Most of innovative businesses base their success on creating value through better use of intangible assets. Ecosystem Services constitute the most valuable intangible assets on earth and forests are the most precious Natural Capital in Europe. Therefore, ECOSTAR alliance aims to develop entrepreneurship and innovation skills and opportunities among Forest and Environmental Policy and Economics (FEPE) university departments in Europe, specifically targeting Italy, Spain, England and Romania. The project focuses on promoting and fostering the links among high education institutions and businesses operating in the field of Marketing and Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (MEEB). Most of well-known FEPE university departments have developed several methodologies and tools connected with MEEB and in general with nature-based economy. However, universities curricula lack of knowledge transfer initiatives that allow the real commercialization of new processes, methods and services for the development of market-based mechanism for ecosystem services conservation. Therefore, the project aims to make the knowledge triangle a reality in the field of MEEB, providing sustainable business opportunities and real benefits for the environment. ECOSTAR will achieve its goals through the following main actions: - Delivering a series of specialized entrepreneurship and innovation trainings targeted to MEEB through multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning- Facilitate the co-creation of knowledge, through staff and learners mobility, an EU Business Plan Award, lobby and fundraising- Create an EU wide research and enterprise alliance to make a knowledge triangle a reality in the field of MEEBResults will have a strong EU-global dimension and transferability potential, capitalizing on existing wide university-business networks and through the partnership with Ecosystem Marketplace, a leading organization tracking ecosystems markets and tools in US and worldwide.

For the mass deployment of electric trucks, the FLEXMCS project aims to overcome challenges regarding the acceleration of the roll out of charging infrastructure, in expanding grid capacity and available charging infrastructure. FLEXMCS designs highly energy-efficient megawatt-charging hubs with multiport chargers, which improve the utilisation and can be used flexible, for HDVs during fast charging, but also at night for slower charging and for light vehicles. The project will integrate renewable energy sources in the charging hub to minimize energy losses and grid impact. Furthermore, the project will develop tools for optimal utilisation of charging infrastructure and user convenience. An Open Charging Framework architecture, will create real-time data exchange between CPOs and truck, to match the supply and demand of charging infrastructure. Part of the project is also the streamlining of the planning and installation of new charging hubs, identification of optimal geographical locations along TEN-T corridors and optimizing hub architecture and layout, and addressing technical and non-technical barriers. FLEXMCS will demonstrate and assess the FLEXMCS megawatt-charging hub concept and upscaling strategy, validating technology effectiveness and formulating business cases. The project partners include Vrije Universiteit Brussel as the coordinator, along with Hitachi Energy, JEMA Energy as charging infrastructure suppliers, ElaadNL representing grid operators, IVECO spa and DAF trucks regarding the interoperability for trucks, Bosch Service Solutions GmbH for access and control systems on the charging hub, Alfen for stationary energy storage, Ricardo, TNO, IDIADA Automotive Technology SA and Austrian Institute of Technology for the development of tools and algorithms, and ALICE and Gruber Logistics SPA for giving an end-user perspective on all systems.

Beijing suffers from very high concentrations of airborne pollutants, leading to adverse health and wellbeing for over twenty million people. The pollutants likely to have the greatest effects upon human health are particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone. Both particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide are emitted directly from individual sources (primary contributions, many of which are not well quantified); and are formed in the atmosphere (secondary contributions, which are highly complex). Ozone is entirely secondary in nature, formed from reactions of precursor gases, whose sources and abundance are also challenging to constrain. These uncertainties hinder understanding of the causes of air pollution in Beijing, which is needed to deliver effective and efficient strategies for pollution reduction and health improvement. AIRPOLL-Beijing project will address this challenge, through identification and quantification of the sources and emissions of air pollutants in Beijing. The project sits within the NERC/MRC-NSFC China megacity programme, which includes projects addressing the atmospheric processes affecting air pollutants, human exposure and health effects, and solutions / mitigation strategies to reduce air pollution and health impacts. The project exploits the combined experience and expertise of leading UK and Chinese scientists, applying multiple complementary approaches. The project deploys multiple atmospheric measurement and analysis strategies to characterise pollutant abundance and sources, develop novel emissions inventories, and integrate these to produce new modelling tools for use in policy development. We adopt a range of state-of-the-science approaches: -Receptor Modelling, where detailed composition measurements are used to infer pollutant sources from their chemical signatures, combining world-leading UK and Chinese capability. -Flux Measurements, where the total release of pollutants from all sources is measured, providing a key metric to refine emission inventories. We will combine near-ground measurements (using the unique Institute of Atmospheric Physics 325m tower in central Beijing), ground-based observations and fluxes derived from satellite observations. -3D spatial analysis, in which a novel sensor network will be deployed around central Beijing to measure pollutant fields. -Development of novel emissions inventories, which will predict the temporally- and spatially- resolved emissions of air pollutants from all sources, enhancing existing capability. -Development of new online modelling tools, within which to integrate emissions, atmospheric processing and meteorology to predict primary and secondary pollutant concentration fields. AIRPOLL-Beijing will integrate these approaches to provide thorough understanding of the sources and emissions of air pollutants in Beijing, at unprecedented detail and accuracy. While the project is a self-contained activity, key deliverables feed into Processes, Health and Solutions themes of the programme. This proposal seeks Newton fund support, part of the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment. The project will directly address ODA objectives, in the categories of (i) people (through the joint development of novel scientific approaches to the understanding of megacity air pollution), (ii) programmes (as all aspects of the project are joint UK-Chinese research endeavours) and (iii) translation (through provision of detailed air pollution source assessments, in support of assessment of health impacts and development of mitigation strategies). More generally, the project will leave a legacy of improved air pollution understanding and research capacity of the Chinese teams, and, through integration with other themes of the Megacities programme, underpin improvements in the health and welfare of the population of Beijing, and across China more widely - ultimately benefitting more than a billion people.

NEMO aims to create a turn-key solution through which new systems are integrated into existing infrastructure to empirically measure emissions and noise emitted by individual vehicles. The new measurement systems, together with the implementation of new mitigation solutions, form a global and scalable solution to improve air quality and reduce noise impact in EU cities. By the envisaged standardization, the systems will represent an instrument for enforcement against high-emitters in Low-Emission Zones and other sensitive areas. The first dimension comprises a new and enhanced autonomous remote sensing system that identifies noisy and polluting vehicles in existing traffic and make this information available to tolling or access systems. The system can be fully integrated into the road/rail infrastructure and will have the tools available to communicate with the existing data structure of both vehicle/train operators and road/rail authorities. The second dimension develops a holistic solution to mitigate noise and emissions of passing vehicles. This integral approach involves road texture optimization, green barriers, photocatalytic materials and microplastics collection in the asphalt layer pore network. The combined effect of dimensions 1 and 2 will achieve the targeted 30% improvement in air quality for road traffic and will exceed the targeted 20% improvement in noise. For rail traffic, NEMO will enable the acoustic determination and identification of individual wagons in passing trains. This improves the effectivity of tolling or banning policies for noisy cast iron block braked wagons. The NEMO consortium covers all the relevant technologies at already quite high readiness level and incorporates extensive experiences in the application and interpretation of vehicles’ noise and emission monitoring. The performance of the developed systems will be demonstrated, analysed and disseminated in four pilots (two for road, one for rail and one for shipping).