The BRIDGITISE doctoral network will focus on the digitalisation of bridge management across the lifecycle through the development of innovative approaches to information management. The basic idea underlying the project is that the achievement of excellence in this field requires the development and validation onsite of innovative technologies for the cost-effective management of bridge information and their use to support decisions relevant to bridge integrity management across the lifecycle.

To this aim, a network of 15+1 PhD projects is structured around three main research and training clusters focused on the development and validation of:

• Innovative low-cost, large-scale, and automatic technologies to collect bridge information

• Artificial Intelligence and IoT technologies specifically tailored to bridges to process and share information

• Digital decision support tools able to manage bridges across their lifecycle

The project will combine the expertise of six universities, one research center, and seventeen industrial companies and end-users who will provide case studies to apply and validate the project results, thereby fostering the technological transfer of the research findings.

This powerful combination of expertise from industry and academia will introduce the doctoral candidates to the topics of the project and add to their inter-sectoral employability, enabling Europe to build world-class competitive capacity in a strategic market.

Deliverables of the BRIDGITISE DN will be technology-enhanced training and dissemination tools, international workshops, and Training Schools. Furthermore, an open platform for sharing data related to bridge management will be built to develop collaborative and information-sharing skills of the doctoral candidates and to increase the impact of the project.

Call:
HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01

Ruolo del Politecnico:
Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof. Nicola Cordeschi (DEI)

SSD:
ING-INF/03 – Telecomunicazioni

Coastal zones can be characterized as biodiversity-rich ecosystems and places rich in cultural heritage. They host important economic modern activities either inland or in water, providing opportunities for the generation of renewable energies and tourism. In particular, for Europe, the coastal regions are tremendously significant for its economy, as approximately 40% of the EU's population lives within 50 km of the sea, while almost 40% of the EU's GDP is generated in these maritime regions, and a staggering 75% of the volume of the EU's foreign trade is conducted by sea.

However, the natural dynamic landscape of the coastal zones and the complexity of interests make many local communities vulnerable to hazards, including climate change effects. These factors create a unique, constantly evolving, and challenging environment, sharing elements from deep-water investigations and dry land surveys. Therefore, novel methodologies have to be developed to map and monitor these areas and adjusted for operational use to the specific conditions and socio-economic environment of each case study.

The COASTLINE project aspires to promote innovative international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary collaboration in research and innovation aspects dealing with monitoring coastal zone environments through geoscience and remote sensors. It aims to establish new and improved methods and protocols for documenting and analyzing the coastal zones in selected case studies (coastal zones) of Europe. It will bring together partners from academia and research institutions with the business sector in order to share knowledge, ideas, and infrastructures for delivering novel methodologies regarding the use of remote sensors, such as satellite observations (including the Copernicus Programme with the Sentinels' mission), ground geophysical prospections, and Geographical Information Systems along with spatial statistics.

Call:
MSCA Staff Exchanges 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-SE-01)

Ruolo del Politecnico:
Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof.ssa Alessandra Capolupo (DICATECH)

SSD:
ICAR/06 – Topografia e cartografia

The Circular Economy paradigm, accelerated within the context of Industry 4.0, has been increasingly applied both inside and outside the manufacturing domain. The set of new capabilities, skills and competencies developed through I4.0 need to be augmented and enhanced in order to conform to the Triple Bottom Line perspective (profit, people, planet). These enhancements initially affect supply chain management and then expand towards entrepreneurship, business model development, innovation management and societal development.

Research shows that there is significant potential to address the complex challenges towards a more sustainable and resilient society by cross-fertilizing these disciplines through the Circular Economy (CE) perspective, via provisioning of new courses and practical cases. For this reason, the joint CE-I4.0 evolution needs to be grounded on a new set of knowledge and best practices to be provided through both higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET), demanding systemic approaches for sustainable development. CERES recognizes the need to shift the restricted focus of CE from firms to a more extended and system-level view that considers skills, competences and knowledge needs (provided from various business sectors such as e-waste, textiles, renewable energy, etc.) to be supplied to HE and VET. This would catalyse the embracement of CE under a social development perspective from the preliminary stage of training and education.

In this context, CERES’ new innovation ecosystem, the Circular Economy Digital Innovation Hub (CE-DIH), is aimed at promoting connectedness among stakeholders and generating a systematised set of services, skills, competences and knowledge capable of supporting the multi-faceted CE domain. The CE-DIH can be strategic not only to raise awareness but also to provide the most suitable and complete set of services to support the circular enrichment and transition of both companies and individuals in society.

