The EU depends strongly on external sources for the supply of key fertilisers used in agriculture. Resource depletion and an increasing global demand for mineral fertilisers may, in the long term, lead to price tensions with an impact on food security. Mineral-based fertilisation also poses significant environmental problems, linked e.g. to the amounts of fossil energy needed to produce and transport these fertilisers.
In the past years several open service platforms for Active and Healthy Ageing domains have been developed, originating from the medical, independent living, and IoT domain. These platforms aim at building a common basis for application development, assuring interoperability at the application and service level, and reducing development cost by re-use of components. As these platforms mature more insight is needed in the way they contribute to the development of a scalable and open market for digital solutions for health and ageing, and which value is actually achieved through them.
The challenge of providing the inhabitants of European cities with affordable, safe, and nutritious food is both urgent and complex. Moreover, the health and wellbeing of EU citizens and consumers are directly affected by the way cities and regions themselves are shaping a sustainable food environment. Research and (open) innovation co-created with citizens are part of broader city-region food system approaches. Such initiatives stimulate the development of cities as innovative food hubs.
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.