ELECTRIFIC will revolutionise how electric vehicles are integrated into power grid and users’ life. The fundamental premise on which the project will work that significant improvements to electromoblity can be unlocked by increasing coordination of all the actors in the electromobility ecosystem. To this end, the project will deliver novel techniques and ICT tools for enabling such coordination at all levels of the ecosystem. At the grid level, the project will develop new smart charging stations capable of dynamically controlling charging rate, maximizing the use of renewables and making as grid-friendly as possible. At level of EV users, the project will develop advanced driver assistance services that help and motivate the users plan travel and charging in a way that is convenient and yet respects potential constraints on charging capacity. Finally, at the EV fleet level, the project will develop management tools that help to optimise fleet operations, maximising battery lifetime and minimising charging costs. ELECTRIFIC comprises a balanced consortium of experienced research partners, energy providers and innovative electromobility SMEs. The results of the project will disseminated in the scientific community and rolled out to commercial use from e-bikes to e-buses, from private owners to government services and including cross-border mobility.

The stability and security of the traditional electrical power systems is largely based on the inherent properties of synchronous generators (SGs). Such properties are: the grid-forming capability, the inertia, the damping of transients, and the provision of large currents during faults. The growing penetration of converter-interfaced (thus inertia-less) Distributed Renewable Energy Sources (DRES) will eventually replace dispatchable SGs and increase power volatility, causing large frequency deviations and voltage regulation problems. The increase of SG spinning reserves, the grid reinforcement and the use of central electric energy storage systems are some solutions proposed to tackle this problem. However, due to their centralized approach and high cost, these actions can be undertaken only centrally by TSOs and DSOs. By adopting a unified bottom-up approach, EASY-RES will develop novel control algorithms for all converter-interfaced DRES, to enable them to operate similarly to conventional SGs, providing to the grid inertia, damping of transients, reactive power, fault ride through and fault-clearing capabilities, and adaptable response to primary and secondary frequency control. These new functionalities will be transparent to all grid voltage levels. The EASY-RES approach is based on the distribution network segmentation into small Individual Control Areas, where the DRES and properly sized storage systems will be optimally coordinated via suitably designed ICT infrastructure to provide Ancillary Services (AS) such as inertial response, reactive power support, power smoothing, and contribution to fault-clearing in a bottom-up approach: prosumers and independent RES producers to DSOs, and DSOs to TSOs. By evaluating the costs and benefits of the developed functionalities, viable business models will be developed for the aforementioned stakeholders. Finally, modifications to the existing grid codes will be suggested for the implementation of the developed AS.

Erasmus+ is a well-established programme at the University of Passau for the support of student and staff mobility within Europe. Several degree programmes (e. g. the Bachelor’s programmes International Cultural and Business Studies, European Studies and European Studies Major as well as the Master’s programme North and Latin American Studies) have an integrated study or internship abroad period. As a consequence, a great number of students have spent a study or internship period abroad during project period 2014. The majority of Passau students chose to spend their compulsory or voluntary period abroad within the programme Erasmus+. In addition, several double degree programmes with European partner universities led to student exchange which could be funded by Erasmus+. Furthermore, the University of Passau offers several subject-specific language programmes that motivate students to spend some time abroad. Erasmus+ student mobility for studies (SMS), based on inter-institutional agreements, has simplified the organisation of student exchange in great ways. As a result, 337 students got the chance to spend one or two semesters at a European partner institution during the project period 2014. Many of them would not have been able to undertake their studies abroad without the funding of Erasmus+ and the tuition fee waiver. The positive feedback from participants inspired prospective participants to apply for Erasmus+, so the interest in the programme is still increasing. Regarding student mobility for placement (SMP), Erasmus+ facilitated the handling of the mobilities and the financial support for the participants. Their positive feedback also motivated prospective participants to take part in the programme. Within the project 2014, 58 students were able to do internships abroad, supported by Erasmus+. There is also growing interest among Passau students to participate in SMP. Erasmus+ staff mobility becomes more and more popular at the University of Passau, as well. During the project period 2014, 15 teaching staff mobilites (STA) supported by Erasmus+ were accomplished. Thus, Passau academics were able to gain international experience from which they can also benefit later on when they are teaching and consulting students. Furthermore, three staff mobilities for training (STT) were carried out to strengthen the relationships with European partner institutions, to broaden the professional horizon of the participants and to expand their intercultural and linguistic expertise.

Cybersecurity is one of today's most challenging security problems for commercial companies, NGOs, governmental institutions as well as individuals. Reaching beyond the technology focused boundaries of classical information technology (IT) security, cybersecurity includes organizational and behavioural aspects of IT systems and also needs to comply to the currently actively developing legal and regulatory framework for cybersecurity. For example, the European Union recently passed the Network and Information Security (NIS) directive that obliges member states to get in line with the EU strategy. While large corporations might have the resources to follow those developments and bring their IT infrastructure and services in line with the requirements, the burden for smaller organizations like local public administration will be substantial and the required resources might not be available. New and innovative solutions that will help local public administration to ease the burden of being in line with cybersecurity requirements are needed. For example, cooperation and coordination is one of the major aspects of the NIS and EU cybersecurity strategy. An enabling technology for cooperation and coordination is cyber situational awareness and information sharing of cyber incidents. In this project we propose a cybersecurity situational awareness solution for local public administrations that, based on an analysis of the context provides automatic incident detection and visualization, and enables information exchange with relevant national and EU level NIS authorities like CERTs. Advanced features like system self-healing based on the situational awareness technologies, and multi-lingual semantics support to account for language barriers in the EU context, are part of the solution.

Web search has become an essential technology and commodity, driving not only future innovations but forming a backbone for our digital economy. Regrettably, currently few non-European gatekeepers control Web search, which creates a biased, one-sided information access centred around economic success rather than the needs of citizens or European values and jurisdiction. This one-sided ecosystem puts pressure on many small Web contributors from science, economy, art, culture, media and society requiring them to optimize their content for a few gatekeepers. A system greatly benefiting the gatekeepers thereby creates a vicious cycle, which leads to locked-in effects and a closed search engine market. To promote an open human-centred search engine market and provide a true choice to users when selecting search engines based on their own preferences, OpenWebSearch.EU proposes to develop and pilot the core of a European Open Web Index (OWI) and the foundation for an open and extensible European open Web Search and Analysis Infrastructure (OWSAI). Our approach is based on four objectives, namely (1) to develop a core suite of search, discovery and analytics services to create, maintain and utilize the OWI; (2) to develop relevant search engine verticals and new search paradigms demonstrating the impact; (3) to establish a network of European HPC-infrastructure, research and business organizations to pilot the OWSAI based on Europe’s values, principles, legislation, ethics and standards; (4) to stimulate an ecosystem around the OWI. The envisioned infrastructure will not only contribute to Europe’s sovereignty for navigating and searching the web, it will also empower Europe’s researchers, innovators and business to systematically tap into the Web as business and innovation resource, without paying huge upfront costs. This will be particularly crucial for future AI innovations and relevant for other European infrastructure like e.g. the European Open Science Cloud, GAIA-X.