In a context of low awareness in AA of the benefits that the circular economy approach brings to the aquaculture and fisheries value chains, AQUAFISH0.0 will promote the stimulation of innovative and sustainable production, transformation and consumption of marine food products.

AQUAFISH0.0 will provide social acceptance and awareness among consumers and producers for the implementation of policies that reduce food losses and waste ("zero waste" philosophy), based on the Quadruple Helix.

Three main lines of action will be carried out:

- R&D: development of innovative food products from by-catches and by-product;

- Promote the best scenario for updating the administrative and institutional framework for the development of these new product;

- Raising public awareness of the approach to circular economy in the field of living marine resources, for consumption and waste reduction (special attention to new generations).

The project aims to develop the research and experimental industrial development activities necessary for the implementation of a new concept of extended collaborative logistics micro-hub (MLC) to support circular economy processes.

This project's main industrial research objective is the economic conceptualization, using game theory, and the implementation, using distributed ledger technology (DLT) - blockchain, of a digital platform for the complete operationalization of the collaborative micro-hubs concept extended to support and encourage circular economy processes. The realization of this objective then paves the way for the realization of several other objectives, highlighting the exploration of the intellectual property produced by all elements of the project consortium, the publication and scientific dissemination of the project results by the UMa, the incorporation in its portfolio of new ways of sectoral and technological innovation by ARDITI, the inauguration of the implementation of Logimade's RDI strategy, and the triggering of its internationalization strategy with a competitive digital service with high added value.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The main objective of this project is to research, develop and implement a mobile health app appropriate to the context of the educational community of the Madeira Autonomous Region. This mobile app for surveillance and response to infectious disease outbreaks, such as COVID-19, aims to facilitate healthy communication between health agents (i.e., Regional Directorate of Health and Regional Directorate of Education), and schools.

This system has awareness in other areas still related to surveillance in planning by the health system (ie, regional planning plans such as education logic, education and other health objectives) in the school context.

This project intends, from a multidisciplinary collaboration, integrating public health, computer engineering, design and education specialists to improve a health app for mobile devices with a focus on infectious diseases adapted to the Education system of the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

An implementation of this type of digital technology, prioritizing the maximization of educational benefits, the well-being and health of students, teachers and the educational community in general, helps to prevent new outbreaks of infectious diseases in the school community.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

The main objectives of this project are to research and develop an information and communication platform capable of controlling and monitoring football fans' access to football stadiums during a pandemic and maximizing the fan's experience in a real-time context during matches. football, providing data and facts about the game that can increase the experience of the match, also using gamification mechanisms for this purpose.

This project intends, from a multidisciplinary collaboration, integrating specialists in the field of human-computer interaction, engineering, health sciences, sports sciences, computer sciences and design to perfect a health and entertainment application for mobile devices with a focus on infectious diseases adapted to the Autonomous Region of Madeira and to improve the experience during a football match.

The implementation of this type of digital mobile technology prioritizes, on the one hand, effective response in the surveillance and response to outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. On the other hand, it allows the satisfaction of the needs and desires of football fans to be maximized, who, in real-time, will be able to have access to a set of information about the game and better understand the sequence of events.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

This project, developed in partnership between the University of Madeira, ARDITI and Zomato Portugal, which is recognized as a database of user opinions in number, variety and statistically relevant temporal dispersion, and the University of Madeira, which is recognized the capacity for research and technical and technological development will allow the development of a tool that, powered by a proprietary algorithm, will allow:

1) The detection of sentiment (positive and negative trends) in user reviews;

2) Identify specific points for improvement, and facilitate the analysis resulting from the opinions provided;

3) Allow a macro sentiment analysis by territorial area;

4) Get advantages for the business development of the Zomato team, making the process of consulting restaurants (through the analysis of opinions, faster, more reliable and accurate);

5) Provide the restaurants present on the platform with tools that allow them to detect trends with autonomy and points for improvement of your business.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

LOOP Wind – Location Optimization for Offshore Platforms – consists of an AI software platform, based in Machine Learning which seeks to optimize the location of offshore wind platforms, reducing costs and time to wind energy promotors and wind farms. The main goal of the project is to offer a new solution, to reduce the LCoE below 0,098 €/kWh by 2025 and 0,08 €/kWh by 2030, which will contribute even more for the attractiveness and efficiency of the offshore market to blue growth investors.

The project is promoted by the Wunderocean in collaboration with two research institutes, ARDITI - Regional Agency for the Development of Research Technology and Innovation and NORCE – Norwegian Research Centre, responding to the main goals of the call, namely to finance initiatives for business growth in start-up enterprises to develop, apply and commercialize innovative products and technologies, encourage cooperation between research institutions and start-ups to facilitate commercialization of innovative ideas, products and processes and enhance cooperation between Portuguese entities and entities from the Donor States.

The Atlantic Observatory will be organized as a Joint Research Unit, promoting the network of relevant marine authorities and research institutions, with strong involvement of the research communities from the mainland and the other two Portuguese Atlantic regions (Azores and Madeira). The ATLANTIC OBSERVATORY (AO) corresponds to an effort to defragment ongoing initiatives from the different research groups, mostly in cooperation with international consortia, strengthening the role of Portugal as an active player of the development of research, monitoring and governance of the Atlantic. The key idea of the ATLANTIC OBSERVATORY relies on the creation and operation of an integrated, efficient, low-cost and scalable marine observation system, focused on the Atlantic Basin, gaining from ongoing global or regional initiatives, promoting networking between stakeholders, and acting as a single access datapoint, information and services associated with the Atlantic. When operational, such observatory will be a keystone for the management of marine protected areas, the design of spatially explicit marine planning, assessing anthropogenic pressures and ultimately supporting the blue economy of the Atlantic.

With the aim to reduce costs, pollution and stress on these species, INTERWHALE aims to develop a near real-time (NRT) technology for off-shore data gathering and on-shore interactive data exploration, creating a simulator of responsible whale-watching.

