Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Ant navigation: understanding the resilience and self-developing nature of mini-brains in interaction with their environment. (RESILI-ANT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Panel description: For all organisms : Ecology, biodiversity, environmental change , evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology , marine biology, ecophysiology, theoretical developments and mod elling
Countries involved: France
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2023-COG, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2029-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1998298.0
EU funding (EUR): 1998298.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Organisms differ from machines in their resilience: their capacity to spontaneously recover from defects. This is because organisms, contrary to machines, are self-developing systems that change over time, like ‘a melody that sings itself’. The plastic mechanisms that enable animal and human self-development and resilience is barely known, but understanding them would profoundly impact how we apprehend brains, behaviours and their evolution. RESILI-ANT will tackle this question using the stunning ability of solitary foraging ants to visually navigate in complex environments. Ant navigational behaviours develop through stages with strong learning components, and can recover from sensory-motor alterations that would disable any machine. The advantage is that the full ontogeny of these behaviours unfolds in a couple of days, can be easily manipulated, and involves a brain numerically much simpler and better-known than any vertebrate. We will combine an ecological approach, complexity science and modelling with state-of-the-art technologies to dissect the mechanisms underlying these behavioural developmental processes. We will track ant ontogeny under different scenarios; perform straightforward manipulations to disclose the underlying rules; and use virtual reality to probe their ability to compensate for severe sensory-motor defects. In parallel, we will explore how these processes are implemented – in the light of our ever-increasing knowledge of insect circuits – by augmenting our current neural models with network plasticity and recurrent connections between brain areas. The evolutionary causes and consequences of such plastic neural topologies will be investigated using neuro-evolution algorithms selecting for self-developing agents that forage in reconstructed environments. The dialogue between simulations and observation will move us towards a concrete understanding of the self-developing nature, and their fundamental and societal impact.

Keywords: ethology computational neuroscience distributed intelligence embodied cognition navigation behavioural compensation insect vision
Innovative bioMETHAne system integration boosting production while managing Renewable energies intermittENcy (METHAREN)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Energy
Destination: Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Italy,France,Spain,Germany,Portugal,Switzerland,Belgium,Netherlands
Call: Innovative biomethane production as an energy carrier and a fuel (HORIZON-CL5-2021-D3-03, 2021)
Start date: 2022-11-01
End date: 2027-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 13758322.25
EU funding (EUR): 10361053.13
Participants: 18
Project status: SIGNED

Gathering 17 partners from 7 countries, METHAREN aims to demonstrate a cost-effective, innovative, more sustainable and circular biomethane production system enabling renewable energy sources intermittency management. To do so, METHAREN is providing improvements beyond the state-of-the art along four main axes related to: i) the biogas plant efficiency; ii) flexibility and energy management for RES integration; iii) the circularity approach for sustainable production and iv) innovative business models and adapted policies. The consortium will use the results of the engineering specifications (WP1) to develop the technologies related to the gasification plant (WP2), the methanation plant (WP3) and the development of the circularity (WP4) in the various processes as METHAREN will reuse water, O2 from the electrolysis, and heat to foster overall efficiency and sustainability. All individually developed and tested systems will then be integrated and tested in a pilot site (WP5) before being operated and optimised for more than a year (WP6). In parallel, the market uptake and exploitation of solutions will be carried out all along the project to ensure that the technologies develop will answer market needs (WP7) while dedicated communication and dissemination activities (WP8) will ensure that the results of the project are known and used by relevant stakeholders. Coordinated by a European industrial engineering world leader, the management of the project (WP9) will also be ensured by WP leaders, who all have strong experience and excellent expertise in their fields as research and technical centres, engineering development companies, or industrials. This combined expertise will allow METHAREN to demonstrate an increase of cost effectiveness by at least 20% while reaching a carbon conversion rate from biowaste to methane higher than 80%, a reduction of GHG emission compared to current process by 50% and the potential of replication on at least 30 other sites in Europe.

