Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Motion Planning Software for Autonomous Car Industry (EMP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2018)
Start date: 2018-12-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 4.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

More than 90% of road accidents are attributed to driver errors. Thus, there is an urgent need to transform conventional driving towards autonomous driving and make car traffic safer. One of the major challenges in the autonomous car industry, besides sensing, localization and mapping is safe planning of the vehicle motion. Motion planning algorithms are responsible for defining a path to follow, avoiding obstacles and generating the best trajectory that ensures safety, comfort and efficiency. This is a hot topic for the development community, which is still awaiting reliable and robust solutions to solve complex situations, without the need to create pre-programmed solutions for each scenario. To this aim, embotech, introduces the EMP (Embotech Motion Planner), a cutting-edge motion planning software for autonomous vehicles. Using a deterministic approach and physics-based models, the proposed solution generates high-dimensional motion trajectories to assist various self-driving tasks such as valet parking, highway driving and urban driving. The EMP enables fully flexible motion planning, capable to safely perform complex manoeuvres in real time with standard automotive ECUs. Characterized by seamless integration, EMP is one core solution easily adaptable to any new car model. Embotech is a spin-off from the Automatic Control Laboratory from ETH Zurich; our team includes experts in embedded optimizations technologies. We are part of several automotive industry-led incubation programs benefitting from expert coaching and mentoring. Our plan is to reach the market through direct sales to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. With a volume-based royalty business model, we expect to reach a SME Instrument Phase 2 project ROI of 8.68 by 2025.

Keywords: self driving cars,automotive,autonomous cars,motion planning software
Unique radar-drone used for subsurface water detection for precision agricultural irrigation (AGRI-DRONE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy
Theme: Sustainable agriculture and forestry
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Italy,Italy
Call: Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors (H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2017-05-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 4.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Given the pressure on natural resources, agriculture must improve its environmental performance through 'greener' farming practices. As EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2020) urge to increase productivity and sustainability, as well as farmers’ resilience towards climate change and world increasing population. In an agriculture market where gross margin and profitability are getting tighter, farmers demand to optimise & reduce water consumption, though precision irrigation. Currently no commercial solution measures underground water & soil nutritional content. ADANT Srl, is an Italian SME expert in the RF and ITC sector that has developed AGRI Drone till TRL6, and has partnered the Italian SME ARETÉ Srl, specialised consultant agency for agro-industry, for its strategic commercialisation. AGRI Drone is a cost-effective breakthrough towards sustainable agriculture, composed by a P-band radar with the capacity of measuring underground humidity profile & shallow water table (till 3m depth) with a centimetre accuracy, and able to cover a survey area of 12Ha at 100-150m flying distance in about 10-15 minutes. AGRI Drone, using cloud computing & intelligent software, allows to design improved irrigation management system to save water & energy & fertilizers up to 10,000€/100 ha/year. It offers a competitive solution with low operating cost (8€/Ha), either: 35,000€/unit with 3.5 years’ payback for large farmers, or a flight service (1,000€) with counselling service included. Thanks to ADANT & ARETÈ, AGRI drone successful launch will be by 2020. The consortium will sell 264 AGRI Drone units and provide 15,2000 services that will be worth 24.7M€, with profit of 2.5M€ for ARETÈ and 9M€ for ADANT after 4 years. We already collaborate with key stakeholders: Accademia Nazionale di Agricoltura and Bologna University as technical counsellors, Mavetech Srl (drone manufacturer) and have 11 support letters from end users/farmers.

Keywords: irrigation,agriculture drone,drone,subsurface water detection,soil moisture,precision agriculture,p band radar
proactive SAFEty systems and tools for a constantly UPgrading road environment (SAFE-UP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Smart, green and integrated transport
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Italy,Germany,Germany,Germany,Spain,Austria,Spain,Sweden,Belgium,Greece,France,Netherlands,Netherlands,Netherlands,United Kingdom
Call: Safety in an evolving road mobility environment (H2020-MG-2019-TwoStages, 2019)
Start date: 2020-06-01
End date: 2023-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7999670.0
EU funding (EUR): 7999670.0
Participants: 21
Project status: SIGNED

