Public Funding for Aston University

To build a transformative business culture, improve operational efficiency and productivity and identify specific international market potential for innovative new product developments.

To develop novel, antimicrobial aesthetic coatings for architectural ironmongery for use in high infection risk environments.

To drive productivity improvements, through the transformation to a servitization 'Glass Factory' business model.

1 in 4 women experience some form of online abuse termed as Cyber violence against women and girls (CyVAWG) that includes cyberstalking, revenge porn, and harassment. The growing reliance on digital platforms has amplified the severity, speed, and scale of these crimes, further worsened by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). AI has facilitated harmful practices like deepfakes, which add new layers to the forms of abuse that women and girls face online. Many victims remain unaware of how to report these incidents or seek help, leaving them vulnerable and isolated. This project aims to investigate the characteristics of CyVAWG and its debilitating impact on victims, including the severe mental-health consequences such as anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. CyVAWG also silences women in public spaces, reducing their participation in political discourse and social media, diminishing female representation. Marginalised groups, i.e. ethnic minorities, often face additional challenges like stigma, victim-blaming, and honour-based shame, making them more vulnerable to cyber violence. Current legal frameworks are reactive, often focusing on punishing perpetrators rather than protecting victims. Underreporting remains a significant issue due to fear of retaliation and mistrust in the legal system. This project in collaboration with charity centres such as Roshni and Legacy Centre of Excellence will highlight real cases to illustrate the delays in law enforcement response, exacerbating trauma for victims. To address these challenges, our project will: * **Raise awareness** of CyVAWG and its impact. * **Provide practical tools** for females to protect themselves online. * **Build a supportive network** for victims and survivors. * **Deliver strategic recommendations** for legal reforms, platform accountability, and better support systems for victims. The project will also produce a toolkit developed by Aston University's Cyber Security Innovation Centre (CSI), that will consist of: * A **taxonomy of CyVAWG** to help women recognise various forms of abuse. * Guidance on **reporting mechanisms** and how to report incidents. * **Cybersecurity basics** to protect against online threats. * **Mental health resources** to build resilience against the psychological impacts of abuse. * An overview of **legal rights and protections** in the UK and Europe. * **Workshops and interactive sessions** to teach women through scenario-based exercises. The project aims to empower women and girls to navigate the digital world safely, fostering awareness, resilience, and stronger reporting and protection mechanisms. By advocating for platform accountability, modernizing legal frameworks, and offering targeted educational programs, this initiative seeks to create safer online spaces and increase female participation in digital public life.

The project PhDs EU-Rail aims to foster collaboration and innovation in the European railway sector by consolidating a scientific community and conducting research through 10 PhD positions. The project is closely aligned with the goals of the EU-RAIL Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail) and industry partners. The objectives of the project include developing a research plan for each PhD position, with the aim of submitting at least 2 peer-reviewed journal papers per position. The research topics cover a range of areas, such as supporting the implementation of rail technical innovations for decarbonization, promoting gender equality in the rail industry, exploring new education and training methods, enabling rail-based urban logistics, improving fast night train operations, studying the dynamic stability of trains over bridges, enhancing safety-relevant communication in the railway system, calculating societal KPIs of rail research programs, the railway inclusion and accessibility for individuals with intellectual disability and ICT platforms for interoperable and reliable ERTMS systems. The project also emphasizes collaboration with industry stakeholders and participation in relevant conferences and events to disseminate research findings. By expanding the Academics4Rail project and involving major European rail companies and academia, the project seeks to strengthen research and innovation capabilities in the European railway sector.

In the evolution of urban transport, NEXUS seeks to establish an innovation benchmark, addressing crucial challenges and guiding European metros toward transformative futures. The collaborative effort unfolds through three interconnected workstreams, each contributing to overall progress. - WS1's core is the mission to redefine metro adaptability to demand fluctuations. Meticulous analysis and feasibility studies elevate adaptability,showcased through simulation tools. The focusremains on user-centered optimization aligned with evolving passenger needs. - WS2 focuses on train controlsystems of tomorrow. A comprehensive feasibility study pavesthe way for fully automated systems. Sustainability, safety, and seamless integration characterize the exploration, addressing challenges in infrastructure and system complexities. - WS3 delves into the innovative realms of AI and data science in metro transport. In collaboration with WS1 and WS2, this workstream explores promising AI applications. Rigorous evaluation ensures these digital innovations resonate practically in metro system implementations. Together, these workstreams harmonize in a holistic approach, envisioning a future where technology enhances operations responsibly and sustainably. NEXUS accentuates societal needs, weaving a narrative where metros become living, adaptable entities. Stakeholder involvement, including metro operators and passenger representatives, deepens the project's impact. Their participation resonates the results of NEXUS not only locally but also on the international level. Through optimization, analysis, energy and service efficiency, NEXUS aspires to pioneer innovative solutions for the urban and metro transport of the future, where the journey is as significant as the destination.

The rise of decentralised finance (DeFi) and growing complexity of the Web3 and Metaverse have brought about new opportunities and significant security challenges. Security in crypto remains a key barrier to broader adoption. In 2023, $1.7 billion was stolen, hacked, or phished from crypto users globally, highlighting a significant obstacle and source of frustration. Unintended transaction outcomes are among the most common causes of fund loss incidents within unhosted wallets including MetaMask, TrustWallet, Phantom etc. Proactive security alerts that thwart malicious transactions are crucial in protecting users against scams, phishing, and hacks. The MetaGuard project builds upon the success of Phase 1, where we developed foundational tools to enhance the security of smart contracts and decentralised applications (DApps). These contracts and applications are pivotal to the operation of DeFi and Metaverse platforms but are vulnerable to cyber threats, including fraud, phishing, and unauthorised access. The MetaGuard project aims to further innovate in this space by developing an advanced, AI-driven security solution that proactively monitors and secures digital transactions in real-time. Our objective is to create a proof of concept that not only identifies potential risks but also integrates seamlessly with users' wallets and DApps to provide instant alerts and comprehensive safety advisories without disrupting the user experience. MetaGuard's unique approach leverages cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to offer dynamic risk assessment, semantic verification, and DApp authentication. These features ensure that every transaction is analysed for potential vulnerabilities, protecting users from evolving cyber threats that could compromise their assets and interactions within the decentralised digital economy. In Phase 2, our focus is on refining and validating the core functionality of MetaGuard through extensive beta testing, feedback from industry experts, and strategic collaborations with key players in the DeFi and blockchain sectors. We aim to launch MetaGuard as the go-to security solution for individuals and businesses operating in the Metaverse and DeFi environments. We are committed to exploring commercial opportunities that will allow MetaGuard to be widely adopted. This includes developing a scalable SaaS subscription model and forming partnerships that will facilitate the broad implementation of our security solution across various platforms. MetaGuard will represent the future of secure digital transactions in the Metaverse and DeFi. It will enhance user confidence and contribute to the sustainable growth and innovation of the decentralised financial ecosystem.

To develop a novel, robust evaluation toolkit for community projects using the latest research to demonstrate their effectiveness and robust evidence of impact, and monitor the personal and societal benefits in accessible and transparent ways.

**PROBLEM** Modern agriculture is so critically dependent on fossil fuel inputs that they often outweigh energy outputs from the food produced. Hence modern farming has been described as "the use of land to convert oil into food". Undoubtedly, diesel-powered mechanisation has greatly reduced backbreaking drudgery for countless millions of farmers, and conversion of natural-gas into ammonia/nitrogen fertilisers is currently feeding a third of humanity. Nevertheless, the downsides are painfully obvious: * **Input Costs:** Centralised production/distribution of fossil fuels mean farmers in remote areas across Africa and Asia often pay more than double for diesel-fuel/N-fertilisers. Those who cannot afford them are stuck in cycles of hard labour/low-yields/poverty. Those who can afford them lose around 60% at point-of-use(waste-heat from engines, or leaching/volatilisation from N-fertilisers). * **Food Prices:** Food uses around a third of all energy globally, so when fossil-fuel prices rise, food prices follow, creating political instability and hardship for the world's most vulnerable(urban-poor and farmers in developing countries). * **Greenhouse Gas(GHG) Emissions:** Agricultural emissions continue to rise, accelerating climate change, disproportionately impacting farmers in developing countries. **VISION** Development of efficient agricultural technologies powered by renewable energy to lower emissions whilst increasing farmer productivity and profitability in developing countries. Our focus is on the world's number 1 food crop: rice. * Known as a "Poverty Crop"(low-margins for smallholder-farmers). * Responsible for 48% of all crop GHG emissions. * 91% of rice is produced/consumed in Asia. **_Straw Innovations("SI")_** (British SME operating in the Philippines) has pioneered a suite of technologies for collecting rice straw at harvest-time, avoiding field-burning/rotting that accounts for almost half of rice emissions. In this project, they will convert their "straw-catcher" machine to run on solar-PV electricity/batteries instead of diesel. _**Takachar**_(multi-award-winning Indian SME) has developed a cost-effective mobile biochar production unit that can transform rice straw from a major pollutant into a vast carbon sink. They will make a 10x scaled-up version and send it to SI, who will tap the waste process heat for the first time to dry rice, instead of diesel/kerosene. The char will then be returned to the farmers' fields as a more efficient fertiliser/soil-amendment, incorporated by the same SI electric "rice/straw-collectors" that harvested it. SI will also send their machines from the Philippines to India mid-project and the two countries will test out different business models for farmer adoption/benefit. _**Aston University**_(home of SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub) leading sustainability specialists will invite stakeholder feedback and also calculate GHG savings from the new system.