Keywords: biomethane,gasification,catalytic methanation,biogas,integration,operation,pilot demonstration,gas market,business models
Mean curvature flow: singularity formation beyond 2 convexity and applications (MCFBeyondAndApp)

Framework: Horizon Europe — 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: Israel
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2023-STG, 2023)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499138.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499138.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Geometric flows as a mean to attack problems in topology, geometry and physics, had been demonstrated to be an extremely powerful tool. The most successful such flow to date is the Ricci flow (RF), which was used in the proof of the geometrization conjecture. The mean curvature flow (MCF) - the most natural geometric flow for sub-manifolds in an ambient space, had also been successfully applied to address such problems. Nevertheless, the most striking potential applications of MCF are still out of reach. The goal of the proposed research is to advance the understanding of the formation of singularities in MCF, and to study a particular application of MCF for general relativity. More concretely, we propose to continue the systematic study of the formation of bubble-sheet singularities in 4-space, initiated by Choi, Haslhofer and the PI, with the goal of obtaining a mean convex neighbourhood theorem in this setting. We also propose to study the formation of singularities more generally, and in particular, the structure of the singular set. The second objective of the proposed research is to employ MCF in Lorentzian spacetime satisfying the Einstein equation with positive cosmological constant to obtain versions of the cosmic no hair conjecture, namely, geometric convergence results to de Sitter space.

Keywords: geometric analysis,geometric flows,mean curvature flow
Open Science Plan-Track-Assess Pathways (OSTrails)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Research infrastructures
Theme: Research infrastructures
Destination: EOSC ecosystem
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: EOSC (co-programmed)
Countries involved: Greece,Ireland,Norway,Spain,Poland,Serbia,Croatia,Netherlands,France,Austria,Finland,Sweden,Germany,United Kingdom,Italy,Czechia,Portugal
Call: Planning, tracking, and assessing scientific knowledge production (HORIZON-INFRA-2023-EOSC-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-02-01
End date: 2027-01-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7274147.5
EU funding (EUR): 7274147.5
Participants: 41
Project status: SIGNED

OSTrails aims to advance processes and instruments for Planning, Tracking, and Assessing scientific knowledge production beyond state-of-the art, working with various national and thematic contexts, improving existing infrastructure, and connecting key components. For the Plan stage, OSTrails aims to increase the efficacy of Data Management Plans, turning them from static narratives to living, interconnected “machine actionable” resources, making them the instrument of choice for improving quality of RDM. For the Track stage, OSTrails is set to establish an open, interoperable and high-quality ecosystem of Scientific Knowledge Graphs, enriching them to become evidence of communities’ FAIR implementations. For the Assess stage, OSTrails aims to deliver modular and extendable FAIR tests, towards “machine actionable” metrics, complemented by user guidance embedded in tools assisting any stage of research life cycle. Presented as the OSTrails Commons, the resulting methods, tools, services, guidance & training form the necessary building blocks to provide end-to-end solutions that serve: (i) researchers and research support personnel realise FAIR at any stage of the research life cycle, for any digital object; and (ii) research funding organisations, research performing organisations, publishers to drive the improvement of the quality of RDM for any shared, funded and published research product. OSTrails will lower the barriers to plan and practice FAIR research, moving the dial from FAIR assessment to FAIR assisting practice; also, to enhance traceability and improve evidence-based evaluation of research via a more networked scholarship. OSTrails is deeply rooted in the work of 38 partners, 22 research performing organisations, 5 ESFRI Clusters, and 24 pilots, acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that different national and thematic infrastructures have varying goals and priorities, as well as approaches to streamlining FAIR.

Keywords: machine actionable dmps,fair metrics,scientific knowledge graphs,fair assessment,open science
Connecting Joint Function to Chondrocyte Biology in Knee Osteoarthritis (OA-CONNECT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Panel description: Medical technologies  and tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, therapeutic approaches and interventions , pharmacology, preventative  medicine, epidemiology and public health , digital medicine
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2024-ADG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-10-01
End date: 2030-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3283437.0
EU funding (EUR): 3283437.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative joint disease, debilitates the lives of 242 million people globally but remains without a cure. The knee joint is most frequently affected, causing pain, loss of joint function, and reduced quality of life. OA-CONNECT instigates an innovative approach to understanding the fundamental cause of OA by posing a question that could previously never be answered: ‘What causes mechanical loads to switch from supporting to disrupting cartilage health in OA?’ OA-CONNECT introduces a unique, integrated approach CONNECT-ing joint function to chondrocyte biology to unravel the OA Mechanome, the maladaptive dynamic interplay of mechanical and biological drivers of OA cartilage degeneration across cellular-, tissue- and joint- scales by: (1) Connecting the spatial mechanical and cell molecular dynamics underlying OA cartilage adaptation to loading, using multimodal read-outs from spatial omics, functional microscopy, and high-field MRI. (2) Predicting cartilage degeneration by connecting knee joint cartilage loads during movement to local cellular mechanobiological processes, using a multi-scale mechanobiology-inspired adaptive modeling framework informed by datasets of (1). (3) Elucidating cartilage degeneration probability and mechanotherapy success in subjects with early knee OA, integrating the multi-scale model of (2) with machine learning, multi-variate and population-based methods leveraging the use of clinically accessible ‘real-world’ data. Prospective cohort and proof-of-concept studies will capture the dynamics of mechanical and biological drivers and the impact of three current mechanotherapies. The field of OA needs a shift in focus as the approaches of the past 20 years could not bring the mechanistic insights required to develop treatment strategies. By dissecting the Goldilocks problem of mechanical load, OA-CONNECT will initiate a groundbreaking shift in unraveling mechanobiological drivers in an uncharted direction.

