Europe faces an influx of refugees, part of the 16 million plus people worldwide experiencing protracted displacement. The EU-funded TRAFIG project developed solutions better tailored to the needs and capacities of displaced persons. The work is already helping displaced people thrive in their new homes.
Innovation networks have the power to make businesses flourish more rapidly and effectively. The EU-funded ENRICH in Africa project has given various organisations the means to connect innovators from both regions, bringing social and environmental benefits.
What, exactly, will it take to transition to a low-emission society? Where can we make improvements? Will they be sufficient? How do the options combine? EU-funded researchers have produced a website where users can mix and match possible solutions and explore how these choices play out across key areas.
Waste is only waste if you cannot put it to good use. EU-funded researchers have developed a circular value chain deriving income sustainably from deep litter, wet straw, biogas digestate and similar residues, via products such as fertilizer, fuel pellets and substrate for mushroom and growing media for plants - and boosting biogas production in the process.
Although being stuck in a brain scanner while being exposed to a horror film may not be everyone's idea of fun, monitoring volunteers' grey cells throughout this process can tell scientists a lot. EU-funded research using this and other memorable techniques has generated new knowledge on the way we process and transmit social information.
Wind, wave, tidal - there is plenty of energy to harvest at sea, and plenty of room for innovation to tap this potential for greater sustainability contributing to a key sector in the European Commission's Green Deal. Test sites from several countries have joined forces to strengthen Europe's position at the forefront of this area of R&D. An EU-funded project has taken their cooperation a step further.
With some 210 million buildings in Europe, most of them energy inefficient, the scope for sustainability gains is huge. How would Europe deal with the cost of all those renovations? An EU-funded pilot scheme that already involves 65 banks is proposing incentivised mortgages as a way to leverage the necessary funds, fast.
Enzymes could make many chemical conversions more efficient, more sustainable and more affordable - and marine microbes produce an abundant variety of these biological catalysts, say EU-funded researchers who set out to find new ones for use in industry. A vast collection, new knowledge, four patents and a start-up are the result.
An EU-and industry-funded research project has provided guidance for ongoing research contributing to the development of a flexible, intelligent real-time traffic management and decision-support system in a bid to help boost the competitiveness and sustainability of European rail.
How do you build a common future from a legacy of conflict? Determination goes a long way, as the history of the EU shows – but building bridges is not easy. EU-funded researchers are analysing collective memories of past strife that still affects community relations today, in a bid to help advance European integration.
