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.

PHARMECO is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU). The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and COCIR, EFPIA, Europa Bío, MedTech Europe, and Vaccines Europe. The project's overall objective is to revolutionize pharmaceutical manufacturing towards sustainability by integrating environmentally friendly technologies/processes and harmonized sustainability assessments methods into healthcare industry practices. This encompasses early design phase, operation, and eventual use and disposal. The project's first objective is to enhance the early-stage development of pharmaceutical products by implementing Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD)-driven process-intensified platforms (e.g. continuous manufacturing). This involves designing sustainable processes based on so-called SELECT (Safety, Environment, Legal, Economy, Control and Throughput) criteria and setting up eco-friendly systems for producing small molecules, peptides, oligo-nucleotides, proteins and ribonucleic acid (RNA) with advanced control measures. Next, PHARMECO aims to scale up and demonstrate environmentally-friendly processes for industrial manufacturing and decontamination, which includes creating infrastructure for studying key unit operations with sustainable technology and for SSbD-driven process intensified manufacture at a scale sufficient for clinical testing and a manufacturing process that is easily transferred to a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) environment. PHARMECO also aims to steer the development of (bio)manufacturing processes towards sustainable production through digital decision-making tools. This involves creating a modular digital tool for assessing sustainability from multiple perspectives, evaluating practices. Finally, the project seeks to establish a standardized approach for assessing the environmental sustainability of pharmaceuticals, which involves collaboration with various stakeholders to create scientifically robust guidelines, applying consistent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies, and facilitate regulatory adoption of standardized LCA practices. By integrating sustainability considerations into every phase of manufacturing, PHARMECO will positively revolutionize pharmaceutical industry.

After reconstructive surgeries such as oncologic breast surgeries, the most common early complication is seroma (i.e. local accumulation of fluids) in 15-40% patients. The medico-social burden is high, e.g. ˜500 mios€/year worldwide for breast surgeries. Suturing techniques or fibrin glue have been tested to induce cohesion between the altered tissues and prevent seroma formation, but with mixed efficacy. GreenGlue proposes to design biodegradable & biocompatible polyhydroxyurethanes (PHU) adhesive foams. The PHU adhesives should provide a more cohesive and durable closing of dead spaces left after surgeries while ensuring better wound healing facilitated by the foam structure of the adhesive. They will be developed by a very complementary consortium with key expertise in the full value chain of commercial translation, i.e. green chemistry of PHUs, formulation, in vitro characterization and evaluation in clinically relevant animal models, under the guidance of a reconstructive surgeon.

PALPABLE introduces a new generation of MIS (Minimally Imvasive Surgery) tools: a novel tactile sensing probe as a palpation tool for identification and visualization of tissue abnormalities. MIS has several advantages (reduced tissue damage, postoperative analgesic requirements & blood loss, decreased hospitalization time, better cosmetic results), but there is limited or none visual, haptic, and tactile feedback in-situ, along with issues of tool dexterity. These issues can lead to accidental tissue damage. The probe (diam. 5mm, length 15-20mm) incorporates multiple sensing modalities and a thin, flexible, pneumatically actuated end-effector (3DOF, 180deg) with distributed sensors for distributed tactile sensing. The probe consists of the photonic sensing elements and a sphere held at the end of a circular tunnel by a steady flow of air. The sphere is free to rotate in all directions and can move into the channel when pressed against the airflow. When rolling over tissue, the displacement depends on the tissues stiffness and is picked up by the optical fibre above it. Optical intensity variation in the sensing element is used to identify tissue stiffness variations. The principle of measurement used is extrinsic light intensity modulation provided through optical fibres. A non-planar photonics circuit (200m waveguide, 8bit colour depth) for haptic sensor array is developed and interfaced with the probe; this circuit will be engraved on ultra-thin polymeric foil. The foil sensing elements are distributed around & along the probe for multiple sensor inputs for palpation (i.e., stiffness), distance and curvature that are then fused to provide the overall tissue situation. Using thin foils allows for ease of integration with the probe and a straightforward manufacturing process to enable low cost in large volumes. The end effector is made from disposable or sterilizable materials, both options will be explored for recyclability or reusability respectively.

Tendon Therapy Train is a research, training and innovation programme for human and equine tendon repair and regeneration that will exploit recent advancements in tissue engineering by self-assembly (TESA) technologies which have led to the clinical translation and commercialisation of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). Although TESA therapies have the potential to revolutionise healthcare for numerous clinical targets, a lack of researchers with the necessary interdisciplinary skillset to advance the field is limiting clinical translation. Tendon therapy train, a network of 8 beneficiaries and 8 partners (7 universities, 7 companies and 2 hospitals) from six countries across Europe, will train a cohort of 15 researchers to doctoral level in the interdisciplinary area of ATMPs. The innovative credentials of the research and training programme involve engineering suitable ex vivo culture environments that, by mimicking the native tendon tissue milieu (human and equine), will maintain the tenogenic phenotype of tendon derived cells and differentiate non-tendon derived cells (stem cells and dermal fibroblasts) towards the tenogenic lineage, subsequently enabling development of three-dimensional cell-assembled tissue equivalents, the clinical potential of which will be assessed in suitable preclinical models. The comprehensive Tendon Therapy Train programme will equip researchers with transferable inter- and multidisciplinary skills that will further European-based knowledge, innovation, competitiveness and leadership in the field of TESA / ATMP and ultimately enable clinical translation and commercialisation of the developed technologies.