Proiecte

The DOORS Research and Innovation Action developed an optimised open research support system for the Black Sea to: (1) address human and climate change impacts on its fragile and damaged ecosystems and (2) support real behavioural change across its complex geopolitical and governance landscape for Blue Economy development. In doing so, DOORS provided the ambitious framework to overcome the barriers to the advancement of the Blue Economy agenda. DOORS brought together existing fragmented monitoring efforts, delivered state-of-the art observation capability, engaged stakeholders through participatory approaches and established a harmonized capacity-building framework. These outcomes maximise the benefits to all Black Sea communities to promote business growth, well-informed stakeholders and educated citizens.

The overall objective of DOORS is to make the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for the Black Sea operational, support the successful implementation of Blue Economy and contribute to a healthy, productive and resilient Black Sea. To fulfil this, DOORS embed stakeholders’ collaboration at its core and developed three Programmes:

1. Programme-1 System of Systems (SoS) for the Black Sea, a platform for evidence-based knowledge development that was co-designed with policy makers and covers relevant aspects of the physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the Black Sea. The SoS enables a more holistic approach, reflecting the ecosystems services provided, and provides scientific support to the management of the Black Sea.
2. Programme-2 Blue Growth Accelerator (BGA), identified sectors and entrepreneurs for innovation, provided professional support to unlock their potential, enhanced the exploitation of knowledge, and facilitated access to investors and constructive exchange between scientists, entrepreneurs and policy makers for sustainable development of Blue Economy sectors.
3. Programme-3 Knowledge Transfer and Training (KTT), built upon on existing, and developed new collaborations, between the different actors on science and policy to promote a culture of openness, share best practice and knowledge. It built capacity to address impacts by engaging stakeholders from the beginning of the project to develop and sustain mutually beneficial collaboration.

DOORS is underpinned by co-development and co-creation of the research and innovation action with key actors from across the Black Sea thus having built mutual trust and understanding which ensured that stakeholder engagement was highly productive.

The future of the Black Sea is a key priority for the European Union. The Burgas Vision Paper issued in May 2018, under an initiative supported by the European Commission, outlines the key framework to ensure the sustainable development of the Black Sea by 2030. It focusses on the creation of a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) based on the identification of critical research problems. The 2019 “Bucharest Declaration” of the scientific community launched the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for the Black Sea. Black Sea CONNECT is a key H2020 Coordination and Support Action (CSA) which addressed the development of scientifically, technically and logistically support for the broader Black Sea Blue Growth Initiative, supported by the European Commission (EC) and composed of country-appointed experts, stakeholders and various national and international organizations.

Black Sea CONNECT was the first project in its own field for Black Sea. The initiative has strengthened connections among Black Sea countries, paving the way for long-term regional cooperation and sustainable growth.

The overall objective of the Black Sea CONNECT was to coordinate the development of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), based on the defined principles in the Burgas Vision Paper, and support the development of the Blue Economy in the Black Sea.

The SRIA and its Implementation Plan will guide stakeholders from academia, funding agencies, industry, policy, and society to address together the fundamental Black Sea challenges, to promote the blue economy and its prosperities of the Black Sea region, to build critical support systems and innovative research infrastructure and to improve education and capacity building.

Renewable hydrogen combined with large scale underground storage enables transportation of energy through time, balancing out the impacts of variable renewable energy production. While storing pure hydrogen in salt caverns has been practiced since the 70s in Europe, it has never been carried out anywhere in depleted fields or aquifers.

Technical developments are needed to validate these two solutions. As subsurface technical feasibility studies for a future hydrogen storage in depleted field or aquifer will be site-specific, as for other geology related activities, HyStories will provide developments applicable to a wide range of possible future sites: the addition of H2-storage relevant characteristics in reservoir databases at European scale; reservoir and geochemical modelling for cases representative of European subsurface, and tests of this representativeness by comparing it with results obtained with real storage sites models; and lastly an extensive sampling and microbiological lab experiment programme to cover a variety of possible conditions.

