The CITADELS project aims to contribute towards transforming the 7 widening countries represented in the Project into CITADELS of human-centric Industry 5.0 development. The Project brings together a consortium of 10 partners from 9 countries, including 4 large academic institutions that are highly influential within their innovation ecosystems, 3 exemplary DeepTech companies, and 1 science and technology park, where academia meets industry to make innovations happen and grow into the business. Additionally, CITADELS is supported by the 2 EU-leading partners to bring know-how in cross-sectoral collaboration, to ensure stakeholder engagement and pan-European impact (EIT Manufacturing), and to introduce a sustainable, responsible research and innovation approach (K&I). CITADELS combines the excellence of DeepTech talents and social scientists to comply with EC’s “ERA industrial technologies roadmap on human-centric research and innovation for the manufacturing sector” to ensure sustainable DeepTech careers and the progress of DeepTech. The CITADELS project seizes the opportunity presented by recent investments in advanced public R&I infrastructure and the growing demand for DeepTech expertise across Europe to combat the brain drain in widening countries. By aligning academic research excellence with industry needs, CITADELS focuses on talent circulation (20 research talents and 20 R&I support talents will be involved as a whole), creating attractive career pathways in DeepTech and building the capacity of local ecosystems to adopt cutting-edge technologies. This project will support translating research into high-value industrial applications and position widening countries as competitive players in the global DeepTech landscape. Ultimately, CITADELS will boost regional economic resilience and foster social cohesion by modernizing local industries and creating high-value jobs, driving long-term economic growth and resilience in widening countries.

Europe currently has a leading position in key digital technologies. However, functional electronics is one of several emerging digital transformation areas with no established players, but with the potential to significantly disrupt strategic sectors. Harnessing the full potential of functional electronics will enable Europe to exploit cutting-edge climate-neutral digital solutions to strengthen its leadership, and to seize on emerging opportunities by addressing existing technological gaps in multiple sectors. Functional Electronics has found application in a wide range of sectors and domains including in hybrid Integrated circuits (ICs) or flexible systems. Its global market was worth €15.4billion in 2017 and is expected to reach €37.7billion by 2023, a CAGR of 11%. Despite this growth, functional electronics can generate additional value via the adoption and implementation of new and efficient eco-design approaches at product, process, and business model levels. SusFE will advance the development of functional electronics for green and circular economy by developing a sustainable design and production platform for roll-to-roll manufacturing of the next generation of wearable and diagnostic devices that combine a SusFE toolbox of sustainable components comprising novel flexible integrated circuit (FlexIC) on polymer substrate with ultra-low power printed sensors/biosensors, and wireless communication driven by an organic and recyclable bioenzymatic fuel cell. This will lead to highly integrated and autonomously operating systems that are lightweight, environmentally sustainable, and low-cost. SusFE uses of a combination of sustainable materials and processes to deliver climate-neutral digital solutions including wound monitoring, self-blood sampling/testing and point-of-care devices.

WEARPLEX is a multidisciplinary research and innovation action with the overall aim to integrate printed electronics with flexible and wearable textile-based biomedical multi-pad electrodes. It aims to answer the growing need for user-friendly electrodes for pervasive measurement of electrophysiological signals and application of electrical stimulation. It focuses on the development of the printable electronics and manufacturing processes for stretchable textile based multi-pad electrodes with integrated logic circuits that enable a significant increase in the number of electrode pads (channels) and facilitate the creation of new products in the sectors of medical electronics and life-style. The advanced printed electronics integrated in WEARPLEX electrodes will allow the individual pads to be connected in arbitrary configurations to the output leads of the electrode. Therefore, the pads will be flexibly organized into several virtual electrodes of arbitrary position, shape and size that can be connected to any standard multi-channel recording and stimulation system. In addition, software methods will be developed for automatic calibration of these virtual electrodes, to detect stimulation/recording hotspots and adjust the virtual electrodes accordingly. Therefore, the WEARPLEX project will lead to a new generation of smart electrodes that will be able to adapt simultaneously to the user (wearable and stretchable garment), recording/stimulation scenario (movement type and target muscles) and recording/stimulation system (number of channels). This is a paradigm shift in designing the recording and stimulation systems, as the switching electronics is shifted from the custom-made stimulator/recording device to the smart electrode, leading to a universal solution compatible with any system.

Mechatronic ankle foot orthoses have recently attracted significant attention as a means for assisting or augmenting gait functions of impaired and healthy individuals. However, this technology has seldom translated into products that are available to clinicians and the general public. To solve this issue, we aim at training six high-skilled professionals who can design and develop solutions that satisfy the needs of all stakeholders and can translate into products. SmartANKLE will establish a comprehensive training program that will provide the six Doctoral Candidates (DCs) with all the skills required to bring the mechatronic ankle foot orthosis concept into the market. The SmartANKLE group brings together four internationally recognized universities, one hospital and three companies. The SmartANKLE DCs will be trained in all the aspects of the development of a radically new Smart Mechatronic Ankle Foot Orthoses (SMAFO) platform. The components of this platform will be used to assemble different SMAFO configurations able to provide positive torque during gait and that can be utilized in different applications, spanning from gait assistance of stroke survivor, training of sport practitioners and human augmentation. The training will cover all phases of product development: from conceptualization, to design, to translation and testing. The DCs will learn to identify the needs of the different users and to investigate the requirements of all stakeholders. The DCs will formulate a tailored career development plan which includes the acquisition of engineering, research, and management skills, in a training that will foster teamwork, open science practices and gender aspects. The DCs will undergo outreach activities aiming at disseminating SmartAnkle’s impact to a wide array of audiences. SmartANKLE will greatly enhance the career perspectives of the DCs in academia and industry and will set an example for a novel research-intensive industrial doctoral network.

SIXTHSENSE is a multidisciplinary innovation and research action with the overall aim to significantly improve efficacy and safety of first responders’ deployment in hazardous environments by optimising on-site team coordination and mission execution. Between the booming EU economy and the climate change, the number and consequences of disasters occurring in inaccessible rural areas is on a constant rise. First responder deployments in extreme conditions such as fighting wildfires or alpine search and rescue missions have gone from exceptional to regular events in only a couple of decades. As this trend is likely to continue, the risks for wellbeing of the engaged first responders continue to grow. To avoid the loss of life or lasting consequences on the first responders’ health, it is important that the key physiological parameters of deployed operatives are monitored in a way that provides timely and actionable information, without hindering their operational capacity. The SIXTHSENSE is a wearable hea