Aligned with the UN SDG14: Life Below Water, INTERWHALE focuses on reducing the man-made stress on the marine ecosystem and has objectives to:

1 - SENSE - Using the Internet of Things (IoT) to collect the whale media (footage, acoustics and sea weather data) from sea vessels acting as data mules; It will provide more robust technology for data inquiry, challenging the current state of the art in IoT sensing and biodiversity monitoring in aquatic environments. IoT devices will be attached and compared against sea-vessel, sea glider, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) and Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV);

2 - TRANSMIT - Using the Long-Range (LoRa) open radio protocol to share the collected data from sea vessels to the on-shore in near real-time (NRT); It contributes to exploring free bandwidth, advancing the LoRa studies in aquatic surface telemetry. Experiments will compare diverse whale media payloads, ranging from raw data to acoustic and video files, using the LoRa telemetry (868 MHz);

3 - SIMULATE - Using Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), to immerse the on-shore audience with NRT interfaces depicting the collected whale media; It challenges the scarce effort of HCI with marine interfaces, allowing the remote exploration of the whales. Physical and digital environments will be compared in the wild, based on the geodesic domes and Augmented Reality (AR), portraying the whale media and studying their effect on the pro-environmental attitude of the on-shore audience.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

This initiative proposes the execution of the BIO_VALOR project by the AGROECORAM operational group, which intends to implement an integrated specialization strategy for the valorization of endogenous resources in regional fruit growing in MPB agricultural systems, and thus allow the introduction of scientific knowledge, technological development , ecological sustainability and economic profitability in the agricultural sector of RAM, and transversally, the promotion of sustainable territories located in rural areas.

In this way, the main objective of the BIO_VALOR project consists in the development of biofertilizers formulated with the combination of rhizobacteria and autochthonous microalgae for the sustainable valorization of traditional varieties of anonaceous, pome and stone fruits existing in RAM, promoting the increase of agricultural productivity, preservation of fertility of soil, conservation of agrodiversity and promotion of environmental sustainability, and mainly, the agroeconomic optimization of regional fruit growing in MPB agricultural systems.

Thus, the specific objectives of the BIO_VALOR project are the following: (1) Agronomic characterization of MPB agricultural systems based on technical-scientific knowledge derived from edaphoclimatic conditions, endogenous resources and agricultural ecosystems; (2) Biotechnological production of autochthonous rhizobacteria and microalgae for the formulation of specialized biofertilizers for regional varieties of annonaceae, pome and stone; (3) Ecological biotransformation of agricultural residues for the formulation of nutrient-rich organic substrates; (4) In situ monitoring of biofertilizer application results and obtaining predictive data for the development of an agronomically oriented dynamic biofertilization approach for regional fruit growing in MPB farming systems; and (5) Increased transfer of scientific knowledge and technological development through cooperation between scientific institutions, companies and associations of the operational group for the introduction of new products, methods and techniques with a high degree of innovation in the agro-food sector of RAM.

ARDITI, as the initiative's management entity, is responsible for the technical coordination of the BIO_VALOR project and the respective organization of activities and tasks, as well as for communication between partners, preparation of reports, monitoring of the results obtained and subsequent dissemination in the media and scientific events, being also the entity responsible for the participation of ISOPLEXIS at the University of Madeira.

Thus, ARDITI-ISOPLEXIS is responsible for collecting agronomic data from the MPB agricultural systems in RAM and for carrying out the respective technical-scientific analyzes for monitoring edaphoclimatic conditions, characterizing endogenous resources and identifying agricultural ecosystems, including the characterization of the microbiome autochthonous. ARDITI-ISOPLEXIS also participates in the biotransformation of agricultural residues and in the in situ monitoring of the results obtained in the application of biofertilizers in MPB agricultural systems and by obtaining predictive data that allow an agronomically oriented biofertilization.

ACOESTE is responsible for the selection of regional agricultural producers of annonaceae, pome fruit and stone fruit, and also for the respective technical coordination of experimental field trials in MPB agricultural systems. ACOESTE also participates in the characterization of the autochthonous microbiome and in the in situ monitoring of the results obtained in the application of biofertilizers in MPB agricultural systems.

AGROFOOD TECHIS is responsible for the biotechnological production of autochthonous rhizobacteria, biotransformation of agricultural waste for the production of organic substrates and formulation of specialized biofertilizers. AGROFOOD TECHIS also participates in the characterization of the autochthonous microbiome and in the in situ monitoring of the results obtained in the application of biofertilizers in MPB agricultural systems and in obtaining predictive data that allow an agronomically oriented biofertilization.

PHYTOALGAE is responsible for the biotechnological production of indigenous microalgae with agronomic potential, and also participates in the characterization of the indigenous microbiome and the formulation of specialized biofertilizers.

With the BIO_VALOR project, the AGROECORAM operational group intends to fill in the lack of scientific knowledge and technological development in the regional agricultural sector, namely in MPB agricultural systems, through the development of a biotechnological process for the integrated production of biofertilizers for the preservation of soil fertility and plant robustness in these agricultural systems, significantly increasing agricultural productivity without compromising ecological sustainability. The biotechnological process of production of ecological biofertilizers is based on the integration of knowledge.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

Marine Biodiversity loss is continuing to decline despite current conservation efforts. Reversing the decline in biodiversity requires rapid roll out of effective conservation measures that can also enable a sustainable and resilient blue economy. Social-ecological systems-thinking and Ecosystem-Based Management are globally recognized tools to enable balanced marine development and conservation. Marine SABRES will co-design as Simple Social Ecological Systems approach (the Simple SES) to rapidly enable and upscale EBM (Ecosystem-Based Management) across Europe and abroad. Marine SABRES will set European marine management on a course to reverse biodiversity decline, it will conserve and protect biodiversity by integrating sustainable ecosystems and a resilient blue economy; enable managers to make sustainable decisions; empower citizens to engage with marine biodiversity conservation; promote sustainable development and in coastal and marine sectors. Marine SABRES is comprised of an interdisciplinary consortium including world leaders in the field of EBM and Social Ecological System distributed across Europe and focusing demonstration of practical management efforts in three Demonstration Areas (Tuscan Archipelago, the Arctic North-East Atlantic and Macaronesia) before upscaling throughout Europe and beyond.