Call:
ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PI-ALL-INNO

Ruolo del Politecnico:
Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof. Giorgio Mossa (DMMM)

SSD:
ING-IND/17 – Impianti industriali meccanici

The project Open GLASSroom will allow to set up and launch an online platform for education on glass design & engineering, freely accessible to all.

Despite its popularity, glass is still considered a highly specialised material, rarely taught at technical universities and certainly not at the same level as more commonly applied materials, such as steel, concrete and timber. By developing a common future-oriented glass curriculum based on contributions from a diverse international community of glass experts, this Erasmus+ project will consolidate existing knowledge and create synergies between students, educators, researchers and practitioners across Europe.

The project consortium includes six European universities – Technische Universität Dresden, Delft University of Technology, Czech Technical University in Prague, University of Rijeka, Universitat de Girona, Politecnico di Bari – supported by industrial partners: Arup, Permasteelisa Group, Octatube, Bellapart Group, ABT bv, Eckersley O’Callaghan and the International Year of Glass 2022. The proposal was developed with the financial support of the Funding Program Internationalization of the TU Dresden.

Partners will be focused on producing high-quality educational materials on glass design & engineering, digitalising and sharing them as Open Educational Resources (OER) on an open-access online platform – Open GLASSroom. They will address fundamental and emerging topics in research and innovation, including sustainability of glass in construction. The project outputs will be shared beyond the consortium, stimulating active participation of students, lecturers, researchers and practitioners.

Call:
Call 2022 Round 1 KA2 – KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education

Ruolo del Politecnico:
Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof. Francesco Fiorito (DICATECH)

SSD:
ICAR/10 – Architettura tecnica

The main challenge of the Project FENESTRAE is to create and strengthen cross-border cooperation between EU member States and Western Balkans, within the challenging framework of energy transition, the transformational opportunity offered by the European Green Deal, aiming at carbon neutrality within 2050. In fact, research and development, clean energy, buildings and renovations – which are some of the pivotal elements of the European Green Deal – will be a significant part of this proposal. On the other hand, FENESTRAE will be in line with the IPA ADRION programme, designed with an approach based on the sustainable development principle. This project can be considered a joint measure to improve innovation capabilities of the area, exploiting digital, scientific and innovation skills of partners and enabling potential economic transformation processes. The experience of partners in the field of innovative technologies for smart buildings (University of Ljubljana, University of Patras and Polytechnic University of Bari), especially devoted to the design of innovative envelopes (transparent and opaque), from design to energy and visual comfort assessments, ensures a critical mass with a focus on areas of mutual interest like energy, sustainable environment, innovative production technologies and advanced materials. On the other side, the other project partners have significant experience in development initiatives.

The initial activities of the FENESTRAE Project would deal with an accurate investigation on existing regulations and technical standards in the field of energy uses in the building sector and their mitigation and is expected to produce relevant proposals of actions contributing to the harmonization of standards in such a relevant field, in view of the energy transition and decarbonization, within 2050. The involvement of partners skilled in communications and dissemination will boost the multi-level governance of the proposal as well as the cooperation between Adriatic and Ionian partners, reaching a heterogeneous range of stakeholders that could be interested in the outputs of this virtuous innovation network, according to the horizontal principle of the quadruple helix (research, public and business sectors and civil society). Training and exchange activities among the partners will complete the first part of the Project activities, after intense interactions.

Promotion and development of innovative technologies (commercially and non-commercially available yet) on which the expertise of the partners involved is already significant, like electrochromic, photo(electro)chromic, thermochromic materials and devices, and materials enabling the smart behaviour of building envelopes, together with ICT technologies devoted to their effective control, will be a relevant part of the partnership interaction during the project. A dedicated activity in this common area of specialization would exploit the skills acquired over the years. For each technology proposed, full awareness of potential benefits deriving from building integration will be achieved by means of numerical simulations on specific buildings, selected by partners and stakeholders. Data obtained, technology features and beneficial effects on indoor comfort, energy savings would be reported and publicly available, through workshops, public seminars in schools and municipalities and other dissemination opportunities created ad hoc by partners in each country.

The final part of the Project activities will aim at a scale-up of advanced technologies at the basis of the proposed solutions, in pilot actions including installation of several prototypes of materials and devices, to easily demonstrate the impact of such systems on users’ comfort and mitigation of energy use as well, also including applications to non-conventional buildings like greenhouses that largely rely on glass performance and are equally demanding in energy terms. The main objectives of this initiative would include: increased skills of local operators; increased awareness about available technologies to promote a mitigation of energy use; increase of cooperation to address challenges in common areas of specialization; the creation of a transnational partnership and a permanent network to promote innovations and upscaling from lab to market; long-term employment of young people involved in the project; boost green and digital innovation among partners with novel cooperation models.