Complementarily, techno-economic feasibility studies will provide insights into underground hydrogen storage for decision makers in government and industry. Modelling of the European energy system will first define the demand for hydrogen storage. Environmental and Societal impact studies will be developed. For a given location and hydrogen storage demand, a high-level cost assessment for development of each of the competing geological storage options at that location will be estimated, and the sites will be ranked based on techno-economic criteria developed within the project. Finally, several case studies will enable consideration of the implementation of potential projects, notably by considering their economic interest.

This will provide substantial insight into the suitability for implementing such storage across EU and enable the proposition of an implementation plan.

ENOS strives to enhance the development of CO2 storage onshore, close to CO2 emission points. Several field pilots in various geological settings will be studied in detail and best practices that stakeholders can rely on will be produced. In this way, ENOS will help demonstrate that CO2 storage is safe and environmentally sound and increase the confidence of stakeholders and the public in CCS as a viable mitigation option. Developing, testing and demonstrating in the field, under “real-life conditions”, key technologies specifically adapted to onshore storage.Contributing to the creation of a favourable environment for onshore storage across Europe.

BRIDGE-BS project aims to develop the tools and predictive capabilities needed to understand and predict the impact of both climatic and anthropogenic multiple stressors on the ecosystem services provided by the Black Sea. These ecosystem services and their responses to stressors will be mapped, monitored and modelled to identify a safe operating space in which a sustainable blue economy can thrive. Thus, BRIDGE-BS is structured around „three” interconnected nodes – “Dynamics of ecosystem services”, „Blue Growth Incubators” and „Responsible Citizens”. Node 1 will assess, predict and determine ecosystem resilience, using data time series, simulations, and machine learning tools to provide adaptive management tools. Node 2 will identify services that can support Sustainable Blue Growth in the Black Sea by strengthening resource management, developing and applying innovative technologies, and supporting start-ups and innovative business models to create added value and jobs. Node 3 will support the uptake of scientific results provided by BRIDGE-BS into sectoral policies and will train and strengthen the collaborations between scientists and stakeholders, as well as between policy makers, industry and civil society representatives. Most importantly, through Node 3, BRIDGE-BS will create a connected Black Sea community, strengthened by a new generation of researchers and innovators, to address the emerging challenges of the Black Sea.

The post-COVID period highlighted that society needs a new environmental agreement (GND), which resets economic systems to create safe jobs, protect nature, act to mitigate climate change and floods, prevent pollution and preserve biodiversity. This green new deal needs to harness safe, renewable technologies and nature-based solutions

ReSET project aims to leverage developments in spatial modelling, artificial intelligence and interoperable environmental sensing to better understand pathways to RESET agricultural and urban development across Europe in order to increase sustainability.

REXUS project’s main goal is to bring transformative change in the way our societies approach the Water Food Energy Climate Nexus. The project argues that this is possible only through the activation of inclusive nexus partnerships, the Learning & Action Alliances (LAAs). The objective is for the pilot case Alliances in Europe and Latin America to develop shared visions and adaptive Nexus Management Strategies that will meet the Nexus sectoral objectives as well as broader criteria, such as habitat protection.

The Water-ForCE project will develop a roadmap for future Copernicus services that include the study of water (surface, aquifers, atmospheric), taking into account the current challenges faced by researchers, generated by the differences between in-situ and satellite data. The project aims to incorporate the needs and expectations of the public and private sectors into future Copernicus services, in order to contribute to increasing opportunities for innovation and exploitation. The project will facilitate close cooperation between researchers working in aquatic environments and those working with satellite data, as well as a permanent interaction between researchers and societal actors (authorities, managers, environmental policy makers, etc.).

ENVRI-FAIR represents the link between the Environmental Research Infrastructures (ENVRI) cluster and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

STRATEGY CCUS is a three-year project supporting the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), a technology of great importance in the transition to a zero-carbon future. The project focuses on eight regions of Europe identified as promising for CCUS. These regions are located in seven countries and are responsible for almost 45% of industrial and energy-related CO2 emissions in Europe. The 8 regions are: the Paris and Rhone basin (France), the Ebro basin (Spain), the Lusitanian basin (Portugal), Northern Croatia, Upper Silesia (Poland), Western Macedonia (Greece) and the Galați region (Romania).

