Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
FIRST MLOPS INTEGRATING REAL-TIME RISK MANAGEMENT, COMPLIANCE AND EXPLAINABILITY WHERE THE AI MODEL RUNS (Deeploy)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Accelerator
Destination: Challenges
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Human Centric Generative AI made in Europe (HORIZON-EIC-2024-ACCELERATOR-02, 2024)
Start date: 2025-03-01
End date: 2027-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3557142.86
EU funding (EUR): 2490000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Deeploy presents the world's first human-centric AI MLOps platform that integrates real-time risk management, explainability, and compliance directly within the infrastructure where models run. This ensures safe, reliable, ethical, transparent, and accountable AI deployments, instantly minimizing risk exposure and reducing the time needed to resolve incidents. Deeploy’s platform stands out by embedding these critical elements into the AI lifecycle, providing unparalleled oversight and control, which is essential in regulated industries. By leveraging advanced eXplainable AI (XAI) techniques, real-time monitoring, and bias mitigation tools, Deeploy offers a robust and user-friendly system that addresses the urgent need for ethical AI in heavily regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and government. Our innovative approach meets regulatory requirements and builds stakeholders' trust by making AI decisions understandable and justifiable. We strive to ensure regulatory compliance with stringent laws such as GDPR and the EU AI Act, providing tools for continuous monitoring and documentation of AI models. Another critical objective is to mitigate biases in AI models, promoting fair and ethical outcomes across various applications. Our strategy includes scaling our solution across European markets, starting with the Netherlands and Germany, followed by other regions, ensuring widespread adoption and impact. This aligns perfectly with the goals of the EIC Accelerator's Human Centric Generative AI challenge, contributing substantially to the EU's digital transformation agenda. Through our platform, we aim to set new standards for responsible AI, driving positive change and fostering innovation across industries.

Keywords: fintech data protection and privacy web and information systems,database systems,information retrieval and digital,libraries,data fusion advanced computing big data
AI guidance for robot-assisted eye surgery (GEYEDANCE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Digital, Industry and Space
Theme: Digital
Destination: Digital & Emerging Technologies for Competitiveness and Fit for the Green Deal
Action type: Innovation actions
Partnership: AI-DATA-ROBOTICS (co-programmed)
Countries involved: Austria,Italy,Netherlands,Switzerland,Germany
Call: AI, Data and Robotics at work (AI, Data and Robotics Partnership) (IA) (HORIZON-CL4-2021-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2717717.5
EU funding (EUR): 2457203.5
Participants: 7
Project status: SIGNED

Retina indications are the leading cause of visual impairment in industrialized countries and posing a big unmet socio-economic challenge. Performing surgical actions directly at the retina - one of the most delicate and sensitive areas of the human body - with ultra-thin microsurgical instruments and with a limited view makes retina surgery a very challenging discipline with surgeons working at the limit of what is possible, requiring years of training and experience to reach proficiency. The GEYEDANCE project is directly addressing this need by translating methods from Artificial Intelligence to the area of surgical robotics, together to be used for an advanced user support for reducing the mental and physical load of the surgeon. Work in the project is building on two existing main blocks - the CE certified robot platform PSS from project partner Preceyes, and a prototype for a Common-Path OCT system with extended measurement depth from partner ACMIT. For the AI-components to be developed, two European leading groups in this domain - ALTAIR/University of Verona and ARTORG/University of Bern - are part of the consortium. Seamless involvement of key stakeholders during the complete development phase is indispensable for a meaningful outcome, and thus a prominent board of world-wide leading eye surgeons, led by partner University of Ferrara, will provide user insight and evaluate the resulting advanced robotic solution. Development and validation of the GEYEDANCE system is strongly supported by industrial partners Carl Zeiss AG and Carl Zeiss Meditec AG. In-line with the concept of the “Innovation Actions” instrument, the project aims to generate tangible and “close-to-certification" technology reaching a TRL of 7 (or even higher), being evaluated in the framework of a first clinical trial. All together, the planned AI-based guidance system GEYEDANCE will help the consortium to further consolidate their leading position worldwide, will help retinal surgeons to optimize their task, and finally will help the patient by contributing to a better surgical outcome.
How the legitimacy of water-management models as decision support tools gets established (LEGIT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Panel description: Human geography, demography, health, susta inability science, territorial planning, spatial analysis
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2024-STG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-02-01
End date: 2030-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Models facilitate anticipatory governance. A prominent example is the use of climate models to support the Paris Agreement. But models are not neutral - they conceal value-laden choices, such as in how model approaches are selected or model applications are framed. This implies that certain perspectives are favoured by the model. Since decisions based on such value-laden models have real-world consequences, it is essential to understand how these models obtained the legitimacy to serve as policy advisors. The model code itself reveals only the tip of the iceberg, because it does not show the negotiations before the model was established. Therefore, the LEGIT project aims to uncover the factors and processes through which especially water-management models acquire legitimacy to support decisions and to develop theory on establishing legitimacy. To achieve this goal, my team and I scrutinize three case studies and explore the social-political-institutional, the socio-technical, and the simulation perspective through respectively policy document analysis and interviews with decision-makers; model documentation analysis, interviews with modellers and ethnographic observations of modellers; and extensive uncertainty analysis of model applications. This rich collection of data allows to formulate a preliminary theory of legitimacy of water-management models as decision support tools. This theory will be further refined based on a serious game that mimics relevant actors and decision processes. LEGIT starts from a strong empirical stance with the aim to understand modelling in anticipatory governance. LEGIT’s theory will enhance insights on concealed values in such models and allows for in-depth discussion of their policy application. But more importantly, LEGIT explains how a model got authority, despite its concealed values. This paves the way to more transparency in the process of using models as decision support tools, thereby contributing to a stronger democracy.