Future transport and mobility will be disrupted by innovations in Connected Automated Vehicles (CAVs), in which safety will be of the highest priority. SAFE-UP aims to proactively address the upcoming safety challenges by developing innovative technologies, testing and assessment methods. SAFE-UP is based on 3 key pillars: i) future safety-critical scenarios, ii) new safety technologies, and iii) novel safety assessment methodologies. Future safety-critical scenarios will be designed and analysed in a highly automated and mixed traffic environment in a traffic simulation platform. Based on these scenarios, new safety technologies for active and passive systems will be developed, resulting in 4 Demos. The passive safety system of Demo 1 will include restraint and occupant monitoring technologies for new seating positions. Three active safety system prototypes (all on-vehicle, one of them also including on-user and infrastructure) will be developed. Demo 2 will enhance the interaction between vehicles and VRUs under bad weather conditions while Demo 3 will integrate advanced intervention functions to avoid critical events. Demo 4 will consist of a safety solution based on C-ITS to enable timely warning provisions. To prove the overall benefits, new safety assessment methodologies will be thoroughly designed. The SAFE-UP consortium is another major asset, consisting of key players in mobility across the entire value chain: advanced OEMs, leading suppliers & industry, and academia. The new technologies will reduce fatalities by covering pedestrians, cyclists and Powered Two Wheelers in urban areas through active safety systems and cars in non-urban through passive safety technologies, which will impact 64% of all road fatalities. SAFE-UP will also develop targeted education and training schemes for fostering the implementation of automated driving functions, while also focusing on raising awareness of future road safety challenges.

Keywords: traffic simulation,safety assessment
The Cluster Observations and Theory Intersection: Providing selection functions and scaling relations to set constraints on the physics of the accelerating universe. (ClOThIlde)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: France
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2016-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 173076.0
EU funding (EUR): 173076.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Astronomy is grappling with a profound issue: the origin of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Is it caused by a mysterious dark energy, or a new aspect of the gravitational interaction? Galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the Universe, will help answer this question. Cluster formation and evolution are driven by the evolution of the universe itself and cluster abundance is therefore a powerful observational tool that tightly constrains the cosmological model, such as dark energy, and key quantities of fundamental Physics, such as modifications to gravitational theory. These constraints complement and strengthen those from other observational probes, such as type Ia supernova (SNIa), gravitational lensing and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). Critical aspects in the scientific analysis of cluster surveys are the survey selection function, relating the survey catalogue to the general cluster population, and the relation between the observable richness and cluster mass, the basic theoretical quantity. The establishment of these two elements is critically needed for the exploitation of optical/near-infrared imaging cluster surveys planned by the European scientific community. We propose to fill this need by 1) quantifying imaging survey cluster selection functions and 2) determining the form of the cluster richness-mass relation using a synergy between observations and well-behaved realistic mock catalogues; we will then 3) introduce this information into the Fisher Matrix formalism to predict possible constraints on theoretical models, e.g, the dark energy equation-of-state or modified gravity scenarios. The precision targeted by planned imaging surveys (e.g., Euclid, J-PAS, LSST, WFIRST) surpasses all previous analyses. Detailed evaluation of expected constraints under realistic conditions as proposed by our research lies at the forefront of current effort in field.

