Big Data proccesing and analytics – Multimodal Data Fusion and Analytics Group

AINATURE

AINATURE Exploitation of AI for the protection of the natural resources in the ADRION region The monitoring and management of natural and man-made disasters has been a great issue in the Adriatic-Ionian region, as justified in the programme document and also underlined in the relevant policies addressed (EUSAIR, Green Deal, S3, etc). More specifically, AINATURE will focus on the use of AI tools (and contemporary technologies) for the early detection and monitoring of three major challenges faced by ADRION countries: - Pollution of open surface water resources and associated warnings: through the adjustment of the AI tool developed in aqua3S and PathoCERT projects (H2020), the partners will be able to detect pollution and alterations in the water surface and receive related warnings. - Floods monitoring: through the adjustment of the…

MaaSAI

MaaSAI MaaSAI | Agile Manufacturing as a Service through AI Autonomous Agents The goal of the project is the creation of the MaaSAI System, a comprehensive digital system to automate and facilitate interactions between suppliers of manufacturing systems (Providers) and manufacturing companies (Consumers) in a Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS) ecosystem, in an agile, efficient, and transparent manner. The MaaSAI System aims to revolutionise manufacturing and remanufacturing processes by facilitating access to flexible and decentralised capacities, through the MaaS business model, which extends the principles of the service-oriented economy to the manufacturing industry. The MaaSAI System aims to contribute to the reduction of the heavy investments that manufacturers have traditionally had to make to set up and maintain their operations. With an emphasis on production flexibility, agility, and responsiveness, the MaaSAI System enables…

CARMA

CARMA Collaborative Autonomous Robots for eMergency Assistance CARMA aims to co-create, through a user-centred iterative methodology involving a complementary set of end-users and social sciences and human (SSH) experts, a groundbreaking, modular and intuitive platform offering a complementary set of semi-autonomous and autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) capable of working in symbiosis with humans to support and supplement first responders and assist citizen in a wide range of disaster situations, including those with very low visibility. The project will build on the most advanced research results, including those from the INTREPID project, in the field of disaster robotics making them autonomous thanks to novel 3D radar-based environment mapping and analysis combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) for enhanced path and mission planning as well as victim and threat detection. Symbiotic operations…

TEXTAILES

TEXTAILES TEXTile digitisAtIon tooLs and mEthodS for cultural heritage The TEXTaiLES project aims to redefine the digitisation of Cultural Heritage (CH) textile objects and the development of AI-based processing tools, establishing a standardised protocol seamlessly integrated into the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH). By studying past and present practices in textile digitisation, TEXTaiLES methodically explores their strengths and limitations. The project will develop advanced tools that address the entire digitisation lifecycle of textile objects, focusing on non-destructive methods. Using robotic, cost-effective multi-sensor solutions, TEXTaiLES ensures the preservation of artefacts during digitisation, complemented by reliable data analysis workflows. The project integrates state-of-the-art AI technologies to illuminate the intricate details of textiles. From revealing their weaving patterns and microstructures to identifying degradation factors, the AI-driven toolkit offers in-depth insights. It…

DATAWiSE

DATAWiSE Intelligent and Sustainable Building Management powered by Cross-Sectoral Lifecycle The overall objective of DATAWiSE is to develop and test building and building portfolio management tools, leveraging cross-sectoral lifecycle data, on the basis of an open, secure, interoperable, and scalable framework, to maximize both energy efficiency and stakeholder value. Utilizing cutting-edge artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, the methodology integrates data from a variety of sources to provide a holistic understanding of building operations. Besides technological innovation, the project also incorporates a supportive market and policy framework designed to offer evidence-based pathways for widespread adoption and commercialization. DATAWiSE aims to provide a standardized approach for managing and exploiting building-related big data. M4D is the coordinator of DATAWise project. It is also responsible for the scientific and technical management of the project,…