Project Designation:		Marine SABRES - Marine Systems Approaches for Biodiversity Resilience and Ecosystem Sustainability
Program:		Horizon Europe
Start Date:		01/09/2022
End Date:		31/08/2026
Total Budget:		8 755 388,75 €
Funding:		8 755 388,75 €
ARDITI budget:		281 850,00 €
ARDITI funding:		281 850,00 €
Coordinator:		University College Cork
Partners:		University College Cork; E-Science European Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research; ARDITI; Danmarks Tekniske Universitet – DTU; Ecologic Institut gemeinnützige GmbH; Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies EV – IASS; Hafrannsóknastofnun, Rannsokna - OG Radgjafarsofnun hafs og Vatna – Hafrannsóknastofnun; Fundacion AZTI; Stichting Hummel Foundation for Sustainable Solutions; Universita di Pisa – UNIPI; Stofnun Vilhjalms Stefanssonar - Stefansson Artic Institute; Klaipedos Universitetas; Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – ULPGC; Stichting Wageningen Research – WR; Aalborg Universitet – AAU; Universidade dos Açores; Stichting Nederlandse Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Instituten - NWO-I; WWF Verdensnaturfonden.
Website:		https://www.marinesabres.eu/
		This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 101058956.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

TRIDENT aims to contribute to the sustainable exploitation of seabed mineral resources, by developing a reliable, transparent and cost-effective system for prediction and continuous environmental impact monitoring of exploration and exploitation activities in the deep sea. This system will develop and integrate technology and novel solutions to operate autonomously in remote areas under extreme conditions, and provide real-time data to permitting and supervising authorities. The effective monitoring and inspection system to be developed will comply with international and national legal frameworks. TRIDENT will identify all relevant physical, chemical, geological and biological parameters to be measured at the sea surface, mid-water and seabed. The project will also identify gaps in existing data sets and develop solutions to address them. These are essential steps to develop statistically robust environmental baselines, establish reliable indicators of good environmental status and define thresholds for significant impact, enabling the standardization of tools and methods. The project consortium will subsequently develop and test an integrated system of static and mobile observatory platforms equipped with the latest automatic sensors and samplers to measure environmental parameters on mining and reference areas at representative spatial and temporal scales. To support quick actions for preventing serious harm to the environment, the system will implement high-capacity data handling pipelines able to collect, transmit, process and display monitoring data in near real-time. Finally, we will provide technological and systemic solutions for forecasting potential environmental impacts by using the developed monitoring and mitigation methods.

Project Designation:		TRIDENT - HORIZON-CL4-2022-RESILIENCE-01-02 — Monitoring and supervising system for exploration and future exploitation activities in the deep sea (RIA)
Program:		Horizon Europe
Start Date:		01/01/2023
End Date:		31/12/2027
Total Budget:		11 845 429,48 €
Funding:		11 845 429,48 €
ARDITI budget:		26 306,00 €
ARDITI funding:		26 306,00 €
Coordinator:		INESC TEC
Partners:		INESC TEC; Agora P.S.V.D.; Alseamar; ARDITI; Cintal; Stichting Deltares European Multidisciplinary Seafloorand Water; Column Observatory - European Research Infrastructure Consortium (Emso Eric); Emepc; Forum Oceano - Associacao Da Economia Do Mar; Greenov-Ites; Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera IP; La Palma Research Centre Sl; Marine Institute; National Oceanography Centre; Norce Norwegian Research Centre as Consorcio para El Diseño, Construcción; Equipamiento Y Explotación de la Plataforma Oceanica de Canarias; The Queen's University Of Belfast; University Of Limerick; Universidad Politecnica De Madrid; University College Cork - National University Of Ireland, Cork; Wsense Srl; Hr Wallingford Limited; Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas; Mercator Ocean; Time.Lex; Global E-Sustainability Initiative.
		This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 101091959.

The Tidy City experiment proposes to equip vehicles with mobile devices to automatically detect and classify problems in publicly visible infrastructures. To reduce pollution and CO2 emissions, street-level images will be collected by a wide range of vehicles that already travel the city streets daily, such as waste collection trucks and express delivery vehicles. The collected images are sent to a server for analysis and classification based on AI models supported by the Urban Object Detection Kit. Within the scope of this experiment, the system will be able to detect and record the GPS location of damages in outdoor advertising, lightning and electricity supply infrastructures, and improper waste disposal situations (e.g. waste outside containers, tires, old appliances and furniture). The detected occurrences data will be shared with each corresponding partner for integration and operations optimisation. To comply with the RGPD and other European and National legal requirements, all personally identifiable information (e.g. people's faces and licensing plates) will be removed from the images through the same privacy by-design processes already used by Google Street View.
An agile development methodology will be adopted, using sprints to develop the system’s main features, respecting the test-driven development (TDD) method to achieve functional prototypes that can be rapidly tested in real environments. This ensures both an enriched test battery of the TDD method and a minimum viable product (MVP) as fast as possible.

Project Designation:		Tidy City
Program:		Horizon 2020
Start Date:		15/12/2022
End Date:		30/09/2023
Total Budget:		5 872 087,50 €
Funding:		5 833 837,50 €
ARDITI budget:		18 000,00 €
ARDITI funding:		18 000,00 €
Coordinator:		FIWARE Foundation EV
Partners:		Logimade, Lda., MWR - Madeira Waste Recycling, Lda, SICAPREP - Montagens de materiais elétricos, eletrónicos e Telecomunicações, Lda.; IL Technologies, Lda.; Transbag - Transporte de Mercadorias, Lda.; Promerch - Promoção e Merchandising Unipessoal, Lda.
Website:		https://eelab.arditi.pt/projects/
		This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. I4T-2OC-08.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The project aims to investigate why and how plastic impacts the marine environment, particularly in the deep waters of the mesopelagic layer. This study will evaluate the plastics' acoustic characteristics, compare them to the acoustic features of the natural prey of deep-diving predators, and propose mitigation measures in terms of plastic composition and structure. Ultimately, the project will contribute to mitigating marine pollution and its impacts on living aquatic organisms and communities.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The SIH - Smart Islands Hub is a digital innovation hub (DIH) that aims to promote the digital empowerment and inclusion of the Madeiran population and encourage the adoption of advanced digital technologies by SMEs and public sector organizations based in this region.

