Since the emergence of Cloud Computing and the associated Over-The-Top (OTT) value-added service providers more than a decade ago, the architecture of the communication infrastructure - namely the Internet and the (mobile) telecommunication infrastructure - keep improving with computing, caching and networking services becoming more coupled. OTTs are moving from being purely cloud-based to being more distributed and residing close to the edge, a concept known to be “Fog Computing”. Network operators and telecom vendors advertise the “Mobile Edge Computing (MEC)” capabilities they may offer within their 5G Radio-Access and Core Networks. Lately, the GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft) came into the play as well offering what is known as Smart Speakers (Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod and Google Home), which can also serve as IoT hubs with “Mist/Skin Computing” capabilities. While these have an important influence on the underlying network performances, such computing paradigms are still loosely coupled with each other and with the underlying communication and data storage infrastructures, e.g., even for the forthcoming 5G systems. It is expected that a tight coupling of computing platforms with the networking infrastructure will be required in post-5G networks, so that a large number of distributed and heterogeneous devices belonging to different stakeholders communicate and cooperate with each other in order to execute services or store data in exchange for a reward. This is what we call here the smart collaborative computing, caching and networking paradigm. The objective of SCORING project is to develop and analyse this new paradigm by targeting the following research challenges, which are split into five different strata: - At the computing stratum: Proactive placement of computing services, while taking into account users mobility as well as per-computing-node battery status and computing load; - At the storage stratum: Proactive placement of stores and optimal caching of contents/functions, while taking into account the joint networking and computing constraints; - At the software stratum: Efficient management of micro-services in such a multi-tenant distributed realm, by exploiting the Information-Centric Networking principles to support both name and compute function resolution; - At the networking stratum: Enforcement of dynamic routing policies, using Software Defined Networking (SDN), to satisfy the distributed end-user computation requirements and their Quality of Experience (QoE); - At the resource management stratum: Design of new network-economic models to support service offering in an optimal way, while considering the multi-stakeholder feature of the collaborative computing, caching and networking paradigm proposed in this project. Smartness will be brought here by using adequate mathematical tools used in combination for the design of each of the five strata: machine learning (proactive placement problems), multi-objective optimization, graph theory and complex networks (information-centric design of content and micro-services caching) and game theory (network-economics model). Demonstration of the feasibility of the proposed strata on a realistic and integrated test-bed as well as on an integrated simulation platform (based on available open-source network-simulation toolkits), will be one of the main goals of the project. The test-bed will be built by exploiting different virtualization (VM/Containers) technologies to deploy compute and storage functions within a genuine networking architecture. Last but not least, all building blocks forming the realistic and integrated test-bed, on the one hand, and the integrated simulation platform, on the other hand, will be made available to the research community at the end of the project as open source software.

The focus of the ANR proposal is to launch a network joining European and non-European teams working on local development in the highlands, in order to submit a proposal to RISE (Research and Innovation Staff Exchange) Marie Curie Program/H2020 early 2017. The objectives of the RISE proposal will be (i) share and debate the diverse initiatives and innovations of local development in the highlands, (ii) develop specific capacity building focused on different types of stakeholders and local people, (iii) participate in policymaking through relevant suggestions, monitoring and assessment of actions and (iv) strengthen a recognized European competence on the local development in the highlands. The partnership for the ANR proposal, and consequently for the RISE proposal, is based four countries of European Union (Austria, France, Portugal and United Kingdom), two other European countries (Norway and Switzerland) and non-European countries in Mediterranean (Morocco and Lebanon), the Americas (Argentina, Canada, Equator, Peru, the United States) and Eastern Asia (China and Vietnam). Research question is adaptation process and resilience of high mountain societies to global change, especially initiatives and innovations focused on local development. Several initiatives of local development in the highlands were implemented in the countries of the European Union, although the concepts have sometimes been built in other areas, as for example natural parks, reserves of biodiversity, reserves of biosphere, “regional” parks, winter and summer slow tourism, many small agribusiness factories for cheeses, liquors, fruits, etc. Diverse reasons justified these implementations in the European Union, especially the specific policies made at national and European level, which strongly incentivized and supported these initiatives, in order to reduce the disadvantages of these regions, mainly due to their weak access and their long distance to decisions centers. Indeed, focused on the sustainable development, the specific national and European policies significantly impacted local development in European highlands, compared with non-European highlands where economic issues and national interest usually lead their development, especially in developing countries. Moreover, the supportive context for local development initiatives lead to new initiatives and also innovations focused on the improvement of these initiatives and the building of new initiatives, including in policymaking. In other words, based on the European Union experience, the implementation of local development could lead to new steps of local development. It is a research hypothesis to be verified in European Union and tested in the other zones. A priori, for the method of the RISE proposal, we suggest using the concept of co-viability, which includes both viability and its regulation, to analyze resilience factors at different scales, representations and local knowledge, access to resources and policymaking in global change context. This point has to be debate with the partner in the next months. In terms of activity to be developed in 2016 in order to build the RISE proposal, firstly there are five visits to each of the European partners in order to better share the common objectives of the RISE proposal, select the local development initiatives for the compare analysis and draft a concept note of the RISE proposal. Secondly, a workshop joining the leaders of European partners with 3-4 leaders of non-European teams will allow to better define the contents of the proposal and to draft a first version.

