Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Sustainable and Integrated Energy Systems in Local Communities (SERENE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure, clean and efficient energy
Theme: A single, smart European electricity grid
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Poland,Poland,Poland,Netherlands,Netherlands,Denmark,Denmark,Denmark
Call: Integrated local energy systems (Energy islands) (H2020-LC-SC3-2020-EC-ES-SCC, 2020)
Start date: 2021-05-01
End date: 2025-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5683012.5
EU funding (EUR): 5112163.39
Participants: 14
Project status: SIGNED

The aim of the SERENE project is to develop and demonstrate sustainable, integrated, cost-effective and customer-centric solutions for local communities. The idea is to integrate different energy system carriers and new renewable generation units in the local communities based on their social and technical status today to meet their energy needs in the coming years. The users has to be involved in the changes of the energy system and be informed about different technical opportunities and business cases to make decisions about their participation. Depending on the actual site, the new energy system involve different storage technologies (battery energy storages, heat storages, water storage-systems), demand response systems to enhance the flexibility of the systems (activating for instance electric vehicle charging stations and heat demand supplies), electric transportation systems like electrical vehicles or buses, heating system improvements using heat-pumps and integration of new renewable generation sources mainly in form of photo voltaics. The SERENE project will establish demonstrations in local villages in three European countries - Denmark, The Netherlands and Poland. The experiences gained at the demonstration sites will be analyzed and evaluated for replicability in firstly Europe but also world wide. Technical benchmark models and solutions will be set up together with their business models, and it is evaluated how different legal aspects form the involved countries will affect the possibility for replication. Further, the needed user involvement and their interest to join are evaluated seen from both geographic, social, environmental and economic conditions and characteristics.

Keywords: local community energy systems,heat pumps,integration of energy sectors,ev car sharing,demand,response,business models,socio economics for local communities,organisatorial aspects
The ubiquity of optimal spectral gaps (UBIQGAP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Mathematics
Panel description: All areas of mathematics, pure and applied, plus mathematical foundations of computer science, mathematical physics and statistics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-01-01
End date: 2025-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1437055.0
EU funding (EUR): 1437055.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Spectral gap is a fundamental concept in mathematics, physics, and computer science as it governs the exponential rate at which a process converges towards its stationary state. It informs the spectral lines of hydrogen, how we shuffle cards, the behavior of semiconductors, and web search algorithms. Moreover, some of the most prominent issues of contemporary mathematics, including the Ramanujan-Petersson conjecture and the Yang-Mills mass gap, revolve around spectral gap. This proposal seeks to investigate the nature of the spectral gap for hyperbolic surfaces and unitary representations of fundamental groups of surfaces. In the former case, the spectral gap occurs in the spectrum of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the surface, and in the latter, it occurs in the spectrum of a Hecke operator attached to the representation. The two main motifs of the proposal are ubiquity and optimality. Is the spectral gap ubiquitous? Does it exist for random surfaces and random representations? Is it easy to construct surfaces with a large spectral gap? In what cases can one prove that the spectral gap is close to optimal? The sharpest and most ambitious questions discussed in this proposal combine these two aspects and ask whether objects with (almost) optimal spectral gap appear with high frequency. My main technical tool is the development of new formulas for integration over representation varieties of fundamental groups of surfaces. These integral formulas are of high independent interest. For example, I propose to establish estimates that extend important results in Voiculescu's Free Probability Theory from the context of free groups, to fundamental groups of closed compact surfaces, and beyond. The proposal is extremely timely, as it builds on two separate breakthroughs that I have achieved in 2019. I am uniquely placed to tackle the questions of the proposal due to my broad background in geometry, analysis, and representation theory.

