Testimonials

Background stories of how others approached and experienced their European Horizon funding trajectory.

Autoship - a new and durable way of freight transport

image of Autoship - a new and durable way of freight transport

Published on | 4 years ago

Programmes Transport

Autoship is, as the name suggests, an acronym for autonomous ship. Just like with self-driving cars, the possibilities of an unmanned boat seem endless. It can create more efficient freight transport, around the clock deliveries and these are just a few of the examples. The project has two societal challenges.

At first, De Vlaamse Waterweg was a bit hesitant as their experience with FP7 or Horizon 2020 projects was limited and they had not been very successful up until then. The fact that they were already doing basic research on the topic of autonomous boats, and the administrative help of NCP FLanders helped De Vlaamse waterweg to cross the line and get involved.

 

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AgrifoodTEF - the AI Testing & Experimentation Facility for the agri-food sector

Digital Europe AI Continent
The AgrifoodTEF, funded under the Digital Europe call for a Testing and Experimentation Facility for Agri-Food, is a network of world-class testing and experimentation facilities (TEFs) in the agri-food sector that supports testing state-of-the-art data, AI, and robotics solutions in real-world environments to accelerate their market introduction. ILVO, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Flemish node of the AgriFoodTEF supports the entire agri-food business, leveraging its infrastructures, experience and vast network established through participation in numerous Digital Europe and Horizon Europe initiatives.
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AI4Culture - Empowering Cultural Heritage through Artificial Intelligence

Digital Europe AI Continent
The AI4Culture project, funded under Digital Europe call Data space for cultural heritage (deployment) aims to develop an online capacity building hub for AI technologies in the cultural heritage sector. This hub contributes to the creation of the European common cultural heritage data space, which provides support to the digital transformation of Europe’s cultural sector and fosters the creation and reuse of content in cultural and creative sectors. The Flemish company CrossLang is one of the 12 partners in the project and brings in its year-long expertise in the development of multilingual technology to the transcription and translation of scanned printed and handwritten documents.
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ATHENA - Cybersecurity for the water sector

Digital Europe Cybersecurity
The ATHENA project addresses emerging risks for the water sector in operational technology created by digitalisation. The project responds to Digital Europe call DIGITAL-ECCC-2022-CYBER-03-UPTAKE-CYBERSOLUTIONS – Uptake op Innovative Cybersecurity Solutions. The project started in September 2023 and will run until November 2026. De Vlaamse Waterweg - The Flemish Waterway participates in the project to enhance the resilience of the organisation by co-developing targeted training modules for operational technology environments.
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Autoship - a new and durable way of freight transport

Transport
Autoship is, as the name suggests, an acronym for autonomous ship. Just like with self-driving cars, the possibilities of an unmanned boat seem endless. It can create more efficient freight transport, around the clock deliveries and these are just a few of the examples. The project has two societal challenges. At first, De Vlaamse Waterweg was a bit hesitant as their experience with FP7 or Horizon 2020 projects was limited and they had not been very successful up until then. The fact that they were already doing basic research on the topic of autonomous boats, and the administrative help of NCP FLanders helped De Vlaamse waterweg to cross the line and get involved.  
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Avia-GIS - Software Technologies for a Healthier World

SME Instrument
Avia-GIS is a Belgian innovative SME established in 2001. They have built research and public authority trust over the past 19 years and developed a unique, disruptive software suite - VECMAP® - that supports society to overcome one of its important health threats, the spreading of Pests of Public Health importance. With the help of a Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 2 project, they will be able to add Integrated Pest Management functionalities and go to the market. With the grant, that was an essential component of their second investment round, Avia-GIS aims at raising its revenue from the current 2 M€ to 14.2 M€ in 2024, and increase the headcount from 15 to 58.
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BEAT-AF - Ground-Breaking Electroporation-based intervention for Atrial Fibrillation treatment

Health Health
The Horizon2020 project BEAT-AF brings together 9 European renowned clinical centres in France, Belgium, Czechia, Germany and Austria. Together, the consortium strives to revolutionize Atrial Fibrillation (AF) treatment through catheter ablation and contribute to decrease the huge burden of AF in Europe. The BEAT-AF project kicked off in 2021 and will run until 2026. The department of electrophysiology of the AZ Sint-Jan Hospital in Bruges is partner in the project and has so far contributed to the pre-clinical development, the first in man studies and first registries of the revolutionary AF treatment put forward by the consortium. The first pilot studies show that the treatment is safe, effective and efficient.
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BENEDMO - Flemish-Dutch collaboration against disinformation

