October 29, 2020
Following the five new projects that were announced a short time ago for IIT, the months of August to October proved to be equally fruitful for the Institute as seven (7) new research projects have been funded. Two of them have already kicked off and the go-ahead has been given for five more which are about to start in the coming months.
In September, the Media Networks Laboratory kicked off the SANCUS: analySis softwAre scheme of uNiform statistiCal sampling, aUdit and defence proceSses project funded by the EU H2020 programme, with scientific responsible Dr. Anastasios Kourtis. The project aims to integrate contemporary technologies for automated security validation and verification, dynamic risk assessment, AI/ML processing, security emulation and testing, with unique optimisation modelling. The SANCUS scheme will be delivered as an integrated software suite and it is expected to revolutionise the European research and development efforts, in and out of, the cybersecurity regime.
In October, the NML & Mind Lab kicked off the Erasmus+ (Strategic Partnerships for school education) project STEAM4ALL: Supporting the Digital Inclusion of all Students through an Inter-Disciplinary Programme for a Sustainable Future, funded by Culture Goes Europe (CGE) – Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt EV – Germany with scientific responsible Dr. Athanasios Drigas. The STEAM4ALL project aims to design, pilot-test and produce an inclusive multimedia toolkit to support students with fewer opportunities (marginalised, living in remote or rural areas, with migrant background) to acquire a combination of digital (coding and robotics) and STEAM competences based on an interdisciplinary approach that will promote environmental education and sustainable development.
New projects coming soon
Additional new research projects have been announced and are scheduled to start in December 2020. The NML & Mind Lab with coordinator Dr. Athanasios Drigas will lead the Erasmus+ (Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training) project 3D2ACT: Fostering Industry 4.0 and 3D Technologies through Social Entrepreneurship: An Innovative Programme for a Sustainable Future. The 3D2ACT project will support Vocational Educators and Trainers (VET) to strengthen their profiles with the acquisition of new skills, the development of targeted material, the collection of tools and resources, while at the same time it will create opportunities for linking VET schools with the labour market building on synergies and partnerships with established organisations using industry 4.0 and automation or 3D printing and robotics.
In the same month, the VAST: Values Across Space and Time project team, with scientific responsible Dr. George Petasis, will start work. The project was accepted for funding by the EU H2020 programme and will be coordinated by SKEL. VAST aims to bring values to the forefront in the field of advanced digitization. It will study the transformation of values such as freedom, democracy and equality across space and time, taking advantage of digitized elements of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
On the 1st of December, the EU H2020 project META WIRELESS: Future Wireless Communications Empowered by Reconfigurable Intelligent Meta-Materials team will also start working in order to investigate high-frequency meta-surface designs with increased bandwidth capabilities and ability to operate at different bands. The project will be coordinated by WiCom with scientific responsible Dr. Fotis Lazarakis.
In January 2021, the Media Networks Laboratory will launch the EU H2020 project entitled EVOLVED-5G: Experimentation and Validation Openness for Long-term evolution of VErtical inDustries in 5G era and beyond, with scientific responsible and technical manager Dr. Harilaos Koumaras. The project’s objective is to develop 5G Core programming interfaces to support Industry 4.0 applications. The acquisition of this project is inter alia a result of a successful collaboration with ISL’s researcher Dr. Dimitris Kyriazanos, who contributed to the security aspect of the project.
SKEL will coordinate yet another EU H2020 project namely AI4Copernicus: Reinforcing the AI4EU Platform by Advancing Earth Observation Intelligence, Innovation and Adoption. Dr. Vangelis Karkaletsis will lead the consortium. The project aims to reinforce the AI on-demand platform AI4EU by leveraging it within the Copernicus (Europe’s Earth Observation Programme) ecosystem, in order to develop useful, on-demand Earth-observation AI solutions to a number of technological, economic/business, and societal challenges and domains. The technological integration will enable innovative use-cases and small-scale experiments via an open-calls mechanism, which will increase the uptake of both AI4EU and Copernicus data and services, while at the same time they will push the capacity for AI-driven innovation across multiple business and social domains.