Call:
IPA ADRION 2021–2027 (Priority Axis 4 – Strategic Projects ISO1)

Ruolo del Politecnico:
LEAD Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof. Francesco Martellotta (ARCOD)

SSD:
ING-IND/11 – Fisica Tecnica Ambientale

Sito web:
https://fenestrae.interreg-ipa-adrion.eu/

The project addresses the common challenge of marine pollution in the Adriatic-Ionian region. This challenge is exacerbated by climatic changes and poses a significant threat to the region’s ecosystems, communities, and economies. The project aims to develop innovative tools and methods for early detection, prevention, and management of marine litter, ultimately establishing a robust network of stakeholders and delivering three significant joint strategies for marine litter prevention and management.

The overall objective of the project is to enhance the resilience of the Adriatic-Ionian region to climate change and man-made disasters by effectively combating marine pollution. By implementing science-based solutions, fostering collaboration among key stakeholders, and promoting knowledge exchange, the project contributes to a healthier marine environment and sustainable development in the region.

Call:
IPA ADRION 2021–2027 1st Call for Proposals

Ruolo del Politecnico:
LEAD Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof.ssa Dora Foti (ARCOD)

SSD:
ICAR/09 – Tecnica delle costruzioni

Sito web:
https://prevent.interreg-ipa-adrion.eu/

PREBIODUNES (PREserving BIOdiversity in coastal DUNEs from tourism pressure) will contribute to the general protection of coastal dune environments of the whole Adriatic-Ionian area, focusing on the threats posed to several natural elements mostly by uncontrolled conventional tourism, whose consequences affect natural landscapes, habitat biodiversity and ecosystems. PREBIODUNES will implement advanced and experimentally tested planning tools and indices to monitor the vulnerability of coastal dune systems and a Joint Action Plan (JAP) for dune restoration and biodiversity protection.

Specific objectives of the project:

• Providing a deep cognitive analysis regarding the existing fauna and flora under Directive 92/43/EEC and identification of the areas of most concern and habitat mapping. This includes knowledge on risk conditions through a detailed sedimentological and marine-coastal dynamics analysis.

• Implementing pilot actions by testing different tools and advanced solutions for dune restoration and biodiversity protection.

• Implementing the Joint Action Plan for the cooperation area by building a quadruple helix network with stakeholders who own management plans and decision support systems for conservation and restoration of coastal dune ecosystems.

• Ensuring the transferability of project results by building solid foundations to stimulate continuous demand for preservation and restoration measures in the ADRION area.

Main expected results:

Improvement of short- and long-term effectiveness of joint strategies and action plans at ADRION level for dune protection, and increased number of organizations adopting the advanced solutions proposed.

Specific results:

• Increased capacity of authorities and communities to observe, assess, and address environmental risks.

• Improved access to and use of existing information and joint project outputs.

• Increased awareness among local populations and stakeholders of the importance of dune habitats and their role in climate change adaptation.

• Enhanced capacity building by training local actors in planning and managing coastal sand dunes in participating countries.

• Capitalization of best practices at EU level for assessing and addressing environmental risks to Ionian and Adriatic dune habitats.

Call:
IPA ADRION 2021–2027 1st Call for Proposals

Ruolo del Politecnico:
LEAD Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof. Leonardo Damiani (DICATECH)

SSD:
ICAR/02 – Costruzioni idrauliche e marittime e idrologia

BLUECIRCLE "Boosting Circular Economy Solutions for Marine Litter Collection and Recycling in the Adriatic-Ionian Regions" aims to test the feasibility of a science-based circular management system for marine litter treatment, through the implementation of a mobile recovery plant and recycling chains.

The project will implement a demonstrative action in two different regions to test the feasibility of this system for marine litter recycling. The focus is on addressing common problems in these regions, like high levels of marine pollution and the lack of effective recycling systems.

Throughout the project, the scientific partner will develop a prototype mobile recycling plant on a small scale, capable of separating different types of marine litter materials based on their characteristics. Moreover, methods for recovering and making the most of these materials will be developed.

Partners involved in the project will receive training on collecting marine litter along their coasts, improving their understanding of the issue. This collection will provide samples for the demonstration activities. Successfully carrying out these actions will lead to better management systems and improved capacity for dealing with marine litter in these areas.

Additionally, BLUECIRCLE aims to raise awareness and promote sustainable practices related to marine litter and sustainability. This includes hosting recycling workshops, technical sessions, and a final conference. By involving citizens, stakeholders, and partners, the project aims to increase awareness and foster international collaboration.

