable production - Semantic modelling & data integration for an open access productive sustainability platform - Acceptance, trust & ethics for explainable industrial AI leading to human-centered sustainable manufacturing 20 use cases in 9 industrial domains resulting in high TRLs will validate the project’s findings in an interdisciplinary manner. A professional dissemination, communication, exploitation and standardisation will ensure the highest impact possible. For the first time a joint approach for implementing AI and AI-enabled hardware will be developed that overarches different industrial domains. AIMS5.0 will result in lower manufacturing costs, increased product quality through AI-enabled innovation, decreased time-to-market and increased user acceptance of versatile technology offerings. They will foster a sustainable development, in an economical, ecological and societal sense and act as enablers for the Green Deal and push the industry towards Industry5.0. The innovations will leverage the experience of the 53 partners, such as renowned OEMs, Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers, technology and application large enterprises and SMEs, supported by academic research specialists in fields like AI, industrial hard-ware and software, decision making and management algorithms. Specific outcomes of the project are - 20% faster time to market, - Participation of disabled people in the factory environment > 5% (in relation to the total number of employees employed in production), - AI based MES capability > 10 %, - Increased user awareness and trust by 10%, - Subsequent reduction of environmental footprint for wafer transport, handling and storage > 20 %, - 50% reduction of time for monitoring industrial equipment. AIMS5.0 is a pan-European initiative to boost industrial competitiveness through interdisciplinary innovations, establishing sustainable ECS value chains and therefore contribute to European Digital Sovereignty addressing urgent issues like Security of Supply, Monitoring and Crisis Response, and Chip Shortage.

Food security is a global challenge and is impacted by, rapidly compounding effects including climate change, supply chains, human labour shortages, driving the need for traceability, and technological innovation and automation to name a few. The latest important price increases of agricultural row products show the limitations of the available resources. Through this Joint Undertaking, the AGRARSENSE consortium of 57 partners (including 4 affiliates) plan to take agricultural technology and productivity to the next level, beyond the State-of-the-Art, by combining some of the most advanced organisational capabilities from across European industrial 16 Large Enterprises, 25 SMEs and 16 Research & Technology Organisations (RTOs), from 15 countries. The development of the most advanced sensory and autonomous agricultural capabilities requires a sophisticated governance structure, ensuring that all partners are aligned across Use Cases and Work Package deliveries. The AGRARSENSE consortium has one of the world’s leaders in Forestry automation, Komatsu, as Project Coordinator. The AGRARSENSE project goal of creating a holistic ecosystem of sensory and automated capabilities will further extend Europe’s lead in optimizing and securing agricultural value chains. To drive such an ambitious impact agenda, we have selected seven Use Cases which will, collectively, contribute to solving the challenges outlined. These Use Cases are Greenhouses (UC1), Vertical Farming (UC2), Precision Viticulture (UC3), Agri robotics (UC4), Autoforest (UC5), Organic Soils & Fertilizers (UC6) and Water (UC7). These Use Cases are fused together by the most advanced hardware, software and system integration technologies, which will drive new solutions for partners and the collective AGRARSENSE impacts at scale.

<< Background >>Motivated by the overwhelming positive feedback on previous projects achievements that gave blind and visually impaired people access to museums (partner Economica) or to architecture using 3D technology (partner Trnka), we decided to explore and address the needs of a particularly vulnerable group – blind and visually impaired children. Communication with school teachers from four countries in preparation of the project made the need for adequate teaching tools as well as the desire to benefit from common transnational efforts highly evident. The “TaTaBook” project will address the special needs of blind and visually impaired pupils for comprehensive, knowledge-transferring and fun-to-use learning materials by developing tailor-made 3D-based teaching tools supplemented with audio and online learning contents. Their development is a highly interactive process between schools from all countries and engages professionals in all relevant fields – 3D, IT, didactics, natural sciences, science communication. Most importantly, the final beneficiaries – teachers and children – take part in tool development by testing and commenting on intermediate prototypes. Moreover, the participating teachers will not only receive innovative learning materials and methods, but also gain competencies in 3D printing and become interconnected through a dedicated platform for knowledge exchange to encourage further cooperation and exchange.<< Objectives >>We want to set the critical steps that foster a better inclusion of blind and visually impaired children. By supporting teachers with strongly-needed tools, by expanding their digital competencies and by interconnecting them with colleagues abroad who are facing similar challenges, the project aims to strengthen international cooperation between schools with visually impaired and blind people to increase the international cooperation as well as the exchange of knowledge and experiences. We want to make both teaching and learning more enjoyable and fruitful and let children experience and further develop their superior tactile abilities that are among others demanded in their private and professional future, e.g. in the medical field for sensing early-stage cancer tissue.<< Implementation >>We will implement a set of activities, including five transnational meetings that focus on specific result-related topics (e.g. 3D printing, learning contents, etc.). One workshop, which will be coupled with a transnational project meeting, will give an introduction to 3D-printing. Four more workshops (learning and teaching activities) focusing on the target group – teachers of visually impaired pupils – specific development of the teaching contents will take place – one in each school. Finally, the results will be presented in the multiplier event in Vienna at the end of the project. Here the final results (microlearnings, TaTaBook and platform) will be presented to invited representative from target groups and beneficiaries, i.e. teachers and pupils.<< Results >>There are four types of project results: 1) the innovative teaching tools for teachers, i.e. learning materials for blind and (primarily though not exclusively) visually impaired children, 2) in the format of a talking, tactile “book”, 3) the corresponding learning content which will be supported by online micro-learning materials, that are accessible via a platform (which additionally serves to exchange 3D-printing plans, audio files, microlearning contents and day-to-day communication between partners, and 4) a comprehensive report about the lessons learned in the project, which will also be available on the platform for the public (especially for schools that are not part of the project but are interested in the project results). In order to facilitate ongoing cooperation and dissemination, the exchange platform will in the end represent a freely accessible database of teaching topics and subjects. In preparation of the project, participating schools already decided on 4 topics (orientation & mobility, the human body, the journey of Magellan, and geology). For these topics respective teaching contents will be elaborated. Importantly, the outcomes will be strictly tailor-made, since development of learning contents and ways of presentation as tactile book happens in an interactive way. More precisely, input and feedback from teachers and children will be collected at a regular basis. Not only will these contents imply the design of the respective tactile teaching book, but also the selection of additional materials that – where appropriate - support the children's perception, enabling a more explorative learning process, e.g. through addressing their olfactory sense. In the end there will be 4 different tactile books – each with a specific topic, but available as own copy to each participating project partner. These books will be produced via 3D printing as on the one hand this allows a more detailed presentation of topics (detailed, refined surface features) and on the other hand facilitates dissemination and reproduction. Importantly, although the same “hardware” (tactile book) materials are being used for all age groups, audio description and additional materials may vary, depending on age and level of knowledge. Further, the project outcomes encompass: an overall improvement in the education of blind and visually impaired children that strongly promotes their social inclusion and raises their self-esteem; long-lasting teaching competencies that complement current curricula and that make schools and teachers keep pace with novel opportunities arising from digital transformation; a better-connected international community whose individual endeavours on helping blind and visually impaired ones become mutually beneficial and more efficient.