Keywords: computational biomechanics,biomedical engineering,cartilage mechanobiology,musculoskeletal rehabilitation,multi scale modeling,osteoarthritis,functional biomarkers
Crossing borders of liver and adipose tissue (mis)communication: a novel translational approach to study molecular mechanisms and targets in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (XB-LIVAT)

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: Italy
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-04-01
End date: 2028-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 193643.28
EU funding (EUR): 193643.28
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

With the obesity epidemic and prevalence of 25%, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent liver disease in the world. Despite the enormous economic and clinical burden that MASLD poses, there are still no approved therapies. Mechanisms regulating disease progression are largely unknown, but the crosstalk of liver and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in the context of obesity, appears to be instrumental in driving the onset of steatosis and progression to metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and fibrosis. This is also due to the role that VAT has in mediating immune modulation, inflammatory and metabolic alterations. The hypothesis is that VAT-driven intercellular communication involving hepatocytes and liver non-parenchymal cells (NPCs), has a significant role in MASLD progression. To study the liver-VAT axis in vitro, it is of utmost importance to reproduce the complex and multicellular nature of these tissues. Contrary to previous studies based on simplistic two-dimensional co-cultures of single cell types, XB-LIVAT proposes to use a holistic, interdisciplinary and translational approach to study liver-VAT axis. XB-LIVAT will use a novel co-culture system consisting of an advanced human hetero-cellular liver three-dimensional spheroid model and clinical VAT explants, together with state-of-the-art ‘omics’ technologies to unravel key cell players, early molecular events, and targets in MASLD. In combination with in-depth molecular analysis of MASLD liver biopsies, this advanced in vitro co-culture model with high translational value will shed light on molecular mechanisms in MASLD, with particular focus on the role of NPCs. In addition to contributing to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets and interventional approaches for improving the clinical management of MASLD, XB-LIVAT will shape the researcher into an expert in advanced in vitro disease modeling and translational hepatology.

Keywords: liver,translational hepatology
Asymptotic properties of moment polytopes of tensors (AsympTensorPolytope)

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: Mathematics
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 247553.28
EU funding (EUR): 247553.28
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In AsympTensorPolytope I will study the behavior of moment polytopes of families of tensors, as well as their ability to prove bounds on (asymptotic) tensor rank and subrank. I aim to determine properties of the moment polytopes of the unit tensors of varying ranks, as well as matrix multiplication tensors, in particular whether they are distinct from the generic polytopes of their respective format. To achieve this, I will use a combination of the various different descriptions of moment polytopes, which come in representation-theoretic, symplectic-geometric, intersection-theoretic, or more combinatorial forms. In particular, I will study the behavior of moment polytopes under taking direct sums and Kronecker products of tensors, as well as recently obtained computational results. The project has the potential of proving new bounds on the complexity of various tensors, as well as furthering our understanding of Strassen's asymptotic spectrum of tensors. The techniques here can also be extended to understand other settings, such as symmetric or antisymmetric tensors (bosonic or fermionic systems), algebras and quiver representations. As a result, AsympTensorPolytope will have an impact in other contexts such as the complexity of matrix multiplication, quantum information theory and combinatorics.

