Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Smart software platform for the economic and sustainable exploitation of dimension stone quarries (QUARRYSMART)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Climate action, environment,  resource efficiency and raw materials
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Italy,Italy
Call: Boosting the potential of small businesses in the areas of climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials (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

With a steady growth and more than 140million tons of material traded yearly, the dimension stone sector represents today a dynamic industry, with the opening and development of new quarries in many countries, from Europe to the BRICS countries and others in Africa and the Far East. This growth of dimension stone quarries has raised attention to the natural resources and land degradation of mining activities often wild, non-economic and poorly managed. A solution to this problem has been developed by us, two innovative Italian SMEs, ECO-TER and TerreLogiche. ECO-TER, is an engineering and services company working on environmental issues, geology, work health, safety and design in the areas of infrastructure projects and plant engineering works. ECO-TER provides to their clients specialized services in environmental and geological impact monitoring, studies and risk assessment, completing those activities with the development of technical and organizational solutions to be implemented during design and production phase. TerreLogiche is a company founded by personnel with 20+ years in high-tech solutions for administration, research institutes and professionals in the field of environmental monitoring, Geographic Information System and training. Working closely together, we have been developing QUARRYSMART: a reliable, practical and easy-to-use software platform to support dimension stone companies in the pre-evaluation of quarrying costs and to assist them in turning their operations into sustainable, manageable and profitable extractive units, hence attracting investments while minimizing impacts on social, ecological and environmental systems. With this project, our companies have partnered to consolidate their position in the environment sector while extending their business into the growing quarrying segment, as the commercialization of QUARRYSMART will generate €7.6million accumulated revenues for 2019-2023.

Keywords: dimension stone,dimension stone quarrying,dimension stone extraction,exploitation,sustainability,environment,geographic information system,digital terrain model,satellite imagery,geo economic
Imaging synaptic contributors to dementia (ALZSYN)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Panel description: Nervous system development, homeostasis and ageing, nervous system function and dysfunction, systems neuroscience and modelling, biological basis of cognitive processes and of behaviour, neurological and mental disorders
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2015-CoG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2022-04-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia in older people, is a devastating condition that is becoming a public health crisis as our population ages. Despite great progress recently in Alzheimer’s disease research, we have no disease modifying drugs and a decade with a 99.6% failure rate of clinical trials attempting to treat the disease. This project aims to develop relevant therapeutic targets to restore brain function in Alzheimer’s disease by integrating human and model studies of synapses. It is widely accepted in the field that alterations in amyloid beta initiate the disease process. However the cascade leading from changes in amyloid to widespread tau pathology and neurodegeneration remain unclear. Synapse loss is the strongest pathological correlate of dementia in Alzheimer’s, and mounting evidence suggests that synapse degeneration plays a key role in causing cognitive decline. Here I propose to test the hypothesis that the amyloid cascade begins at the synapse leading to tau pathology, synapse dysfunction and loss, and ultimately neural circuit collapse causing cognitive impairment. The team will use cutting-edge multiphoton and array tomography imaging techniques to test mechanisms downstream of amyloid beta at synapses, and determine whether intervening in the cascade allows recovery of synapse structure and function. Importantly, I will combine studies in robust models of familial Alzheimer’s disease with studies in postmortem human brain to confirm relevance of our mechanistic studies to human disease. Finally, human stem cell derived neurons will be used to test mechanisms and potential therapeutics in neurons expressing the human proteome. Together, these experiments are ground-breaking since they have the potential to further our understanding of how synapses are lost in Alzheimer’s disease and to identify targets for effective therapeutic intervention, which is a critical unmet need in today’s health care system.