Keywords: spectral gap,hyperbolic surfaces,representation varieties
Roots and bacteria: Basis of attraction (ROOBABAA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Panel description: Biotechnology using all organisms, biotechnology for environment and food applications, applied plant and animal sciences, bioengineering and synthetic biology, biomass and biofuels, biohazards
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANT (ERC-2020-ADG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2026-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3146126.0
EU funding (EUR): 3146126.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Root microbiome research is motivated by the promise of using growth-promoting, disease-suppressive bacteria as transferable, protective agents in agriculture. Yet, such approaches have not realized their potential as pesticide or fertilizer alternatives. Major obstacle are soil physico-chemical complexity and a staggeringly complex biotic environment. Recent establishments of synthetic communities promise to enable mechanistic understanding of bacterial establishment in the rhizosphere. However, current methods crucially lack in spatial and temporal resolution. The root is an assembly of dynamically evolving, distinct micro-niches for bacterial colonization that I propose to characterize by extensive use of fluorescent microbial marker strains, monitoring of bacterial metabolism and tracing of proliferation and taxis. This is complemented by precise manipulations of root development. The fractal, open-growth of roots must result in rapid changes in nutrient composition and cycles of nutrient abundance and restriction, forcing bacteria to oscillate between different survival strategies. These fundamental aspects of micro-niche formation, change and collapse are largely undescribed, yet central to understand success or failure of bacterial colonization. I propose to visualize and dissect these processes by combining cutting-edge tools for visualization, optical and genetic manipulations of both plant and bacteria. Bacterial model systems will be inserted into defined bacterial culture collections and results from mono-associations will be challenged by soil-based gnotobiotic systems and high-resolution community profiling. This project will reveal central, dynamic aspects of bacteria-root interactions within a realistic, time-resolved framework of root development. This knowledge will be crucial for progressing to a mechanistic understanding of root bacteria interaction and the reliable use of bacterial agents in agriculture by predictive design of bacterial niches.

Keywords: root microbiome,root development,arabidopsis,live imaging,gnotobiotic synthetic communities,root colonizing bacteria
New high-performant and long-lasting ballast for sustainable railway infrastructures (NEOBALLAST)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Italy,Spain,Belgium
Call: Fast Track to Innovation Pilot (H2020-FTIPilot-2015-1, 2015)
Start date: 2016-06-01
End date: 2019-11-30
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2274625.0
EU funding (EUR): 1592237.5
Participants: 5
Project status: CLOSED

NEOBALLAST is an innovative high-performance, long-lasting and eco-friendly ballast aggregate solution designed to overcome the two most important shortcomings of railway tracks: track degradation and noise and vibration emissions, whilst improving safety and customer service. The implementation of NEOBALLAST will improve the economic and environmental performance of European railway tracks, bringing important socio-economic benefits to the whole European society. As a suitable solution for both, new and existing railway lines, NEOBALLAST potential market extends to the whole European rail network (i.e. beyond 200,000km of lines), accounting for almost 20 million tonnes of new ballast every year, and a related turnover about 350M€. In order to take this mature and proven technology, NEOBALLAST project joins industry partners from different sectors, covering the whole value-chain of NEOBALLAST, into a well-balanced and multidisciplinary team. The project has a business-driven approach, where actions are devised to solve those barriers that may difficult NEOBALLAST quick and extensive market up-take. In this sense, the main steps to attain a successful and effective market uptake are the development of a large-scale production technology to meet expected market demands, the demonstration and validation of NEOBALLAST in real working environment, an effective dissemination across Expert Panel groups to achieve a wide deployment and finally the IPR management, exploitation and commercialization of NEOBALLAST through the creation of a NEWCO constituted by all the project parents. The management structure joins forces with an Advisory Committee that will provide the Consortium with an independent, end-user centric viewpoint to the direction and relevance of the work as the project. The Advisory Committee will be drawn from three Infrastructure Managers, track contractor organisations, technological platforms and three track expert members of the Academia.

Keywords: railways,cost efficent infrastructure,environmental impact,noise and vibrations,ballast
3D Liver Organoids: Modelling Host Hepatitis B Virus Interaction (LiVirIn)

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: Belgium
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172800.0
EU funding (EUR): 172800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

