The INSEAI project aims to create an international network for knowledge and comparative socioeconomic analysis of informality and policies to be implemented for its formalisation in the EU and Latin America. The interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach involves academic (nine from UE and seven from LA), non-academic (three from UE and four from LA), and four non-eligible funding entities. Training activities and debate events will be organised throughout secondments, and specific tools (to detect, prevent and avoid informality) will be developed with the network members and people from their environment's societal collaboration. INSEAI Network faces at least seven critical challenges currently claimed by stakeholders at HEI in Europe and LA: 1) Raising the level of research organisation in the region in the informal issues covering the current state-of-the-art knowledge and formalisation governance lacks. 2) Multiplying the effect of research results opens the possibility of catching public policy interest. 3) Driving the PhD students' attention to informality as an endemic issue deeply rooted in the globalised dynamics changing people's lives and stratifying world peripheral capitalist positions. 4) Developing Open Science, promoting gender equality, and consolidating the network continuity. 5) Developing training tasks, exchanging knowledge and methodologies, and trying to innovate in analysis and quantification tools with the support of research and dissemination technologies. 6) Managing external databases and those generated by the network to offer tools (using big data, algorithms, apps) for public use in favour of informality knowledge and estimation and the formalisation processes governance. 7) Bringing together research and innovation interests from academic and civil society entities to understand the convergences and divergences in structuring labour markets and informality dynamics in regions with different degrees of development.

La educación en las áreas STEM (siglas en inglés de Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas) son una prioridad. La Comisión Europea establece las competencias matemáticas y científicas como base del aprendizaje, y mejorar los resultados en estas áreas también es el foco de las políticas educativas en EEUU. Una de las razones es la gran falta de profesionales que se prevé. Si se estima que el empleo crecerá un 3% hasta 2020, en las áreas STEM lo hará un 14%, además se considera que el 80% de los empleos necesitarán conocimientos científico-tecnológicos. Pero incrementar el interés de los jóvenes por estas áreas no es solo cuestión económica, tenemos que considerar la dimensión ética y humana de las STEM, formar ciudadanos críticos que entiendas la tecnología que les rodea. Por ello es importante que tengan una actitud positiva hacia estas áreas, que se sientan atraídos y vean su importancia en la sociedad.Dentro de las áreas tecnológicas, la programación es un proceso que implica el análisis del problema, el diseño y la verificación de un algoritmo, y su implementación en un lenguaje de programación. Aunque relacionado, el Pensamiento Computacional va más allá, e incluye la resolución de problemas, el diseño de sistemas, y la comprensión de la conducta humana.A pesar del excelente diseño curricular de iniciativas como Code.org y similares, creemos que los estudiantes podrían beneficiarse de una plataforma donde puedan crear sus propios retos de programación, y que además se puedan compartir, ser evaluados y remezclados por el resto de los usuarios. Esta plataforma se llama Make World (http://makeworld.eu, en adelante MW) y tiene como objetivo crear una relación simbiótica entre el Pensamiento Computacional y las áreas STEM. Para ello, las actividades que plantea desafían a los estudiantes tanto en la programación como en los conceptos STEM. Está orientada a educación primaria y es extensible a niveles superiores si los estudiantes se convierten en autores de sus propios recursos de aprendizaje.El consorcio que ha desarrollado el proyecto está integrado por cinco socios, dos entidades de I+D: Universidad de Deusto, España (coordinador del proyecto) y el Instituto Tecnológico CTI Press, Grecia; y tres escuelas de educación primaria: Esclavas SC- Fátima, España; Warsaw Bilingual School, Polonia; y Doukas School, Grecia.El proyecto se ha desarrollado a lo largo de dos años (2014-2016), y el resultado se compone de: una plataforma online, un conjunto de recursos educativos digitales y una guía docente. Todos están en inglés, castellano, euskera, griego y polaco. Estarán disponibles de forma abierta y gratuita durante al menos 10 años y serán liberados bajo la licencia Affero General Public License (AGPL). Para diseñar los recursos educativos se han puesto en común el currículo de las áreas STEM de los tres países participantes, y se han elegido los conceptos priorizados por los docentes, quienes también han elaborado la guía docente. El desarrollo de la plataforma ha tenido muy presente el público objetivo, chicos y chicas de educación primaria, y esto se puede apreciar en una cuidada interfaz y en su sencillez de uso.La naturaleza social y la flexibilidad de la plataforma son algunos de sus mayores atractivos. Los usuarios no solo juegan con los recursos existentes, sino que pueden mezclarlos para crear nuevas versiones, o crear actividades desde cero. Los jugadores pueden seguir las actividades realizadas