A step change in our noise mitigation strategies is required in order to meet the environmental targets set for a number of sectors of activity affecting people through noise exposure. Besides being a hindrance to our daily life and subject to regulations, noise emission is also a competitive issue in today’s global market. To address these issues, new technologies have been emerging recently, based on radically new concepts for flow and acoustic control, such as micro-electro-mechanical devices (MEMs), meta-materials, porous treatment of airframe surfaces, airfoil leading-edge or trailing-edge serrations, micro-jets, plasma actuation, … Some of these new ideas appear nowadays promising, but it now appears to this consortium that the development and maturation of novel noise reduction technologies is hindered by three main factors. The first factor is an insufficient understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for the alteration of the flow or acoustic fields. In absence of a phenomenological understanding, modelling and optimization can hardly be successful. Secondly, tight constraints (safety, robustness, weight, maintainability, etc.) are imposed to any novel noise mitigation strategy trying to make its way to the full-scale industrial application. Thirdly, there is an insufficient knowledge about the possibilities that are nowadays offered by new materials and new manufacturing processes. With this project, we intend to setup a research and training platform, focused on innovative flow and noise control approaches, addressing the above shortcomings. It has the following objectives: i) fostering a training-through-research network of young researchers, who will investigate promising emerging technologies and will be trained with the inter-disciplinary skills required in an innovation process, and ii) bringing in a coordinated research environment industrial stakeholders from the aeronautical, automotive, wind turbine and cooling/ventilation sectors.

DeCrises addresses the complex challenges of the European Union (EU)'s twin transition that is reshaping society, the economy, and infrastructure at every level of governance. Through four case studies from the EU and European Economic Area, our primary goal is to pinpoint the gaps in the existing Multilevel Governance (MLG) framework guiding the twin transition and propose solutions that pave the way for an equitable transition. While the EU committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, recent global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, have added complexity to the twin transition. This underscores the importance of cross-border collaboration and coordinated strategies at various levels of governance. DeCrises focuses on five objectives: To conceptualise a bottom-up MLG framework to foster citizen participation and stimulate social innovation and collaboration for an inclusive twin transition; To develop a robust MLG implementation strategy to translate the vision of a just twin transition across all levels of governance within the EU; To develop an understanding of community-led social innovations as drivers of twin transition and their role in MLG processes; To identify strategies to enhance regional and intra-regional collaboration and resilience; To facilitate and establish channels of collaboration and knowledge exchange between a diverse set of actors and explore ways to enhance policy instruments at various levels of governance. Transitioning to a green future requires significant changes to institutions historically tied to fossil fuels and limited levels of digitalisation. We focus on a shift from top-down decision-making to a more inclusive, democratic approach involving various levels of governance, including governments, businesses, and civil society. Our project provides comprehensive policy recommendations for improvement of MLG to strengthen democratic governance in the EU and ensure a just twin transition.