An estimated ~400 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection worldwide, resulting in an estimated $658 million in medical costs and lost wages annually. Although HBV disease can be prevented by vaccination, many people still become infected. Potent and safe drugs are available to eradicate HBV viral particles and clinically ‘cure’ HBV infection. However, during replication HBV delivers a very stable form of viral DNA (covalently closed circular DNA, cccDNA) in the nucleus of the hepatocyte, causing life-long risk of reactivation of HBV infection in case of suppression of the immune system (e.g. chemotherapy). Therefore the pharmaceutical industry is now aiming to develop strategies to eradicate the virus from the infected liver completely. Such studies are hampered by the lack of appropriate in vitro or animal models due to the narrow tropism of HBV for human hepatocytes. The hypothesis of the project is that creation of 3D culture systems encompassing hepatocytes, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) derived from an inexhaustible source of cells (human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs)) in a matrix that mimics the biophysical and biochemical features of the liver, will be a superior model for the study of HBV infection and evaluation of the efficacy of antiviral drugs. We also hypothesize that such 3D organoids will improve maturation and function of hepatocytes, HSCs and LSECs. The proposed studies are highly interdisciplinary, merging expertise from biology, to biophysics and engineering, with inter-sector mobility, networking, collaboration and knowledge transfer between academia and industries. The knowledge developed will be disseminated by presentations at consortium meetings, international conferences and in peer publications. All these aspects will train the researcher as independent thinker, more knowledgeable in scientific research which will provide an enormous boost to his carrier.

Keywords: hepatitis b virus,chronic infection,liver organoid,hepatocytes,anti viral drugs,knowledge transfer
Accelerating the transition to low carbon electrified mobility with a disruptive increase in e-machine efficiency at reduced cost (Capcooltech)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Secure, clean and efficient energy
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Germany
Call: Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for a low carbon and efficient energy system (H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-04-01
End date: 2020-11-30
Duration (months): 32.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2935060.0
EU funding (EUR): 2053541.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Dynamic E flow (dEf) is an early-stage start-up with strong electric engineering expertise. We enable automotive manufacturers to build high performance electric machines with twice the power at a fraction of the cost. Our core innovation is the flexible enamelled hollow capillary wire (Capcooltech® wire) and the related connection technology (Capcooltech® box). By increasing the power density of electric machines while reducing costs and complexity, we accelerate the transition to electrified vehicles and the achievement of the EU and global environmental targets. The European Commission support will be an excellent validation of our venture, and by supplementing our private funding will help increase our technology uptake by the European industry and attract additional investors and strategic partners in the EU, Asia and the USA. we performed in-depth feasibility and industrialization studies, culminating in a strategy for long term growth, mid-term business plan, and Roadmap 2025. Our R&D and market uptake are supported by excellent stakeholder knowledge. We cooperate very closely with our advisory board, leading experts of automotive and scientific and industrial research centres like Bundeswehr University Munich. Other supportive institutions include Technical University Munich and RWTH Aachen. The proprietary elements of Capcooltech® have been validated in-house and by third parties. Special attention and effort were made in developing the related tooling for industrialized, automated manufacturing to ensure scalability and rapid market uptake. In our target market (48V automotive), our technology is virtually irresistible. For automotive manufacturers, it is essentially substituting conventional electric machines with Capcooltech® machines, getting more power at less cost. By 2025, our total addressable market will reach 30mio electrified vehicles. The timely introduction of Capcooltech® in 2018/9 would enable capturing a significant share of that market.

Keywords: low carbon,e mobility,energy efficiency,automotive,thermal management,cooling,48v systems,electric machines,electric propulsion,cost reduction,power density
Sensory-driven Body Transformation Experiences On-the-move (BODYinTRANSIT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Panel description: Informatics and information systems, computer science, scientific computing, intelligent systems
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2020-COG, 2020)
Start date: 2022-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1998612.0
EU funding (EUR): 1998612.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Our physical body is the interface between ourselves and the world around us. The way we perceive our body, its appearance, configuration and motor abilities shapes our behaviour, emotion and social functioning. New sensor-based and bodily sensory feedback devices, such as those brought by immersive virtual reality, allow creating Body Transformation Experiences (BTE). These perceptual illusions, like being in a child’s body, lead to experience changes in one’s own body. Beyond fun experiences, the new field of BTE engineering brings a significant leap for wellbeing and health applications, as well as for the embodiment of robotic devices and virtual avatars, and smart clothing. However, the neuroscience of core sensory-driven changes in Mental Body Representations (MBR) currently represents piecemeal experiments in very controlled settings that restrict body movement. This hinders the transfer of the basic principles discovered to real-world complex environments and practical problems. Through systematic and iterative research, BODYinTRANSIT will establish a theoretical ‘BTE design framework’ for individualized sensorial manipulation of MBR with long-lasting effects in everyday use contexts. The framework will stand on four scientific pillars to induce, measure, support, personalize and preserve body transformations: 1) neuroscience of multisensory body perception, 2) data modelling of the links between MBR, behaviour, emotion and social functioning, 3) wearable-based embodied multisensory interaction design, and 4) field studies in real-life and on-the-move contexts with physically inactive users, somatic practitioners and users with body image concerns. Tangible outcomes will include design principles, data formats, models, measures and paradigms enabling and guiding BTE engineering innovations. BODYinTRANSIT envisions personalized BTE technologies able to measure MBR and adapt bodily sensory feedback to modify it – individually, online and while on-the-move.

