Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Quantum Algorithmics (QALGO)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Future and Emerging Technologies
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Latvia,France,United Kingdom,Belgium,Netherlands,Israel,Germany
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2569465.0
EU funding (EUR): 1949998.0
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

We will study the algorithmic aspects of quantum information. Our goal is to find new algorithms for quantum computers and new quantum communication protocols that are more efficient than the classical protocols. We will pursue this goal in a number of different ways. Firstly, we will study concrete problems that may have fast quantum algorithms and develop methods for constructing quantum algorithms. We will investigate the use of quantum walks (quantum counterparts of random walks) and learning graphs (a very new method which appeared less than a year ago) to construct quantum algorithms. We will also study two promising application areas for new quantum algorithms: hidden shift problems and property testing. Secondly, we will investigate general properties of quantum algorithms, such as the role of various resources (e.g., quantum entanglement or quantum discord) in quantum algorithms. We will study restricted forms of quantum computation, to find the minimum conditions under which universal quantum computation is possible. We will investigate the role of structure in input data in quantum speedups, by studying the maximum quantum speedups achievable in various settings. Thirdly, we will study the counterparts of those questions in the communication setting. We will work on designing quantum protocols that solve communication tasks more efficiently than any classical protocol and investigate quantum communication in a game-theoretic setting where parties act to maximize their self-interest. Lastly, we will investigate applications of quantum information concepts in other areas, namely to solve classical problems in computer science and to understand the computational complexity of problems in quantum physics. One of the major applications of a future quantum computer is to simulate quantum physical systems. Our goal is to understand this area in terms of complexity and possible quantum algorithms and to compare these with classical computational techniques.

Keywords: quantum computing,quantum algorithms,quantum communication,quantum information science,theory of computation
tranScriptorium (TRANSCRIPTORIUM)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: ICT for Learning and Access to Cultural Resources
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Spain,Austria,Greece,United Kingdom,Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2015-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3005570.0
EU funding (EUR): 2399739.0
Participants: 6
Project status: CLOSED

Huge amounts of handwritten historical documents are being published by on-line digital libraries world wide. However, for these raw digital images to be really useful, they need be annotated with informative content. The tranScriptorium project aims to develop innovative, efficient and cost-effective solutions for the indexing, search and full transcription of historical handwritten document images, using modern, holistic Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) technology. For typical handwritten text images of historical documents, currently available text image recognition technologies are not suitable. Traditional Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is simply not usable since characters can not be isolated automatically in these images. Therefore, holistic, segmentation-free HTR techniques, often borrowed from the field of Automatic Speech Recognition are needed. Yet, state-of-the-art holistic HTR approaches still lack the required accuracy, mainly due to the usual poor quality, degradations and writing style variability of historical document images. To cope with this lack of recognition accuracy for handwritten text images of historical documents, three actions are planned in tranScriptorium: i) improve basic image preprocessing and holistic HTR techniques; ii) develop novel indexing and keyword searching approaches, mainly based on byproducts of holistic HTR decoding and word spotting techniques; and iii) capitalize on new, user-friendly interactive-predictive HTR approaches for computer-assisted operation, which minimize the user intervention needed to achieve full, high quality transcripts. HTR tools based on tranScriptorium techniques will be incorporated into HTR web platforms that will be accessible to users through two different means: i) a content provider portal that provides access to handwritten historical documents for casual, individual researchers; and b) a specialized HTR web portal for structured crowd-sourcing transcription projects.

Keywords: historical document image,handwritten text recognition,document image analysis,interactive transcription,crowd-sourcing,content provider sites
Grid cells: From brains to technical implementation (GRIDMAP)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Future and Emerging Technologies
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Norway,United Kingdom,Italy,Germany
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4346717.0
EU funding (EUR): 2917961.0
Participants: 4
Project status: CLOSED