Keywords: cosmology,simulations,galaxy clusters,dark energy,dark matter
Experimental Evolution of Aging: the genetic link between lifespan, nutrient sensing and fat metabolism (EvolAge)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2017-01-01
End date: 2019-06-02
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187419.6
EU funding (EUR): 187419.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Reproduction and diet are the two main factors that affect aging in a wide range of animal species, including humans. Recent studies suggest that the link between these factors and aging is controlled by genes related to fat metabolism and nutrient sensing, but the exact role of these genes in lifespan and late-life health remains to be elucidated. In addition, most of the known 'aging' genes were identified with laboratory-generated mutants or transgenic manipulations. The genetic mechanisms that control natural variation in lifespan, which may depend on subtle changes to known 'aging' genes or completely different genes, are still unknown, whereas these natural alleles are responsible for aging phenotypes observed in natural populations, including in humans. In this project, I propose to study a unique set of experimentally evolved (EE) Drosophila melanogaster lines that have developed an extended lifespan in response to (1) selection on postponed reproduction and/or (2) resistance to developmental undernutrition. We have sequenced the genomes of these lines and identified natural alleles that may underlie variation in lifespan and now plan to (1) compare our genome data to datasets of other long-lived Drosophila lines to identify the most promising candidate genes/alleles for functional testing. (2) I will characterize fat metabolism in the EE lines to investigate the correlation between fat metabolism and aging. (3) I will use the powerful and innovative combination of transgenic RNAi and a 'synthetic recombinant inbred population' approach to test if and how my candidate genes/alleles have an effect on lifespan and fat metabolism. I expect that my results, which may reveal natural alleles that affect aging and how metabolism is involved in this process, will provide a significant contribution to the field of aging research. This is relevant to both science and society, and may provide important stepping-stones toward the improvement of human health.

Keywords: experimental evolution,drosophila melanogaster,fat metabolism,nutrition,reproduction
Volcanic Forcing in Climate Model Projections: Towards a New Paradigm. (VOLCPRO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2020-02-01
End date: 2022-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 224933.76
EU funding (EUR): 224933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Volcanic eruptions injecting gases into the stratosphere modify Earth’s radiative balance and atmosphere chemistry, which in turn impacts all components of the Earth system. The surface cooling that follows large eruptions can have major societal impacts and volcanic eruptions contribute to mitigate global warming. Yet, climate model projections use simplistic representation of this key forcing and commonly assume a constant volcanic forcing in the future. The most realistic projections only represent very large and rare eruptions, and ignore how climate change will affect the rise of volcanic plumes, the evolution of the associated aerosol clouds and the subsequent climate impacts. To improve the representation of volcanic forcing in climate model projections, I will address two fundamental questions: 1) How does a statistically realistic representation of volcanic eruptions of all magnitude in climate models affect projected climate changes? 2) How will climate-volcano feedbacks modulate the impact of future volcanic eruptions on climate? To answer them, I will perform a suite of experiments with the United Kingdom’s flagship Earth system model, UKESM1, which is a fully coupled aerosol-chemistry-climate model. These experiments are aimed to feed the designing of future climate projections. During the fellowship, I will gain brand-new skills in climate modeling and be trained by world-leading experts in this field. I will combine these skills with my expertise in physical volcanology to address the proposed research questions and, in particular, improve our understanding of climate-volcano interactions in the context of global climate change. The fellowship will enable me to become an interdisciplinary leader in climate-volcano research and will constitute a stepping stone towards new research opportunities and applications for a tenure-track position.

Keywords: volcanic radiative forcing
Assays for the identification of Thyroid Hormone axis-disrupting chemicals: Elaborating Novel Assessment strategies (ATHENA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Theme: Understanding health, wellbeing and disease
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Sweden,Sweden,Sweden,France,France,Netherlands,Netherlands,Denmark,United Kingdom
Call: New testing and screening methods to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (H2020-SC1-2018-Single-Stage-RTD, 2018)
Start date: 2019-01-01
End date: 2023-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6587263.75
EU funding (EUR): 6565463.75
Participants: 12
Project status: SIGNED

The ATHENA consortium aims to mobilise the scientific progress made in recent years to close critical gaps left open in test methods for thyroid hormone axis disrupting-chemicals. We will develop new methods for incorporation into existing OECD test guidelines that can capture the consequences of maternal thyroid hormone deficiency on the developing brain, due to disruption of delivery of thyroid hormones to the foetus. To make this possible, we will establish new endpoints for identifying down-stream effects on the developing brain in foetal and post-natal life. We will provide new test methods for chemicals that interfere with the delivery of thyroid hormones to the foetus and the adult brain across physiological barriers such as the placenta, the blood brain barrier and the blood brain cerebrospinal fluid barrier. We will also develop QSARs for the screening of large compound libraries and methods for capturing disruption of the local supply of thyroid hormone by inhibition of deiodinases, dehalogenases and cell membrane transporters. Based on the construction of AOP networks for adverse neurodevelopmental effects, we will deliver a comprehensive testing strategy that can protect from chemicals that have the potential to harm brain development in foetal life and adulthood by disrupting the availability of thyroid hormones. Finally, ATHENA will conceive strategies for the international harmonisation of screening, testing and hazard identification for thyroid hormone axis disrupting chemicals. ATHENA comprises world-leading endocrinologists, experts in endocrine disruption and experts in modelling brain function ex vivo who collectively will deliver a step change in thyroid disruptor testing.

