With the aim to reduce workers’ exposure to live traffic and construction machines, increase the availability of the transport network, reduce the cost of repetitive tasks, and increase the safety of road users, InfraROB promotes significant advances in automating, robotising and modularizing the construction, upgrade and maintenance of the road infrastructure. By focussing on the road bed and, particularly, on roads paved with asphalt (the most widely applied type of pavement in Europe, accounting for 90% of all paved roads and highways ), the project will develop autonomous robotized systems/machinery for (i) (re)paving, (ii) repairing cracks/potholes in the road surface, and (iii) line marking. In addition, it will develop (iv) robotized safety systems for workers and road users. It will then develop (v) integrated one-piece precast construction elements for the roadside drainage serving a major degree of modularization in road design and construction/upgrade. In order to cope with optimal road maintenance planning, the project will furthermore upgrade existing Pavement Management Systems (PMS) to use digital twin models of road networks that track changes of their physical counterparts in real time, to give support for maintenance planning based on dynamic predictive modeling and the acquisition of real-time data on pavement conditions. Finally, yet evenly important, to provide for the safe and coordinated deployment of automated road maintenance robots, the project will attempt the integration of Pavement Management System (PMS) and Traffic Management System (TMS) solutions in order to allow for a holistic, integrated management of road infrastructure and traffic over the whole lifespan.

The main objective of this project is to move forward the current waste management practices into a circular economy motto, demonstrating the value of integrating and validating a set of 20 eco-innovative solutions that cover all the waste value chain. The benefits of these solutions will be enhanced by a holistic waste data management methodology, and will be demonstrated in 4 complementary urban areas in Europe. The eco-innovative solutions include technological and non-technological tools such as: a) IT tools to support the daily operation and long-term planning, b) Apps for citizens empowerment and engagement, c) Educational materials based on innovative teaching units and serious games, d) Tools for citizen science for the co-creation of novel solutions, e) Mechanisms to boost behavioral changes based on economic instruments and social actions, and f) Decentralized solutions for valorization and reuse of high value resources. The different solutions will be implemented in 4 complementary European areas: a) Zamudio (ES) is a highly industrialized area with a spread population that uses a separated kerbside collection; b) Halandri (GR) is a large suburban city with a wide range of business that has a very basic waste management system; c) Seveso (IT) is a residential town that uses a door-to-door system; d) and Cascais (PT) is an extensive and high touristic coastal town that implements an advanced collection system. The project includes a consortium of 19 partners with 4 public agencies and administrations, 3 research centers and universities, 8 SMEs, 2 LEs, 1 cluster and 1 NGO, that will work together during 36 months with an overall contribution from the EC of €9M.The most relevant expected impacts are: a 20% increase in waste sorting, 10% saving of management costs, and 10% reduction of GHG emissions. The experience gained, and the synergies among the partners describe the best possible scenario to launch new governance and business models.