Keywords: in vivo imaging,stem cells,array tomography,neuropathology
Inside the Mind of Ancient People: the tangible and constructed landscape of the western Delta in the Late Period (664-332BC) (MAP)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2017-09-01
End date: 2019-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 195454.8
EU funding (EUR): 195454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

MAP aims to generate an experimental and innovative methodology combining the “sociology of space” critical theory and the archaeological (material and textual) evidence offered by ancient Egyptian society, in order to examine the constitution of space as product of social action or social structures, and recursively to identify the points of contact where the landscape shaped and changed the mind of people. Ancient Egyptian temple libraries preserve a number of written records which provide insights into the religious and geographic knowledge. The challenge is not to harmonize written and archeological sources inside a monadic dimension but to measure the differences, as a way to discover multiple and conflicting stories from the human mind and the actions imposed onto the physical/mental landscape. The “regionally specific sacerdotal” officials during the Late Period (664-332 BC) in the western Delta of Egypt (2nd-7th provinces of Lower Egypt) is adopted as the research-program case-study, on account of its exceptional significance for archaeology, written sources and lack of any substantive previous research programs. MAP represents an innovative theoretical and methodological contribution for understanding the interaction between physical geography and the intimate conception/perception of the physical space inside the geography of ancient Egypt. The goals of MAP will be achieved adopting an intradisciplinary methodology, aimed to reconnect archaeology and philology, through: 1) analysis of the “regionally specific sacerdotal” officials inside written and artifactual sources; 2) landscape archaeology in order to provide a plot map of the physical environment, through which human entities moved and operated; 3) a comparative dimension aimed to generate a theoretical model, which will open new horizons on how humans and the environment interacted, how the environment changed in the mental process and how the mental process was entangled in a tangible geography.

Keywords: western delta of egypt,late period 664 332bc,religious geography,priestly titles,human mind cognitive archaeology,human geography,mapping,geophysical survey
Robots Understanding Their Actions by Imagining Their Effects (IMAGINE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: Robotics SPARC (cPPP)
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Germany,Spain,Austria,Türkiye,France
Call: System abilities, development and pilot installations (H2020-ICT-2016-1, 2016)
Start date: 2017-01-01
End date: 2021-02-28
Duration (months): 50.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3797050.0
EU funding (EUR): 3797050.0
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

Today's robots are good at executing programmed motions, but they do not understand their actions in the sense that they could automatically generalize them to novel situations or recover from failures. IMAGINE seeks to enable robots to understand the structure of their environment and how it is affected by its actions. "Understanding" here means the ability of the robot (a) to determine the applicability of an action along with parameters to achieve the desired effect, and (b) to discern to what extent an action succeeded, and to infer possible causes of failure and generate recovery actions. The core functional element is a generative model based on an association engine and a physics simulator. "Understanding" is given by the robot's ability to predict the effects of its actions, before and during their execution. This allows the robot to choose actions and parameters based on their simulated performance, and to monitor their progress by comparing observed to simulated behavior. This scientific objective is pursued in the context of recycling of electromechanical appliances. Current recycling practices do not automate disassembly, which exposes humans to hazardous materials, encourages illegal disposal, and creates significant threats to environment and health, often in third countries. IMAGINE will develop a TRL-5 prototype that can autonomously disassemble prototypical classes of devices, generate and execute disassembly actions for unseen instances of similar devices, and recover from certain failures. For robotic disassembly, IMAGINE will develop a multi-functional gripper capable of multiple types of manipulation without tool changes. IMAGINE raises the ability level of robotic systems in core areas of the work programme, including adaptability, manipulation, perception, decisional autonomy, and cognitive ability. Since only one-third of EU e-waste is currently recovered, IMAGINE addresses an area of high economical and ecological impact.
PLATInum group metals Recovery Using Secondary raw materials (PLATIRUS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Climate action, environment,  resource efficiency and raw materials
Theme: Ensuring the sustainable supply of non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Austria,Italy,Spain,Belgium,Türkiye,Belgium,Finland,Norway,Belgium,Greece,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: New solutions for sustainable production of raw materials (H2020-SC5-2016-OneStageB, 2016)
Start date: 2016-11-01
End date: 2021-04-30
Duration (months): 54.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6994210.0
EU funding (EUR): 6994210.0
Participants: 14
Project status: CLOSED

