Collective projects

Senior people are statistically at greater risk of cognitive impairment, frailty and multiple chronic health conditions with consequences for their independence, their quality of life (and the one of their families) but also for the sustainability of health and social care systems. There is also increasing evidence that interactions with the environment play an important role in the evolution of the patient's health status and condition. The challenge is now to foster secure, scalable and robust digital solutions for integrated care which will:

An ageing population is increasing demand-side pressures on public health and social care providers across Europe. These pressures undermine the long-term sustainability of existing models for delivering care services to the ageing population.

Currently available methods and strategies for diagnosis and treatment of cancer help clinicians continuously improve quality of care and prevent cancer deaths in the population. Accurate risk assessment, availability of genetic tests, timely diagnosis and effective treatment has created the impression of cancer being a chronic disease that can be cured.

Combining several activities such as renewable energy, aquaculture, marine bio-resources and biotechnologies, maritime transport and related services, in the same marine space, including in multi-use platforms, can serve to divide and reduce the costs of offshore operations and the demand on the space needed for different activities. Research on multi-use platforms funded under the FP7 call ‘The Oceans of Tomorrow’ has provided promising designs, technological proposals and models for combining activities in terms of economic potential and environmental impact.

Agricultural productivity that does not keep up with the current population increase, the growing demand for biomass production (as feedstock for biofuels) and the nonstop rise of global CO2 emissions with its consequences for climate change, are all circumstances that make it urgent to increase the yield of biomass. Indeed, increased agricultural yield efficiency can have huge impacts in a society driven by the bio-economy.

The transfer to industrial companies of the Do It Yourself (DIY), fablabs, micro-factories and makers approaches can pioneer ways towards engineering solutions throughout the whole value chain. These innovative methods can lead to new processes, machines and products with new functionalities and shorter time to market.

The Atlantic Ocean is an invaluable shared resource. The societal value of its blue economy is enormous for countries located on its shores. There are however, still considerable gaps in our knowledge and understanding of processes related to this ocean especially with regard to its chemistry, ecology, biodiversity, impacts of climate and the potential for the sustainable exploitation of its natural resources including aquaculture.

While robots originated in large-scale mass manufacturing, they are now spreading to more and more application areas. In these new settings, robots are often faced with new technical and non-technical challenges. The purpose of this topic is to address such issues in a modular and open way, and reduce the barriers that prevent a more widespread adoption of robots. Four Priority Areas (PAs) are targeted: healthcare, inspection and maintenance of infrastructure, agri-food, and agile production.

Autonomy in robotic systems is built on a combination of four core technologies:

Every citizen, from all walks of life, should be able to fully take part in the Digital Single Market. This means that the Next Generation Internet will have to empower users, including its most vulnerable or disabled one, to have access to the same digital learning opportunities, in forms that are accessible, perceivable and understandable by everybody.