Deployment: Best use of technologies
Textgain is a Flemish SME and a partner in Digital Europe project BENEDMO, which answered to call ‘European Digital Media observatory (EDMO) - National and multinational hubs’. Its task within the project is to further develop technologies to effectively detect sources of polarisation and disinformation, allowing journalists and moderators to quickly mitigate the harmful effects of such messages.
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Circusol - Circular Business Models for the Solar Power

Climate/Environment
Circusol is an Innovation Action project funded under a cross-cutting work programme part of Horizon 2020. Circusol aims at unleashing the full potential of circular business models, in particular Product-Service Systems, in simultaneously delivering real environmental, economic and user benefits. By that, Circusol aims to establish solar power as a spearhead sector in demonstrating a path driven by service-based businesses towards a circular economy in Europe. A strong Flemish partnership in new Horizon 2020 project on circular economy business demonstrators, including VITO (Coordinator), IMEC, Ecopower cvba, Futech bvba, PV Cycle aisbl and Daidalos Peutz bvba.  
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EITHOS - European Identity Theft Observatory System

Security
The EITHOS project, funded under Horizon Europe Cluster 3 call “Online identity theft is countered”, aims to develop a “European Identity Theft Observatory System” (EITHOS). The system will provide easy access to information and intelligence about previous and current identity theft related trends to empower EU citizens, Law Enforcements Agencies (LEAs), and policy makers to further contribute to the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes related to online identity theft. The Cyber and Data Security Lab (CDSL), part of the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) Research Group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), is one of the 12 partners in the EITHOS consortium, contributing its vast expertise on legal aspects of data protection, cybersecurity and information security law and policy.
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ERC grants awarded to professor Inez Germeys

ERC ERC
Professor Inez Germeys leads the Center for Contextual Psychiatry at KU Leuven, which is a large multi-disciplinary research group focusing on the interaction between the person and the environment in the development of psychopathology. She has received a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant (INTERACT) and Proof of Concept grant (IMPACT). With these grants professor Germeys and her team researched a new mobile self-management therapy for patients with a psychotic disorder. The Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Daily Life (ACT-DL) was further developed for the clinical environment. In line with that the Horizon 2020 IMMERSE project aims to thoroughly evaluate strategies, processes, and outcomes of implementing a digital mobile mental health solution.
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ERC grants for UGent professor Lieven Eeckhout

ERC
Professor Lieven Eeckhout’s main research interests include computer architecture and the hardware/software interface with a specific emphasis on performance evaluation and modeling, and dynamic resource management. Professor Eeckhout is the recipient of a European Research Council (ERC) Starting grant, Advanced grant and three Proof of Concept grants. Two of his former PhD students founded in 2013 CoScale, a spin-off in data center monitoring, which was acquired by New Relic.
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EURHISFIRM - Long-term data for Europe

RI
EURHISFIRM designs a world-class research infrastructure (RI) to connect, collect, collate, align, and share detailed, reliable, and standardized long-term financial, governance, and geographical data on European companies. EURHISFIRM enables researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to develop and evaluate effective strategies to promote investment, economic growth and job creation. The RI provides the tools for long-term analysis highlighting the dynamics of the past and the way those dynamics structure our present and future.The EURHISFIRM European project received € 3.4 million in financing from the European Commission through the H2020-INFRADEV-2017-1 research infrastructures call. The project started with a consortium of eleven research organisations (including University of Antwerp) from seven European countries.
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GenderSAFE - addressing gender-based violence in higher education & research

Enhancing EU R&I
GenderSAFE, funded by Horizon Europe under call topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ERA-01-09, is a project that advances efforts to implement a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence in higher education and research in the European Research Area. This overall objective will be achieved through a five-fold strategy. The project exists of a European-wide consortium of six partners. Read more about the GenderSAFE’s five-fold strategy, the role of the Belgian partner Yellow Window and the latest outputs of the project in this testimonial.
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GLAUKOS - Circular Solution for the Textile Industry

Digital, Industry & Space NMBP
Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant coordinated the Glaukos project, which answered the call topic published in 2019 of Horizon 2020 Framework Programme ‘Develop bio-based fibres and/or functional molecules to improve the performance of textile products’ under the Framework of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU). The consortium partners took up this challenge by valorising industrial side streams and setting up a circular approach to the textile industry.
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INSPIRE - Centre of Excellence on inclusive gender equality in R&I