por otros jugadores, votar “me gusta” y comentar sus creaciones. Esto permite la interacción social y la gamificación de MW.Durante el desarrollo del proyecto 167 docentes de España, Polonia y Grecia han participado en los talleres de MW y 524 estudiantes en las pruebas. Desde enero de 2016 la plataforma ha conseguido 1.330 usuarios que han accedido en más de 8.000 ocasiones, 670 de ellos ha creado al menos un mundo, y se han creado un total de 3.656 mundos.El impacto en las entidades participantes es evidente. Además de la experiencia adquirida, se posicionan como referentes en innovación educativa y en STEM. Han ampliado sus redes y actualmente colaboran con otros agentes en estas áreas. La Comunidad Educativa tiene a su disposición un conjunto de recursos abiertos y gratuitos, pero además la posibilidad de crear nuevos recursos. Los docentes y los estudiantes se han mostrado muy satisfechos con MW, y podemos afirmar que se sienten motivados e interesados por trabajar con este tipo de herramientas, con las que además desarrollan sus habilidades tecnológicas. La disponibilidad de todos los recursos en varios idiomas hace que su difusión a nivel internacional sea prácticamente inmediata. De hecho, solo ha llevado unos días traducir la plataforma a ucraniano.Aunque el proyecto oficialmente ha finalizado, seguimos trabajando para que MW llegue a las aulas, ofreciendo formación y apoyando a los centros que estén interesados en incluir herramientas como MW en educación primaria y secundaria.

The main research goal of the NEWEX Project is the construction and testing of the new innovative extruder. By the application of a new, patented concept of vital parts: innovative active grooved feed section (IAGFS), original rotational barrel segment (ORBS) and special screw (SS) a completely new breakthrough technology of extrusion and plasticizing systems will be achieved. It will ensure manufacturing the products of improved properties and will enable processing materials that couldn’t be processed so far, as well as food materials, cosmetic and pharmaceutical. In parallel to the main RTD activities the NEWEX project is aiming at industry-academia cooperation and transfer of knowledge between organizations from central-eastern and Western Europe. All the project’s activities will be performed by thoroughly planned secondments and appropriate hosting institutions between industrial and academic partners. The workplan consists of 7 Workpackages, out of which: WP1-4 focus on the investigation of extruder, extrusion process and extrudate properties and tasks aiming at the selection of the best solution of new extruder vital parts, than construction and testing of new generation extruder. WP5 concentrates on networking activities (workshops, training, knowledge exchange, etc.). WP6 aims at knowledge dissemination (participation in conferences, fairs, publications, etc.), WP7 is dedicated to management and administration of the whole project. The consortium consists of 6 organizations: 3 representing academic partners and 3 representing industry partners. Project is coordinated by Lublin University of Technology (Poland). Partners are: Technical University of Kosice (Slovakia), University of Minho (Portugal), Zamak-Mercator LLC (Poland), SEZ-Krompachy a.s. (Slovakia) and Borra s.r.o. (Czech Republic). Realization of NEWEX project will foster the real industry-academia cooperation which is of the key importance in terms of European Research Area development strategy.

The energy and building sector are vital to Europe’s environment and energy policies. In the current energy transition, the building sector is recognized as a cornerstone due to the possibility to easily adopt advanced control strategies and smart management systems. Thereby cost-effectively increasing buildings’ energy efficiency and flexibility, while improving building users’ comfort, productivity, and health. This cost-effective energy use reduction will render faster implementation of on-site and nearby renewable energy sources, facilitate demand electrification, hence reducing Europe’s energy dependencies. Achieving the building sector energy transition demands an improvement of the interoperability of European buildings with energy carriers and non-energy services. Buildings must play an active role in ensuring the reliability, resilience, and sustainability of the energy system, particularly in the face of evolving challenges such as climate change, resource constraints, and other threats (e.g., cybersecurity, geopolitical, etc.). Therefore, the aim of ENTRANCE is to enable smart-grid-ready and decarbonized buildings through the integration of energy efficiency, flexibility, on-site renewables, mobility, empowerment of end-users, and interoperability between buildings and district heating and electricity grids. The ambition of ENTRANCE is to develop and demonstrate solutions that promote building integration and active participation in the energy system and market through guaranteeing end-users’ comfort and empowerment while creating value for the economic actors of the energy landscape. Through four core principles based on integrated technology, digitalization, user engagement, and performance-driven economics, ENTRANCE solutions will be demonstrated in relevant environments. To generalize the solutions for different geographical regions, ENTRANCE includes demonstration sites from six different countries around Europe.