The Smart Islands Hub was officially recognized as part of the national network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) within the scope of the Portugal Digital strategy and obtained the Seal of Excellence in its application to the European network (EDIH) within the scope of the Digital Europe strategy.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The GOCORE – GOverning COMmunity REsilience project is an Inter-Regional Cooperation project that aims to empower local communities in remote areas and far from decision-making centres, showing relevant European Policies to benefit the population from them. ARDITI's participation in this project focuses on Digital Transformation and taking it to rural and remote areas of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. This is also one of the objectives of the SIH - Smart Islands HUB project, a project that ARDITI is developing and which will have GOCORE acting in a complementary way. The idea is based on the creation of “creative living labs” in each municipality of RAM involving multidisciplinary teams to support local ideas to solve real local problems through Digital innovation.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The project CLIMAREST: Coastal Climate Resilience and Marine Restoration Tools for the Arctic Atlantic Basin integrates multiple expertise into a holistic approach that aims to develop a flexible overarching toolbox designed to establish guidelines for ecosystem restoration and to enhance climate resilience in coastal communities. The concept is to develop, test, and optimise a modular toolbox that integrates expert knowledge, scientific information, multilevel stakeholder and community involvement, ecosystem service improvement analysis, cost-benefit analysis, priority of actions, and custom-designed protocols for restoring and monitoring multiple coastal habitats. The toolbox framework will have common and specific tools that will be tested, optimised, and demonstrated in five different ecosystems across a latitudinal gradient of the Arctic-Atlantic basin, ranging from the high-Arctic Svalbard (79° N) in the north to the Madeira archipelago (33° N) in the south. In Madeira, project CLIMAREST will leverage opportunistic datasets from the existing mobile applications and digital platform tools for web-based surveys, allowing the reach out to a wide stakeholder audience, enabling citizen and stakeholder participation in monitoring of restoration activities and scenarios.

Project Designation:		CLIMAREST - Coastal Climate Resilience and Marine Restoration Tools for the Arctic Atlantic basin
Program:		Horizon Europe
Start Date:		01/12/2022
End Date:		30/11/2025
Total Budget:		8 701 780,25 €
Funding:		8 500 000,00 €
ARDITI budget:		797 375,00 €
ARDITI funding:		797 375,00 €
Coordinator:		Sintef Ocean AS
Partners:		Sintef Ocean AS (NO); Stiftelsen Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning Nina (NO); Institut Francais de Recherche pour L'exploitation de La Mer (FR); ARDITI - Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação (PT); Wavec/Offshore Renewables - Centro de Energia Offshore (PT); National University of Ireland Galway (IE); Universidad de Malaga (ES); Universidad de Alicante (ES); Universidad de Vigo (ES); Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet NTNU (NO); Meteorologisk Institutt (NO); Universita Politecnica Delle Marche (IT); Universita Degli Studi Di Napoli Federico II (NO); Seaboost (FR); Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DK); Aarhus Universitet (DK).
Website:		https://climarest.eu/
		This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 101093865.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

This project aims to evaluate, through sensing, the behavior of the banana tree throughout its production cycle. Using information about the location, size of the land, number of existing plants, cultivation conditions, etc., which will allow GESBA to have at all times a set of information essential to its main activity of commercializing the banana product. On the other hand, it is intended, through constant monitoring, using sensors, to identify variables that, in the banana production cycle, decisively influence its growth and, subsequently, to act on these same variables to introduce improvements in the commercialization of the product. product. Finally, and always bearing in mind the need to offer the public a product of excellence, it is essential to intervene to improve the conditions for transporting bunches of bananas. Given the characteristics of our island and taking into account the conditions and places where bananas are grown, the transport of bunches of bananas from the banana tree to the collection point is done manually by the farmers themselves, who, in most cases, carry the bunches on their backs over long distances in adverse conditions. For this reason and as a way of guaranteeing the excellence of the products, the intention is to automate this transport by applying a cable car system that will allow avoiding all this additional effort on the part of the farmers.

The project has three clear objectives:
1) Georeferencing all plots of land existing in the region capable of being used in banana cultivation;
2) Thoroughly analyze the entire banana production cycle using sensors and pilot agronomic studies, which will allow the collection and validation of information (data), which will be transmitted to a centralized data platform, subsequently analyzed and used in the follow-up and optimization of production and monitoring of its quality;
3) Create a transport system for bunches of bananas, from the banana tree to the collection centre, which will make it possible to overcome today's constraints, such as the lack of available labor, adverse weather conditions, and orography of the land that makes transportation difficult.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

The project's general objective is to increase the number of doctorates and post-doctorates in the non-academic job market, with a particular focus on business, providing SMEs and large companies with highly qualified resources that allow them to increase exports of products and services based on scientific knowledge.

It is also intended to expand and maintain a vigorous and robust culture of research, teaching (postgraduate training based on Doctoral Programs, Doctoral Scholarships and Post-Doctoral Scholarships), Technological development and sharing of resources, highly involved in the production and dissemination of knowledge, based on national and international collaborations.