Enhancing EU R&I
Funded by Horizon Europe, under call topic HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-80, INSPIRE is Europe's Centre of Excellence on inclusive gender equality in research and innovation. It relies on four Knowledge and Support Hubs to create knowledge in the areas of sustaining change, widening participation, intersectionality and innovation. Moreover, it supports stakeholders in their journey to become more inclusive through 12 Communities of Practice. In this way, INSPIRE aims to develop both cutting-edge knowledge and innovative strategies for gender equality in the European Research Area. INSPIRE brings together 14 partners. The Belgian partner in this project is UHasselt.
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Limecraft - Powerful workflows for video products

ICT
If you’ve never heard of Limecraft, you’re clearly not working in the media sector. Their SaaS platform provides integrated workflows for media management, scripted and unscripted TV, and subtitling and localisation. It is used by leading broadcasting companies – such as BBC, VRT, NPO… – and production firms of which De Mensen or Hotel Hungaria might ring a bell (at least if you are Belgian). NCP Flanders went to Ghent to interview Maarten Verwaest, CEO and cofounder, about how he sees Horizon 2020. Limecraft is a partner in the MeMAD project, which is a collaborative RIA project submitted to an ICT call topic.   
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Lorcenis - Long Lasting Reinforced Concrete for Energy Infrastructures under Severe Operating Conditions

NMBP
ChemStream is an innovative chemical R&D company, specialized in translating material problems in sustainable formulations with focus on nano-dispersions, functional coatings and inkjet inks. Within LORCENIS they will develop super absorbing polymers (SAPs) to be mixed within the concrete matrices for improving the active internal curing, self-healing and self-sealing properties of the concrete. Grindig SAPs. ChemStream bvba and Ghent University are involved in Horizon 2020-project for developing long lasting reinforced concrete for energy infrastructures.  
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Luciad - Geospatial software for mission-critical operations

ICT
Founded in 1999, Luciad serves clients in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Though it recently was acquired by Hexagon Geospatial, they kept an agile SME mindset. Thousands of end users work directly with Luciad’s geospatial applications, and major systems integrators (think Airbus Defense and Space, Lufthansa Systems, NATO, Thales…) incorporate its software in their own products. NCP Flanders went to Leuven to interview Frederic Houbie, the Research Projects Manager at Luciad, about how he sees Horizon 2020. Luciad is a partner in the MARISA project, which is a collaborative RIA project submitted to an ICT call topic.   
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MareGraph - Towards an Interoperable Marine Knowledge Graph

AI Continent
The MareGraph project, ‘Towards an Interoperable Marine Knowledge Graph’, obtained funding under the Digital Europe topic ‘OPEN-AI – Public Sector Open Data for AI and Open Data Platform’. The project will increase the semantic, technical, and legal interoperability of three selected high-valued datasets (HVDs) all maintained by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), which is one of the four partners of the project. This will allow the onboarding of essential marine datasets in the Common European Data Spaces. As such MareGraph will provide a structural component in the digital transition of the marine landscape. The numerous impacts of the project will benefit our seas globally in old and new ways to come.
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Methylomic – Hope & Improved outcomes for Crohn’s disease patients across Europe

Health
The METHYLOMIC project, ‘targeting hope for personalised medicine in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases’ obtained funding from Horizon Europe’s Health Cluster. The project aims to personalise treatment allocation and enhance the effectiveness of medications for chronic immune-mediated diseases such as Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis. BIRD, the Belgian inflammatory bowel disease research and development group, is a partner in the project and is involved in the OmiCrohn trial, a prospective randomised clinical trial for individualised therapy in Crohn’s disease patients. With BIRD’s active role in this trial, the project is set to deliver predictive, biomarker-based therapies that bring renewed hope for Crohn’s disease patients across Europe.
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Micado - Migrant Integration Cockpits and Dashboards

Societies
Atlas Integratie & Inburgering Antwerpen is an autonomous agency and a non-profit organisation responsible for implementing the Flemish integration policy on behalf of and for the City of Antwerp. Atlas offers several types of services for newcomers and Antwerp’s public and non-profit organisations. In 2018, under the leadership of HafenCity University Hamburg, Atlas participated in the H2020 call 'Addressing the challenge of migrant integration through ICT-enabled solutions'. The proposal 'MICADO - Migrant Integration Cockpits and Dashboards' was approved by the European Commission and the project started in January 2019 and runs until June 2022.  
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Miricle - Mine Risk Clearance for Europe