MICS is a Citizen Science (CS) impact measurement project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020. The project involves six European partners from five countries. MICS adopts and adapts the best practices generated by the Ground Truth 2.0 project in co-creating validated CS in four case studies in Europe, aiming at creating a comprehensive conceptual framework and formulating clear recommendations for those involved in CS projects. The four areas (from the UK, Italy, Hungary and Romania) explore CS co-creation in regions with different needs, contexts and approaches for managing environmental quality issues (for example, river restoration and implementation of green solutions – Nature Based Solutions) and different levels of CS application.

MONOCLE project brings together 12 organisations from Europe and Africa to develop sustainable solutions for monitoring surface water quality through measurements of their optical characteristics. The project uses a combination of satellite measurements, beacons, boats, drones and portable devices. Field instruments range from highly accurate automated systems, used mostly by researchers, to solutions involving low-cost sensors, solutions that can be accessed and operated by representatives of the general public.

The project focuses on the lagoons, deltas and estuaries, which are the transition areas between rivers, streams and seas. The objective of the project is to improve and harmonize the studying methods for the surface waters, using satellite data and in-situ measurements. CERTO will investigate the water parameters that can be used to assess the quality status of all transitional aquatic environments. The project will provide services that can be used by the environmental quality monitoring agencies, by those working in the field of environmental policies, by various private companies, but also by the general public. The main result of the project will be a system ready to be implemented in the Copernicus services or specific software.

EMSO-Link project aimed to accelerate and establish EMSO ERIC governance rules and procedures and facilitate the coordination of the construction, operation, expansion and maintenance of the EMSO ERIC infrastructure.

NAIAD is a research project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, which aims to contribute to the better understanding and promotion of green solutions (Nature Based Solutions – NBS), necessary to mitigate water risks (flood, drought, erosion, etc.). GeoEcoMar was responsible for coordinating the activities in the case study “Lower Danube”.

The MARINA project aims to promote responsible research and innovation (RRI), with a focus on marine issues and pressures that have important effects on European societies. The project has developed, coordinated and experienced a platform that promotes responsible research and innovation (RRI) involving societal actors in research and innovation and aiming to harmonize the whole process and its results with the values, needs and expectations of European society, thus integrating European citizens’ visions, needs and desires regarding science and innovation and promoting RRIs with a focus on marine issues and pressures that have important effects on European societies. Even though they were related only to marine research, the project activities and results defined this systematic approach to make it transferable and applicable to any RRI thematic area.

HYDRALAB+ is an advanced network of environmental research institutes in Europe whose purpose is to provide access to a number of major and unique hydraulic installations across Europe. The project’s objective is to prepare the hydraulic modelling of the environment for the future and to respond to the technical challenges related to climate change adaptations through a multidisciplinary scientific approach. HYDRALAB+ helps broaden the climate change perspective by undertaking networking activities involving the participation of the hydraulic community. The project aims to strengthen the experimental hydraulic research by improving the infrastructures so that they facilitate scientific progress in the field, but also to contribute to a better approach to climate change adaptation issues.

The overall objective of EMSODEV was to catalyze all operations of the EMSO ERIC Research Infrastructure for the development and installation of EGIM (EMSO Generic Instrument Module). EGIM provides accurate, complete, comparable and long-term measurements of the ocean parameters, which must meet social and scientific challenges such as climate change and marine hazards. This project has helped to increase the inter-operability of EMSO ERIC nodes and to collect all data in real time in one place.

The project aimed to achieve a synergistic alliance of marine research infrastructures belonging to the 41 participating European and international organizations.

Europe’s environment is in an alarming state, with climate change effects aggravating. To secure economic prosperity, human wellbeing and social peace, systemic transformative change of our society is imperative. Ecosystem restoration using nature-based solutions (NbS) is key to this change, in which freshwaters hold a pivotal role.