Check the project's sheet:

ISLANDAP ADVANCED promotes, from ISLANDAP (MAC/1.1a/207) new objectives in terms of food safety, waste reduction and efficient use of resources in the ORs, all in a coordinated and multidisciplinary inter-regional way, increasing the working groups in Madeira and Cape Verde and including the Azores. Three specific objectives will be promoted:

1. Research and development of by-products and food and biological improvements for sustainable aquaponic production adapted to ORs;
2. Research and development in lightweight technologies and automation for sustainable aquaponic production adapted to RUPs;
3. Research and development in the circular economy to generate innovation and added value in sustainable development and bioproducts adapted to the ORs. 

O MITIExcell melhorará a capacidade da ARDITI em investigação e desenvolvimento tecnológico, ampliando o potencial humano e promovendo uma massa crítica de investigadores com experiência interdisciplinar em interação homem-computador (HCI) procurando investigar e desenvolver soluções inovadoras humanísticas e tecnológicas, que aproveitem as vantagens do posicionamento geográfico ultraperiférico da Madeira na promoção da justiça social, sustentabilidade ambiental e motivação das comunidades pelas novas tecnologias e redes sociais. Também trabalhará em ferramentas de análise de tendências em turismo e marketing, complementadas com experiência transmídia. O projeto de três anos irá alavancar parcerias internacionais com a Carnegie Mellon University, University of Texas em Austin e University College London, no aspecto de I&D.

O principal objetivo deste projeto é fortalecer a educação especulativa em design, coletando e trocando conhecimentos e experiências existentes, enquanto desenvolvemos novos métodos nesse campo emergente de design. Ao criar uma parceria estratégica transnacional, construída em diferentes contextos e experiências em toda a Europa, ele criará uma estrutura para o intercâmbio de idéias e abordagens e desenvolverá um conjunto de ferramentas de recursos para a educação especulativa em design. No contexto das condições sociais, tecnológicas, de mídia e econômicas que mudam rapidamente, um número crescente de designers está desenvolvendo novas abordagens para o design. Esses "novos designers" agem nas fronteiras das disciplinas tradicionalmente definidas, obscurecendo as distinções entre elas. Em suas pesquisas, esses novos designers se envolvem com diversos campos da ciência, principalmente ciências da computação e engenharia, sociologia, psicologia, arquitetura, biotecnologia, nanotecnologia etc., com o objetivo de refletir criticamente sobre o desenvolvimento e o papel da tecnologia na sociedade. 

Plataforma para o desenvolvimento das PME (Pequenas e Médias Empresas) da Macaronésia através da utilização das tecnologias da Internet do Futuro.

Objetivos:

• Melhorar a competitividade das PME;
• Criação de condições para a internacionalização de empresas;
• Transferência de conhecimento;
• Implementação das tecnologias futuras de Internet;
• Internacionalização FI-MAC.

DYNAMIC-eGOV project aims to boost the use of ICT in the public administration bodies of Macaronesia governments, improving public services, productivity and organizational effectiveness, as well as the relationship with citizens, namely in information, procedures and services. The aim is to promote a transnational cooperation network for the use of ICT and the development of a computer tool for automatic code generation that allows the creation of apps for electronic administration in an easy and intuitive way, enhancing the effectiveness of public services. DYNAMIC-eGOV also intends to implement a pilot project for the identification and modelling of processes using the DEMO methodology and language — (Design & Engineering Methodology for Organizations — http://www.ee-institute.org), the models being then used for the automatic/direct generation of applications for electronic administration.

  This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

IDL - Instituto Dom Luiz is a Research Center dedicated to Geosciences and a permanent Institute of the University of Lisbon. The IDL was founded in 1853 and has continuously contributed to different areas of Geosciences. In its early years, IDL was mainly dedicated to Meteorology and Geophysics around the still operational Observatório do Clima e Seismologia de Lisboa. Since 2004, IDL has integrated Geology and Geodesy into its interests. In the last decade, the IDL has grown substantially with the integration of young researchers in areas such as Oceanography, Marine Geosciences and Renewable Energies.

IDL research is aligned around three thematic lines “Climate Change”, “Solid Earth Dynamics” and “Energy and Land Resources”. The Iberian Peninsula and the enlarged Portuguese continental shelf constitute natural laboratories for world-class Geoscience studies within these thematic lines, addressing the sustainable use of energy, water and raw materials, the management of natural hazards, taking into account environmental and social conditions, and the opening of a new ocean frontier.

IDL is dedicated to fundamental but also experimental and observational research and the development of new applications of knowledge in Geosciences. Research in Fundamental Geosciences, in Atmospheric, Solid Earth or Oceanic processes, related to the special nature of the interactions between those systems that occur in the Northeastern Atlantic Frontier System, one of the 4 regions of the world, or close to the Atlantic Ridge, is especially promising. Both systems are remarkably active and affect large areas of the world.

IDL is directly responsible for one of the new FCT Doctoral Programs in Earth System Science (EARTHSYSTEMS) and is a partner of another FCT Doctoral Program in Sustainable Energy Systems (SES, MIT-Portugal). These two programs cover the main research topics of the IDL and provide a continuous flow of PhD students and a strong interaction with other Portuguese and international research groups. Scientific Objectives: The IDL aims to be relevant not only to fundamental Earth System research but also to applications and technologies that relate science to key 21st-century societal concerns: predicting and adapting to climate change and other important natural hazards and establishing an environmentally sustainable supply of raw materials, water and energy.

The fusion of Geoscience research with applications and technologies is the key both to the transfer of knowledge to society and the training of a new generation of scientists and engineers.

Research Groups:

• Climate Change, atmosphere-land-ocean processes and extremes;
• Earth Surface Processes;
• Solid Earth dynamics, hazards and resources;
• Continental margins and the deep ocean frontier;
• Energy transition.