Agriculture is the key industry in Malawi; however, given the sub-tropical, climate, the cold supply chain for fruit, vegetables and other temperature sensitive goods is lacking. In most of Malawi, the electricity supply is unreliable, and the increasing cost of fossil fuels makes it expensive to operate internal combustion driven generators and compressors. The lack of a reliable, affordable, and available cold supply chain leads to high levels of wastage up to 50% of some crops harvested. In rural areas, farming is mostly on a subsistence basis and a female occupation. Farmers either sell their produce directly (or via resellers) at markets or roadside walking up to 2 hours to reach their pitch. Because the crop is not chilled, it cannot be easily sold to shops or supermarkets where higher prices could be realised. Our innovation is to develop a micro, affordable, mobile, sustainable refrigeration system comprising a modular refrigerated box cooled by Phase Change Material (PCM) panels. The crop is pre-cooled at a central location using a solar powered refrigeration unit that also cools the PCM panels. Temperature integrity is monitored via sensors that monitor GPS position and temperature and the data is transmitted to a cloud database for verification by supplier and customer alike. The design and development work will be undertaken by Aston University in conjunction with its SME partners Hubl Logistics, Enterprise Projects Ventures Limited (EPVL), Malawi Fruits and Engineeronics Ltd in the UK and Modern Farming Technology (MFT) in Malawi. EPVL will supply the systems and the prototype will be evaluated in the field by MFT and Malawi Fruits. MFT will assess any gender related issues with the design. A digital twin of the design will be developed at Aston and performance of the prototype will be compared to the digital twin which will inform the final design. Aston University will conduct studies of the impact of the technology on gender and unrepresented groups. Fruit and vegetable farming and selling in Malawi are activities divided based on gender with land ownership male dominated with females relegated to farming and sales. The technology is being developed with farming and selling enterprises in Malawi in mind to empower women to develop their enterprise and social standing by adding value to their activities. CoolRun enables users to cut waste dramatically providing more to sell and reach markets where prices are higher thereby generating greater returns.

no public description

The ability to selectively extract compounds from waters will transform a multitude of applications, ranging from high-value compound isolation in industrial bioprocesses to removal of pollutants from the environment. However, current filtration technologies are reliant on physicochemical separation strategies requiring high pressure/energy inputs and cannot discriminate specific molecules. BIOMEM will develop novel biomimetic membranes harnessing the unique selectivity of biological transport proteins to facilitate the extraction of single compounds with exquisite specificity. Our concept is to use the unique antiport characteristics of secondary active transport proteins, to move molecules, even at low concentrations, across a polymer membrane against their concentration gradient, deriving energy from the transport of another readily available ion down its own concentration gradient. A novel group of bifunctional polymers will be used to extract membrane proteins, together with their associated lipids, into nanoscale discs. These will then be embedded into polymer membranes which are otherwise impermeable to create membranes that are completely selective for the compound of interest. These bio inspired membranes will be characterised to understand organisation and function of the membrane, to allow design and optimisation for custom compounds. The produced membranes will be tested for functionality in a proof-of-concept experiment to extract complex high-value oligosaccharides from bulk biomass and phosphate from wastewaters. While initially focussing on those two applications, the separation technology developed will evidence the potential for “plug and play”, bespoke, selective membranes capable of transporting specific molecules through existing or bio-engineered transporters. The developed membranes will be fully scalable and operate at rates comparable to state-of-the-art nanofiltration devices, while simultaneously requiring around 50-75% less energy.

To deliver reliable cocoa production throughout the year using an optimised cocoa-pod breaker with intelligent design processes, IoT control and optimised monitoring systems. This will enable farmers to adopt new technologies and intensify agricultural productivity.

_To develop a sustainable, efficient, carbon-free and cost effective digital platform and health monitoring system for vegetable cultivation using hydroponics, integrated with a novel solar PV powered evaporative cooling system._

To improve the sustainability of the Macadam grouts without performance loss and to develop sustainable additives as novel construction materials. Reducing cement and pulverised fuel ash content, an unsustainable by-product of the coal industry, with more sustainable and environmental constituents such as biochar aligns with Miles Macadam's green credentials.

Selective removal/recovery of molecules from water, including pollutant extraction, biotechnological products, and blood dialysis, is a cross-sector global societal challenge. Current polymer-based (plastic) filtration membranes only separate based on molecule(s)' physicochemical properties, requiring multiple, expensive, steps. Biological membranes overcome this challenge using protein "transporters" to remove (and concentrate for reuse) molecules with exquisite selectivity. Embedding transporters in plastic membranes is highly challenging as the two components are incompatible. By creating an interdisciplinary, intersectoral-focussed research organisation, drawing on world-leading expertise in novel "green" biocompatible polymers, we will produce the world's first bioinspired platform system to remove molecules from any water environment.

Selective removal/recovery of molecules from water, including pollutant extraction, biotechnological products, and blood dialysis, is a cross-sector global societal challenge. Current polymer-based (plastic) filtration membranes only separate based on molecule(s)' physicochemical properties, requiring multiple, expensive, steps. Biological membranes overcome this challenge using protein "transporters" to remove (and concentrate for reuse) molecules with exquisite selectivity. Embedding transporters in plastic membranes is highly challenging as the two components are incompatible. By creating an interdisciplinary, intersectoral-focussed research organisation, drawing on world-leading expertise in novel "green" biocompatible polymers, we will produce the world's first bioinspired platform system to remove molecules from any water environment.

Selective removal/recovery of molecules from water, including pollutant extraction, biotechnological products, and blood dialysis, is a cross-sector global societal challenge. Current polymer-based (plastic) filtration membranes only separate based on molecule(s)' physicochemical properties, requiring multiple, expensive, steps. Biological membranes overcome this challenge using protein "transporters" to remove (and concentrate for reuse) molecules with exquisite selectivity. Embedding transporters in plastic membranes is highly challenging as the two components are incompatible. By creating an interdisciplinary, intersectoral-focussed research organisation, drawing on world-leading expertise in novel "green" biocompatible polymers, we will produce the world's first bioinspired platform system to remove molecules from any water environment.

Selective removal/recovery of molecules from water, including pollutant extraction, biotechnological products, and blood dialysis, is a cross-sector global societal challenge. Current polymer-based (plastic) filtration membranes only separate based on molecule(s)' physicochemical properties, requiring multiple, expensive, steps. Biological membranes overcome this challenge using protein "transporters" to remove (and concentrate for reuse) molecules with exquisite selectivity. Embedding transporters in plastic membranes is highly challenging as the two components are incompatible. By creating an interdisciplinary, intersectoral-focussed research organisation, drawing on world-leading expertise in novel "green" biocompatible polymers, we will produce the world's first bioinspired platform system to remove molecules from any water environment.

To review, integrate and optimise the operational and business management processes and exploit the benefits of digitisation to deliver improved efficiency and productivity.

To grow the PDA membership base and underpin the development of a new pharmaceutical care service model which benefits patients, tax payers, the NHS and also to the profession.