Defence
The Miricle project, ‘Mine Risk Clearance for Europe’, obtained funding under the European Defence Industrial Development programme call ‘Underwater control contributing to resilience at sea’. The main objective of the project was to achieve a European and sovereign capacity in future mine warfare and create a path for the next generation ‘made in Europe’ countermeasure solutions. In order to realise this objective, Miricle addressed various stages: studies, design, prototyping and testing. These stages inter alia included the successful testing of an XL Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, a protototyped mine disposal system and multiple innovative systems to detect buried mines. Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), was one of the five Belgian partners in the consortium. Within the project, VLIZ was able to forward its research on the acoustic imaging of the seabed to spatially map and visualize buried structures and objects - in this case buried mines - in the highest possible detail. VLIZ also led the work on ‘Port and Offshore Testing’, building on the expertise of the institute in the field of marine operations and technology.
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PARSEC - Protecting EU postal and express courier flows

Security
PARSEC, funded under Horizon Europe Cluster 3 Call 'Advanced detection of threats and illicit goods in postal and express courier flows' aims to solve challenges facing eCommerce caused by threats and illicit goods in postal and express courier flows. The Flemish company CBRA Services coordinates the project.
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PBNv2 - a MSCA ITN in the field of automotive R&D

MSCA
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) European Innovative Training Network “PBNv2 - Next generation Pass-By Noise approaches for new powertrain vehicles” started in May 2017. Their research has the shared objective of investigating the possibilities to decrease pass-by noise of vehicles. The project is a collaboration between 17 research institutions and companies in the European automotive R&D and provides a learning environment for 14 PhD fellows. The Belgian partner is the Noise and Vibration Research Group of KU Leuven, and this project is one of the many Horizon 2020 MSCA Innovative Training Networks that the KU Leuven research group participates in.
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ROOT - Rolling Out OSNMA for the secure synchronization of Telecom networks

Digital, Industry & Space SPACE
The ROOT project obtained funding under Horizon 2020 topic ‘EGNSS applications fostering societal resilience and protecting the environment’. The project, which ran from November 2020 to July 2022,  aimed to demonstrate the benefit of Galileo OSNMA signal to increase the robustness of critical telecom infrastructures. The Flanders-based company Septentrio contributed substantially to completing this objective together with the other ROOT partners. The results of the project partially close a gap in the security of telecommunication networks dependent on satellite-derived time, with indirect benefits in curbing illegal attempts to disrupt network services.
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RUSTICA - Converting organic residues into bio-based fertiliser products

Agro-Food, Environment Circular Industries Green Deal
The RUSTICA project obtained funding under Horizon 2020, more in particular under the topic ‘Closing nutrient cycles’.  RUSTICA focuses on demonstration and implementation of circular bio-based nutrient valorisation chains, focusing on waste from the fruit and vegetable agro-food system. The project kicked off in 2021 and will run until 2024. It will use a strong multi-actor approach to co-create both socio-economic and technological knowledge in four case study regions in Europe and one in Colombia. The Flanders-based company DRANCO is one of the project partners and acts as technical project manager for the entire project. DRANCO participates in the project to develop its own technologies, to network and to help make the transition to a more circular based economy.
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SAPHIRe - Securing the Adoption of Personalised Medicin in Regions

Health
The Department of Economy, Science and Innovation of the Flemish government coordinates the Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action SAPHIRe, which started on 1 December 2018. The aim of the project is to secure the adoption of personalised medicine in all European regions, including sparsely populated and remote regions and regions with different innovation capacities.  The activities of SAPHIRe are complementary to the smart specialisation partnership on personalised medicine – S3P4PM, which is also coordinated by the Department of Economy, Science and Innovation.  
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ScreenME - Enhancing excellence in screen media entrepreneurship

Widening
The Horizon2020 twinning project ScreenME has as its objective to enhance excellence in screen media entrepreneurship at Tallinn University (TLU). To do so, ScreenME has established a network of universities across Europe that aim to improve research into and teaching of entrepreneurship for the screen media industry. ScreenME will develop a teaching course and will kick off research initiatives and projects on entrepreneurial activities in media organisations. The research group on ‘Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology (SMIT)’ of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is partner in the network and is involved in two cross-cutting activities of the project: support for early stage researchers and developing stakeholder involvement.
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SeaFoodTomorrow - improving the safety and dietary properties of seafood

