Prioridad proyecto 27: 2 - Promoting social cohesion and territorial and demographic balance in Sudoe through innovation and the transformation of productive sectors

Creation of a network of scientific and technical experts, between universities and technology centres, with a common strategy and action plan, focused on sharing knowledge and transferring technology to the business fabric, to promote the development and adaptation of collaborative robotics solutions driven by AI by SMEs in the traditional and artisanal sectors of the SUDOE space.

Joint strategy for the management and control of the quality of thermal waters in the Interreg SUDOE territory with the aim of valorising, preserving and optimising this valuable natural resource in the region. The project team, jointly and together with the Partners, will develop this strategy and assess the feasibility and relevance of the creation of a multi-regional entity dedicated to promoting the application of automatic water quality control elements and their mineral-medicinal value, as well as the management of data capture systems, prediction models and data obtained.

A Strategy for the Application and Marketing of Residual Biomass By-products and a Strategy for the Development of Transboundary Biorefinery Processes will be developed that will contribute to the output indicator RCO83. These strategies will be critical for the successful transfer of residual biomass by-products to other economic sectors within the area of cooperation of the Sudoe space and for the replication of cross-border processes by other organisations. Regarding the first strategy, it is focused on identifying and promoting the use of the most viable residual biomass by-products in different economic sectors within the Sudoe space. To achieve this, lessons learned and good practices from the pilot actions and previous activities of the project will be collected. This strategy will also establish continuous actions and define the economic sectors with the greatest potential for replicability. Within the framework of the implementation of this strategy, guidance and advice will be provided to entities seeking to market and apply the tested by-products and promote the adoption of public measures in the field of reducing agricultural and forest biomass waste. The second strategy will highlight biorefinery processes that have proven to be effective and efficient in converting residual biomass and that can be replicated by other organisations in the area of cooperation. Companies supplying raw materials and trading companies will be identified in the value chains of the selected sectors in order to promote new transnational partnerships that promote the circular economy in different industries. For the implementation of this strategy, the cross-border matching programme will be organised and policy proposals for cross-border cooperation between public authorities will be made.

This Action Plan aims to transmit the knowledge, technologies, developments and results of the Project to current and future professionals of the Sudoe. A transnational and interuniversity postgraduate course (hereinafter the Course) will be promoted to train professionals with a highly multidisciplinary profile in a variety of essential WSN technologies such as Sensor Science and Technology, Intelligent Devices and Systems, Wireless Technologies, Energy Microgeneration Technologies, Data Science and Technology, Cloud Technologies, Artificial Intelligence and others. The Course will show how to integrate these technologies into WSNs and how to adapt WSNs to local contexts so that their implementation, operation and maintenance is economically viable and sustainable over time. It will also show examples of applications from WSNs to environmental risk management in rural areas. The format of the Course will be that of ONLINE MASIVO and OPEN COURSE (MOOC), in which the consortium has previous experience; for example, the MOOC in “Low-cost sensors for air quality monitoring” of the NanoSen-AQM (Interreg V-B Sudoe) project. Two editions of the MOOC will be held in years 2 and 3 of the Project and the final version will be delivered in month 34. The University of Coimbra (FCTUC/DEI) will lead the Action Plan in which the beneficiary universities (B6, B8 and B9) and partners (A4) of the Project will participate. The R & D centres (B1, B2, B3, B11 and B12) will collaborate in the preparation of the Action Plan and provide training in the Course. CSIC and CNRS have a wide territorial implementation in ES and FR, share mixed centers and associated units with national universities and maintain collaborations with universities in other countries. This will make it possible to expand the number of participating universities and extend the scope of the Course to other regions of the Sudoe, as well as to other EU countries.