SMARTBLUEF aims to consolidate this transnational alliance of agents to support innovation as a tool to promote innovative culture and internationalization through the use of shared synergies, capabilities and resources in the area of MAC cooperation. For this, SMARTBLUEF is structured around three specific objectives:

• OE1 GOVERNANCE - Strengthen territorial cooperation in the blue economy through governance processes and the alliance network of innovation support agents;

• OE2 INNOVATION - Promote innovation, diversification and smart specialization of SMEs in the blue economy through the development of consultancy services, actions and projects aimed at the company;

• OE3 INTERNATIONALIZATION - Promote the increase in the international presence of blue economy companies in the MAC territorial cooperation space through the launch of joint promotion and offer actions.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

RIS3_NET2 project proposes to work under the following:

1. Valuing the analysis and planning developed in the drafting of the MAC Space Smart Specialization Strategy through concrete actions;
2. Position MAC Space as a reference in the development of Smart Specialization Strategies, being the first to carry out this cooperation between three regions;
3. Bring Macaronesian society and its professionals closer together, knowledge of the implications of a RIS3 and the existence and importance of the MAC Space Smart Specialization Strategy to achieve greater alignment of projects with established development priorities, greater participation of these regions in cooperation projects, etc.

To this end, it will carry out an action plan, pilot actions for each priority and awareness and training actions, which in turn will be based on other transversal activities.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

PLASMAR + actions to support OEMs based on scientific knowledge and an ecosystem approach cover the entire EEZ of the Madeira, Azores and Canary Islands regions. Among its actions, it is worth mentioning the INDIMAR decision support system for the OEM with a total of 8 maritime activities (incorporation of floating offshore energy and recreational fishing). INDIMAR requires the improvement of data infrastructures to incorporate the new results (such as six new monitoring programs) and to support up to 4 specific applications, such as the analysis of cumulative impacts and ecosystem services or support to the EIA process. The BlueGrowth Index will inform sustainability trends and identify sectors with the greatest potential.
The main beneficiaries are competent management in the marine environment, the sectors of the blue economy and the field of research and development, and they are invited to participate in training actions.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The protocol aims to establish cooperation between the Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas, the Regional Government of Madeira, the University of Madeira and ARDITI, with a view to developing, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, a research project of excellence with the aim of applying and developing robotic systems, remote sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as "AUVs", and autonomous underwater vehicles (commonly referred to as "UAVs"), for environmental surveillance and monitoring, particularly focused on the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ of RAM).

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

MACbioIDi2 intends to take advantage of the new innovative ecosystem generated by the previous MACbioIDi in an international “hub” of excellence in Macaronesia, focused on technological R + D + i, sustainability, ICTs and training, applied to medicine and inclusive with Africa. It has internationally renowned associate participants from America and Europe and African beneficiaries and partners. It focuses on open medical technologies with sustainable and inclusive intellectual property models. The project is structured around an R + D + i objective, which includes medical imaging, neurosciences and advanced instrumentation; another objective of systems integration, with diagnostic and surgical imaging intervention, design of prostheses and neurorehabilitation systems; and a third objective of transfer to the company, Africa and training. The technological and training convergence of Europe, Africa and America in our "hub" is unique and a great opportunity.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

ARNET aims to increase the excellence, impact and applicability of scientific production and results related to marine and freshwater research, strengthening national and international cooperation and partnerships (researchers, academics, administration and private companies) to increase success in obtaining competitive funding, promote scientific work, train high-level scientists and leverage its role as a key institution in aquatic and environmental matters, thus orienting ARNET towards the pursuit of the five (5) objectives of the subordinate National Scientific and Technological Policy to five thematic areas of the Research and Innovation Agenda: 1. Agrifood, Forests and Biodiversity, 2. Climate Change, 3. Circular Economy, 4. Space and Earth Observation and 5. Mar.

Conceptually, five specific types of challenges were identified as central themes for the ARNET intervention: scientific, environmental, health (environmental health), economic and social. For each one, a specific objective was established, with the capacity to support and monitor public policies: 1 - Support the development of scientific and technological approaches for the sustainable use of marine, freshwater, estuarine and marine freshwater ecosystems; 2 - Deepen knowledge about the functioning of estuarine and freshwater marine ecosystems, addressing changes that threaten ecological resilience and environmental sustainability; 3 - To promote the good ecological and healthy state of the seas and oceans, estuaries and river basins; 4 - Explore solutions based on biotechnology and nature to encourage better management of aquatic resources; 5 - Promote models of participatory governance and encourage the emergence of a literate oceanic society.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The project seeks to create an intelligent management platform for domestic hot water systems in service buildings.

Concerns about energy, sustainability and emission reductions increasingly dominate the daily action and strategic plans of companies. This point is particularly important in the tourism sector, where direct contact with the customer requires extra care in approaching suppliers.

Hotels are buildings with a huge ecological footprint. Even with the most basic service delivery, such as overnight stays, there is a great weight in its operation. The consumption of domestic hot water is of particular importance, both because of its cost and the fact that it requires two types of resources in its delivery – Energy and Water. The project aims to create a set of intelligent tools for managing DHW systems that allow a reduction in energy consumption.

Project goals:

Implementation of a local monitoring solution – In order to obtain the data necessary for the development of the algorithms, a monitoring network will be prepared in previously selected hotel units. These local data, together with other high-precision numerical meteorological simulation data, will allow obtaining the necessary information to develop and train models, as well as test the performance of the obtained estimates. Application of numerical meteorological simulation techniques – Different approaches to numerical meteorological simulation will be tested using coupling to models that allow scale reduction. These are intended to reproduce results of different meteorological quantities for any period, past (Hindcast) or future (Forecast).

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): 

The general objective of the project is to promote the development of sustainable and innovative aquaculture by promoting R&D for the production of marine invertebrates of commercial interest to diversify production activities that are environmentally compatible by applying an ecosystem approach. The project consists of 3 specific objectives:

1 - Create a joint exchange platform, cross-border and transnational, to develop sustainable aquatic techniques in ultra-peripheral regions that are part of the cooperation area;

2 - Enhance the knowledge in R&D of research centres on invertebrate production techniques of commercial interest to strengthen their joint participation in competitive projects and develop applicable production protocols, contributing to diversifying the activities of the sector;

3 - Assess the development potential of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture techniques (IMTA) in Macaronesia.