Glioma is an extremely lethal cancer, due largely to the inaccessible nature of the brain and diffusion of cells from the tumour site. These diffuse cells are usually too deeply embedded in the brain to safely remove by current means. Targeted Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) generation is a promising form of glioma treatment to selectively eliminate glioma, including diffuse cells. However, the only current means of targeted ROS generation is photodynamic therapy (PDT) which generates ROS using expensive and potentially toxic photosensitisers (PS) which are ineffective against distant diffused cells and introduce many treatment limitations. GlioLighT proposes a novel alternative form of targeted ROS generation: Direct Light Therapy (DLT). DLT uses 1267nm light to generate 1O2 species in glioma cells without dependency on a PS. The removal of PS will revolutionise glioma treatment, enabling novel treatment modalities to vastly improve efficacy, earlier intervention options, all at reduced cost and complexity. However, whilst the principles of DLT have been demonstrated, little is known about how DLT achieves its anti-cancer effects, or the extent of its therapeutic benefits. Leveraging decades of accumulated PDT knowledge and technology development, GlioLighT will study DLT technology both independently and compared to PDT. The effect of DLT on glioma and the brain, focusing on immunogenicity, will be studied to determine DLT’s efficacy, safety, and mechanisms of action. Novel ultrashort pulse (USP) light sources will be developed to maximise optical penetration and minimise safety risk, ensuring DLT is suited for clinical adoption. Lastly, the development of the preclinical GlioLighT delivery and sensing system (pcGlio-DSS) ready for the next steps of clinical translation, will bring DLT a leap closer to vastly improving glioma treatment in Europe and worldwide.

To extend an individual's independent living by using machine learning and artificial intelligence to process data collected through sensors in the home, to indicate a decline in wellbeing, allowing a care professional to make an early intervention (eg in the case of higher risk of a potential fall).

To replace current outdated drying methods with sustainable modular desiccant dryers with logic controller and concentrated photovoltaic collectors to harness solar thermal and photovoltaic energies for electricity and heat generation.

In recent years, data-driven medicine has gained increasing importance in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and research due to the exponential growth of healthcare data. The linkage of cross-border health data from various sources, including genomics, and analysis via innovative approaches based on artificial intelligence (AI) will enable a better understanding of risk factors, causes, and the development of optimal treatment in different disease areas. Nevertheless, the reuse of patient data is often limited to datasets available at a single medical centre. The main reasons why health data is not shared across institutional borders rely on ethical, legal, and privacy aspects and rules. Therefore, in order to (1) enable health data sharing across national borders, (2) fully comply with present GDPR privacy guidelines / regulations and (3) innovate by pushing research beyond the state of the art, BETTER proposes a robust decentralised privacy preserving infrastructure which will empower researchers, innovators and healthcare professionals to exploit the full potential of larger sets of multi-source health data via tailored made AI tools useful to compare, integrate, and analyse in a secure, cost-effective fashion; with the very final aim of supporting the improvement of citizen’s health outcomes. In detail, this interdisciplinary project proposes the co-creation of 3 clinical use cases involving 7 medical centres located in the EU and beyond, where sensitive patient data, including genomics, are made available and analysed in a GDPR-compliant mechanism via a Distributed Analytics (DA) paradigm called the Personal Health Train (PHT). The main principle of the PHT is that the analytical task is brought to the data provider (medical centre) and the data instances remain in their original location. In this project, two mature implementations of the PHT (PADME and Vantage6) already validated in real-world scenarios will be fused together to build the BETTER platform.

_To transform cyber-security penetration testing (pentesting) from "test and fix" to a "threat intelligence" approach that will continually assess risk, prioritise and initiate actions to provide greater security to clients._

_To grow business in a private eye-care clinic by expanding the services offered, optimising patient pathways to grow patient numbers, and introducing novel shared-care regimes for NHS patients._

The core aim of this project is to accelerate the UK's insect protein sector by addressing major barriers to scaling. AgriGrub, the UK's largest insect protein producer, will work alongside Beta Bugs, an insect breeder, and Aston University, supply chain analysis specialists, to address these challenges and build a roadmap for scaling insect production in the UK to meet demand. The major barriers addressed include the high cost of capital equipment, operational efficiency, insufficient supply chain segmentation and a lack of sector wide strategy. This project will result in the UK's first high-scale Black Soldier Fly larvae production facility, which will produce 550 tonnes of insect protein production annually, for use in net-zero-carbon livestock feed. AgriGrub and Beta Bugs will both produce new products which will allow UK farmers to quickly and cheaply start producing insect protein to meet huge demand. Aston University will analyse the whole insect protein supply chain and produce a roadmap to scale for the sector. The team intends to use the project outputs to scale their own operations, but to also make the outputs available to anyone who wants to start farming insects, and to collaborate with interested farmers. The project takes a systems approach; combining and validating individual innovations from each project partner to produce a unique and innovative combined offering to UK agriculture. The core aim is to to accelerate the insect protein sector in time to facilitate decarbonisation of UK food production by 2050\.

_**ASD3MAP: Amorphous Solid Dispersion Digital Design and Manufacturing Platform for rapid and resource-efficient development of bioavailable medicines.**_ MESOX Ltd (Lead), in collaboration with Aston University (Partner), propose an 18-month project focussing on the refinement of the Consortium's molecular dynamics models through the integration of at market material science and simulation tools to deliver an advanced in-silico formulation development platform for amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs). Furthermore, we will integrate the generated modelling data with thermodynamics and novel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to predict the impact of cGMP manufacturing scale-up on the formulation.

New composite materials used to build next generation commercial aircraft wings create a significant reduction in the number of metallic parts in wings. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to remove electrical conductors (wires) from the wing as they provide a lightning conduction path and have to be isolated and bonded accordingly to meet regulations. Likewise, it is desirable to remove all electrical power sources from inside the aircraft fuel tanks. Existing Fuel Quantity Indication Systems (FQIS) are safe and extremely reliable, but with less metallic material in future generation commercial aircraft wings the removal of any electrical conductors (wires) and electrical power sources from the wings and fuel tanks is extremely attractive. The fuel sensing collaboration builds on over three years of technology research between Boeing and AFE to develop fuel probes and interrogation electronics. A full FQIS system includes a densitometer and this NATEP project will seek to develop the densitometer, which will ensure there will be no requirement for electrically powered sensors within the fuel tank environment. The sensor will be fuel agnostic, meaning it will be developed to measure all fuels, including Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and potentially including Hydrogen. The project aligns with developing future propulsion technologies contributing to CO2 reduction and systems which support sustainable aviation over existing technologies.

World meat consumption has tripled since 1970 and will increase a further 76% by 2050\. In the future, there will not be enough meat available for the world's population. This shortage will hit low-and-middle-income countries, where meat is an important but limited source of nutrient-dense protein, vitamins and minerals, especially hard. Over 80 billion animals are slaughtered annually for meat, the majority being factory-farmed. Increasing livestock production isn't the answer as this promotes climate change, environmental destruction and infectious disease spread. Livestock farming generates 15% of human-made greenhouse gas (GHG) and will contribute 0.5°C to global temperatures if continued. Cattle-ranching and animal-feed crops also account for most agricultural water use and 85% of rainforest clearance. Overcrowding and poor welfare standards help spread diseases, including swine and avian flu, and are major contributors to human food poisoning. Excessive livestock antibiotic use is fueling increases in antibiotic-resistant bacteria which render antibiotic medication useless: Alarmingly, antibiotic-resistant pathogens are forecast to cause greater mortality than cancer by 2050\. Cultivated meat (CM) grows animal cells in bioreactors to produce a product similar to conventional meat but without the need for any animal suffering. CM will also use fewer resources (energy, land and water) and produces less GHG, counteracting environmental issues. Since CM only requires a few cells from animals, it eliminates farming welfare issues and antibiotic use. CM, which appeals to consumers considerate of these issues, is undertaken in carefully controlled, sterile conditions vastly improving food safety. The global US$246.9Mn CM market is set to increase to $6.8Bn by 2030\. However, to achieve this forecast, this new approach needs to produce meat at a scale before it can then address future meat shortages. The first CM burger cost $330,000, demonstrating edible CM products are possible albeit at very high costs. The challenge is to make CM in large amounts, using a cost-effective and market-competitive process. Millions of tons of meat are consumed annually, so this will ultimately necessitate the development of massive (\>10,000L) bioreactors capable of generating very high-density cell cultures. This requires cells capable of growing under demanding conditions and carefully balancing nutrients and cell-toxic by-products. These nutrients (such as growth factors) need to be cheap, well-characterised and perform consistently. This project combines the skills and capabilities of three UK universities and four UK companies developing livestock cell lines, recombinant protein technologies, hydrogels and bioreactor components to collaboratively develop technological solutions for CM production.