Keywords: numerical modelling anticipatory governance decision making water management legitimacy uncertainty analysis
Skeletal Muscles Antagonize T Cell Exhaustion in Chronic Viral Infections (MuscleAntiVirus)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Panel description: The immune system , related disorders  and their mechanisms , biology of infectious agents and infection, biological basis of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases , innovative imm unological tools and approaches , including  therapies
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-06-01
End date: 2027-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Although skeletal muscles are not traditionally considered to be constituents of the immune system, the loss of skeletal muscle mass in chronic infection is frequently associated with impaired T cell function, or “T cell exhaustion.” Whether and how muscles regulate T cell exhaustion is unknown. We found that skeletal muscles antagonized T cell exhaustion in mice chronically infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) clone 13. Spleen-derived exhausted CD8+ skeletal muscle-infiltrating lymphocytes (SMILEs) formed clusters in muscles where their antiviral function and proliferative potential were restored. These revived CD8+ SMILEs egressed from muscles and migrated back to lymphoid organs to sustain long-term antiviral immunity. We aim to understand how skeletal muscles regulate antiviral CD8+ T cell function, metabolism, and migration. (1) Using metabolomics and RNA-sequencing approaches, we identified 46 metabolites that were enriched in muscle interstitial fluid and two myokine-encoding genes that were upregulated in muscle tissue, respectively. We plan to test whether and how these metabolites and myokines restore the antiviral functions of exhausted CD8+ T cells. (2) We found that the CD8+ T cell migration between the spleen and skeletal muscles was guided by a protein gradient of regulator of G protein signaling 16 (Rgs16). We plan to identify the Rgs16-interacting partners and the molecular mechanisms underlying Rgs16 protein gradient-driven CD8+ T cell migration. (3) We observed that increasing muscle mass using a genetic approach resulted in both increased numbers of CD8+ SMILEs and decreased viral titers in LCMV clone 13 infected mice. We plan to explore the therapeutic potential of increasing muscle mass for enhancing protective T cell responses in chronic infections. Collectively, we will study the role of muscles in “recharging” exhausted T cells and will evaluate the therapeutic potential of increasing muscle mass in chronic infections

Keywords: cd8 cd8 t cells t cell exhaustion exhausted t cells lcmv chronic infection skeletal muscle
Tackling the Cyclacene Challenge (TACY)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Synergy Grants (ERC-2022-SYG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-04-01
End date: 2029-03-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 11221642.5
EU funding (EUR): 11221642.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