W2W

W2W A Wood-to-Wood Cascade Upcycling Valorisation Approach The W2W project will produce and validate a comprehensive framework for multi-dimensional cascade valorisation of wood from C&D and furniture waste, consisting of four core components: 1) Advanced separation & sorting technologies: Adaptive Separation and Sorting system based on cascade valorisation thresholds, making use of human-robot collaboration and mixed reality technologies 2) Upcycling Processes and Technologies: mechanical, chemical, and bioremediation processes to recover wood or resources from waste and use them in new products which have the same quality as the ones produced by primary resources3) Digital Tools for Improving Circular Flows of Secondary Materials: LCA-based tool to predict and assess the impact of different cascade paths, Supply Chain Management Tool for the optimisation of upcycling of secondary materials, Digital Product Passport, and…

HYPER-AI

HYPER-AI Hyper-Distributed Artificial Intelligence Platform for Network Resources Automation and Management Towards More Efficient Data Processing Applications HYPER-AI overarching objective is the development of the required mid-tier and the necessary cloud-edge connectors that will enable the seamless integration of heterogeneous computing environments and the establishment of new-generation interoperable and adaptive hybrid computing ecosystems exploiting cognitive clouds and edge intelligence beyond today’s limitations. HYPER-AI objectives are listed as follows: Design and implement the HYPER-AI open architecture that will empower swarms of nodes to develop collaboratively collective intelligence, bringing the computation closer to the edge, utilizing decentralized AI/ML-based intelligence. Ensure dynamic cognitive and informative optimized decision-making across all phases of the application lifecycle (design, execution, maintenance) through continuous inference resources. Develop autonomic system entities ensuring autonomous Smart-Nodes and rapid coordination of Smart-Nodes…

ACTING

ACTING Advanced European platform and network of Cybersecurity training and exercises centres The ACTING project delivers an organized and coordinated approach to proactively improve efficiency of cyber defence training and exercises in the European Union, through effective and efficient multi-sector collaboration. The 28 Partners, from 13 MSs, will execute a 48-month work plan to develop, model, and demonstrate a network of advanced interconnected (federated) domain-oriented cyber ranges for training and exercises, incorporating sophisticated methods and techniques for simulation of users, analysis of the performance of the cyber operators, and scoring cyber security situational awareness, supported by leading-edge scenario development language. The ACTING project integrates study, design, prototyping, and testing activities in the domain of cyber security. In order to justify the capabilities of the proposed approach and resulting tools and…

ONCODIR

ONCODIR Evidence-based Participatory Decision Making for Cancer Prevention through implementation research Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancer types and its increased occurrence may be attributable to adverse health behaviours, especially in lower socioeconomic status populations. Stemming from the specific risk factors identified with CRC, ONCODIR integrates multidisciplinary research methods from health policy analytics; social and behavioural science; AI-powered multi-omics and retrospective data analytics as well as decision support theories to deliver evidence-based cancer prevention programmes and innovative AI-powered personalised prevention approaches. ONCODIR recognises that the evaluation of the ONCODIR prevention programmes needs to address cost effectiveness, affordability and cost benefit parameters. Thus, it will also investigate cost balancing and demand generating financial schemes that will lead to enhanced CRC prevention programmes. The coherent technological ecosystem that…

ThinkingEarth

ThinkingEarth Copernicus Foundation Models for a Thinking Earth ThinkingEarth views the Earth as a complex unified and interconnected system. To harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), cutting-edge techniques such as deep learning, causality, eXplainable AI, and physics-aware Machine Learning are used. Predictive abilities of Self-Supervised Learning and Graph Neural Networks to develop task-agnostic Copernicus Foundation Models and a Graph representation model of the Earth are leveraged. The potential of these assets are demonstrated through small-scale downstream Spotlight Applications, as well as large-scale use cases that integrate distributed industrial and user non-EO datasets. These use cases address ambitious problems with high socio-environmental impact and new business growth opportunities, such as accelerating Europe’s clean energy transition and independence from volatile fossil fuels, understanding Earth’s processes by modelling causal Earth system teleconnections,…