To develop a sophisticated multi-hub-and-spoke network model to create a dynamic prioritisation system that centralises social housing residents' job requests and optimises their allocation directly to contractors.

_To implement digitalisation of operational and production control processes through the adoption of Industry 5.0 principles to drive productivity and efficiency improvements, implement data-driven decision making, and develop a business culture that supports sustainable business growth._

Our innovative project aims to combat the widespread issue of honey adulteration, which has become the second most prevalent form of food fraud globally, following only milk. This concerning problem undermines consumer trust, compromises the integrity of the honey industry, and poses potential health risks. Recent findings published in the EU report "From the Hives" revealed that nearly half of all honey imported into the EU contained markers of extraneous sugar sources, indicating adulteration. Furthermore, a 100% suspicion rate was found for honey imported from the UK, putting the reputation of British honey at risk. We will revolutionize honey quality control by introducing a fast and reliable method using FLuorescence Excitation-Emission (FLE) spectroscopy combined with machine learning. Current techniques, such as chromatography, NMR and sensory analysis, are expensive, time-consuming and becoming outdated. By applying FLE spectroscopy, an existing technology, in a new area of honey quality control integrated with machine learning, we take a disruptive approach to conventional methods. The project utilizes advanced machine learning techniques like Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) and Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) to analyse honey samples. These techniques enable us to determine the chemical components, ratios, and quality markers in the samples. By harnessing the speed, accuracy, and optical capabilities of FLE spectroscopy in combination with machine learning algorithms, our project aims to surpass current state-of-the-art methods for honey quality assessment. The result is faster, more reliable, reproducible, and cost-effective quality control methods that allow for third-party verification of product contents. Our consortium is a collaboration of experienced beekeepers and university scientists specialising in honey production, luminescent detection, and data analytics, we will leverage their collective expertise of over 25 years. Through this collaboration, we will develop innovative, efficient, and cost-effective testing methods that accurately detect honey adulteration. Implementing our proposed approach to honey quality control will not only set our product apart from competitors in the national and international testing and analysis services markets but also lead to the establishment of new standard kits for product quality and authenticity testing. This will enhance consumer confidence, increase product value, and ultimately contribute to protecting the reputation of British honey.

**Ammonia emissions** are harmful to natural habitats and our rivers and lakes, as well as to human health, with 87% of the UK's ammonia emissions coming from farming. The Government has committed to reducing ammonia emissions by 16% reduction of 2005 levels by 2030\. The project proposes a solution to **minimalize ammonia** (and other forms of "unused nitrogen") by the combination of two products, _**engineered biochar**_ and _**ply matting**_. Separately, both have a competition to a greater or lesser extent, but the final product has no direct competition due to the specific nature of production (using NH3-loaded feedstock for the char) and the purpose of binding NH3 and other harmful compounds while sequestering carbon. **Biochar** is considered as a double green revolution, serving both carbon sequestration (storage of carbon in the soil and reduction of carbon in the atmosphere) and soil amendment purposes. After some chemical or physical activation, biochar can be used as an excellent absorbent/adsorbent material. In combination with **geotextiles**, biochar can be used for the production of **absorption ply mats** used in different **agricultural practices**. Parallel to the R&D works (biochar production from agricultural waste streams via pyrolysis, fabrication and testing of ply absorption mats "prototype", additional desk studies will be performed including: (1) Literature review for biochar production (from biomass and chicken litter) and its engineering (activation for absorption studies); and (2) Assessment of scaling up routes ("prototype to product") and assessment of the potential market.

To develop a Smart Irrigation System using renewable energy to provide year-round irrigation utilising standalone off-grid operation that is cost effective and uses environmentally friendly technology. This will improve yields.

To review, integrate and optimise the operational and business management processes in the business to increase their digital maturity and enable it to exploit the benefits of digitisation through improved efficiency and productivity.

To create Building Information Modelling based automated health and safety rule and code compliance checking system for infrastructure engineering design in the construction industry.

To develop a formulation roadmap and integrated manufacturing process for the Zydis technology platform to aid the product development and improved clinical efficacy of drugs with otherwise poor pre-gastric absorption.

To develop an innovative service led business model through the implementation of operations and information systems to transform a traditional business

To establish, develop and manage a new R&D business unit to develop the next generation of platforms and technologies within the cybersecurity industry.

The lack of sustainable cooling in Ethiopia is an unresolved challenge, leading to 30-50% of food waste, which amounts to a $4.3 billion loss annually. It precludes most farmers from achieving the desired profits through sales volume for their temperature-sensitive foodstuff. Such a challenge primarily impacts smallholder and women farmers, who produce 90% of fruits and vegetables in Ethiopia. Evaporative cooling is widespread in dry climates and uncomplicated technology. However, it does not sufficiently prolong temperature-sensitive crops' shelf-life to reach central markets. Neither does it control the cold room's humidity and temperature to the desired conditions. Additionally, cooling practices are often rendered ineffective by the lack of secure electricity in Ethiopia, a problem common to most of sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the grid electricity coverage in Ethiopia is 36%, mostly in central cities, while 78% of the population lives in rural locations. The sustainable cooling challenge is made more pressing as recently a market has emerged for secondhand refrigerators, utilising environmentally harmful substances decommissioned from Europe. Such units are driven via grid electricity or PV panels of sizeable electric batteries and are typically based in central food markets. These inefficient refrigeration units are environmentally harmful and compromise the route towards SDG-7 "Climate action. In this project, we seek to resolve the sustainable cooling challenge by applying innovative technology to evaporative cooling, operating it at a low cost via renewable energies. The project will: 1. Utilise a green refrigeration technology driven by solar heat to achieve the desired cooling conditions. 2. Utilise an eco-friendly hybrid PV/vertical axis wind turbine by the investor (Kinder Energy) to maintain the system's operation via small electric batteries. 3. Store the heat in the soil to affordably maintain the operation of the solar-thermal-driven refrigeration technology. 4. Develop sustainable business models to enable the uptake of the technology. 5. Develop a techno-economic model for the technology for community use via, for example, a pay-as-you-go scheme. The developed system will secure the cooling and enable smallholder and women farmers to increase sales volume at desired prices, minimising food wastage. It will promote sustainable economic growth and encourage the technology developer (Kinder Energy) to create jobs and empower women farmers. The project will provide economically viable, scalable alternatives to the harmful secondhand refrigeration system market.

This project aims to research, produce and demonstrate novel pre-heating equipment for producing 'no-failure' pothole repairs. We adopt renewable power for this, displacing current use of hazardous and polluting LPG. Whilst alternative cold repair materials have been investigated, hot placed asphalt remains the preferred option for road wearing course. However, current equipment and methods used in repairing eg potholes are inherently unreliable, frequently characterized by early failure. There is a similar need to ensure long life and cost savings with thin asphalt overlays that promise to drastically reduce the CO2e footprint of road pavement upkeep. Eight years of investigation by the project team, including accelerated life testing of pothole repairs, proves that current equipment and methods are unreliable because they do not operate according to the fundamental principles of thermal energy transfer in material systems. Without this, it is not possible to predictably fuse newly applied asphalt to existing concrete or asphalt base and thus deliver repair life comparable to the residual life of the surrounding road. For predictable fusion, temperatures in the host-fill boundary region must exceed the so-called cessation temperature of asphalt (85 deg C) during the compaction process following pothole filling. Current uncalculated pre-heating using LPG flame heating may provide insufficient temperatures or risk damaging the bitumen binder. Using our in-house developed numerical models, founded on heat transfer science, we have discovered that commonly occurring combinations of climatic conditions, internal heat dissipation and imperfect heat transfer across the host-fill boundary can result in temperatures substantially lower (eg 50 deg C) than cessation temperature in the boundary region even when asphalt is introduced at high temperature (eg 160 deg C). Our in-house developed, unique, 3D printed, multi-thermocouple sensor, which simultaneous measures temperatures above and below this boundary has enabled us to prove this.