Keywords: test methods,thyroid hormone axis disruption
Pioneering focused Ultrasounds as a new non-invasive deep brain stimulation for a causal investigation of empathy related brain processes in moral learning and decision making (HelpUS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Panel description: Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, theoretical philosophy
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2017-STG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-07-01
End date: 2024-06-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The success of humans depends on their ability to cooperate. Cooperation requires learning to avoid actions that harm others and select those that balance benefits for self and others. Reinforcement leaning captures how individuals learn to optimize benefits for themselves, by associating actions and outcomes for the self. The social context requires to incorporate outcomes for others into that equation by transforming them into the currency used to value our own outcomes. Research on empathy, by suggesting that we transform the emotions of others into neural representation of how we would feel in their stead, provides testable mechanistic hypotheses of how we do that. The painful facial expression of our friend after we kick him would be transformed into the pain we would feel when kicked, associating kicking with negative value, thereby motivating us to stop kicking. Testing this hypothesis would require altering brain activity in the anterior insula and cingulate involved in this process, and showing that these changes alter decision making. Because current tools in humans cannot selectively modulate activity in these deeper regions we however remain frustratingly powerless to do so. Here we will develop a brand new method using ultrasounds to modulate brain activity at any depth to brake down this barrier. Using fmri, we will measure vicarious activity and compare it with computational models. This will push our understanding of our social nature to a new computational level, and pave the way to a more causal understanding of prosociality that can inform successful interventions for so far untreatable antisocial disorders. More generally deep brain stimulation via US, and the understanding of how US modulate brain activity, will unleash affective neuroscience to noninvasively explore what had remained beyond our reach: the causal relationship between deeper (limbic) structures and behavior and cognition.

Keywords: empathy,vicarious activity,ultrasound,brain stimulation,moral decision making,prosocial behaviour
Intra and inter-generational effects of heatwaves on sexually selected traits and reproductive success (HeatWaveSS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Career Restart panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Italy
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-12-01
End date: 2023-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183473.28
EU funding (EUR): 183473.28
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Heatwaves are a current problem faced by society and are increasing in frequency and intensity under ongoing climate change. While many climate change studies exist, those investigating the consequences of heatwaves are scarce, especially in relation to reproduction. The extreme temperatures experienced during heatwaves are likely to have negative effects on many aspects of reproduction (including fertility, morphology and behaviour), thus for the persistence of populations and, ultimately, biodiversity. Therefore, studying how heatwaves affect reproduction is a key issue that should be addressed now. This project aims to study how heatwaves affect traits important for reproductive success, to understand the long term consequences of heatwaves on populations, and how parental exposure affects the fitness of offspring. Experimental guppy populations (P. reticulata) will be exposed to experimental heatwaves either during ontogeny or after attaining sexual maturity (reflecting the unpredictable nature of heatwaves). The consequences on morphology, fertility, and reproductive behaviour across two generations will be assessed. The sex ratio of the populations (the proportion of males to females ready to mate) will also be manipulated, since sex ratios fluctuate naturally and importantly affect mating decisions and reproductive investment, and thus effects of heatwaves may differ according to the sex ratio of the population. By investigating the effects of heatwaves at different levels, data from this project will offer unique insights into their effects on individuals and populations, thus contributing to our understanding of the consequences of climate change and the processes underlying responses to environmental changes. Through enhanced knowledge in the fields of behavioural ecology, reproductive biology, and evolutionary biology, the proposed project will contribute to the progress of the European scientific community, with potential applications in conservation.

Keywords: heatwaves,reproduction,sexual selection,fertility,mate choice,sperm quality,reproductive success,trans generational fitness