BIO BEX-A project aims to provide a fully digital and centrally controlled station for sludge treatment based on data analysis. The main objective is to reduce contamination caused by waste sludge resulting from water treatment plants, dehydrating them up to 40% more than other systems available on the market. In this way, the deposit of sludge in natural environments without proper treatment is prevented, which helps in the fight against climate change.

BIO BEX-A was conceived as a service for the treatment of residual sludge that operates through instrumentation and digital control technology capable of analyzing the type of compound to be treated, salinity, and pH, among other parameters, to later use the pressure and temperature suitable for dewatering these sludges. This makes it possible to separate toxic waste, which is then disposed of, from clean water.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

The commitment to knowledge constitutes a central aim of the program of the XXI Constitutional Government and the National Reform Program, reflecting the importance that scientific employment assumes in Portuguese society. Investment in knowledge, as demonstrated in the last forty years in Portugal, is an essential pillar for the success of the scientific and technological development of a country and must be translated into a public policy unequivocally oriented towards stimulating the growing affirmation and recognition of advanced qualifications. and the employment of human resources at the national and international level, in line with the importance of teaching and research activities. Attracting and retaining qualified human resources, including encouraging the opening of employment opportunities and the development of professional career paths for doctorates, together with the promotion of the rejuvenation of human resources of the entities that make up the National Scientific and Technological System (SCTN), are fundamental purposes of Portugal's commitment to knowledge. This project funds the hiring of 2 PhD researchers for ARDITI.

The main objective of the circleFLY project is to develop an exploration model for the recovery of organic waste through the black soldier fly and the application of circular economy principles in outermost regions. Thus, with the use of organic residues generated in Madeira Island, black soldier fly larvae will be produced, and from these, products for animal feed will be obtained directly or indirectly for incorporation in rations.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

This project aims to create an observatory that generates quantitative and qualitative data on the impact of microplastics and different pollutants on the beaches of the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira and Azores archipelagos. To this end, a program will be developed to monitor microplastics and different pollutants in the sands and waters of the beaches of the four archipelagos, which will show the degree of existing contamination and its evolution. Studies will also be conducted on the incidence of microplastics in some types of fish and their effects on food chains and ecosystems. The project also aims to contribute to the improvement of public knowledge regarding contamination by plastics, including raising awareness among the population, carrying out important dissemination, training and environmental education actions on the marine spaces of the four archipelagos.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

Through the already existing MARCET Network (MAC/ 1.1b/149), the consequent harmonization of protocols aimed at the conservation of Macaronesian cetacean populations, and the analysis carried out on the current situation of the tourist sector associated with these species; this new initiative was born (MARCET II Project) with the objective of generating management tools at local and regional level for the protection of groups of cetaceans that live in protected marine areas and of special interest for the activity, the conservation of the good environmental status of these areas and the development of ecological and environmental sustainability criteria applicable to the whale watching ecotourism activity, thus implying its strengthening and value as a model of sustainable economic development in the region.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

MAC-CLIMA aims to consolidate an international scientific observation network in the region in order to define coordinated strategies for climate, atmospheric and oceanographic monitoring. These strategic measures will strengthen resilience and preserve vital resources of the region's populations, such as water supply, productive sectors, coastal infrastructure against rising sea levels, public health, biodiversity and many other areas where changes are expected due to climate change. The resulting diagnoses will make it possible to propose adaptation and mitigation policies for this phenomenon in all territories that may be affected by this type of disaster. The project will also promote citizen participation and knowledge about the risks and impacts caused by global warming in the cooperation area.

With this common challenge, OCEANLIT's general objective is to "reduce marine debris, helping to conserve and restore protected coastal and marine natural spaces in oceanic archipelagos". The project will have an applied approach to contribute to reducing this waste based on three specific objectives:

• SO1: generate knowledge, solutions and tools for the characterization and monitoring of waste that help in decision-making on waste reduction and minimization of environmental impact;
• SO2: promote the improvement of waste management facilities and the involvement of professionals, users, port managers and administrations in the integration of marine waste into waste management systems;
• SO3: sensitize and sensitize professionals, users and the general public through communication actions, campaigns, dissemination of good practices and success stories.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

MIMAR+ consolidates and expands the advances in MIMAR's knowledge, trying to group interested agents throughout the region under the cover of a Marine Observatory dedicated to making a real assessment of the impacts that are being generated by introduced and invasive species, HABs and the changes produced by global warming and human activity in marine habitats, proposing common methodologies for monitoring, control and mitigation. In addition, it will export all the scientific knowledge acquired and implement an ambitious training and awareness program on the changes that are taking place in the marine area and its conservation.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