To transform cyber-security penetration testing (pentesting) from "test and fix" to a "threat intelligence" approach that will continually assess risk, prioritise and interactions to provide greater security to clients. Traditional pentesting shows vulnerabilities without any risk prioritisation. It is important in larger organisations to have a resource-efficient solution to fix the key vulnerabilities. The market requires a more accurate risk prioritisation than the existing testing methodologies. Hence, there is need to develop innovative ways of pentesting, using threat-intelligence led scenario-based testing. This project aims to develop methodologies to launch a novel pentesting product based on cyber-threat intelligence analysis that includes identifying relevant threats, particularly in areas such as the dark web, which could pose a threat to businesses. The intelligence sought would be used to deliver simulated attacks scenario to test an organisation's ability to respond and defend. This will be a pre-emptive approach that will allow organisations to address threats before a vulnerability is exposed either through penetration testing or external attacks. Visualisation of the threat intelligence into scenario-based testing to see how a company can respond to specific threats is an innovative step change in the industry and will improve the pentesting methodologies currently used on the market.

To implement digitalisation of key operational and production control processes by adopting an Industry 5.0 approach that will drive productivity and efficiency improvements, and sustainable business growth in the healthcare sector.

The project is based on the strengths of the national and internationally recognised centre of expertise in thermal processes at the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI), and the Centre for the Circular Economy and Advanced Sustainability (CEAS) at Aston Business School. The centres will provide access to the results of research and academic knowledge to an established network of manufacturing and services companies. The companies will provide their expertise in practical implementation of technologies, and capabilities to produce products and access markets. Together, they will work collaboratively to develop new clean tech low carbon opportunities and accelerate green business growth in the region. The project will build on a technology demonstrator, funded by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Birmingham City Council, which is able to take wood that is harvested from sustainable management of parks and roadside trees to produce heat for greenhouses, and a type of charcoal which can be used to promote growth in newly planted trees. The technology can produce a range of other products such as low carbon weed killer, material that can be used to clean up contaminated land, surface coatings and even an additive that can reduce the environmental impact of concrete. The project will support development of the technologies behind these new products, use the expertise of Aston Business School to create business propositions, and work with regional companies to bring them to market. The project will accelerate the level and speed of innovations resulting from previous projects which developed applied use of thermal process technologies and cluster development at the University. Strong partnerships have been created with high quality engineering and manufacturing companies in the region and aligned with the low carbon strategies of local councils. The projects and partnerships have created a basic set of technologies which have stimulated strong market interest and demand for the technologies to be developed into products. The Biochar Innovation Accelerator project will strengthen the supply chains and also expand participation in the cluster of companies investigating market opportunities for applications of the technology. These include productive use of waste and residues to replace the need for fossil fuel based resources in applications such as renewable heat and power, planting materials for green roofs, green walls, urban trees and plant growth enhancers. New, lower Technology Readiness Level (TRL) products could include use as advanced building materials and protective coatings.

This consortium, let by Carnot Ltd, seeks to develop the world's first profitable rice-straw bioenergy demonstrator for a rural community in Lombok Island, Indonesia. Rice straw is separated from the grains during harvesting and either combusted (producing CO2) or left to decompose (producing methane with 25\* Global Warming Potential) due to challenges with harvesting it, particularly in flooded paddy fields (a common occurrence). Straw Innovations has created innovative technology that overcomes the barriers to harvesting it in all weathers, unlocking a potential 300Mt of rice straw generated in Asia every year. Rice straw has high ash content (around 20%), comprising about 75% silica. This, combined with other components in the straw (chlorine, potassium) causes melting and slagging / fouling in boilers when combusted. Hence, it is not an easy fuel to chop or combust. PyroGenesys have developed a lower-temperature pyrolysis process which can convert rice straw into Biochar, a carbon-sequestering fertiliser that can be used by the rice farmers, and biofuel. The carbon sequestered can be traded on carbon removal markets. Surplus biofuel not used to generate electricity can be sold. Electricity is a low-value commodity and renewable electricity projects will typically require very large scale to be profitable and attract funding required from investors. PyroGenesys' process solves this problem by opening up two very high-value revenue streams. Carnot is developing ceramic engine gensets with double the efficiency of state-of-the-art diesel gensets, capable of operating on all fuels. These will provide electricity to the rice mills as their base load as well as electricity to a rural community. Integrating Carnot's gensets enables revenues generated by biofuel sales to be maximised. Indonesia: * Is the world's 5th largest GHG emitter. * Is the largest producer of biofuels worldwide. * Has mandated to convert a significant portion of its palm oil into FAME biodiesel. There is a reluctance to move to renewable energy due to fossil fuel sunk costs/subsidies and no proven profitable off-grid low-carbon energy business model. This demonstrator project aims to be the catalyst to breaking the deadlock and unleashing investment into Indonesia's enormous renewable energy potential. Key project outputs: * Pilot-scale demonstration of business model feasibility * 200,000kg rice-straw feedstock; * 76,000kg value-added-biochar/53,200kg carbon sequestration/80,000kg biofuel; * 2.28MWh electricity provided to rice mill.

Water scarcity already affects every continent, and the problem is more prominent in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Water shortages have drawn the attention of the development community to the necessity of achieving more efficient use of limited water resources, especially in agriculture to increase crop production and to achieve global food security in a sustainable way. This target, however, demands an increase in the irrigated area regardless of the water resources available. Access to sustainable and cost-effective irrigation system is key to many small-scale farmers in order to sustain their livelihoods and food security. Running an irrigation system is still extremely challenging. There are still no electricity grid-extension in many rural areas in many developing countries. In the absence of a reliable electricity supply, farmers have to resort to diesel-based pumping systems. These systems create high operating costs, often experience service gaps, contribute to GHG emissions, and contribute to the energy bill in countries that do not produce such fuels. Therefore, renewable energy options, and in particular solar and wind energy, seem a very promising solution for sustainable agriculture in regions with high-solar-insulation and wind energy density, given its environmental advantages, low maintenance and increasingly low investment costs. This project aims to design, develop and demonstrate a novel "smart irrigation system" powered by "solar and wind energy" simultaneously. This technology is cost effective, efficient, with no running cost, and zero emission. This will provide energy access to small-scale farmers for irrigation of food and cash crops, and results in an increase in their earnings.

This project is led by Connected Places Catapult, and partnered by local universities, Birmingham City Council and the Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and Industry. It builds on existing projects, such as 'CREME', 'Unlocking Social and Economic Innovation Together' and 'Digital Innovation in Public Sector'. Subcontractors will include West Midlands Growth Company and The Business of Cities. Our project, DIATOMIC (Digital InnovAtion TransfOrMatIve Change), is an interdisciplinary cross-cutting framework for building the innovation capability and capacity to drive growth and prosperity locally, and enhance the reputation of the West Midlands globally. The components include: * a digital twin to drive data * innovation in procurement to drive city challenges to SMEs * enabling new solutions around Health Tech / Clean Tech and Med Tech with an inclusive innovation network to ensure all people organisations and communities can contribute and take part in these challenges * a global innovation twin, pairing cities and investors to invest in the region. Our objectives are to address the region's challenges and deliver outcomes that: * Leverage the data economy * Double the spend with the social economy * Embed entrepreneurial into the fabric of society * Create international trade * Generate bilateral innovative solutions that respond to local and global challenges The target and scope of the initial pilot is East Birmingham, to level up the area. This is a **_deliberate decision_**, as it ensures that DIATOMIC **_will deliver impact and value for money over the two-year period_**, establishing the required local networks, frameworks and cultivating know-how to scale-up learning across the West Midlands and nationally. It will power the emergence of new companies in the **_Clean Tech / Med Tech and Health Tech_** sectors. Home to Tylsley Energy Park and the hospital, both are key assets with data already held for this area. These anchor institutions offer opportunities for significant procurement challenges where SMEs can respond, and a place for investment. All solutions will be **_procured openly and innovatively_**; we will support knowledge sharing on these innovations in public sector practices with policymakers across the West Midlands. Challenge-led procurement identifies shared global city challenges, and the city twin platform forms the basis for attracting global investors and businesses that are keen to exploit it and drive trade and investment. Our innovation is in bringing together proven methodologies and creating the tools and methods that will revolutionise how places innovate.

