The sustainable development goals of the UN and climate targets of the EU require that all economic sectors sharply reduce fossil-based use. However, the agricultural sector has the potential to not only greatly defossilize, but even produce energy – and that not to the detriment of, but alongside with food production. Photovoltaic (PV) has become dramatically more competitive relative to other renewable energy sources, and is now as competitive as wind power. Currently, PV-parks are installed on large land areas, leading to loss of land for cultivating crops. The ideal solution is provided by combined agro-voltaic systems with dual land use for crop production and simultaneous power production. HyPErFarm joins multiple types of actors with the objective to optimize viable agrivoltaic business models as well as test the marketability of the products, via inclusion of new innovative PV technologies (PV H2-production, bifacial PV-panels), radically new crop production systems, stakeholder innovation workshops, and citizen-consumer acceptance, public perception analysis and farmer adoption studies. HyPErFarm also develops and demonstrates new ways of utilizing and distributing the energy produced on-farm via heat pumps, e-robots, hydrogen production, storage and use, and e-driven pyrolysis of biomass side-streams that captures carbon while also improving soil quality. The project’s impact is that agrivoltaic systems are moved upwards to TRL7-8, and attractive new business models are accessible for farmers. HyPErFarm thus supports a game-changing radical innovation and contributes to the building of a low fossil-carbon, climate-resilient future EU farming that can also supply local communities with power and hydrogen. HyPErFarm partners have the ability to adopt and further develop the new farming practices, to provide the new technologies required, and to adopt new APV-business models that will allow continued food production on land used for power production.

GLOPACK proposes a cutting-edge strategy addressing the technical and societal barriers to spread in our social system, innovative eco-efficient packaging able to reduce food environmental footprint. Focusing on accelerating the transition to a circular economy concept, GLOPACK aims to support users and consumers’ access to innovative packaging solutions enabling the reduction and circular management of agro-food, including packaging, wastes. Building from existing key enabling but simply applicable technologies, GLOPACK will focus on increasing the TRL of the three main promising advances in the food packaging area: (1) bio-circular (biodegradable materials issued from agro-food residues conversion) packaging materials, (2) active packaging to improve food preservation and shelf-life without additives and (3) RFID enabled wireless food spoilage indicator as new generation of self-adjusting food date label. GLOPACK strategy will tackle the diffusion of these innovation through the whole stakeholders chains, from the researcher up to the consumer, i.e. the uptake by packaging industry through pilot and large-scale processing for the selected technologies, by food companies through the deployment of a software tool for decision making and for providing proof of usefulness to all stakeholders, by others users (e.g. retailers) and consumer through user-driven adoption strategies, cost-benefit analysis and validation and retro-active adjustment in close to real conditions. Validation of the solutions including compliance with legal requirements, economic feasibility and environmental impact will push forward the three technologies tested and the related decision-making tool from TRL 3-4 to 7 for a rapid and easy market uptake contributing therefore to strengthen European companies’ competitiveness in an always more globalised and connected world.

ICEBERG will make significant advances in the uptake of the circular economy in the building industry through the development of innovative circular reverse logistics’ tools and high-value secondary raw materials production technologies to establish market confidence and acceptability of recycled End-of-Life building materials (EBM). ICEBERG aims to design, develop, demonstrate and validate advanced technologies for the production of high-purity secondary raw materials (>92%w) through 6 circular case studies (CCS) across Europe, covering circularity of wood, concrete, mixed aggregate, plasterboard, glass, polymeric insulating foams and inorganic superinsulation materials. ICEBERG will generate cross-cutting integrated smart solutions that encompass three innovative circular reverse logistics’ strategies: an upgraded BIM-aided-Smart Demolition tool; a novel digital EBM traceability platform; and Radio Frequency and QR based identification system. ICEBERG will develop novel technologies for the recovery of EBM, which include: hyperspectral imaging (HSI), machine-learning software and robotic manipulators to increase sorting efficiency of mixed aggregates; an integrated crushing, sorting and cleaning optimized system and fast pyrolysis and purification processes for wood fractions; thermal attrition mobile unit integrated with LIBS and carbonation for concrete; hydrocyclone combined with HSI sorting and acid purification to increase the purity of recycled plasterboard; a combined process of purification and solvolysis for polymeric insulating foams; advanced hydrothermal and supercritical based processing of glass and silica containing waste. Circular design solutions for greater circularity of EBM and production of innovative circular building products with high purity and recycled content (30% - 100%) will be also implemented. ICEBERG will generate in the mid-term an economic benefit of 1758 M€ and 6265 new jobs by 2030.

H2Haul will develop and demonstrate a total of 16 new heavy-duty (26–44t) hydrogen fuel cell trucks in real-world commercial operations. The project includes two major European truck manufacturers (IVECO and VDL), who will build on existing small-scale prototyping activities to develop new zero-emission trucks tailored to the needs of European customers, mainly in large supermarket fleets. The vehicles will be standardised as far as possible to help encourage the development of the European supply chain. New high-capacity hydrogen refuelling stations will be installed to provide reliable, low carbon hydrogen supplies to the trucks. Most of the stations will be publicly accessible and this project will thus support the uptake of a broader range of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. The vehicles and infrastructure will be thoroughly tested via an extended trial with the high-profile end users over several years. The comprehensive data monitoring and analysis tasks will ensure that the technical, economic, and environmental performance of the hardware is assessed, and that the business case for further deployment of heavy-duty fuel cell trucks is developed. The scope and ambition of this innovative project will create a range of valuable information that will be disseminated widely amongst truck operators, representatives of the retail sector, policy makers, and the broader hydrogen industry. Hence, H2Haul will validate the ability of hydrogen fuel cell trucks to provide zero-emission mobility in heavy-duty applications and lay the foundations for commercialisation of this sector in Europe during the 2020s.

The agri-food industry faces numerous challenges dealing with societal, public health, individual nutrition and environmental, food waste and overall food system sustainability challenges. Imbalances and disconnected food markets are generating undesirable trade-offs between the food supply, the consumption patterns, quality of nutrition and the environment. Interoperability and data sharing across agri-food supply networks is limited. Data can revolutionise the food industry and foster its contribution to inclusive and sustainable food systems. Data can be used to assist these stakeholders in making informed decisions on how to operate in a more sustainable and inclusive manner. In this way, they increase the efficiency of the food industry through the optimisation of relevant operations and the reduction of waste, promoting transparency and demonstrate their commitment to ethical and sustainable production. FoodDataQuest will develop ground-breaking data-driven solutions based on an integrated methodological framework that explores new types of private and public data sources, data from “unconventional players” and non-competitive data and leverages data sharing mechanisms in order to provide the EU food chain stakeholders with increased insights and enhance the transition towards sustainable healthy diets. The proposed framework will include guidelines and data collection strategies, to drive the food system transformation towards inclusive, sustainable, healthy diets within the boundaries of legal and policy frameworks. FoodDataQuest will co-create and test advanced data-driven solutions based on AI and ML algorithms, following a multi-actor approach that will serve as a lighthouse that positively impacts a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system. Last, FoodDataQuest will engage citizens into industry's data-driven innovations balancing between data openness and protection of private and sensitive data of multiple stakeholders.