Food
The Project SeafoodTomorrow is a project that is approved within the call BG-08-2017: Innovative sustainable solutions for improving the safety and dietary properties of seafood. The three-year SeafoodTomorrow project brings together 34 partners. From Flanders, ILVO takes part in the project.They are responsible for setting up two databases which are the central point of the project to gather all the project data from analysis and assessement. ILVO is also leader of the workpackage dealing with authenticity, traceability and labelling. ILVO is also involved a the workpackage about novel food preparation. And in the managerial part, ILVO is head of the IPC- Intellectual Property Comité.    
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STARGATE - Sustainable Aviation

Climate, Energy, Mobility Transport Green Deal
The Stargate project obtained funding under the special Green Deal call of Horizon 2020, more in particular under the topic of “green ports and airports”.  It received the maximum score of the evaluators and was selected out of more than 40 projects. Stargate’s purpose is to prove that sustainable aviation is possible and happening. It focuses on the further decarbonization of the aviation industry, the improvement of local environmental quality and the stimulation of the modal split. Together with a consortium of 21 European partners with a diverse and rich expertise (airports, community partners, knowledge institutions, consultants, local governments, …), Brussels Airports takes the lead as lighthouse airport to develop and implement innovative solutions. Results that prove successful can be deployed at the fellow airports (Toulouse, Budapest, Athens). Over the course of the coming five years, the consortium will exchange knowledge to investigate and realize more than 30 concrete projects.
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UNCHAIN - Revolutionising urban logistics & space management

Climate, Energy, Mobility
The UNCHAIN project, ‘urban logistics and planning: anticipating urban freight generation and demand including digitalisation of urban freight’ obtained funding from the Horizon Europe’s Mobility Cluster. The project focuses on breaking down data silos and promoting public-private data exchange across a unified European mobility data space, enabling more informed decisions and greater efficiency. The City of Mechelen is a partner in the project and takes on the role of ‘follower city’: it will work alongside the primary demonstration sites (in Madrid, Berlin and Florence) to maximize the geographical coverage and replicability of solutions across Europe. Mechelen aims to test 2 concrete solutions in the UNCHAIN project, with the aim to help addressing its current and future challenges in urban freight distribution.
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UrbanAIR - Digital Twin for Urban Climate Action

Research Infrastructures
Funded under Horizon Europe (HORIZON-INFRA-2024-TECH-01-03) and running from 2025 to 2028, UrbanAIR develops advanced digital twins that simulate the interactions between urban climate, human behaviour, and policy choices. These models enable cities to explore what-if scenarios, such as new green infrastructure, mobility measures or building designs, and assess their impacts on health, safety and social equity. The project consortium consists of 18 partners from 11 countries. Read more about the project and the contribution of Flemish partner Vito in this testimonial.
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YoPA – Youth-centered participatory action for a healthy lifestyle

Health
The YoPA project, ‘a youth-centred preventive action approach towards co-created implementation of socially and physically activating environmental interventions’ obtained funding from Horizon Europe’s Health Cluster. The project addresses the multifaceted challenges of physical inactivity and health inequalities through a unique participatory approach. The project places teenagers between 12 and 18 years old in vulnerable situations at the forefront of the intervention process. The Institute of Tropical Medicine is a partner in the project and will conduct a Realist Evaluation to understand how youth co-creation contributes to improved adolescent health and well-being in four cities in Denmark, Netherlands, Nigeria and South Africa.  By integrating its results and sharing its approach in an open access Toolbox, ITM aims to contribute to fostering sustainable, youth-led solutions for healthier urban environments.
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Testimonial

image of UrbanAIR - Digital Twin for Urban Climate Action

UrbanAIR - Digital Twin for Urban Climate Action

Funded under Horizon Europe (HORIZON-INFRA-2024-TECH-01-03) and running from 2025 to 2028, UrbanAIR develops advanced digital twins that simulate the interactions between urban climate, human behaviour, and policy choices. These models enable cities to explore what-if scenarios, such as new green infrastructure, mobility measures or building designs, and assess their impacts on health, safety and social equity. The project consortium consists of 18 partners from 11 countries. Read more about the project and the contribution of Flemish partner Vito in this testimonial.

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