The PLATIRUS project aims at reducing the European deficit of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs), by upscaling to industrial relevant levels a novel cost-efficient and miniaturised PGMs recovery and raw material production process. The targeted secondary raw materials will be autocatalysts, electronic waste (WEEE) and tailings and slags from nickel and copper smelters, opening-up an important range of alternative sources of these critical raw materials, with the potential to substitute a large amount of primary raw materials which are becoming more and more scarce in Europe. For the first time five of the major research centres in Europe will collaborate in developing and fine tuning the most advanced recovery processes for PGMs. This joint effort will lead to a unique exchange of know-how and best practices between researchers all over Europe, aiming at the selection of the recycling process and the preparation of the Blueprint Process Design that will set the basis for a new PGM supply chain in the EU. Two primary and secondary material producers with a consolidated business model will carry out validation of the innovative recovery processes in an industrially relevant environment by installing and testing them in an industrially relevant environment and benchmarking with the currently adopted recovery processes. A recycling company will provide a link to market introduction by manufacturing autocatalysts with second-life PGMs obtained via the PLATIRUS technology. Two large automotive companies will validate the material produced through the new recovery process, and ensure end-user industry driven value chains for recovered PGM materials. LCA, economic and environment assessment of the whole process will be led by a specialized consultancy company. Finally, the PLATIRUS project will be linked to European and extra-European relevant stakeholders, research activities and industries, with a solid dissemination, communication and exploitation plan.

Keywords: pgm recovery,metallurgy,hydrometallurgy,solvometallurgy,ionometallurgy
Pilot line based on novel manufacturing technologies for cellulose-based electrical insulation components (NOVUM)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology
Theme: Sustainable, resource-efficient and low-carbon technologies in energy-intensive process industries
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Italy,Poland,Finland,Poland,Poland,Poland,Finland,France,France,Denmark,United Kingdom
Call: Pilot lines based on more flexible and down-scaled high performance processing (H2020-SPIRE-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2017-10-01
End date: 2022-03-31
Duration (months): 54.0
Total project cost (EUR): 8073037.43
EU funding (EUR): 6480353.13
Participants: 17
Project status: CLOSED

Production of electrical insulation components is globally a B$1.19 business. Cellulose is one commonly used raw material for insulation components. State-of-the-art production methods for high quality electrical insulation products are typically labour intensive and slow. The main objective of NOVUM is to develop and demonstrate a compact and feasible pilot line concept based on novel processing technologies for rapid, design driven production of advanced cellulose-based electrical insulation components. This new pilot line will result in significant efficiency improvement and higher productivity and flexibility, while ensuring lower operational costs as compared with the state-of-the-art process. Manual production will be replaced by an automated manufacturing concept with increased resource efficiency, including 40% reduction in labour time and 60% reduction in waste generation, 20% lower energy consumption and 40% decrease in operating costs. Processing technologies in the focus of NOVUM are 3D printing of cellulose-based materials having thermoplastic features as well as foam forming and thermoforming of cellulose fibres. These three technologies will be developed in parallel to each other, together with the cellulose materials, in order to reach optimal combination for the pilot line concept. Besides technical feasibility, the decision on the pilot line concept will be based on the end use requirements as well as on economic, social and environmental impacts including circular economy considerations. The novel manufacturing concept will also enable exploitation of the full potential of design in generating form and thus novel functionalities to cellulose-based electrical insulation components. In addition, the concept will be based on multipliable technologies, enabling their transition and wide adoption for cellulose-based materials across the process industry and for applications beyond NOVUM for other industrial areas.