The Healthcare Technology and Medical Technology sectors are currently worth £17billion per annum to the UK, and with the ageing population and poor health following the pandemic, are projected to grow to £21billion per annum by 2027\. However, the relatively high levels of regulation in these sectors, can make it slow and expensive for new companies to bring their technologies to the UK market, something that has hindered growth comparative to other global competitors. The West Midlands '6D' Innovation Accelerator (6D-IA) will unite key players across the region (universities, hospitals, industry and government-funded 'Catapults' for manufacturing innovation) to address these problems by creating a supportive environment to accelerate new technologies towards commercialisation. The partners will run a centrally coordinated series of activities that will help companies to navigate "pinch-points" in the process of medical translation. Our '6Ds' include diagnosis of company needs; definition of NHS or corporate challenges to respond to; development and refinement of prototype products or services; deployment of innovation in real-world NHS settings; diversification of cross-sectoral collaborations; and demonstration of economic benefit for our interventions. Together, this will create a cluster of commercial activity in this sector, helping to drive regional economic growth and enhance resilience. It will also ensure that local patients will benefit first from new medical technologies targeted at reducing significant regional healthcare inequalities. The 6D-IA will also provide a national focus for the development and deployment of new healthcare technologies, growing a vibrant and self-sustaining cluster of activity centred in the new Precision Healthcare Technology Accelerator, leveraging major recent private investment alongside significant regional assets to attract and support medical innovators. The 6D-IA will place the West Midlands at the forefront of UK medical innovation by supercharging a cluster of activity in the Greater Birmingham area with strong regional and national links. It will boost economic activity within the region, attracting up to £80-100million in additional private investment by 2026/27\. It will also facilitate the transformation of the delivery of healthcare by creating a strong focus on the development of new digitally-enabled innovations, providing strong secondary care proof-of-principle with associated pilot work in community and primary care.

To develop state-of-the-art energy efficient aluminium recycling systems, which meet evolving environmental regulations.

To overcome the current limitations in herbicides organic chemistry synthesis by embedding novel R&D capabilities, based on a combinatorial chemistry approach.

To develop improved manufacturing and quality protocols for Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) using machine learning techniques to improve productivity, increase yield and reduce costs, and to improve the design process for future more complex systems.

To increase operational efficiency, reduce energy usage, and capture and re-use waste heat to become part of a sustainable supply chain. To enable entry to new markets in sustainable energy management products.

The glass industry will have to be completely decarbonized in the next 30 years. The lifetime of a glass furnace is about. 12-15 years. So it is urgent to start innovating because the year 2050 is only 2 furnaces away. H2GLASS aims to create the technology stack that glass manufacturers need to (a) realize 100% H2 combustion in their production facilities, (b) ensure the required product quality, and (c) manage this safely. H2GLASS will address the challenges related to NOx emissions and high flame propagation speed, process efficiency, and supply of H2 for on-site demonstrations. Digital Twin techniques will be critical for risk-based predictive maintenance, optimized production control, and combustion system control. Hydrogen will be supplied by a portable electrolyser co-funded by the industrial demonstrators, and the oxygen produced will be reused in the process. The H2GLASS technologies and design solutions will be validated up to TRL 7 on 5 industrial demonstrators from 3 segments (container glass, flat glass and glass fibre), which together represent 98% of the current glass production in the EU. The expertise of partners such as Steklarna Hrastnik, PTML Pilkington, Owens Corning and Stara Glass representing the State Of The Art (SOTA) in the use of H2 in the glass process will be an asset for the H2GLASS Consortium. A demonstrator for the aluminum industry (HYDRO) will prove the transferability of the basic solutions and underlying models to energy-intensive industries that have similarities with the glass manufacturing process, thus strengthening the impact of the project. In EU the Glass and Aluminium industries employ >400.000 people in Europe, generate > 3.5B€ and emit ca.21.5 Mt CO2e. The innovations generated by H2GLASS will potentially create 10.000 new jobs and unlock 1 - 5B€ revenues for glass technology deployment, >17B investments and 200.000 new jobs for green H2, and cut emissions by ca.80%

To develop a predictive Air Quality model for transport planning applications, enhancing the integration between actions to promote safe and sustainable travel with improvements in air quality.

For the UK to reach a net-zero carbon economy, the regulation and limitation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions needs to rapidly expand. Natural gas is fast becoming our most dominant fossil fuel and industrial leaks are now a leading source of GHG emissions. Industry majors have committed to expanding emissions monitoring, but the technologies currently available are expensive, labour intensive, and inaccurate. Quantum Gas Imaging (QGI), invented by QLM, is an emerging technology that uses non-cryogenic Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) Single-Photon Avalanche Detectors (SPADs) to demonstrate innovative and highly sensitive long-range, single-photon lidar gas imagers that locate and measure invisible gases including methane, CO2 and more. The current generation of the QGI camera uses mechanical scanning to analyse an area with a single sensor. This limits the data acquisition rate, thus prohibiting fast mobile deployment, in the interest of maintaining the sensitivity and spatial resolution necessary. Commerical-off-the-shelf (COTS) SPAD arrays can allow for non-mechanical scanning, but current readout electronics are limited in throughput to allow for such developments. SWIR SPAD array readouts, such as these, require high-speed data acquisition. When combined with the flexibility of Field-Programmable Gate-Array (FPGA) technology, this is going to be a key enabling technology for all other photonic 2nd generation quantum technologies based on single-photon quantum optics research, including free-space quantum telecommunications, photonic quantum processors, and lidar. In this project, QLM Technology will develop a non-mechanical scanning QGI camera that exploits SPAD arrays and their high throughput capabilities to achieve state-of-the-art acquisition rates, sensitivity, and large detector dynamic range. Aston University will develop the advanced signal processing algorithm required to achieve high speed real-time Time to Digital Converter (TDC) and Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) on FPGAs and utilises multi-photon information for the formation of the correlations. RedWave will build the electronics platform to incorporate the advanced high speed time tagging capability into new standalone products, which can be applied in other fields for the 2nd generation quantum technology used in life science and free-space communications, thanks to the flexibility of the FPGA based system.

The aims of this proposal are: • To analyse social, economic and environmental changes and disruptions (including covid) and evaluate their impact on SCs, identifying related challenges in terms of relationship between countries, configuration of the network, impact on employment. • To study and propose a set of SC modelsfor the evolution of global SC integrating strategieslike resource efficient, closedloop and humanitarian as a way to increase EU resilience and sustainability. Particular attention will be given to the role of digitalization as a way to establish new paths for social inclusion taking into consideration the needs of urban and rural areas. Some important European sectors like fashion, automotive, medical and machine tools will be analysed with case studies and survey. • To develop Innovative tools for monitoring and assessing sectoral trade patterns and defining mechanisms to evaluate relationship of disruptions like pandemic and global value chains taking into consideration impact on employment, economic growth, incomes etc also in the long term. Moreover, it will be analysed the impact of different trade patterns, on the EU value added of sectoral and countries with a specific focus on analyzing income inequalities and proposition of decent work and social cohesion. Particular attention will be gives to gender issues and social disparities. • To develop innovative policy scenarios with recommendations for future global value chains: policy scenarios will be based on Key horizontal issues impacting on several sectors and will provide recommendations for EU, national and sectoral strategies, policy measures and targeted actions aimed at shaping fair, inclusive and sustainable trade patterns, value and supply chains as well as production networks.

To develop and deploy a revolutionary dual function telemetry system for neuroscience research to provide new biosensing tools and supporting methodologies for scientific and societal benefit.

To apply the latest Behavioural Psychology research to develop a validated tool (H-BIT) that will identify beliefs and barriers in prescribing behaviour of EU healthcare professionals in specific disease areas, to enable targeted communication strategies that maximise the reach of treatments.

AD4GD’s overall objective is to co-create and shape the European Green Deal Data Space as an open hub for FAIR data and standards-based services that support the key priorities of biodiversity, climate change, and pollution. The focus will be on interoperability concepts that bridge the semantic and technology gaps which currently prevent stakeholders and application domains from multi-disciplinary and multi-scale access to data, and which impede the exploitation of processing services, and processing platforms at different levels including Cloud, HPC and edge computing. This project will enable the combination and integration of data from remote sensing, established Virtual Research Environments and Research Infrastructures, Internet of Things (IoT), socio-economic data, INSPIRE and Citizen Science (CitSci) in an interoperable, scalable and reliable manner. This will facilitate integration by including semantic mappings to different standards and dominant models bridging domain- and data source-specific semantic concepts such as the Essential Variables framework (e.g. the GCOS Essential Climate Variables, the GEOBON Essential Biodiversity Variables), as well as applying machine learning and geospatial user feedback to ensure quality, reliability and trustworthiness of data and transforming spatial scales. The project will make data and services accessible to the EC Knowledge Centres, GEOSS portal, EOSC and other science services as applicable, ensuring the sustainability of the results, and will actively promote data accessibility for community stakeholders and citizen scientists. AD4GD will demonstrate and validate the approach in three pilots whose stakeholders include international organizations, scientists and researchers, citizens, decision makers (e.g. public authorities), and Earth observation (EO) solution developers. The pilots address selected Green Deal priority areas, including cross-domain components: Zero pollution, Biodiversity, and Climate Change.

