DANUBIUS-IP is a 36-month Coordination and Support Action to support the ongoing development of DANUBIUS-RI – an environmental research infrastructure linking rivers and seas – as it proceeds towards its Operational Phase. The project proposes 7 work packages, in two parallel workstreams, that together will: • deliver a new governance structure for the RI as it transitions to DANUBIUS-ERIC; • enhance the ICT potential of the RI to enable virtual delivery of key services; • implement the Science and Innovation Agenda supported by agile and quality assured scientific services; • demonstrate the value of the RI through examples of the unique services that the RI can offer to end-users across Europe and internationally; • expand the DANUBIUS-RI community and enhance its standing in the wider European and International environmental RI landscape; and • ensure that the potential of DANUBIUS-RI to have significant social and economic impact is widely communicated. DANUBIUS-IP is coordinated by GeoEcoMar (Romania) and brings together 25 experienced partners from 14 countries from across Europe in a consortium with complimentary areas of multi-disciplinary expertise across the freshwater and marine research fields. The project specifically seeks to address recommendations from the recent ESFRI and High-Level Expert Group reports (on DANUBIUS-RI) and make a significant contribution to the expected outcomes and wider impacts of the Horizon Europe Programme. As such the project considers the importance of sustainability of financial commitments, the need to test the funding model and to enhance the visibility of the RI. DANUBIUS-IP will further demonstrate the efficacy of an integrated and interdisciplinary approach embracing a 'river-sea continuum' perspective to fill current gaps in the Research and Innovation landscape to address key societal challenges in these environments impacted by anthropogenic pressures and climate change.

This proposal is for the creation of a Research and Innovation Action aimed at advancing innovation in the Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) sector (topic MG.4.4-2014). It is called “PROMINENT – Promoting Innovation in the Inland Waterways Transport Sector” and will address the key needs for technological development, as well as the barriers to innovation and greening in the European inland navigation sector. PROMINENT thereby is fully in line with the objectives of the European action programme NAIADES-II. PROMINENT addresses all topics included in call MG.4.4-2014 and is geared towards reaching its full impacts during the project lifetime. PROMINENT is ultimately aimed at providing solutions which make inland navigation as competitive as road transport in terms of air pollutant emissions by 2020 and beyond. In parallel PROMINENT aims to further decrease the energy consumption and carbon footprint of IWT, an area where IWT has already a strong advantage compared to road transport. PROMINENT will focus on: • Massive transition towards efficient and clean vessels. • Certification and monitoring of emission performance and development of innovative regimes • Harmonisation and modernisation of professional qualifications and the stimulation of the further integration of IWT into sustainable transport chains. PROMINENT will achieve the following targets: - develop cost-effective solutions applicable to 70% of the fleet and reduce the implementation costs by 30%; - involve all relevant stakeholders; - actively address and remove implementation barriers by 2020. The PROMINENT partners have found broad support among political and commercial decision makers in the field of inland navigation. Through its direct access to relevant industrial stakeholders and Member States the consortium has obtained significant backup needed to perform the work. The commitment of these organisations will lead to a high acceptance and further dissemination of results.

DANUBIUS-PP is a three-year project to raise DANUBIUS-RI (International Centre for Advanced Studies on River-Sea Systems) to the legal, financial and technical maturity required for successful implementation and development. DANUBIUS-RI is a pan-European distributed research infrastructure (RI) building on existing expertise to support interdisciplinary research on river-sea (RS) systems, spanning the environmental, social and economic sciences. It will provide access to a range of RS systems, facilities and expertise, a ‘one-stop shop’ for knowledge exchange, access to harmonised data, and a platform for interdisciplinary research, education and training. DANUBIUS-PP will bring together key stakeholders at different levels, and strengthen the consortium through a process of wide engagement. Individual work packages will refine, inter alia, the scientific and innovation agenda, the legal framework, governance and management, and policies for access and data management. The financial requirements of the RI will be refined to assist funding agencies as they consider future spending priorities. Key deliverables of DANUBIUS-PP include development of the legal and financial agreements for the components of the RI (including Hub, Nodes and Supersites), their governance, and internal organisation which will be confirmed via a Memorandum of Understanding. This preparatory phase project will develop the structures and processes to ensure that the RI strengthens scientific performance by providing a sustainable basis for future operation, delivering key services to the different user communities.