CARR COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

The current global climate crisis and ongoing shift towards autonomous transport necessitate sustainable and passenger-centric public transport solutions. The goal of OptiPEx is to enhance of sense of comfort and safety of the passengers as well as the security and ease of travelling by co-creating ethical and passenger-aware public transport services together with specific target user groups, such as wheelchair users, passengers with large objects, fragile passengers with limited mobility, tourists and students. To achieve this, OptiPex is built on three fundamental development pillars: measurement, analytics and interaction. OptiPEx partners will develop perception technologies to measure passenger behaviour and situations. Trustworthy analytics is essential in recognising real-time passenger experiences and situations, enabling interaction with services and vehicles. Moreover, OptiPEx partners will develop adaptive and interactive vehicle technologies and digital services in collaboration with target groups and suitable for various public transport modes. These services will optimise the onboard experience, promoting safety, inclusiveness and trust. Ultimately improved passenger satisfaction will drive the adoption of automated public transport technologies and improve the sustainability of mobility services via contribution to the modal shift. A consortium consisting of 3 research organisations, 6 industry members and 2 SMEs will validate the developed solutions together with target groups and other stakeholders in three living labs. The consortium has leading expertise in human behaviour, user-centric design, vehicle technologies, modelling and data analysis, and adaptive and interactive services. The successful adoption of OptiPEx results will be facilitated by efficient dissemination, communication, and exploitation activities in collaboration with the Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) partnership.

EC contribution:

EUR 350k

Start:

2024-05-01

End:

2027-10-31

Status:

SIGNED

Scheme:

HORIZON-RIA

Call:

HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01

View on CORDIS (DOI 10.3030/101146513)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds enormous potential for enhancing human decisions, improving cognitive overload and lowering bias in high-stakes scenarios. Adoption of AI-based support systems in such applications is however minimal, chiefly due to the difficulty of assessing their assumptions, limitations and intentions. In order to realise the promise of AI for individuals, society and economy, people should feel they can trust AIs in terms of reliability, capacity to understand the human’s needs, and guarantees that they are genuinely aiming at helping them. TANGO will develop the theoretical basis and computational framework for hybrid decision support systems (HDSS) in which humans and machines are aligned in terms of values and goals, know their respective strengths, and work together to reach an optimal decision. To this end, TANGO will develop: 1) A cognitive theory of mutual understanding and hybrid decision making, of intuitive vs deliberative approaches to decision making and of how they affect our trust in human and AI teammates. 2) Cognition-aware explainable AIs implementing synergistic human-machine interaction, enabling machines to determine what information a specific decision maker (e.g., layperson vs expert) needs, or does not need, to reach an informed decision. 3) A “Human-in-the-loop” co-evolution of human decision making and machine learning models building on bi-directional, explanation-augmented interlocution. The TANGO framework will be evaluated on four high impact use cases, namely supporting: i) women during pregnancy and postpartum, ii) surgical teams in intraoperative decision making, iii) loan officers and applicants in credit lending decision processes, and iv) public policy makers in designing incentives and allocating funds. Success in these case studies will establish TANGO as the framework of reference for developing a new generation of synergistic AI systems, and will strengthen the leadership of Europe in human-centric AI.

EC contribution:

EUR 349k

Start:

2023-10-01

End:

2027-09-30

Status:

SIGNED

Scheme:

HORIZON-RIA

Call:

HORIZON-CL4-2022-HUMAN-02

View on CORDIS (DOI 10.3030/101120763)

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the continuity of vital services, has shown the need to work together for the common good. It has proven that a pandemic is not only a health crisis and that it does not only disrupt Critical Infrastructures (CIs), but that there is an extremely important link between the resilience of CIs and our societies. The economic crisis caused by the pandemic also provides a unique opportunity to jointly ‘build back better’ with the focus on sustainability and green recovery. SUNRISE will facilitate active collaboration of CIs across Europe to share best practices and jointly tackle future pandemics. By Q3/2025, this collaboration will result in a new stable working group for resilience to pandemics with at least 100 members. With a group of 4 CI authorities, 16 CI operators, 3 other CI stakeholders, 4 experts in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2 experts in epidemiology and climate extremes, and 12 security researchers and SW developers, we will: (1) Identify pandemic-specific vital services and CIs, their dependencies, risks, cascading effects, and effective measures to tackle them at European level. (2) Develop a comprehensive strategy (TRL8) and four innovative tools (TRL7) ensuring greater availability, reliability, security, robustness, trustworthiness, cost-effectiveness, climate-friendliness, and continuity of pandemic-specific vital services in Europe: Tools for risk-based access control, resource demand prediction and management, cyber-physical resilience, and remote infrastructure inspection. (3) Pilot the results in operational environments of the CIs while tackling some of their biggest pain points exposed by the current pandemic. (4) Promote our approach across Europe to ensure a united front and resilience of CIs to pandemics. We will carefully consider legal, ethical, societal, economic, and climate aspects, ensuring that our results address not only the needs of the CIs, but also those of our society.