Rice is the number 1 food crop globally: 91% of it is produced and consumed in Asia and it is the staple for more than half the world's population. However, for every kilogram of rice we eat, a kilo of straw is also produced. Not to be confused with husks, which cover the grains and are taken to a mill, the stems and leaves of the rice plant are left in the fields after harvest. Rice straw is difficult to remove from paddy fields, which are often flooded and in remote areas. It is high in silica, making it a poor fuel or animal feed. It is also not suitable to incorporate into flooded rice fields due to slow degradation and high greenhouse gas emissions, so burning is farmers' main option for clearing fields. Across Asia, a staggering 300 million tonnes of rice straw go up in smoke every year, releasing a lethal cocktail of gases and black carbon that triple risks of increased respiratory diseases and accelerate climate change. Rice is responsible for 48% of global crop emissions: more CO2e than the whole global aviation industry combined. A recent IFPRI study calculated the health costs of crop residue burning to be $30 billion annually in North India alone, rising to $190 billion in five years. To address this crisis a British SME, Straw Innovations Ltd, was started in 2016 as a spin-out from pioneering international research on the subject. The company's founder, Craig Jamieson, assembled consortia and secured Energy Catalyst co-funding to establish an industrial pilot plant in the Philippines, collecting rice straw and fermenting it to produce clean-burning methane gas. The whole system had to be specially designed since no existing technologies were suitable for the purpose. The plant is now operational, with many techno-economic breakthroughs. Local farmers strongly support it and are waiting for scale-up so they can benefit from its efficient, clean energy services. Rice is known as a "Poverty Crop" because farmers often struggle to afford energy-intensive equipment that could improve their yields add value to their crop. Therefore, this project will demonstrate a complete system of 500ha harvesting, straw removal, biogas-powered rice drying and storage plus efficient milling. The "Rice Straw Biogas Hub" will offer these as affordable, value-adding commercial services to the rice farmers, avoiding their need to buy and maintain expensive equipment, and enabling them to triple incomes whilst protecting the environment.

PYROCHEMY[TM] is a patented pyrolysis technology developed by PyroGenesys to convert agricultural waste to renewable electricity, process heat, biofuels and carbon removal. The novel containerised format of the PYROCHEMY[TM] system enables rapid deployment to provide reliable, affordable, renewable electricity to off-grid communities. Project partner Mobinet will facilitate access to formal banking services, microfinance and credit using their SIMPAY mobile banking platform. The SIMPAY transaction service will be trialled with the Hello Tractor booking app to enable farmers to pay for and secure mechanised farming services. Hello Tractor connects tractor owners and smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa & Asia through their Tractor booking app. The company will drive the uptake of farmer mechanisation by establishing 10x "MechHubs" across Nigeria that will serve the needs of farming communities, whilst also acting as PYROCHEMY[TM] feedstock aggregation centres/operating sites and Biofuel distribution points. Proactive engagement and facilitation of women farmers and women-owned and run businesses, and wider engagement with disadvantaged groups to ensure they are included and their specific priorities and needs are being met, will be prioritised by all partners. ATMANCorp owns/operates a 700 hectare cassava farm and flour mill in Oyo State and will supply feedstock to and host a PYROCHEMY[TM] commercial pilot along with a Micro Enterprise Park (MEP). The commercial pilot will provide biofuel to run a 250kva genset used to generate power for the factory and MEP and supply culinary-grade steam used for sterilising food processing lines in the factory. Aston University will build on their biofuel work with PyroGenesys in ECR7, to develop a continuous liquid biofuels process for producing renewable diesel and kerosene. Manufacturing methods required to scale up the process for commercial production, will be developed by ICMEA-UK. Introduction of these liquid biofuels to the Nigerian market, in the form of renewable alternatives to diesel and kerosene, will be facilitate by Hello Tractor, who will supply test fuels produced by the commercial pilot to tractors operating from MechHubs across the country. Within 5 years of project start, lessons from the commercial pilot will inform the rollout of over 100 commercial PYROCHEMY[TM] installations across Hello Tractor's network of MechHubs. Deploying Mobinet's SIMPAY payment platform will also be used to support cashless electricity purchases made using featureless mobile handsets with no internet access in farming communities served by Hello Tractor's MechHubs.

To develop a Business Analytics and Machine Learning capability, which will be deployed to optimise production of specialist cheeses using Decision Analysis/Modelling by optimising milk yields and animal feed in the supply chain through to the cheese manufacturing processes.

PRe-ART-2T will translate FET-OPEN project PRe-ART (Predictive Reagent Antibody Replacement Technology) from laboratory proof of-concept to investment readiness. We retain PRe-ART’s original aim to disrupt the reagent antibody market, which after forty years plus, is still based on monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to detect biomolecules, when 50% of all commercial reagent mAbs have been shown to not function correctly. PRe-ART has successfully delivered a foundational platform technology to TRL3. PRe-ART-2T will develop the technology to TRL6, so empowering our aim to disrupt the reagent antibody market by replacing low-quality, commercial animal-derived reagent mAbs with high-performing synthetic alternatives, created by combining modules from our encyclopaedia of experimentally pre-selected amino acid-binding motifs. Multidisciplinary is key to the current experimental success of PRe-ART. By combining collective expertise in biochemistry, computational protein design and protein engineering, we have created a virtuous circle wherein biochemical & structural data (UZH) inform our novel computational mutagenic predictions (UBT), that inform synthesis of highly specified gene libraries (Aston), whose protein products are analysed though novel high-throughput screens (UZH). Key hits are analysed biochemically and structurally (UZH) and resulting data inform the next cycle. As the cycle reiterates, greater specificity ensues. We have thus created many new and extremely stable amino acid-binding motifs that we have also combined in a modular manner to successfully bind predicted peptide targets. The project has also resulted in novel modelling (ATLIGATOR), mutagenic (ParaMAX randomization) and screening procedures. In PRe-ART-T2 we will complete our suite of dArmRPs for natural and modified amino acids and further study their modularity by creating prototypes for four commercially relevant targets. At the end of the PRe-ART-2T, we expect to seek investment of ~€20 M.

**Vision for the Project** The UK National Fraud and Cyber Crime Dashboard (NFB) shows that, to-date in 2021, organisations have been impacted by 57,304 fraud-related cybercrimes, costing £637.4m. There has been a 64% rise in cyber-attacks with the shift to remote/home working (mimecast.com). The Dark Web provides a means for the organisation, conduct, and spread of illicit activity/techniques, with over 50% of Tor (the most popular Dark Web network) websites dedicated to illegal activity (Terbium Labs). While there are multiple dark web monitoring tools/services, all lack the ability to automatically identify threats based on behavioural patterns, which currently requires extensive manual analysis using techniques like Forensic Linguistics, only available from specialist academic researchers such as the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL). The global threat intelligence market is projected to reach $16.1 billion by 2025 (MarketsAndMarkets.com), driven by the need to adopt threat intelligence security solutions (Hiscox, 2019). **Innovation** Forensic Pathways Limited (FPL), a UK-based SME, has developed Dark Search Engine (DSE), an automated crawler/scraper of the Tor .onion Dark Web. This project, Linguistically Enabled Analytic Dark Search Engine (LEADS-Engine), will develop innovative techniques for the detection and prediction of cybercrime/fraud, providing DSE end-users with actionable intelligence they can use to develop their protection measures/systems. We will team with AIFL in LEADS-Engine to go beyond the monitoring/alerting state-of-the-art by providing actionable intelligence and enabling the rapid identification of new threats, feeding into risk assessment tools and adding to a continually developing database of online fraud strategies and behaviours.