NICH-Arctic proposes transdisciplinary investigations of Human, Cultural and Environment interactions in the Arctic-subarctic North Atlantic in a context of climate change and industrialization. The Arctic-Subarctic coastal regions are subject to large amplitude changes of climate and sea ice conditions, which play a vital role in accessibility through navigation and livelihood of the cultural communities since prehistoric times. The history of this regions is however poorly documented from instrumental data. Disciplinary knowledge has been developed, but with limited communication across disciplines, and between scientists and stakeholders. Hence, it appears urgent to improve sectorial exchanges to develop an integrated perspective on climate, habitat, archeology and culture in the context of accelerated changes in the Arctic and subarctic areas. With the aim to assess on resilience and vulnerability of the Arctic-subarctic North Atlantic the project will integrate multidisciplinary information according to three foci: (i) natural variability of sea ice, climate and vegetation, (ii) adaptation of local human populations to their habitat and (iii) cultural representation and perceptions of the natural environments by local and outside-of-the-region populations. The target areas include the regions of northern Nunavik, Nain in Labrador, Nuuk in Greenland and Svalbarðshreppur, Iceland, where NICHArctic team members have gained experience and are willing to further conduct transdisciplinary studies. The variety of different climatic and environmental conditions in the study areas will permit to compare adaptation strategies and cultural representations of climate changes in polar settings. Expected outcomes include (i) the setting of a well-documented database of climate and ecological changes in the study area, (ii) an integrated documentation of climate, environmental and cultural variations over decades to centuries, (iii) resilience assessment in the study areas from both environmental and human points of view, (iii) a series of workshops and conferences involving researchers and local populations, and (iv) dissemination (translation, publication of books and articles, website, videos, etc.) of knowledge to scientific communities and the general public.

