WATERLINE aims to create a European Digital Water Higher Education Institution (HEI) Alliance, based on the quadruple helix model of innovation, leading to the development of the Alliance’s research, educational and entrepreneurship capacities. This shall leverage the individual, institutional and regional resources required for a transformative structural and sustainable learning and innovation environment. To achieve this, WATERLINE has five specific objectives: (1) support consolidation of the Alliance by co-creating a common governance framework, and a Research & Innovation (R&I) capacity building plan; (2) co-create a portfolio of water components for Master level and transform emulative laboratories in partner Widening HEIs into assisted and virtual reality. These structural changes will lead to transformed and more competitive R&I HEIs; (3) strengthen WATERLINE researchers’ R&I capacity excellence by implementing activities, such as summer schools to enhance education and R&I skills, and proposal writing workshop; (4) build a European network of academics/researchers who, together with quadruple helix actors, will allow knowledge flow in water domains and extended reality technologies. This allows greater involvement of regional actors in the R&I process and enhances one of the major societal challenges: water-related education. Moreover, it will strengthen academic and business links through academia-to-business meetings and a hackathon to mainstream entrepreneurship mindsets. WATERLINE will, finally, (5) sustain the alliance by, (i) establishing ambassador networks, (ii) identifying the R&I funding landscape, thus increasing participation in HE and the mobilisation of resources in the water sphere, and (iii) creating synergies with EU initiatives, institutions, other projects and networks.

The Mediterranean Sea and its surrounding regions support a diverse variety of essential socioeconomic activities. It is one of the highly exploited water ways and the influence of anthropogenic activities on its marine habitats and ecosystems has grown significantly since the industrial revolution. Because of this, the Mediterranean Sea basin is very vulnerable to chemical contamination and buildup. To safeguard the Mediterranean Sea basin from contaminants for emerging concerns (CoEC), iMERMAID will integrate, coordinate, and synergize innovative preventive, monitoring, and remediation solutions. iMERMAID will build an evidence-based multidimensional framework that will guide policymaking and transform societal perceptions to reduce CoEC usage, emissions, and pollution. Furthermore, next generation sensor and remediation solutions will be developed within iMERMAID to monitor and remove prioritized chemicals from its source while reducing upstream pollution. iMERMAID builds an ideal interdisciplinary team by bringing together prominent SMEs, researchers, regulators, and innovation professionals who have been essential in improving the knowledge and awareness of CoEC. Beyond state-of-the-art techniques, iMERMAID will strive to strengthen regulations against CoEC, expand economic possibilities and competitiveness, improve the standard of living for EU residents, while preventing the accumulation of chemical pollution in the Mediterranean Sea basin. iMERMAID will empower the efforts to create a zero pollution, contaminant free waters by enabling the Chemical Strategy's goals to become a practical reality.

Economic, digital and technological developments, as well as increasing energy efficiency and environmental demands, present the European (and global) Industry with many challenges, not least of which is to continuously update the qualification, knowledge and skill profile of the workforce. The aim of this project is to realise an industry driven and coordinated sustainable and cross-sectoral blueprint for the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) addressing its recent and future challenges in immediate and enduring ways. A Blueprint strategy for human capital development through a Cross-Sector Skills Alliance on Energy Intensive Industries (EII) will be developed by involving a broad range of key stakeholders from the eight sectors of the SPIRE public-private partnership: Steel, Chemicals, Minerals, Non-ferrous Metals, Water, Engineering, Ceramics, and Cement. The alliance of related sector associations or technology platforms, training providers, and research partners is characterised by a huge competence based on a long list of projects for energy efficiency, industrial symbiosis (IS) and related Vocational Education and Training (VET). It will develop concrete and practical strategies and programmes (modules and tools) in anticipation of skills demands in a proactive and future oriented way, securing policy support and continous monitoring. Build on the already existing SPIRE coordination, projects and activities, a cross-sectoral industrial symbiosis approach, covering all the eight SPIRE energy intensive industry sectors and integration European, national, regional industrial symbiosis perspectives will improve “intercultural” exchange between the different industry sectors and the different qualification levels (blue and white collar, generational exchange, and green skills as overarching issue).