In the proposed project, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Comenius University in Bratislava (UK BA) and Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU BA) (together participating organisations) intend to build up mobility programme SASPRO 2 for outstanding researchers allowing them to work at their institutions/faculties. It is an extended continuation of the previous successful SASPRO Programme. The main objectives are to create optimal conditions for fellows to perform their research and boost their career as well as to enhance quality of Slovak science and research by increasing excellence of their organisations. Fellows will freely choose from a wide spectrum of host organisations covering technical and natural sciences, life sciences as well as humanities and social sciences. Cross- and intersectoral, multi- and interdisciplinary and international aspects of the individual projects as well as training provided will be strongly emphasized. Top scientists from abroad will be selected for fellowships; fellows will enrich research teams/organisations and they will contribute to raising the quality level of Slovak and European science and research. On the other hand, host/participating organisations will provide all tools for their career and personal development and ensure broadening and deepening of their scientific and non-scientific experience and skills. The results of the programme realisation will be establishing a quality international cooperation network, building and strengthening the bridges between different sectors, finding new approaches to tackle with research topics, training future leading researchers that will transfer the knowledge further and by that strengthen the European science and research position in the world and reduce its fragmentation.

"Global supply chains, market fragmentation, mass customization and shorter product life cycles have scaled up competition among companies which give rise to the need for introducing cognitive abilities through flexible and easily reconfigurable production systems. In this sense, there is unmined potential for the European manufacturing industry to be more innovative, productive and competitive whilst using fewer resources and reducing environmental impact. The emerging cyber-physical system (CPS) presents a significant opportunity to implement smart manufacturing in the Industry. This project, called Social Network of Machines (SOON), proposes to investigate the impact of the use of autonomous social agents to optimise manufacturing process in the framework of Industry 4.0. In this context, “agents” are process, data, things, and people. ""Social"" means that cyber-physical entities will act autonomously in order to optimize an industrial process following behaviours models inspired by human social networks. Currently, in Industry 4.0, smart entities do exist. However, intelligence is localised and intelligent heterogeneous entities cannot communicate together even inside the same shop-floor. Our motivation comes from the observation that, if we want to create a real Internet of Everything that brings together processes, data, things, and people, all these entities have to be connected and follow a shared, easy to understand paradigm. To address this point, SOON proposes a holistic multi-agent framework that encompasses machines and humans. The presence of human operators is therefore crucial both to teach to and to learn from software agents, via deep learning and data mining algorithms. Agents will take decisions merging and analysing big and heterogeneous data produced by sensors, automation and information systems (such as enterprise resource planning and manufacturing execution system), and human actions. The design and evaluation of the SOON system will be performed through predictive maintenance scenarios in collaboration with three different industrial companies (in Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland). Such collaboration will enable the project consortium at assessing the application of the developed solution on concrete industrial scenarios. The three selected scenarios cope different problems within the industrial manufacturing. The first scenario pays attention to the reliability of the data provided by sensors that are key inputs in other process models and calculations (width, thickness, temperature, etc.) and whose measurement is very difficult because it is influenced by noise, distortions, etc. Errors and deviations entails quality problems that will result in nonconformities. The second scenario is thought for manufacturing environments requiring extreme accuracy (tool machines with precision requirements in the order of 1 µm) and with intrinsic and extrinsic tolerances. Finally, the third scenario is more focused on equipment reliability. These different scenarios will assure that the results will be exploitable beyond the project (e.g., portability to different industrial environments). In the three cases, the project is focused on the specific task of predictive maintenance. In agreement with the industrial partners, the valuable data acquired during the project that are not confidential will be published in open repositories and made available to the scientific community. We believe that the arrival of Industry 4.0 revolution combined with recent improvements in machine learning, and the application of autonomous multi-agent architecture can finally bring disruptive innovation in industrial process optimization and modelling."

CEMEA project´s main objective in the long run is to establish a joint Centre of Excellence for advanced materials application (CEMEA) based on long-term strategic cooperation between VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and University of Helsinki (Finland) on the one hand and Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovak) on the other. The rationale behind this project is to ensure sustainable financing and quality of research in the field of advanced materials in Slovakia as one of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs). Our goal is to bring and nurture the culture of excellence in Slovakia and to leverage support under HORIZON 2020 and other available funding opportunities. CEMEA project aligns with Smart Specialization Strategy of the Slovak Republic by focusing on areas of specialisation based on best available scientific and research capacities (identified in RIS3) – in particular on research of advanced materials and nanotechnology, biomedicine, biotechnology and sustainable energy as application areas for advanced materials. Results of the new CEMEA Centre´s research will be applicable in areas of economic specialisation identified in RIS3 of the Slovak Republic. Projects long-term goals include: - Become a leading research organization in advanced materials research in Europe with management based solely on principle of excellence - Nurture “culture of excellence” in Slovakia and thus, increase the human potential of the Centre, ensure spreading of excellence and circulation of knowledge in local economy (in Slovakia) - Develop and strengthen international cooperation with Centres of excellence or other excellent organizations in Europe - Improve ranking in selected composite indicators of research excellence (measurable and significant improvement in research and innovation culture)