Estuarine and coastal ecosystems are essential for human activities, as they provide a wide variety of ecosystem services (ES). However, they are subject to increasing anthropogenic pressures incurred by coastal development, marine traffic, overexploitation of aquatic resources and diversification of tourism and recreational use. Accounting for these human-ecosystems interactions in land planning projects, in a comprehensive, holistic and integrated way, is still a challenge in decision-making. The “Cost to coast” research project aims at filling in the existing gaps in this integration and providing the missing elements that prevent the sustainable development of coastal/estuary territories, by using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and tools. “Cost to coast” project is divided into four inter-related research activities that will allow reaching four objectives. First, it aims at proposing a harmonized conceptual framework for the consistent assessment of ES at a territorial scale throughout a life cycle perspective. Second, it will develop a methodology to identify the “basket” of ES relevant to estuarine and coastal areas, which are shared by different stakeholders at a territorial scale (e.g. maritime freight and port activities, fishing, recreational-tourism, high value conservation area), by applying the conceptual framework initially developed. Third, it will create a new set of indicators to be applied in quantitative life cycle impact assessment methods (e.g. readily available to LCA practitioners for use within IMPACT World+), in order to quantify the potential loss/gain of aquatic ES (i.e. from coastal and sea use), in compliance with the conceptual framework developed. Finally, this project aims at applying the developed methodologies and set of indicators to characterize the human impacts on ES. The operationalization will be conducted on two case studies, i.e. the Thau lagoon, on the Mediterranean Sea coast, in France; and the St. Lawrence estuary, in Quebec (Canada) with a specific focus on the Lac Saint-Pierre. These two territories have different sets of ES, though the direct provision of resources with the presence of aquaculture, fishing and shellfish farming activities; as well as indirectly, through cultural services, such as those linked with recreation and cultural activities. The project is scheduled for 3 years and it combines the expertise of six different research teams from Québec and France, as an evidence of its multi- and inter-disciplinary character. The researchers and graduate students are involved in various fields of research and development, such as LCA (system analysis, impact assessment methodology development, LCA operationalization), ES quantification and valuation, marine ecology and biology, geography and economics. The project will deliver high qualification staff (4 PhD, 1 Postdoc and 3 MSc students), scientific papers and communications. Lastly, the “Cost to coast” project pays attention to serving and better informing the decision-making process. For that, tools, documentation, and other project deliverables will be made available to territorial stakeholders and to the lay public, in simple wording and, at the same time, to the LCA community (i.e., practitioners and researchers) in order to ease and sustain its use.

This project addresses the point 4.2 of the call for proposal, dedicated to electrochemical capacitors (ECs) so called supercapacitors or ultracapacitors. This point mentions that : « A major effort of research must focus on improving the energy density, including implementation of new organic electrolytes to increase the electrochemical window and security. Asymmetric or hybrid systems are other avenues to explore.”.Our goal is to double the energy density of nowadays symmetrical carbon ECs, i.e from 5 to 10 Wh/kg or 7 to 15 Wh/L. Unlike most of todays research efforts which aim at replacing carbon by other materials (oxides, nitrides, etc...), thus leading to drastic changes in fabrication process, we propose to keep the carbon electrode and simply add electroactive molecules that will be anchored at the surface of carbon, thus adding a faradic component to the double layer capacitance of carbon. This concept is not new since it has been developed for more than 5 years by the partners of this consortium as well as by other teams. However, most of the work has been done in aqueous based electrolytes. The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is at stage 2 (Invention begins, practical applications can be invented, applications are speculative). Our goal is to apply the current knowledge to the development of devices in organic based electrolytes, and to push TRL level to stage 4 (Basic technological components are integrated to establish that they will work together), being able at the end of the project to give prototype cells to companies for initiating stage 5 of TRL (Component validation in relevant environment). Subsequently the present project is dedicated to technological developments. We want to improve the energy density of carbon-based devices in organic electrolyte by two fold. This will be achieved by keeping the same cell voltage (or slightly increasing it), almost the same double layer capacitance (EDLC) of carbon electrodes but providing an extra Faradaic capacity (and not capacitance since it is purely Faradaic) to both carbon electrodes by functionalizing the surface of carbon with judiciously chosen electroactive molecules. This concept has been successfully applied to aqueous based electrolyte using quinone based functionalized carbons. The choice of the electroactive molecules (multi-electron processes are preferred to single electron process, low molecular weight is needed, adequate active electrochemical window…), the choice of the carbon (large surface area, adequate porosity not too much affected by molecular grafting on the surface, etc…), the interaction between the molecules and carbon powder (high grafting yield, etc..) and finally the behavior of modified carbon electrodes in different organic (or ionic liquid) based electrolytes are the key points that control the final performance of the modified carbon electrodes. These requirements correspond to the 5 tasks of the project. Doubling the energy density must be achieved while keeping high power capability and long term cycling efficiency which are the bottlenecks of the proposed technology. For this purpose, a consortium gathering 4 academic laboratories (including a Canadian partner) has been set up. The 4 labs have been working together for more than 12 years with more than 30 common papers and communications and already 5 common PhD and post-docs. The consortium will take benefit from the belonging of the French labs to the French Network on Energy Storage (RS2E - http://www.energie-rs2e.com/fr) to get access to prototyping facilities to lead the concept to 1000F cells.