Since the invention of the first computers, their speed and computing power have grown exponentially but their fundamental operating principles remain essentially unchanged. Computers are still operating on one or a few central processing units, each with limited interconnectivity. Such processors, coupled with fast access to memory, are good for performing precisely instructed operations on large quantities of data very rapidly, but less effective in enabling the near instantaneous processing of the rapidly changing and ambiguous information that living interactive organisms are apparently so good at dealing with. With this in mind, it has been argued that computer technology would benefit from looking at how parallel computation is handled by the brain, nature ́s most advanced computer. Our recent discovery of a key mechanism for the neural mapping of space, using the metric encoded by ‘grid cells’, provides us with unprecedented direct-access to some of the fundamental operating principles of cortical circuits ‒ principles to which engineers need access for developing brain-inspired computing technologies. We shall use grid cells as an access ramp to understanding massively parallel-distributed spatial computations in sufficient detail to implement these basic working principles in computational architecture. Building on our recent breakthrough discovery, and guided by new brain experiments, computationally tractable algorithms will be tested in artificial navigating agents (robots), with the overall aim of identifying cardinal elements of future emerging technologies in the domain of spatial navigation and, more generally, in the development of massively parallel multi-core interactive computers. Because the expected long-term impacts are substantial, the project group will interact regularly with advisory panels on both IPR and man-machine ethics.

Keywords: grid cells,cortical circuits,neurophysiology,brain,computing technologies,spatial computation,spatial navigation,parallel-distributed computation,robots
Electromagnetic detection of neural activity at cellular resolution (MAGNETRODES)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Future and Emerging Technologies
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: France,Portugal,Germany,Finland
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2015-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2222049.0
EU funding (EUR): 1700000.0
Participants: 5
Project status: CLOSED

The main goal of the project is to develop a new generation of neuroscience tools for electromagnetic measurement and spectroscopy at the neuron level. Spin electronics offers nowadays the possibility to create very sensitive, micrometer-scale magnetic field detectors. Here, we propose to exploit this technological advance to create novel tools for probing neuronal magnetic fields at the cellular level. The first goal of the project will be to develop the magnetic equivalent of an electrode, a ‘magnetrode’, sensitive enough to detect the very small magnetic fields induced by the ionic currents flowing within electrically active neurons, and small enough to probe a limited number of cells. We will adapt magnetrodes also for local nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS); thus, they could record both electromagnetic and chemical activity of neurons. In addition, means for local electric or magnetic stimulation could be integrated in to a magnetrode. We will test magnetrodes in vitro and in vivo at various spatial scales, from brain areas down to single neurons. In parallel, based on the measurements with magnetrodes, we will augment existing computational models and develop new ones to characterize the electromagnetic fields emitted by neurons and neuron assemblies. We will use these models to bridge from the activity of single neurons to macroscopic non-invasive measurements such as electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). This project shall pave the way towards “magnetophysiology”, which enables investigating electric activity of neurons without disturbing the ionic flow and without physical contact to the cell. We will create new experimental and modeling tools for magnetic measurements and stimulation at neuron scale. The resulting techniques will be applicable in neurosciences, brain–computer interfacing and possibly in the treatment of certain brain diseases. The consortium is composed of 5 teams from 4 EU countries.

Keywords: magnetic sensing,neuron activity,magnetic resonance spectroscopy,spin electronics,in vivo,in vitro electrophysiology,neuron modelling
Computations and Organization of Retes Through the Interaction of Computational, Optical and Neurophysiological Investigations of the Cerebral cortex (CORTICONIC)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Future and Emerging Technologies
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Spain,Italy,Germany
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 40.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3085166.0
EU funding (EUR): 2399000.0
Participants: 5
Project status: CLOSED

Corticonics, echoing electronics, consists of abstracting salient features of cortical organization for use in the simulation of the cortex executing higher level brain functions. Our final objective is to identify computational principles of the cerebral cortex underlying network dynamic patterns. In our long term vision, interfacing with the brain will take place: i) Towards the brain, delivering stimuli onto the nervous tissue to induce recovery, correct imbalances or to augment function and cognition, and ii) From the brain: to be able to operate machines by thinking. Both interfaces require a detailed understanding of brain function. Our project has a multilevel experimental approach, covering scales from the micro to the macro, combined with a theoretical/computational approach. We take slow oscillations observed during sleep or anaesthesia as a basic dynamic pattern constrained by features of the excitability distribution in the neural tissue. We aim to identify these features by analysing the generation and propagation of activity and its susceptibility to interference. Progressively we will wake up the cortex in order to identify the features that are critical in adding computational complexity to the system. To achieve this we start by developing novel recording tools to obtain detailed subcellular and large cortical area recordings while we will further develop electrical and targeted optogenetic stimulation for the spatiotemporal control of activity. Based on this mesoscopic and modular approach we will provide a computational equivalent of the properties of a macroscopic region of neural tissue described as an excitable medium, and carry out large scale simulations made possible by a cutting-edge distributed computing facility. The approach and technologies developed here will have long term implications for areas including brain-computer interfaces, brain repair, brain modelling and massive scale computing.