Cyclacenes, i.e., cyclic versions of acenes consisting of linearly fused benzene rings, were first discussed in 1954 by Heilbronner, but - despite considerable synthetic efforts over decades - have remained an elusive class of compounds. Theoretical investigations suggest that cyclacenes are highly reactive due to pronounced polyradical character and significant ring strain. All prior attempts to synthesise cyclacenes failed, mainly because the final synthetic step of establishing a fully conjugated π-system was energetically prohibitive. Despite these challenges, cyclacenes remain intriguing synthetic targets because of their unique chemical, electronic, and structural properties as well as their potential applications in organic (opto-)electronics or spintronics. In this collaborative project, we will develop novel synthetic approaches, which synergistically combine efficient and high-yielding synthetic strategies of belt-type precursors that we will transform to cyclacenes by extrusion of suitable leaving groups under cryogenic matrix isolation conditions, on surfaces, in the solid state, and ultimately even in solution. Our synthetic approach is highly modular and allows to structurally vary the belt-type precursors, and thus the cyclacenes, by placing different substituents at the rims, including peri-annulation or isosteric substitution of CH units by heteroatoms. This research, combined with state-of-the-art computational investigations and characterization even on the single-molecule level, will provide unprecedented insight into the structure-property relationship of the fully conjugated zigzag topology present in cyclacenes and address fundamental questions of chemical reactivity and the interplay of aromaticity, strain and polyradical character. This knowledge will finally allow us to synthesise interlocked structures based on cyclacenes and to apply cyclacenes in controlled reactions on surfaces for creating further elusive materials such as polyacenes.

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic compounds,on surface synthesis,matrix isolation,nanobelts
Chromosomal inversions in Atlantic herring and adaptation to changing sea water temperature (INVERT2ADAPT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Sweden
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-07-01
End date: 2024-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 222661.68
EU funding (EUR): 222661.68
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Large chromosomal inversions have been increasingly linked to local adaptation in natural populations. Despite their importance, there is current debate about what evolutionary forces maintain inversion polymorphisms in natural populations, particularly regarding the interplay between balancing and divergent selection. Furthermore, limitations of sequencing technologies often result in poor characterization of inversion breakpoints obscuring our understanding of their functional impact. INVERT2ADAPT will focus on Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) as a model system to study the contribution of chromosomal inversions to local adaptation using multiple genomics tools. First, I will characterize the chromosomal inversions and date their origin relatively to the evolutionary history of Atlantic herring using comparative genomics and phylogenomics. Second, I will study the selection regimes that maintain the inversions across a gradient of sea water temperate using population genomics. Lastly, I will pinpoint the genes and regulatory elements within the inversions that are involved in adaptation to sea water temperature using gene expression and functional genomics. The project will allow to better understand how Atlantic herring is able to survive across a wide range of sea water temperature in the Atlantic Ocean. A clear establishment of the link between linking genotype, phenotype and environment is important to understand how Atlantic herring might adapt to changes in sea water temperature induced by global warming. INVERT2ADAPT will also contribute to a better understanding of how structural variation, including large chromosomal inversions, contribute to adaptation in natural populations. The project will be implemented in Uppsala University under the supervision of Professor Leif Andersson.

Keywords: chromosomal inversions,adaptation,sea water temperature,atlantic herring
Understanding symbiosis signalling in barley for enhanced recruitment of beneficial soil bacteria (Barley-SymBioNet)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Germany
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-03-01
End date: 2028-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 202125.12
EU funding (EUR): 202125.12
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The rapid population increase and high demand for food production raise immense concerns about an upcoming global food crisis. Low soil nutrient levels are a key factor limiting crop yields, and farmers currently rely on extensive application of chemical fertilisers, which have severe negative environmental effects. The implementation of beneficial soil microbes with nutrient-sequestering functions has therefore become a mainstream interest, aimed at increasing crop productivity while reducing the ecological footprint of current agricultural systems. The Common Symbiosis Signalling Pathway (CSSP) plays a pivotal role in orchestrating symbiotic relationships between plants and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi, as well as leguminous plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. These symbioses are vital for optimal plant nutrient acquisition, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. While the functions of CSSP genes in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in cereals are well-documented, their impact on other beneficial microbiota, such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria, remains unknown. Unraveling these interactions is crucial for addressing contemporary environmental challenges related to crop nutrient limitations and organic fertiliser development. In the proposed project, we employ barley CSSP mutants and perform microbiome profiling, transcriptomics, and metabolomics approaches to elucidate the influence of CSSP genes on bacterial assembly, uncover genes involved in the interaction with beneficial bacteria, and identify CSSP-dependent root metabolites that govern plant-microbe signalling. Preliminary data showed that barley CSSP mutations significantly alter bacterial assembly, particularly reducing the colonisation by bacterial orders known for hosting plant growth-promoting isolates. A comprehensive assessment of cereal interactions with beneficial soil bacteria will provide the groundwork for future engineering endeavours aimed at addressing current environmental challenges.