Keywords: tensor rank,moment polytopes,representation theory
Braga: a Sustainable Reinvention (BRAGA SR)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EU prize
Destination: European Capital of Innovation Awards
Action type: Recognition Prize
Countries involved: Portugal
Call: The European Capital of Innovation Awards (Rising) (HORIZON-EIC-2024-ICAPITAL-PRIZE-02, 2024)
Total project cost (EUR): 0.0
EU funding (EUR): 0.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Braga is the 3rd largest city in Portugal, following Lisbon and Porto. Its strategic location provides excellent accessibility, placing it less than an hour from both Porto and Vigo (in Galicia, Spain). Over the last 10 years Braga more than doubled its exportations, that represent today over 2,4% of the overall National Exportations. This is due to a highly qualified industrial fabric with more than 26.000 companies. Braga's strong demographic growth (>17,74%) reflects its expanding job market and sustained attractiveness to investors. In addition to its resident population, the city accommodates more than 28,000 daily commuters. Over the last 10 years, the foreign resident population in Braga has increased by 78%. But how has Braga achieved so much is only 10 years? Braga developed, since 2014, a robust public policy aimed at promoting sustainable development that integrate environmental stewardship, economic vitality, social equity, and cultural richness. To achieve it, Braga created: (1) A unique Governance Model that guaranteed the creation of different interfaces (Strategic Councils) that support a holistic growth of the city, ensuring that Braga could be liveable, resilient, and thriving for all residents; (2) Strategic Local Action Plans on various topics through collaborative work within the proposed Governance Model. Initially tested in 2014 in the field of Economic Development, the model was refined based and has been implemented across all public policies; (3) A Culture of Cocreation between partners and the idea that Braga is a Living Lab to generate innovative public policies that can be tested in a real environment. These elements work together to make Braga environmentally sustainable, economically vibrant, socially inclusive, and culturally rich, setting a strong foundation for the well-being of our current and future generations. Braga, a Sustainable Reinvention with very positive and impactful results to our citizens quality of life.
Building a European industrial supply chain for SOI- and SiN-based silicon photonics, including heterogeneous integration to support emerging markets (photonixFAB)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Digital, Industry and Space
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Chips for Europe Initiative
Action type: Innovation actions
Partnership: CHIPS (JU-JTI)
Countries involved: France,Germany,Italy,Netherlands,Switzerland,Belgium,Israel
Call: Industrial supply chain for silicon photonics (IA) (HORIZON-KDT-JU-2022-1-IA, 2022)
Start date: 2023-05-01
End date: 2026-10-31
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 41945615.36
EU funding (EUR): 13192725.45
Participants: 16
Project status: SIGNED

photonixFAB brings together key European photonics and semiconductor players, to establish a strong and sovereign European supply chain for silicon photonics. The consortium leverages the volume capacity of X-FAB, the European More-than-Moore foundry, and addresses the work program with six key objectives: (1) Transferring IMEC's world-renowned silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform to X-FAB, to achieve industrial manufacturing capacity. The SOI platform addresses a variety of high-speed and sensing applications. (2) Extending the industrial manufacturing capability of LIGENTEC's silicon nitride (SiN) technology at X-FAB, to become the industry standard for SiN photonics. The low-loss, and broad transparency of SiN are perfect for sensing, quantum computing, amongst others. (3) Increasing maturity of heterogeneous integration with SMART Photonics' Indium Phosphide (InP) active components such as lasers, modulators and detectors. These components are integrated on top of the SOI and SiN platforms by transfer-printing. This is an X-FAB associated technology, forming a key innovation differentiator for photonixFAB. The leading European RTOs, IMEC and CEA, are supporting photonixFAB with various technologies, developed in Horizon Europe activities, such as prototype transfer-printing, LiNbO3 modulators and Ge detectors on SiN. (4) Strengthening the European ecosystem with design automation (Luceda), innovative packaging solutions (PHIX), and increased testing capabilities. (5) Demonstrating the viability of the new supply chain and technologies through six application-oriented demonstrators in a wide array of markets. (6) Setting up pilot line and multi-project wafer access to serve innovation by start-ups, SMEs and large entities, and opening photonixFAB for direct feedback on competitiveness and capabilities. Thereby the relationships between the supply chain partners and prospective end-users, as well as between the photonics and the ECS worlds will be strengthened.

Keywords: photonics,pilot line,soi,sin,heterogeneous integration