Keywords: brain states cortical network network computations active grids optical recordings optogenetics tms vlsi chip slow oscillations dynamic patterns travelling waves computational models
Cognitive, Decentralized Coordination of Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Systems via Reconfigurable Task Planning (RECONFIG)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Cognitive Systems and Robotics
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Sweden,Finland,Greece,France
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2016-05-31
Duration (months): 39.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3171304.0
EU funding (EUR): 2359993.0
Participants: 4
Project status: CLOSED

Heterogeneous multi-robot systems hold promise for achieving robustness by leveraging on the complementary capabilities of different agents and efficiency by allowing sub-tasks to be completed by the most suitable agent. A key challenge is that agent composition in current multi-robot systems needs to be constant and pre-defined. Moreover, the coordination of heterogeneous multi-agent systems has not been considered in manipulative scenarios. We propose a reconfigurable and adaptive decentralized coordination framework for heterogeneous multiple & multi-DOF robot systems. Agent coordination is held via two types of information exchange:(i) at an implicit level, e.g.,when robots are in contact with each other and can sense the contact, and (ii) at an explicit level, using symbols grounded to each embodiment, e.g, when one robot notifies one other about the existence of an object of interest in its vicinity. The substrate of cognitive tasks will be a computer vision front-end, that will allow for the grounding and subsequent sharing of symbols between agents. In the envisioned framework coordination is decentralized and tasks are defined at the individual agent level. These tasks are then enriched during operation based on the updated knowledge that individual agents acquire through the two information exchange types. The control and planning updates take place at two levels:(i) a continuous level, where agent actions are defined by continuous feedback, e.g., change of contact point while grasping an obstacle given the contact point of another manipulator and (ii) a discrete level, where specifications are defined in terms of formal languages such as Linear Temporal Logic. The overall approach is motivated by the need for increased robustness, heterogeneity and reconfigurability in future multi-robot setups. An example scenario includes a team of robots that first individually distinguish objects in the environment and then agree that the same symbol represents the same object for each robot. They then use this information for a global objective, i.e., finding all chairs in a room full of chairs and tables and moving them to another room. As the robots obtain more information on the environment (e.g., the existence of a chair that was not spotted before) they change their controllers and plans accordingly.

Keywords: decentralized control,multi-robot systems,heterogeneous robots,temporal logics,formal methods,interactive symbol grounding,visual category recognition
Digital AV Media Damage Prevention and Repair (DAVID)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Technologies for Digital Content and Languages
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Austria,United Kingdom,France,Austria,Germany
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2012-12-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3315858.0
EU funding (EUR): 2210000.0
Participants: 6
Project status: CLOSED

Digital audiovisual (AV) content is everywhere: film, television and online media; personal content from cameras and phones; and content from environmental monitoring, corporate training, surveillance and call recording to name but a few. Retention includes content reuse, regulatory compliance, and archive monetisation – each with differing needs for content quality, safety, storage, access and budget. But there is a common challenge: how to keep AV content usable in the face of adversity: obsolescence, media degradation, and failures in the very people, processes and systems designed to keep this content safe. We will research how to structure, store, monitor, repair and improve digital AV content in a way that balances long-term costs, risks of loss, and content quality. We target digital video tape, which for many remains the de-facto form of born-digital content, as well as the rapid adoption of AV as files in IT systems. A risk management approach is taken for analysing the causes of loss, not just from storage technology, but also from the systems that surround storage, and how this loss impacts the ability to use digital AV now and in the future. Scalable tools for damage detection, repair, and quality improvement are then added to deliver complete digital AV quality assurance over time. Calibration, testing, evaluation and demonstration by archive and industrial partners using real-world data ensures high quality project results. The consortium includes: a broadcaster and national audiovisual archive, both with experience of R&D in digital preservation; two industrials on the supply-side providing media migration, digital restoration, and quality analysis; and two research partners with long histories in digital audiovisual content analysis, risk management, and storage technologies. This ensures a solid bedrock for the technical work and provides the influence and reach necessary for widespread promotion and take-up of project results.

