All posts tagged: Horizon Europe

Moving the forestry-wood sector into the 21st century

Moving the forestry-wood sector into the 21st century

Published by skeptic

CoE LignoSilva, a Horizon Europe project, drives innovation in the European forestry-wood sector through the use of advanced technologies such as 3D CT wood scanning The forest-based sector is entering a new era. Digital technologies, sustainable materials, and circular bioeconomy principles are redefining how wood is produced, processed and used across Europe. As industries increasingly turn to renewable resources to replace fossil-based materials, wood is emerging as one of the most strategic materials for the transition to a low-carbon economy. At the centre of this transformation stands the Centre of Excellence LignoSilva, a research and innovation hub designed to strengthen technological progress and industrial competitiveness in the forestry-wood sector. Established within the Horizon Europe project ‘Upgrade of the Centre of Excellence LignoSilva’, the initiative focuses on modernising research infrastructure, strengthening scientific excellence and accelerating innovation across the entire forest-based value chain. The project is coordinated by the National Forest Centre in Slovakia, in partnership with the Pulp and Paper Research Institute and the internationally recognised Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research – Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institute (WKI) in Germany. …

Smart tech is recharging rural Europe

Smart tech is recharging rural Europe

Published by skeptic

Improved connectivity is transforming daily life in rural Europe, from safer school runs to cleaner energy, while supporting local economies and cutting emissions. Getting children ready and on time for school can be stressful. In Finnish Lapland, where winters are long and snowy and some students travel long distances by bus, the challenge is even greater. In two Lapland communities, a school transport app developed through an EU-funded initiative called AURORAL has streamlined school bus pick-ups, reducing morning stress for parents and making life easier for bus drivers. Behind the app lies a digital backbone developed by the AURORAL team. This shared foundation allows all kinds of rural services – from school buses to dairy farms and local energy schemes – to plug in, share data securely and work together, without each community having to build its own system. Using the Koulukyyti app, parents in the municipalities of Kemi and Tornio can see at a glance if their children, aged 6 to 15, have arrived safely at school. Bus drivers get instant alerts if a …

Removing plastic from EU rivers before it reaches the ocean

Removing plastic from EU rivers before it reaches the ocean

Published by skeptic

From drones and smart cameras to biodegradable packaging, EU-funded researchers are working to remove plastic from rivers before it ever reaches the sea. From his bedroom desk in the Belgian town of Dendermonde, Gert Everaert used to watch the river Scheldt flow past. Barges and small boats drifted by. Birds fished. But the river also carried something less picturesque – a steady stream of litter and plastic waste. “Cars would stop and people threw rubbish straight into the water,” he recalled. “All kinds of trash floated by. That always made me incredibly sad.” Today, Everaert is no longer just watching. As deputy research director at the Flanders Marine Institute, he now leads INSPIRE, a major EU-funded research initiative bringing together scientists and innovators from 13 EU countries, plus Serbia and Thailand. Their aim is ambitious but straightforward: stop plastic in rivers before it reaches the ocean – and prevent it from ever entering our waterways in the first place. The INSPIRE team is developing a wide range of new tools to help clean up Europe’s …

New intiative to reduce trial and error in arthritis treatments via biomarkers

New intiative to reduce trial and error in arthritis treatments via biomarkers

Published by skeptic

The EU-funded SQUEEZE initiative aims to personalise and optimise arthritis treatment through using biomarkers to identify the best drugs for individual patients, Ali Jones explores. Although powerful treatments exist for rheumatoid arthritis, doctors can’t always predict which drug will work best for each person. An EU-funded initiative aims to change that by optimising and personalising care. Over the past two decades, a wave of new drug treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has allowed many people to live free from pain, joint swelling and long-term disability. But for many patients in Europe, finding the right drug still involves months or even years of trial and error. To change that, researchers, clinicians and patients from seven EU countries, plus Norway, Switzerland and the UK, have joined forces in an EU-funded initiative called SQUEEZE. Rather than search for new RA drugs, their aim is to optimise the use of existing ones and find new biological clues to guide treatment, thus improving safety and efficacy for patients. Professor Dr Daniel Aletaha from the Medical University of Vienna, who coordinates …

New satellite communication links to aid flights over over ocean dead zones

New satellite communication links to aid flights over over ocean dead zones

Published by skeptic

Researchers are developing satellite links that bring clear, real-time radio and data connections to flights over oceans, helping air traffic controllers keep routes safer and more efficient, as Michael Allen explores. On 4 June 2025, air traffic controllers in Spain’s Canary Islands held a clear, uninterrupted conversation with a commercial pilot flying high above the Atlantic. To most people, that might sound routine. For flights far from land, it is anything but. Over oceans, clear and instant air traffic communication is still the exception rather than the rule. Instead, long gaps between messages force pilots onto less efficient routes and make it harder to manage traffic over vast stretches of open sky. Delivering a single European sky To tackle these communication and surveillance blind spots, a cross-border team of satellite engineers, air traffic specialists, airlines and research organisations from Spain, Portugal and Germany joined forces in a four-year EU-co-funded initiative called ECHOES. The team set out to modernise Europe’s air traffic management. Running until December 2025, this initiative tested space-based very high frequency (VHF) radio …