Keywords: plant microbe interactions,microbe microbe interactions,symbiosis signalling,nitrogen fixation,arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis,root exudates,sustainable agriculture,organic fertilisers
QUANTUM-ENHANCED FREE-ELECTRON SPECTROMICROSCOPY (QUEFES)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Condensed Matter Physics
Panel description: Structure, electronic properties, fluids, nanosciences, biological physics
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2023-ADG, 2023)
Start date: 2024-06-01
End date: 2029-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2497225.0
EU funding (EUR): 2497225.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Ultrafast electron microscopy relies on the spatial, spectral, and temporal manipulation of free electrons with nm/meV/fs precision to map the structural dynamics as well as the vibrational and electronic ground and excited states of nanomaterials. With QUEFES I will introduce a conceptually disruptive approach to capitalize on the quantum nature of free electrons and their interactions with matter and radiation fields aiming to obtain previously inaccessible information on the atomic-scale dynamics of such materials, to reveal hidden properties of the quantum vacuum, and to control the many-body state of quantum matter. I will address five challenges of major scientific relevance: (i) the spatiotemporal control over the density matrix of free electrons by interaction with suitably designed optical fields to overcome the current limits of space/time/energy resolution in time-resolved electron spectromicroscopy; (ii) a disruptive approach to map the nanoscale quantum fluctuations and the out-of-equilibrium state associated with optical near fields in vacuum and polaritonic excitations in nanomaterials; (iii) a Fourier-transform-inspired method to image the spatiotemporal evolution of atomic structures, charge carriers, and dynamical screening; (iv) the use of free electrons to flexibly read and write the many-body quantum state of trapped Rydberg atoms and quantum gases; and (v) the realization of all-electron pump-probe spectroscopy combined with the formation of dynamically screened multiple free-electron bound states for lossless charge transport in a semiconductor. I will pursue these research frontiers by relying on the strong interdisciplinary theoretical background of my group at the intersection between electron-light-matter interactions and nanophotonics, introducing a change of paradigm in the use of free electrons to break the current limits of spectromicroscopy and having the potential for revolutionizing our ability to image and manipulate the nanoworld.

Keywords: electron light matter interactions,ultrafast electron microscopy,electron energy loss spectroscopy,plasmonics
INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS OF ASSESSMENT AND ASSURANCE OF DATA AND SYNTHETIC DATA FOR REGULATORY DECISION SUPPORT (INSAFEDARE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Health
Theme: Health
Destination: Unlocking the full potential of new tools, technologies and digital solutions for a healthy society
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: France,Switzerland,Netherlands,Italy,Cyprus,United Kingdom,Isle of Man
Call: New methods for the effective use of real-world data and/or synthetic data in regulatory decision-making and/or in health technology assessment (HORIZON-HLTH-2022-TOOL-11, 2022)
Start date: 2023-11-01
End date: 2026-10-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2855645.0
EU funding (EUR): 2855645.0
Participants: 10
Project status: SIGNED

INSAFEDARE aims to provide a toolkit to enable cost-effective and high assurance decision-making in the context of the processes that all stakeholders may follow as part of regulation of medical devices. The toolkit consists of scientific guidance on assurance, tools to retrieve datasets and assist application validation and a publicly available guidance work-group for sustainable support of the discipline. INSAFEDARE will investigate use, challenges, and opportunities real world and synthetic data-driven validation of devices. The project will provide guidance on quality and safety assurance of datasets as a tool for validation, and devices that have validated using data driven approaches. INSAFEDARE will investigate use of synthetic datasets and will identify how they can be used to establish assurance before the formal, established certification process, reducing the risk for developers and waste for regulatory bodies. Furthermore, the project will publish the findings as a public guidance, laying the ground for a standard development working group; and develop training and syllabus that can enhance the skills of stakeholders. Finally, the project will develop a tool for the discovery, integration, and query of multiple datasets, and a tool for supporting the sustainable, dynamic, and through-life surveillance of devices, capturing the impact of new evidence offered by newly published datasets.

Keywords: safety assurance,data based validation,synthetic datasets