One of the strong points of the project is the transnational cooperation. Through the cooperation of different territories from the Adriatic-Ionian area, partners can share valuable insights, collaborate effectively, and coordinate joint actions. This collaborative effort not only fosters knowledge exchange but also contributes to a more sustainable approach to managing marine litter. Once the project is complete, partners will commit to continuing their work in the field of marine recycling.

Overall, the objective of the BLUECIRCLE project is to improve marine litter management in the involved regions, while also promoting circular economy principles. By implementing the project activities, it will contribute to cleaner coastlines, reducing marine pollution, and the adoption of sustainable waste management practices based on circular economy.

Call:
IPA ADRION 2021–2027 1st Call for Proposals

Ruolo del Politecnico:
Partner

Responsabile scientifico del Politecnico:
Prof. Michele Notarnicola (DICATECH)

SSD:
ING-IND/22 – Scienza e tecnologia dei materiali

The project is an Industrial Research and Experimental Development initiative under the Italian PNR 2015-2020 framework, focusing on sustainable agriculture and digital technologies. It integrates advanced IT solutions, geomatics, predictive, diagnostic, metabolomics, and sensing technologies to enhance plant health surveillance and crop protection. The project promotes environmentally friendly and safe agricultural production.

The overall objective of the project is the development of an innovative IoT system for plant and animal health surveillance and management, which integrates advanced information technology, geomorphological, forecasting, diagnostic and metabolomic technologies, while respecting the environment, safety and health of fruit and vegetable production. The integrated platform AGREED is multi-disciplinary, multi-source and multi-actor. It does not only provide a DSS for plant protection services and manufacturers, but it also incorporates tools and technical means for activating precise plant protection interventions.

The specific objectives are:

• Detection/prevention of outbreaks of infection;

• Real-time availability of reliable information on the presence and spread of infection (spatial and temporal);

• Implementation of possible containment/control measures, including through precise and eco-friendly phytosanitary interventions.

The system will include the integrated development of the following products/processes/services/systems/technologies/applications within the individual WBSs:

• Deep contextualization of the "problem to be solved" in terms of phytosanitary management protocols, more advanced technologies available, and high-level architecture of the AGREED system.

• Multi-source detection and multiple source detection system design on target pathogens: WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks) for microclimate and eco-physiological systems (TreeTalker); selection of wavelengths based on molecular and metabolomic analysis; diagnostic prototype sensor for selective detection of phytopathologies; real-time PCR device for field diagnostics.

• Design of smart diagnostic systems and plant protection: AppFito (from Multitrace PON MISE) with new pathogen modules; automatic recognition tool for photographic disease symptoms; drone-based dispersion system using electrolyzed water; IoT irrigation-based microbial treatment plant (Micro 28); phytosanitary protocols for drones and Micro 28.

• Development of remote sensing algorithms and epidemiological models: Sentinel-1/Sentinel-2 classification, drone image analysis, phenological and predictive models, high-resolution time monitoring of plant stress, and models of pesticide impact on water-soil-plant systems.

• IoT platform for real-time data analysis: monitoring and remote control platforms, data collection customization, and management dashboards.

• Data lakes and big data analytics: open-source, interoperable platform and validated analytics system.

• Advanced AGREED analytics platform: geospatial data warehousing, prediction tools, diagnostic planning, blockchain systems for phytosanitary chain management and data visualization dashboards.

• Prototype experimentation and result dissemination: business plan, public events, communication materials, and website.

The project is expected to create substantial employment opportunities, requiring new technical and professional skills for the platform’s operation. Improved crop management through integrated monitoring and forecasting will increase food quality, safety, and sustainability, revitalizing agricultural areas in Southern Italy. The initiative promotes ICT and Industry 4.0 solutions with strong strategic interest, aiming to attract investments and enhance digital skills in agriculture. Drone monitoring and modeling platforms will increase competitiveness in smart, climate-resilient agriculture.

Call:
Programma Operativo Nazionale Ricerca e Innovazione 2014–2020 (PON). Progetti di ricerca industriale e lo Sviluppo sperimentale nelle 12 aree di specializzazione individuate nel PNR 2015–2020, di cui al D.D. del 13 luglio 2017 n. 1735

Ruolo del Politecnico:
As a leading institution in engineering and technology research, the Politecnico di Bari (PoliBa) plays a fundamental role in AGREED, bringing its expertise in electronics, information technology, and chemistry to the project.

Responsabile scientifico del politecnico:
Prof. Vito Gallo

SSD:
CHEM-06/A (ex CHIM/07)

Sito web:
https://agreed-project.it/