EC contribution:

EUR 293k

Start:

2022-10-01

End:

2025-09-30

Status:

SIGNED

Scheme:

HORIZON-IA

Call:

HORIZON-CL3-2021-INFRA-01

View on CORDIS (DOI 10.3030/101073821)

As (peri-)urban areas become increasingly digital, interconnected, and complex, alongside growing threats such as climate change, natural disasters, or cyber-attacks, there is an urgent need to enhance the resilience and security of critical infrastructures (CIs) and the essential services they support. ECHO addresses these challenges by creating a multi-level Resilience Ecosystem that unites CI operators, Emergency Service Providers (ESPs), local/regional authorities (AUTs), and emergency service providers (EMPs) to co-create innovative tools, services, and strategies, for enhanced (urban) resilience planning and management. ECHO develops an EU-sovereign Knowledge Hub and a suite of interoperable, modular, and cost-effective services, accessible via a centralized Platform. These include tools for threat forecasting, risk assessment, situational awareness, decision support, resilience plan evaluation, and scenario-based simulations, tailored to address diverse multi-hazard threats. Our Information Sharing Protocol ensures cost-effective resource pooling and collaboration, helping smaller municipalities overcome budget constraints. By using cutting-edge technologies such as Generative AI, we enable advanced modelling, forecasting, and decision-making while ensuring transparency and data security. ECHO operates through 4 pilot sites in Slovenia, Italy, Spain, and the cross-border Italy-Slovenia region, addressing multiple hazards (floods, landslides, drought, earthquakes, wildfires, infrastructure failures, cyber-attacks) and engage diverse stakeholders (AUTs, ESPs, EMPs) to test and validate our solutions in relevant settings, ensuring scalability and adaptability across Europe. Through comprehensive impact-generation activities, ECHO promotes best practices, empowering stakeholders of all sizes to strengthen the resilience of interconnected systems, enhancing the security and wellbeing of European citizens and communities.

EC contribution:

EUR 274k

Start:

2025-10-01

End:

2028-09-30

Status:

SIGNED

Scheme:

HORIZON-IA

Call:

HORIZON-CL3-2024-INFRA-01

View on CORDIS (DOI 10.3030/101225575)

Renewable Energy Sources Power FOrecasting and SyNchronisation for Smart GriD NEtworks MaNagemenT. Renewable energy sources (RES) play a major role to the EU’s aspiration to transform to a climate-neutral economy. Their integration into the power grid is pivotal to the green transition and to the decarbonisation of the energy sector. However, as the most commonly used RES (solar, wind and hydropower) are also weather-dependent, their power generation capacity varies according to the local microclimatic conditions. This power production variability makes RES difficult to integrate into the power grid and to provide seamless, stable and secure amounts of power. On the other hand, power demand also affects the power grid operation, since there must always be a supply/demand balance in the power grid. Grid power imbalances can cause frequency fluctuations and other unwanted transient phenomena, which can compromise grid stability and operation. For that matter, advanced grid monitoring techniques have been developed, employing phasor measurement units (PMUs) to measure the electrical signals in a precise and synchronised way, based on a reliable timing reference. Yet, currently, no Galileo-based applications on PMU timing exist. In the above framework, RESPONDENT comes to address the challenges of RES power generation forecasting, demand forecasting and smart power grid monitoring and supply/demand balancing. An AI/ML RES power generation forecasting algorithm is proposed, exploiting both Copernicus EO and site-specific weather data, along with renewable energy power conversion models. Furthermore, an AI/ML – multiphysics model for power demand of certain communities is also developed. Lastly, RESPONDENT will build a Galileo-enabled PMU and develop a monitoring module, in order to test and verify the advantages offered from the Galileo timing and synchronization services in smart grid monitoring, power balancing and overall operation.

EC contribution:

EUR 228k

Start:

2022-11-01

End:

2025-04-30

Status:

CLOSED

Scheme:

HORIZON-IA

Call:

HORIZON-EUSPA-2021-SPACE

View on CORDIS (DOI 10.3030/101082355)

The DARE (Deployment And engagement of Resources and citizens for European Emergency Response) project aims to enhance Europe’s capability to respond to large-scale cross-country disasters, focusing on interoperability and information sharing. By addressing the challenges posed by varied national response systems, equipment, training, and procedures, DARE targets four main gaps: operational standardization, command structure interoperability, digital tool integration, and citizen engagement.The project seeks to harmonize emergency response across European countries by creating guidelines for both technical and command-level procedures. This involves comparing and mapping Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to identify commonalities and improve interoperability. DARE will develop an open-source Dashboard that integrates real-time data from diverse sources, including hazard monitoring systems, local authorities, and citizen inputs. This platform will support situational awareness, enhance communication between command centers and field responders, and provide a public-facing layer for citizen engagement, including tasking volunteers.To achieve these goals, DARE involves numerous European partners, including research institutions, emergency services, NGOs, and universities, collaborating to test harmonized procedures and training modules through workshops and field exercises. The Dashboard will support standardized information exchange, enhancing cross-country deployments and assisting local commanders with up-to-date hazard and resource information. By leveraging artificial intelligence, it will facilitate multilingual communication and engage citizens, enabling real-time volunteer mobilization and feedback loops with communities during crises. Through structured training, interoperability assessments, and cross-country trials, DARE aims to create a resilient emergency response framework. This system will be scalable and adaptable to various types of emergencies.

EC contribution:

EUR 139k

Start:

2025-10-01

End:

2028-09-30

Status:

SIGNED

Scheme:

HORIZON-RIA

Call:

HORIZON-CL3-2024-DRS-01

View on CORDIS (DOI 10.3030/101225656)