Keywords: multisensory body perception,body transformation experience,sound interactive technology,multimodal interface,emotion,motor behavior,embodiment,personalized self care wearables,inner fashion
The roots and evolution of the culture-of-death. A taphonomic research of the European Paleolithic record (DEATHREVOL)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The study of the human past
Panel description: Archaeology, history and memory
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-04-01
End date: 2026-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1494486.0
EU funding (EUR): 1494486.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

There can be no more profound insight into the human mind than the complex cultural practices surrounding death. While all human cultures across the globe today engage in funerary practices, the emergence of funerary behavior is one of the most contentious aspects in the field of human evolution. New methodological approaches on taphonomy field can help elucidate fundamental facets of hominin behavior making important contributions to the understanding of our ancestors. The European fossil record is a key source of information in this regard due to the relative abundance of fossil skeleton, many of which have been interpreted as burials, and the possibility for biological and cultural interactions between different human species. Nevertheless, direct taphonomic analyses on these human fossils are rare and essentially limited to those cases with possible signs of cannibalism. The present application proposes a multidisciplinary research project to investigate the origin of funerary behavior during the Middle Pleistocene and to trace this behavior throughout the European Paleolithic archaeological record. This project aims to address the dearth of taphonomic studies on Paleolithic hominins and represents the first large-scale project focused on a thorough multi-taphonomic study of the European fossil record. This involves the participation of a wide team of scholars and a network of methods including classical and innovative taphonomic analyses, virtual reconstructions for forensic analysis, study of spatial distribution patterns, the global relationship of different sites, and mathematical models to interconnect the broad-spectrum data gathered. The results have the potential to significantly alter our views on behavioral aspects of European Paleolithic populations. In particular, the results will examine whether mortuary practices and, hence a culture of death, predated the appearance of modern humans and Neandertals.

Keywords: taphonomy,funerary practices,site formation,human behavior
The MEaning of LAnguage. Digital Grammar of the Greek Taught at Schools in Late Constantinople (MELA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Cultures and cultural production
Panel description: Literary studies, cultural studies, study of the arts, philosophy
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2020-COG, 2020)
Start date: 2022-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999978.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999978.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Multiple registers coexisting within the same linguistic system and the creation of grammars codifying one of these registers as ‘the standard’ are phenomena common to many languages. The same issues are observed in the remarkable history of Greek, where the high-register variety has competed with other, lower-register varieties in a relation of mutual influence throughout the centuries. Recent scholarship has devoted attention to these dynamics, primarily focusing either on the earlier (Post-classical) or the later (Early Modern/ Modern) stages. The central period, essential to our understanding of the development of the language, has not received the same attention. Yet, the late Byzantine era provides exceptional sources: the very textbooks and manuscripts of the time, which offer a direct view onto the dynamic attitudes of medieval users toward their language. MELA maintains that, if studied with an innovative combination of philological and paleographical approaches, alongside new insights from the Digital Humanities, socio-linguistics and semiotics, these neglected sources will change our understanding of Medieval Greek language and literature. MELA will put Medieval Greek in dialogue with current debates in linguistics, and recast our view of such an important period for the cultural history of Europe. The project will create: 1) the first Digital Grammar of the high-register Greek taught at medieval schools; 2) a new theoretical framework to study (a) how languages and standardization work in general; (b) the dynamic relationships ‘language-society’, ‘language-human mind’, ‘linguistic register(s)-social functions’. The Grammar, a textual corpus database equipped with multiple search options will be the instrument that brings about a paradigm shift in the study of language by disclosing the perspective of medieval users. The theoretical framework will make Medieval Greek an important locus for applying, testing, and verifying current linguistic theories.

Keywords: historical linguistics,digital humanities,semiotics