CYCLOPS

CYCLOPS Automated end-to-end data life cycle management for FAIR data integration, processing and re-use The CYCLOPS project is dedicated to advancing data integration and management across diverse and evolving data sources. It directly aligns with the European Strategy for Data, aiming to cultivate a cohesive data market. CYCLOPS sets its sights on pivotal future EU data spaces: tourism and mobility, the green deal, public procurement, and manufacturing. These four (4) thematic areas form the core of CYCLOPS's mission to establish a groundbreaking framework for the comprehensive governance of the data lifecycle. Through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Artificial Intelligence Operations (AIOps) and Data Operations (DataOps), augmented by Knowledge Graphs (KGs) and a human-in-the-loop approach, CYCLOPS strives to automate data processing pipelines. This approach is designed to eliminate data…

CVDLINK

CVDLINK A federated paradigm of real-world data sources utilization for the empowerment of diagnosis, prognosis and risk assessment of cardiovascular conditions The CVDLINK project is dedicated to addressing the significant challenge of cardiovascular disease (CVD) within the EU, where over 6 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths are reported annually. Recognizing the urgent need for effective prevention strategies, CVDLINK employs a scientific approach aimed at transforming the management, treatment and research of cardiovascular disease through data-driven innovation. The project aims to tackle challenges related to data availability and management by implementing a privacy-by-design European-wide federated platform-as-a-service (PaaS). The goal is to deliver effective data-driven human-centric interventions and the advancement of research and management in the CVD domain. An essential part of the project is the development and implementation of…

ARIEN

ARIEN ARtificial IntelligencE in fighting illicit drugs production and traffickiNg ARIEN proposes the execution of a comprehensive workplan that thoroughly addresses the call topic aligned to the 2021-2025 EU Drugs Action Plan achieved through a holistic innovation action that builds a real-time intelligence picture for illegal drug production and trafficking incidence across the EU. This action is bolstered by AI-driven tools to understand, detect, analyse and track the entire drugs trafficking chain, its financial flows and the role of black-markets in the global darknet and their relationships with social media. ARIEN builds on a strong platform of multi-disciplinary research, following a co-creation approach, across the criminological, societal, and legislative landscapes. The designed platform will make recommendations for harmonization and drive an agenda for the development of modular solutions embedding modern…

VANGUARD

VANGUARD adVANced technoloGical solutions coupled with societal-oriented Understanding and AwaReness for Disrupting trafficking in human beings VANGUARD aims to strengthen the fight against trafficking in human beings (THB) at the nexus of advanced technological solutions, understanding, awareness raising, and training to disrupt the trafficking chain at an early stage and address the culture of impunity. It aims to provide an improved intelligence picture of THB, with particular focus on THB for purposes of sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, and forced criminality. This will be achieved through developing a modular and trustworthy suite of tools for detecting, identifying, investigating, and preventing online-facilitated THB activities and THB-related activities at (border) checkpoints based on the analysis of online multimedia content and multimodal streams, by leveraging the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). It will…

FALCON

FALCON Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks Current evidence suggests that the global fight against corruption faces serious challenges: policy decisions are not well informed, the corruption landscape is complex and enormous, while measuring corruption is so far mostly based on subjective approaches, and there is lack of appropriate technological tools to support anti-corruption. To address these challenges, FALCON is designed and dedicated to support the composition, update and management of comprehensive corruption intelligence pictures, within domains and jurisdictions of interest. This will be accomplished following a multi-actor, evidence-based, data-driven approach, building upon existing assets and prior work of consortium partners. FALCON will, first, develop and validate objective and actionable indicators of corruption that can be used to inform policy decisions. Second, it will design, implement and integrate…

SINCERE

SINCERE The second life of modern period architecture: Resilient and adaptive renovation towards net-zero carbon heritage buildings Today, 19th and 20th c. modern period buildings are the trademark of numerous European cities, forming a great part of EU Built Heritage, reflecting and shaping the identity of our local, national and multinational societies. Considering that historic buildings are ineffective in terms of energy consumption for heating and cooling, among the biggest restoration and renovation challenges is to enhance the energy performance of historic buildings. SINCERE aims to elucidate the values of Built Heritage and provide the tools for optimizing the carbon footprint and energy performance of historic buildings, towards the requirements of net-zero-carbon-buildings, by utilizing innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective restoration materials and practices, energy harvesting technologies, ICT tools and socially innovative…