Keywords: electrical insulation components,cellulose,thermoplastic,3d printing,foam forming,thermoforming
Intracellular phosphate reception and signaling: A novel homeostatic system with roles for an orphan organelle? (INPHORS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Panel description: Structure and function of the cell, cell-cell communication, embryogenesis, tissue differentiation, organogenesis, growth, development, evolution of development, organoids, stem cells, regeneration, therapeutic approaches
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2017-ADG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2024-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499998.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499998.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Cells face a phosphate challenge. Growth requires a minimal concentration of this limiting resource because intracellular phosphate (Pi) is a compound of nucleic acids and modifies most cellular proteins. At the same time, cytosolic Pi may not rise much, because elevated cytosolic Pi can stall metabolism. It reduces the free energy that nucleotide triphosphate hydrolysis can provide to drive energetically unfavorable reactions. I will undertake a pioneering study to elucidate how cells strike this critical balance. We will identify a novel pathway for intracellular phosphate reception and signaling (INPHORS) and explore the role of acidocalcisomes in it. These studies may identify a key function of these very poorly understood organelles, provide one reason for their evolutionary conservation and elucidate a novel homeostatic system of critical importance for cellular metabolism. We recently provided first hints that a dedicated pathway for sensing and signaling intracellular Pi might exist, which regulates multiple systems for import, export and acidocalcisomal storage of Pi, such that cytosolic Pi homeostasis is guaranteed 1. Yeast cells will serve as an powerful model system for exploring this pathway and its physiological relevance. Yeast Pi transport and storage proteins are known. Furthermore, we can establish cell-free in vitro systems that reconstitute Pi-regulated transport and storage processes, providing an excellent basis for identifying signaling complexes and studying their dynamics. We will (A) generate novel tools to uncouple, individually manipulate and measure key parameters for the INPHORS pathway; (B) identify its components, study their interactions and regulation; (C) elucidate how acidocalcisomes are targeted by INPHORS and how they contribute to Pi homeostasis; (D) study the crosstalk between INPHORS and Pi-regulated transcriptional responses; (E) test the relevance of INPHORS for Pi homeostasis in mammalian cells.

Keywords: phosphate homeostasis,vacuole,yeast
Cold Books in Hot Lands: Winning and Losing of Hearts and Minds in the Middle East (coldbihot)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018, 2018)
Start date: 2019-05-01
End date: 2022-04-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 281358.72
EU funding (EUR): 281358.72
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

COLDBIHOT is an interdisciplinary and historical research project that explores the connection between Stalin’s death, the US-backed coup in Iran, and the opening of a US-sponsored publishing house (Franklin Publications) in Cairo in 1953. After Stalin died the American “battle of ideas” with the spread of communism entered a new phase. Key to this “cultural Cold War” was the use of various channels to spread (pro-US) liberal ideas around the world. Franklin was founded to support the translation of American books into the languages of developing countries. Franklin’s record was extensive: it operated for 27 years in 12 countries, publishing 3000 books. However, deep suspicions of US intentions in the Middle East and support for Israel, as well as the rise of Arab nationalism and of nativism and Islamicism in Iran, have complicated assessments of Franklin’s role in cultural life. Existing scholarship sees Franklin as propaganda, a mistake, or a form of cultural imperialism, borrowing from Cold War terminology to write it off as a lost battle for hearts and minds. COLDBIHOT looks beyond such a zero-sum game by investigating it as a US cultural diplomacy initiative to better understand what winning and losing hearts and minds means in practice. Two main questions are posed: 1) how and why did books come to play such a role in US cultural diplomacy, 2) how and why did Franklin fail to win the hearts and minds? These questions are important because the legacies of America’s cultural influence in the region remain contentious, and the contest between different forms of modernity and traditionalism continues throughout daily social life. By exploring Franklin’s dynamics, impact, and legacy in Egypt and Iran, this critical history of Franklin uses primary and secondary sources and employs documentary research, case studies, and semi-structured interviews to collect and analyse the data. Among others, this innovative project contributes to the global Cold War studies.

Keywords: the cold war,the cultural cold war,public diplomacy,cold war book programs,the middle east,us foreign policy