Now, in a rapidly changing world, the issue of heritage protection and use is one of the most important problems of modern countries and societies. Cultural heritage represents big potential for economic growth, generating value and thereby directly benefiting citizens. Finding better balance between preservation of cultural heritage and sustainable socio-economic development of regions is necessary. Therefore, there is a need for a development of teaching programmes enabling educating specialists to apply modern, attractive forms of re-use, management and protection of heritage, while preserving its historical value. The aim of the project was to create an international cooperation network of researchers, academic teachers and practitioners specialising in various fields of management, protection and use of cultural heritage. University Network for Cultural Heritage – Integrated Protection, Management and Use collected, elaborated and shared knowledge in the field of protection, management and use of heritage, archaeology, architecture and cultural landscapes in order to develop the interdisciplinary programme of the Course on Integrated Protection, Management and Use of Cultural Heritage. The course combines the issues of protection, management and use of three types of cultural heritage: architectural heritage, archaeological heritage and cultural landscape. PARTNER UNIVERSITIES: • Politechnika Lubelska, PL • Universita degli Studi di Firenze, IT • Universita di Bologna, IT • Panepistimio Ioanninon, GR • Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg, DE NON-ACADEMIC PARTNERS: • ICOMOS Polska, PL • Fondazione Romualdo del Biando, IT • Fondazione Flaminia, ITPartnership was complementary, each partner brought significant added value to project. ACTIVITIES: • Comprehensive elaboration of an interdisciplinary Course on Integrated Protection, Management and Use of Cultural Heritage, consisting of three Modules: Sustainable Protection of Cultural Heritage, Modern Management of Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Use of Cultural Heritage • Elaboration of didactic materials for three modules of the interdisciplinary Course on Integrated Protection, Management and Use of Cultural Heritage • Pilot implementations of three interdisciplinary teaching modules: organisation of Summer Schools: on Sustainable Protection of Cultural Heritage, on Modern Management of Cultural Heritage and on Contemporary Use of Cultural Heritage • Creation and testing of Knowledge-exchange and educational Portal on Cultural Heritage • Multidirectional dissemination of the project Based on the course curriculum universities are better prepared to educate new generation of specialists in the field of cultural heritage who understand the need for and the objectives of sustainable protection, modern management and contemporary use of cultural heritage also in terms of society and its needs. The partners elaborated modern, innovative curriculum giving high quality learning opportunity, attuned to requirements of labour market, modern trends and doctrine of sustainable development. INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS: • Interdisciplinary teaching module: Sustainable Protection of Cultural Heritage • Best Practice Handbook on Sustainable Protection of Cultural Heritage • Best Practice Handbook on Sustainable Protection of Cultural Heritage – case studies • Knowledge-exchange and Educational Portal on Cultural Heritage • Interdisciplinary teaching module: Modern Management of Cultural Heritage • Best Practice Handbook on Modern Management of Cultural Heritage • Best Practice Handbook on Modern Management of Cultural Heritage – case studies • Interdisciplinary teaching module: Contemporary Use of Cultural Heritage • Best Practice Handbook on Contemporary Use of Cultural Heritage • Best Practice Handbook on Contemporary Use of Cultural Heritage – case studies RESULTS ACHIEVED ON PROJECT'S COMPLETION: • Permanent cooperation network • Continuous transfer of knowledge, experiences and good practice • Strengthened research capacity of European universities • Broadened educational offer of European universities The project has contributed to the implementation of modernisation agenda of HE through: • increasing attainment levels to provide the graduates and researchers Europe needs, • improving quality and relevance of higher education, • strengthening quality through cross-border cooperation, • supporting internationalisation of the European HE. The project results contribute to the development of relevant and high-quality skills and competences not only in the participating countries but also throughout Europe.