EMPOWER

EMPOWER Uptake of new generation AI Powered Investigative tools for LEAs The application of AI methods to Big Data heralds a new era in Law Enforcement, increasing the operational capabilities of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in fighting and predicting crime. Promising tech solutions and tools are being developed within the framework of EU and nationally funded R&I projects reaching TRL 6-7 and applicable to a wide number of investigative fields. Building up from such previous and ongoing R&I projects (AIDA, DANTE, GRACE, STARLIGHT), the overall goal of EMPOWER is to foster the uptake of innovative solutions based upon AI powered tools allowing LEAs to increase their capabilities in such investigative fields. To this end, EMPOWER will pilot test a total of 8 investigative tools in the fields of Image/Video, Voice/Text…

ALLIES

ALLIES AI-based framework for supporting micro (and small) HSPs on the report and removaL of onLIne tErroriSt content The ALLIES project aims at supporting micro (and small) HSPs in achieving compliance with the new requirements and obligations under the TCO Regulation. To achieve this, ALLIES adopts four main approaches, each targeting skill development and innovation. These four pillars will be respectively focused on (1) learning and awareness raising, (2) technical development and adaptation, (3) training and education, and (4) experience sharing and reporting mechanisms. Both the learning and awareness raising initiatives will further expand the capacity of the TCO Regulation by designing a taxonomy of online terrorist related behaviours. The second pillar will be focused on the development of a specific set of AI-boosted user-friendly tools that will enhance small…

ICARIA

ICARIA Improving ClimAte Resilience of crItical Assets The frequency of natural disasters has steadily increased over the past two decades. It is far from irrational to assume that this trend could be significantly worsened in a short and long-time period according to reported climate change projections. With the help of a multidisciplinary team and a firm foundation, ICARIA aims to advance the use of asset-level modeling to better understand the direct and indirect effects of climate change caused by complex, cascading and compound disasters as well as the related risk reduction provided by suitable, sustainable, and affordable adaptation solutions. ICARIA focuses on both critical assets and infrastructures taking into account potential climate changes that can increase unexpected outages and failures, including but not limited to housing, natural, and land areas.…

TeChBioT

TeChBioT Surveillance and Reconnaissance Techniques for Chemical & Biological Threats Threats associated with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) hazards include natural disasters, accidental incidents during the installation or transportation of hazardous materials, as well as intentional incidents, such as terrorist attacks or state-sponsored events. Over the past decade, CBRN threats that originate deliberately have persisted or even increased. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is the event that has generated the most attention regarding the social, political, and economic consequences of CBRN crises in general, as well as biological/ health emergencies and civil protection mechanisms. Important gaps and weaknesses remain in rapid detection, identification, and monitoring of low-volatile chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and non-volatile biological warfare agents (BWAs), mainly in complex natural environments. Gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or…

DiMAT

DiMAT Digital Modelling and Simulation for Design, Processing and Manufacturing of Advanced Materials The DiMAT project addresses the sustainability and resilience of processes and systems within the materials manufacturing industry. An important takeaway from crises such as climate change and the pandemic was that sustainable action and resilient processes need to be the standard, not the exception. The digital transformation in the manufacturing industry (Industry 4.0, smart factory, etc.) is weakly coupled with materials science and engineering, a fact most prominent when considering that the share of the materials production cost is about 30-55 %, but the energy cost to produce a component is about 2-8 %. Large companies benefit from the close collaboration of the scientific community and the industry for the development of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME),…

LAGO

LAGO LESSEN DATA ACCESS AND GOVERNANCE OBSTACLES LAGO will deliver the foundation for a trusted EU FTC Research Data Ecosystem (RDE) to address the so-called “Data Issue” in the FCT research landscape, i.e., the lack of domain-specific data in sufficient quality and quantity to enable appropriate training and testing of the developed methods, platforms and tools. LAGO will be instrumental in identifying common barriers and subsequently providing the structural, governance and technical foundations to foster and innovate data-oriented research collaboration among LEAs, security practitioners, relevant EU agencies, academic and industry researchers, policy makers and regulators. For this purpose,LAGO will develop an evidence-based and validated multi-actor Reference Architecture for the FCT RDE for these actors to deposit, share and co-create data and tools for FCT research purposes based on common rules,…