Keywords: digital preservation,audiovisual content,damage prevention,born robust content,restoration,repair of damages,film,audio,video,archives,broadcasters
European Technology for Digital Audiovisual Media Preservation (PRESTO4U)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Technologies for Digital Content and Languages
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Netherlands,Denmark,United Kingdom,France,Italy,United Kingdom,Italy,Austria,Denmark,Ireland
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2230184.0
EU funding (EUR): 1994532.0
Participants: 15
Project status: CLOSED

The long-term preservation of digital audiovisual media presents a range of complex technological, organisational, economic and rights-related issues, which have been the subject of intensive research over the past fifteen years at national, European and international levels. Although good solutions are emerging, and there is a large body of expertise at a few specialist centres, it is very difficult for the great majority of media owners to gain access to advanced audiovisual preservation technologies. Presto4U will focus research efforts onto useful technological solutions, raise awareness and improve the adoption of audiovisual preservation research results, both by service providers and media owners, and with a particular emphasis on meeting the needs of smaller collections, private sector media owners and new stakeholders. The project will: - Create a series of Communities of Practice in the principal sub-sectors of audiovisual media preservation, which will develop a body of knowledge on the status of digital preservation practice, outstanding problems and needs for access to research results; - Identify useful results of research into digital audiovisual preservation; - Promote the take-up of promising research results by users, technology vendors and service providers, based on results of hands-on technology assessment, promotion of standards, analysis of economic and licensing models, and provision of brokering services; - Raise awareness of the need for audiovisual media preservation and disseminate information about project results; - Evaluate the impact of the project and develop plans for long-term sustainability. The resulting knowledge, tools and services to support the uptake of research, will be maintained after completion by PrestoCentre, the European Competence Centre for audiovisual preservation. The Presto4U Consortium comprises fourteen partners from seven EU countries (NL, UK, FR, IT, DK, IE, AT), covering a wide range of preservation expertise based on extensive research, multiple Communities of Practice, and centres specialising in technology transfer between research and industry.

Keywords: digital preservation audiovisual media long term preservation technology transfer research take-up communities of practice european
Animal and robot Societies Self-organise and Integrate by Social Interaction (ASSISI_BF)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Destination: Future and Emerging Technologies
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Austria,France,Croatia,Switzerland,Portugal,Germany
Call:  (FP7-ICT-2011-9, 2011)
Start date: 2013-02-01
End date: 2018-07-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7648203.0
EU funding (EUR): 6007664.0
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of ASSISI_bf is to develop (1) a fundamental new class of distributed ICT systems, which are bio-hybrid collective adaptive systems (CASs) that consist of two sub-systems: One is a self-organising society of animals; the other one is a society of technical devices. These CASs will solve problems by distributed spatial computation; this heterogeneous system (animals, robots, nodes) will perform collective decision-making and maintain internal homeostasis. (2) We plan to develop a fundamental new method to design CASs by exploiting evolutionary computation on mathematical models that are used to drive the engineered part of the CAS. This way the collective of animals and robots will adapt to environmental changes and will maximize its efficiency and stability. (3) We will develop several novel benchmarks, using the level of acceptance of robots by the animal society as a hard-to-reach criterion. (4) Finally, we will derive a general model for heterogeneous CASs, which will be used to develop new algorithms for other heterogeneous robotic CASs. We address all 3 principles that should be researched for CASs, which are: design, operation and evolution. The project tackles several severe engineering challenges. It has a high potential of impact and foundational character on several communities. On the one hand it has the potential to establish a new field of science, which focuses on self-adapting engineered systems able to integrate themselves into an existing natural society. On the other hand, the proposed long-term impact reaches from establishing important new methods in agriculture, environmental sustainability policies, live stock management, environmental monitoring, bio-hybrid engineering and pharmaceutical industry, as our proposed technology allows fully automated (but non-invasive, non-harmful) experimentation with social animals. By deducting models and algorithms our project can also influence and promote general research of distributed ICT systems.

Keywords: engineering artificial sociality,bio-hybrid collective adaptive systems,animal-machine,collective intelligence,modeling of nonlinear dynamical systems,mixed societies,evolutionary computation