Czech startup lets factory workers teach robots by demonstration

Czech startup lets factory workers teach robots by demonstration

Published by skeptic

A Czech startup is making factory automation easier by letting workers teach robots new tasks through simple demonstrations instead of complex coding, as Anthony King explores. What if training a robot to handle dirty, dangerous work on the factory floor was as simple as showing it how? Czech startup RoboTwin is doing exactly that, helping factory workers teach robots new skills by demonstration. Instead of writing complex code, workers perform the job once and RoboTwin’s technology turns those movements into a robot programme – opening the door to automation for smaller manufacturers. Founded in Prague in 2021, RoboTwin builds handheld devices and no-code software that capture human movements and translate them into instructions for industrial robots. The aim is to make automation faster, simpler and more accessible to manufacturers that do not have specialist robotics programmers. “The robot basically copies the human demonstration,” said Megi Mejdrechová, RoboTwin’s co-founder and chief technology officer. “People with no coding skills can transfer their know-how and experience to robots.” Mejdrechová, a mechanical engineer trained at the Czech Technical University …

Formal talks begin on Australia’s Horizon Europe association

Formal talks begin on Australia’s Horizon Europe association

Published by skeptic

The European Commission and the Australian government have formally begun negotiations on Australia’s potential association with Horizon Europe, signalling a new phase in bilateral scientific cooperation. The move follows a recent visit by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Australia. It reflects broader efforts to strengthen ties between the two partners across research, trade, and security domains. Commenting on the talks, Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation, said: “With the EU–Australia agreements last week, we are moving quickly to bring our innovation ecosystems closer together. “This will add to the growing list of like-minded countries that have chosen to join Horizon Europe, the world’s largest and most prestigious research programme.” Horizon Europe association: What’s at stake Association with Horizon Europe would grant Australian institutions access to the programme on terms comparable to EU member states and other affiliated countries. This includes eligibility for direct funding and participation in large-scale, multi-country research consortia. For Australia, this represents a shift from its current status as a non-associated partner. While Australian researchers are already active …

Designing electric motors for lower environmental impact

Designing electric motors for lower environmental impact

Published by skeptic

MAXIMA redesigns electric motors so circularity guides design, use, and end‑of‑life recovery. As Europe accelerates towards large-scale electrification of road transport, electric machines are becoming a backbone of the clean mobility transition. Yet, each high-performance motor still concentrates metals like copper, aluminium, iron, and critical raw materials that are difficult to replace if they end up dissipated instead of recovered. MAXIMA (Modular AXIal flux Motor for Automotive), a Horizon Europe project launched in 2023, is tackling this challenge by combining advanced design tools, new materials, and life cycle assessment to develop a modular axial flux motor with lower environmental impact and reduced dependence on critical rare earth elements. Its ambition is not only to create a better motor, but to prove that reduction of environmental impact can guide decisions across the entire value chain, from raw materials to end of life recovery. Putting life cycle thinking at the heart of design Within MAXIMA, Work Package 6 (Life Cycle Management) acts as a transversal backbone that connects design, materials development, manufacturing, and system integration. The goal …

The compact yet versatile Spanish neutron facility

The compact yet versatile Spanish neutron facility

Published by skeptic

In a world of ever larger international facilities, a medium-sized neutron facility can have an impact on many research fields and applications. Neutrons are nowadays involved in many industrial applications and fields of research. They are indeed very particular; their lack of charge makes them very penetrating radiation for which the electron cloud of the atoms is transparent, thus interacting only with the nucleus. Naturally unstable, they are created by, and also drive, nuclear reactions. Neutrons appear as a result of both fission and fusion reactions, being thus essential in the electricity production in current and future nuclear reactors. This is indeed a trending topic, given the recent advances in Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and the excellent prospects for fusion, with a series of recent records broken in plasma confinement. Besides energy production, the list of research fields and applications requiring neutrons is very extensive and varied. Their absorption by nuclei inside the stars gives birth to the elements of our Universe heavier than iron, and when they induce fission in nuclear reactors they produce …

Building supply chain resilience in European SMEs

Building supply chain resilience in European SMEs

Published by skeptic

Empowering traditional and tech‑savvy European SMEs to innovate together and strengthen Europe’s industrial ecosystems. In the contemporary industrial landscape, the global economy has been fundamentally reshaped by a succession of unprecedented crises, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic, the geopolitical instability resulting from the conflict in Ukraine, the rise of protectionist trade policies, and recent threats to maritime commerce in critical chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz. These events served as a catalyst, exposing profound fragilities within international supply chains and revealing that many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were significantly insufficiently prepared for such high-impact, systemic shocks. In this context of heightened volatility and continuous disruption, traditional reactive models have proven insufficient; resilience has transitioned from an operational advantage to a structural necessity for economic stability and survival. The RISE-SME project To address these vulnerabilities and foster a more sustainable, globally competitive industry, the European RISE-SME project was established in 2024 with the primary objective of developing a methodology that enables European SMEs to detect and anticipate disruptions before they manifest. This initiative recognises …