Plenoptic Imaging aims at studying the phenomena of light field formation, propagation, sensing and perception along with the computational methods for extracting, processing and rendering the visual information. The PLENOPTIMA ultimate project goal is to establish new cross-sectorial, international, multi-university sustainable doctoral degree programmes in the area of plenoptic imaging and to train the first fifteen future researchers and creative professionals within these programmes for the benefit of a variety of application sectors. PLENOPTIMA develops a cross-disciplinary approach to imaging, which includes the physics of light, new optical materials and sensing principles, signal processing methods, new computing architectures, and vision science modelling. With this aim, PLENOPTIMA joints five of the strongest research groups in nanophotonics, imaging and machine learning in Europe with twelve innovative companies, research institutes and a pre-competitive business ecosystem developing and marketing

The goal of TOCHA is to develop the next generation of topological devices and architectures across which information can flow without losses. This conceptually simple yet technologically and fundamentally challenging requirement is crucial for the development of technologies in fields ranging from information processing to quantum communication and metrology. In each of these areas, the dissipation of information is a key hurdle that leads, for example, to unacceptable thermal loads or error rates. TOCHA will harness topological protection in novel materials and nanoscopic structures to empower electrons, phonons and photons to flow with little or no dissipation and, ultimately, crosslink them within a hybrid platform. This will entail the design of novel topological photonic/phononic waveguides and the engineering of disruptive heterostructures elaborated from the combination of topological insulators and ferromagnetic materials. In the optical domain, this will enable the creation of reflection and scattering free waveguides and, in thermal management, efficient transport and localized dissipation of heat. In electronics, TOCHA will develop ballistic transistors that could operate at THz cut-off frequencies and, for metrology, it will establish a new paradigm for electrical resistance quantization standardization. The hybridization of three distinct quantum particles is expected to lead to novel functionalities, such as the shielding of quantum emitters from phonon-based decoherence processes, or the conversion of information from electronic to optical form and vice versa. TOCHA will gather a young consortium and foster the creation of a new community in Europe on the use of topology for Information and Communication Technologies. Thanks to its high interdisciplinary embodiment involving electronic materials, optics, thermal management and metrology, TOCHA will help advance all levels of the value chain, from fundamental science to engineering and technology.