ENCRYPT

ENCRYPT A scalable and practical privacy-preserving framework The deluge of big data, accompanied by developments in software and hardware technologies leveraging them, has created new opportunities for research and industry. The main challenges, though, faced by researchers and service providers working with personal data, are stemming from the fact that these data need to be processed in a privacy-preserving way, as they contain sensitive information. Although several technologies have been developed to facilitate the processing of data while preserving privacy, they have not made significant inroads into real use cases, due to several reasons. ENCRYPT will develop a scalable, practical, adaptable privacy preserving framework, allowing researchers and developers to process data stored in federated cross-border data spaces in a GDPR compliant way. Within this framework, a recommendation engine for citizens…

RAISE

RAISE Research Analysis Identifier SystEm The EU-funded RAISE project aims to address the challenge of an open, fair and reliable Research Community, where every researcher will be accredited for its work and all research data will be equally accessible for processing without violating data protection regulations. RAISE vision is to provide the infrastructure for a distributed crowdsourced data processing system, moving from open data to open access data for processing. RAISE will produce the mechanism for sending the algorithm to the dataset instead of sending the data to the algorithm. The success of such an application will provide to users a transparent way of processing and sharing data, enabling the research community to publish their outcomes with evidence-based authenticity of the data-analysis performed, ensuring at the same time the accreditation…

CTC

CTC Cut The Cord With the nature of terror incidents undergoing a technology-aided transformation (e.g. use of cryptocurrencies to enhance anonymity), the monitoring and analysis of financial transactions play a pivotal role in the effort to timely prevent actions and funding of global terrorism. Financial crime exploits every aspect of digital transformation and identifies non-traditional products for financing and supporting terrorist organisations, such as social media, cryptocurrencies, and other Financial Technologies. The prevention and disruption of terrorism financing requires international cooperation and advanced investigative techniques based on new technologies. The CTC project (Cut The Cord) aims to enhance the public-private cooperation through the establishment of a wide stakeholder community, with the vision to sustain it beyond the end of the project. Joint training exercises (theoretical and hands-on) will be organised…

STARLIGHT

STARLIGHT STARLIGHT – Sustainable Autonomy and Resilience for LEAs using AI against High priority Threats STARLIGHT aims to empower LEAs with automated, operational, and cyber-resilient investigation, intelligence, surveillance and control capabilities to tackle traditional and emergent criminal activities, terrorism, cybercrime, and cyber-attacks, within and at the borders of the EU. STARLIGHT also aims at contributing to the establishment of a strong EU AI-based security ecosystem, thus enhancing the EU’s strategic autonomy in the field of AI for LEAs. The ecosystem will be built around an AI framework for reliable, accountable, responsible and transparent LEA AI solutions that will enable the involvement and transfer of knowledge between LEAs, Researchers, Industry, SMEs, and Policy makers. Overall, STARLIGHT will ensure that European LEAs lead the way in AI innovation, autonomy and resilience, addressing…

VITALISE

VITALISE VIrtual healTh And weLlbeing Living Lab InftraStructurE The EU-funded VITALISE aims to establish new Living Labs in order to support the research community in the Health and Wellbeing domain. It also invests in learning about methodologies of user engagement and co-creation, such as design thinking, focus groups and ideation. VITALISE will design and develop ICT tools for shared access of similar devices and applications used across Living Labs, as well as for collecting, storing and sharing datasets. It will enhance closer interaction between multidisciplinary researchers among and beyond the consortium partners through the Joint Research Activities, Transnational Physical and Virtual Access. Physical access refers to access in the infrastructure by physical presence (17 Living Lab research infrastructures across Europe) while Virtual refers to remote access using digital tools. VITALISE…

