The aim of this supporting action is the planning and the organization of the World Manufacturing Forum 2015 (WMF2015) to be held in the second semester of 2015. Keeping the WMF2015 in Europe is pivotal in order to retain the European leadership in key Manufacturing enabling technologies. The aim of this specific proposal is the planning and the organization of an event that can represent the flagship initiatives for the year 2015. In order to take advantage of the previous successful experience and reputation accomplished, the event will be called World Manufacturing Forum 2015. Strategic objectives of the event are: • To be an open and independent environment where industry leaders and key policy makers from all over the world, together with all relevant stakeholder, will discuss global trends, challenges threats and objectives in Manufacturing to give authorities in policy, science and industries advice for the orientation of innovation perspectives for a global competitive and sustainable development; • To be a platform where the most recent state-of-the-art of the Manufacturing research is spread and disseminated at the same time where the most interesting trends and research needs are identified, discussed and shared among interested parties and involved communities; • To be a platform for the communication of the European Commission strategies and policies to a global audience; • To be an ambitious event to present results of the European cooperative research, to support the Horizon2020 and to discuss about international cooperation in R&D; • To create visibility and better synergies between industrial and social initiatives launched by the Commission and by the Member States in a fair interplay with the other global regions.

The InnoMatSyn project (“Innovative Materials Ecosystem to Gain Synergies of regional, national and EU Initiatives”) will support the coordination of European, national and regional initiatives in the field of innovative advanced materials towards a materials ecosystem that cover any type of advanced materials (AdMa) and two-dimensional materials (2DM) to accelerate the development and scale up of the materials. The initiative will support the public authorities and funding research and innovation bodies by leveraging synergies between the different research communities and funding opportunities to facilitate the creation of one overarching materials ecosystem. The project will deliver 4 main outcomes: (i) a materials innovation knowledge repository tool capable to connect existing databases at EU, National and regional projects, and to identify possible needs and gaps; (ii) support to national regional funding agencies to create joint calls between funding agencies M-ERA.NET, FLAG-ERA, EUREKA, and EIT’s to facilitate the development and scale up of materials research. iii) an overarching, resilient European R&D&I ecosystem facilitating the cooperation within the different materials-related communities and funding agencies to monitor on-going research and to generate new projects, to run workshops in support of funding calls, and to challenge the knowledge generated in Europe, enabling future initiatives. iv) support EU, national, and regional initiatives with technology leakage risk assessment strategies, generating guidelines and common understanding at regional, national, and EU level to enhance EU sovereignty. Furthermore, InnoMatSyn will engage with all stakeholder groups including citizens, to gain awareness and attention to the potential of innovative materials. Emphasizes will be put on the empowerment by co-creation of skills, supporting and in collaboration with the Advanced Materials Academy, and related partnerships e.g. IAM4EU,‘AI, Data and Robotics'.

The SMAR3TS project arises as a response to climate change and environmental degradation. It orchestrates an ambitious international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral staff exchange program for research and innovation, aimed at accelerating sociotechnical transitions for inclusive and sustainable growth. It actively tackles grand societal challenges that endanger global stability and prosperity, and adversely impact fundamental human needs such as food, mobility, energy, and housing. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, loss of biodiversity, and disruptions to ecosystems all have far-reaching consequences that transcend borders and require collaboration to develop timely and innovative solutions. SMAR3TS builds a Powerhouse Consortium with amplified network effect by uniting cross-disciplinary expertise of researchers and practitioners from 23 beneficiary partners, and 13 Associate/Third Country Partners working on research excellence through secondments, conferences, workshops, summer schools, knowledge-sharing platforms and activities to transform research outputs into tangible outcomes. United in diversity, SMAR3TS network spearheads innovations across various sectors to support resilient, restorative, and regenerative futures. By leveraging Open innovation strategies, SMAR3TS facilitates knowledge exchange, capacity building, and the co-creation of actionable solutions. By enabling a Quadruple-Helix approach (i.e. university-industry-government-civil society collaboration) and offering advanced training opportunities on research translation, futures thinking, foresight and other necessary tools and techniques, it equips researchers with key skills to design pathways for societal impact. Overall, SMAR3TS pursues a proactive strategy to build a fair, inclusive and regenerating world by collectively advancing science, technology, and innovation, triggering behavioural, organization and policy changes.

Illegal activities across external borders (land and maritime) are a threat to the security of the European Union. Better border surveillance capabilities are required to deter and monitor irregular border crossings. These should be interoperable across member states, ranging from the Mediterranean to the Nordic Countries, which have different border surveillance challenges. These should also be scalable, flexible and relocatable, since the needs along borders shift rapidly in time, with changing and improving threats. SEAGUARD project aims to address these needs. Situational awareness technologies will play a crucial role in the future of maritime border security by providing real-time information about the maritime environment, including vessel movements, cargo, and potential threats. The SEAGUARD project aims at developing an innovative and integrated approach to maritime cross-border surveillance that will enhance border security and management in Europe. The scope of this project includes the design, development, testing, and deployment of a cross-border surveillance system that will incorporate multiple sensing technologies integrated in both fixed and mobile platforms. This project will combine unmanned vehicles (Unmanned Aerial, Surface and Underwater Vehicles - UxVs), fixed buoys, (SMART) submarine cables, with advanced analytics and decision support. The system will be able to monitor and detect various types of threats, including illegal border crossings, smuggling of contraband, illegal fisheries and terrorist activities. The project will leverage new technologies and data analytics, enhanced by multi-domain autonomous cooperative platforms and multimodal communications, to provide real-time information and situational awareness to multiple border guards and other authorities, enabling them to detect and respond to potential threats coming from the air, surface or underwater, more effectively.