To develop the capacity to express membrane-associated proteins to commercial scale at costs that are competitive, opening new avenues and providing research tools for societal benefit.

To develop state-of-the-art, low emission and low carbon fuel, gas fired burners for process heating applications with newly developed, innovative burner Design Software.

Historically, the power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD) sector has been viewed as very traditional with relatively limited opportunities for wider participation and engagement. The age demographic has meant that there are relatively few accessible role models for current students. This is especially true for those that come from underrepresented communities, such as BAME, those from areas with low participation in the higher education sector and female students, who are less likely to have friends or families working in the sector in the UK. Furthermore, as an underpinning and often hidden technology, it is not an obvious first choice of career for students. The aim of this project (POUNCE) is to develop two activities to support the call goals. * The first activity is the development of online material to build knowledge and expertise in this area and to provide relevant role models. This information will be freely accessible and promoted by the UK Electronic Skills Foundation and Aston University over a 3-5 year period. * The second activity is an intervention focused specifically on students from BAME and other low polar backgrounds and female students and will involve an in-person event for 30 engineering students including: career guidance, hands on activity focused on the design of an electrical system from a requirements point of view, speed networking with industry representatives, and establishing a LinkedIn networking group. An important feature of this in-person event will be the opportunity to secure a one-week work experience opportunities offered to four students selected by the companies. This will further deepen the student's understanding of the sector and build confidence. The in-person event will serve as a proof-of-concept activity that going forward could be scaled-up and used to help SMEs and larger companies engage in a group recruitment process that encourages diversity. POUNCE will build on Aston University's excellent reputation for inclusive engineering education, the UK Electronic Skills Foundation's wide industry connection and experience of the sector and FluxSys's expertise in this technical area to reach out to diverse student communities and deliver an impactful event that has ongoing sustainability through the online material and a trial recruitment model for reaching underrepresented communities. The material presented will address some of the broader issues where PEMD will be needed to support electrification such as development of smart grids, battery storage and legislation needed to implement societal change to draw in a broader pool of engineering students.

The target product is an imaging system delivering low-cost, automated inspection of cycleways, footways and the near kerb lanes on cycling permissible roads (515,600 lane-miles in the UK). It will support prioritizing road maintenance towards safer cycling. One unique capability is the identification of potholes that become hidden by rain ponding. Whereas these may damage a vehicle wheel they can lead to serious injury or death for cyclists. Cycling is recognised as green, sustainable, and health beneficial, a transportation lifeline in the COVID-19 crisis, prompting the UK government to invest £2 billion. UK DOT has stated, "we want to make cycling and walking the natural choices for shorter journeys, or as part of a long journey". However, whilst available cycling miles contribute to leisure and tourism, a 2019 DOT survey records that 67% of adults view roads to be too dangerous for cycling. According to a 2018 estimate, the size of the National Cycle Network (NCN) of the UK is estimated at 16,670 lane-miles, increased exponentially from 502 miles (1995). Furthermore, considering all available cycling miles, UK has approximately 515,600 miles. Many of Europe's countries have similarly large cycleways and more than 12 million total cycling lane-miles. This presents a substantial export opportunity to bodies responsible for the track, path, and road maintenance. While governments are making huge investments, this vast network will require regular inspection to ensure safety and a good level of service to the public. Inspecting networks is vital to get a thorough understanding of their ongoing condition, so appropriate maintenance activities can be prioritised and executed. Cycleways and footways are currently inspected manually, which is a slow and inaccurate process. The present proposal is for an automated system, consisting of cameras and other sensors in conjunction with AI and software, to scan, detect, and measure defects, quantifying the overall surface condition. The innovation will provide accurate, consistent, and quantified distress measurement 10 times faster than manual surveys at 10% of the existing cost. Furthermore, it will displace the use of expensive road vehicle deployed laser scanning methods on all paved-surfaces in respect to cycle use. It will give high levels of automation with real-time overseeing for quality control, and completely digitize measurements that can seamlessly integrate with maintenance planning software. StradaImaging will collaborate with Aston University who will deliver a characterisation basis for the captured data such as cracks, depressions, potholes, and rain ponding.

The cement, steel, and glass industry are energy intense industries, and about 1/3 of the input fuel energy is discarded as waste heat. Although, there has been development to recover the waste heat from these industries. But, due to lack of knowledge and understanding of the barrier and challenges of waste heat to power conversion technologies, their impact on the primary process, and the cost and benefits associated with the waste heat to power conversion technologies. In this project, we aim to investigate and characterize the major barrier and challenges, develop the tools and model to analyse the waste heat potential, conduct the techno economic feasibility assessment, analyse the cost-benefit of the waste heat to power conversion technologies through dedicated business models. The project will be completed in close collaboration with leading researchers in the area of waste heat to power conversion technologies, energy efficiency, and business model research.

This project will deliver new technology for training university science students. The technology is based on virtual reality that immerses students in a simulation of a 'real-life' environment even if they are sitting in their own living room. The technology will enable deeper learning than current teaching practices allow because currently students learn through lectures, presentations and practical classes that take place in defined time slots and do not allow students to learn at their own pace. With our virtual reality training platform, it will be possible for students to learn at their own pace and in a place of their choosing, meaning they will not have to travel to the university for a given time and day. This remote, immersive learning is particularly appealing in the aftermath of COVID-19, as university closures have prevented large numbers of students from being able to undertake the necessary laboratory training to gain the skills they need for future employment after graduation. A VR platform that allows students to train at their own pace and in flexible locations will increase accessibility and inclusion because students do not all learn at the same pace and some do not naturally thrive with conventional book learning approaches. Other students have external responsibilities such as caring for family or undertaking paid work to support their studies. Therefore, flexible and remote learning that incorporates immersive, 'hands-on' experience will have enormous appeal for universities who want to increase the accessibility of their courses to a wider market. Moreover, the accompanying reduction in laboratory waste due to moving laboratory training into VR will have a positive impact on the environment and help universities to reduce their environmental impact. Our project will bring together two West Midlands companies (FourPlus and Holosphere) and an academic partner (Aston University) to design and build a prototype VR training platform for bioscience students. Our team includes a talented 3D artist, software developers, instructional designer and academics who will collectively work to build and stress test the software. The prototype will then be tested on students to assess the user experience of VR and benefit on learning. We will write up the results of the study and also turn the prototype into a first-generation product so that universities throughout the UK can start benefitting from the VR platform. In addition to building VR training that can be experienced via a headset, we will also build a laptop-accessible alternative format of the training to increase accessibility even further. This exciting project will help strengthen UKs position as a leading nation in the development of innovative education technologies.

London Style Network (StyleSwap), partnering with Aston University, is a rapidly growing UK-based SME that was founded by Josephine Waddington, George Vogiatzis, and Rob Darwin.StyleSwap is addressing the £140M worth of textile waste that goes to landfills every year' (Wrap, 2018). People buying 'new' fashion means shorter product life cycles, higher carbon emissions, and the harsh environmental impact of deadly toxins, washing, and excessive water consumption (Wrap, 2018). StyleSwap's AI-driven buying and selling social community for pre-loved fashion is solving a global need to redistribute second-hand fashion. It captures users' sizes, shapes, and style details, and matches them to products, profiles, and others of a similar size or shape.

Baxi is a global player in the heating sector and has been working with industrial digital technologies (IDTs) for over ten years, aiming to improve our market share, competitiveness and productivity. Servitization is a growing manufacturing model, with 70% of manufacturers offering some level of servitization. However, few manufacturers offer more than consumables with maintenance schedules. We have assembled a cross sector project consortium with input from industry, UK SMEs and research organisations. The project will develop a Digital Servitization Demonstrator. We will deploy a new and innovative fusion of advanced services and digital servitization technologies, including sensors and IoT to create a digital twin of Baxi's manufacturing and service business. The DSD will provide the basis for a neutral Digital Platform (DP) which is not sector specific. This will be a wider, all-industry adaptable servitization model which can be transferred between sectors and developed as a bespoke model for individual companies. The model will enable a range manufacturing and supply 'digital twins' but also provide a means for businesses to use digital technologies to manage contracts, supply chains, customer contacts and all aspects of their business. The model has the potential to facilitate a step change in UK manufacturing and in other sectors, speeding manufacture, facilitating logistics, supply chains and customer service. Rollout of the models developed will enable UK business to become more agile and more competitive, stimulating growth.