ALAMEDA

ALAMEDA Bridging the Early Diagnosis and Treatment Gab of Brain Diseases via Smart, Connected, Proactive and Evidence-based Technological Interventions The EU-funded ALAMEDA project aims to provide new opportunities for improved personalized healthcare and prevention that have been enabled by the recent advances in the design and development of Innovative health risk prediction and intervention tools. ALAMEDA’s vision is to research and prototype the next generation of personalized AI healthcare support systems for people with brain diseases and disorders, specifically focusing on the needs of patients with Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and Stroke (PMSS). The project’s innovations will take advantage of new machine learning models, built upon lifestyle retrospective data as well as new streams of patient data that involve the monitoring of everyday activities, such as sleep behaviour and emotional status.…

CALLISTO

CALLISTO Copernicus Artificial Intelligence Services and data fusion with other distributed data sources and processing at the edge to support DIAS and HPC infrastructures Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already part of our lives and is extensively entering the space sector to offer value-added Earth Observation (EO) products and services. CALLISTO project integrates Copernicus data, already indexed in DIAS platforms such as ONDA-DIAS, utilising High Performance Computing infrastructures for enhanced scalability when needed. Complementary distributed data sources involve Galileo positioning data, visual content from UAVs, Web and social media data linking them with open geospatial data, in-situ sensor data. On top of these data sources, AI methods are applied to extract meaningful knowledge such as concepts, changes, activities, events, 3D-models, videos and animations of the user community. AI methods are also…

WQeMS

WQeMS Copernicus Assisted Lake Water Quality Emergency Monitoring Service Monitoring the extent of the effluents in the lake provides a warning about the risk of water contamination and contributes to impact mitigation strategies, both for the drinking water production and the environmental sustainability. WQeMS focuses its activities on the monitoring of lakes with the aim to provide an operational Water Quality Emergency Monitoring Service, which enhances our ability to deliver drinking water in all EU member states. The project exploits Sentinel satellite data for quality monitoring at a finer spatial resolution level, following validated processes with in situ data. WQeMS provides extensive information about water quality by building a multi-temporal and high spatial resolution monitoring framework. The goal is the optimization of the use of resources by gaining access to…

PathoCERT

PathoCERT Pathogen Contamination Emergency Response Technologies Pathogens are a determining factor in emergency response due to their life-threatening nature, both for the public as well as for the safety of first responders. In many cases, pathogen contaminations are difficult to detect, and require specialized technologies, tools and procedures to handle them. Waterborne pathogen contamination events can occur anywhere, and may be caused by various natural events or they can be the result of human activity, either accidental or malicious. During these emergencies, first responders may need to operate within a certain pre-defined incident area, and are likely to be exposed to contaminated water originating from various sources, such as surface water, wastewater or drinking water. This can pose a significant risk of illness, disease or even death, through skin contact,…

EOPEN

EOPEN Open interoperable platform for unified access and analysis of Earth Observation data Earth Observation (EO) data access through the Copernicus data distributor systems has paved the way to monitor changes on Earth, using Sentinel data. One of the main objectives of EOPEN is to fuse Sentinel data with multiple, heterogeneous and big data sources, to improve the monitoring capabilities of the future EO downstream sector. Additionally, the involvement of mature ICT solutions in the Earth Observation sector shall address major challenges in effectively handling and disseminating Copernicus-related information to the wider user community, beyond the EU borders. EOPEN will fuse Copernicus big data content with observations from non-EO data, such as weather, environmental and social media information, aiming at interactive, real-time and user-friendly visualisations and decisions from early warning…

aqua3S

aqua3S Enhancing Standardisation strategies to integrate innovative technologies for Safety and Security in existing water networks Exposure of citizens to potential disasters has led to vulnerable societies that require risk reduction measures. Drinking water is one of the main risk sources when its safety and security are not ensured. aqua3S combines novel technologies in water safety and security, aiming to standardize existing sensor technologies complemented by state-of-the-art detection mechanisms. Hence, it could propose innovative solutions to water facilities and responsible authorities in order to detect and tackle water-related crises in a timely manner. On the one hand, sensor networks are deployed in water supply networks and sources, supported by complex sensors for enhanced detection; on the other hand, sensor measurements are supported by videos from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), satellite…