A necessidade de Abordagens Baseadas em Ecossistemas (EBA) padronizadas que atendem aos requisitos do MSFD e as necessidades práticas das autoridades competentes são reconhecidas há muito tempo. Tal como salientado no relatório da Comissão sobre o primeiro ciclo de implementação do DTSM, os Estados-Membros da UE lutaram para desenvolver abordagens de execução inter-comparáveis ​​e regionalmente harmonizadas, e a aplicação de estratégias marinhas tem sido principalmente a nível nacional. Para o primeiro ciclo, esta falta de harmonização regional constituiu um obstáculo à aplicação efetiva da diretiva, em especial do artigo 3.º, n.º 5, ad 5, que determina a determinação sub-regional do bom estado ambiental (BIG).
Territórios marinhos na Europa podem se estender até 350 milhas náuticas a partir da costa e a profundidades de 5000m. O tamanho, a inacessibilidade, a natureza dinâmica e a variabilidade desses sistemas inevitavelmente resultam em incerteza sobre a condição do sistema. Essa falta de conhecimento completo é um conceito fundamental na EBA adaptativa. Reconhecendo o tremendo desafio de medir, monitorar e atender o GES nessas áreas, a decisão revisada da comissão sobre descritores ea estratégia comum de implementação do Grupo de Coordenação da Estratégia Marinha enfatizaram o papel das abordagens baseadas no risco para permitir a eficiência regional e regional. implementação sub-regional do DQEM e “concentrar os seus esforços nas principais pressões antropogénicas que afectam as suas águas” (considerando 6) e estabelecer limiares “com base no princípio da precaução, reflectindo o risco potencial para o ambiente marinho” ( N.º 1 do artigo 4.º) e o conceito de risco é explícito na própria directiva (considerando 27 e n.º 4 do artigo 14.º).
RAGES reúne autoridades públicas de quatro Estados-Membros da UE (Irlanda, França, Espanha e Portugal) com responsabilidade partilhada pela implementação regional e sub-regional do MSFD na região do Atlântico Nordeste, juntamente com especialistas em análise de risco (INERIS), e especialização técnica em medição e monitorização ecológica (MaREI, IMPA, ARDITI, FCUL) para cumprir os objectivos de “apoiar o desenvolvimento da implementação operacional de indicadores regionais, listas de elementos, valores limite e regras de integração para implementar o GES”. Esta apresentação é feita conjuntamente entre os quatro Estados-Membros da UE e as suas autoridades competentes em matéria de DQF, que partilham as três sub-regiões, e está de acordo com as duas prioridades indicadas no convite à apresentação de propostas: “Apoio ao desenvolvimento e à implementação operacional dos programas regionais e sub - indicadores regionais, listas de elementos, valores limiares e regras de integração para implementar a Decisão GES ”e“ Colmatar o fosso entre a Macaronésia e o Oceano Atlântico NE - rumo a uma estratégia coordenada ”(Macaronésia- Prioridade 2). padrões na gestão de risco (ISO 31000) com as etapas obrigatórias do processo de implementação do MSFD, a RAGES utilizará dados e informações dos programas nacionais existentes do 1º ciclo e iniciativas regionais (ex. Avaliação Intermediária da OSPAR) para desenvolver e promover uma implementação eficiente e rentável. , abordagem replicável e transparente para a implementação comum do MSFD no Atlântico Nordeste.

Este projeto está alinhado com os seguintes Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS):

The Associated Laboratory for Robotics and Engineering Systems (LARSyS) was founded in 2001 to conduct basic and applied research in engineering technologies relevant to industrial applications and societal challenges. LARSyS contributes to new research challenges due to the following:

A solid scientific background in Systems, Data Science and Learning;
An interdisciplinary social-technical systems (STS) approach combines analytical tools and engineering methods with social science and design tools and research methods;
A real-world, app-driven motivation for social issues defined along thematic lines;
An engagement with the socio-economic implications of problems and solutions, leading to sustainable development goals through collaborations with industry, public policy recommendations and spin-off companies.

MARE - Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente - is a centre for scientific research, technological development and innovation, with an integrative and holistic approach, concentrating a wide range of skills, capabilities and means, with a territorial implementation of national scope, which develops its research activities oriented to the problems and challenges of society, in close partnership with national and international research centres.

It is a multipolar centre consisting of seven poles, six in Portuguese higher education institutions University of Coimbra (MARE-UCoimbra), Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (MARE-IPLeiria), University of Lisbon (MARE-ULisboa), New University of Lisbon (MARE-NOVA), ISPA - University Institute (MARE-ISPA), University of Évora (MARE-UÉvora), and one in the archipelago of Madeira (MARE-Madeira).

MARE has technical and scientific expertise to address all aquatic ecosystems, including river basins and adjacent areas, estuaries, coastal and oceanic marine ecosystems.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

The goal of the RELIABLE project is to develop a geographic public dashboard with real-time and high-spatial-resolution information on health risks to building occupants during extreme weather events - heat and cold waves. This dashboard will improve current warning systems in two dimensions:

1) improve current risk prediction models by integrating new public data sources processed with machine learning algorithms;
2) increase the spatial and temporal resolution of warnings, if possible, to the statistical subsection level (BGRI).

This will be done through the collection, aggregation, processing and modelling of four data sources:

a) Historical information relating to health indicators during extreme weather events. It is important to improve the models that correlate the incidence of these events with events in the health system (people seeking health care, deaths), demographics (age) and sociodemographic indicators (more exposed and vulnerable), as well as characteristics of the building (year of construction, typology). One of the central aspects is to attribute historical information to the BGRI level, improving the existing information layers and distinguishing effects such as the exact location of death (e.g. hospital) and actual residence (e.g. retirement homes) and official/tax residence;

b) Weather forecast with high spatial resolution, where detailed information is calculated on the BRGI scale. Forecasting models will be improved by taking into account historical meteorological data and health data (mortality, morbidity and other indicators);

c) Data from the 2011 national census need to be updated, especially regarding age and sociodemographic indicators (the next census will be carried out in 2021, and data will be accessible in 2022). This will be done by updating INE data with new data sources, such as digital information from municipalities (e.g. property tax information / IMI) and satellite images.

d) The database of more than 1 million building energy performance certificates (EPC) has already been issued by ADENE to estimate indoor thermal comfort conditions. This is the main source of information, as it allows estimating in detail the experience of thermal comfort inside buildings.

e) The joint processing and analysis of all these data flows will allow the development of a new model that calculates a new indicator - similar to the ICARO and FRIESA alert indicators - to the resolution of the BGRI statistical subsection (which divides Portugal into 178 364 geographic areas), which correspond in urban environments to a street or in rural areas to houses/places. The current resolution is at the district level (18 on the mainland and 2 on the archipelagos).

f) The model and data will be available on a public panel that can be embedded on the websites of different public authorities (ADENE, INSA, municipal services) and the information will be updated every 6 hours (the minimum temporal resolution of weather forecast models). The dashboard will have an API that will allow anyone to receive direct alerts about a specific location (for example, nursing home managers or citizens who want to receive specific alerts about their parents/family members' residences).

Less than approximately 10% of the plastic that enters the ocean can be accounted for today, probably due to fragmentation into small microplastics (MP) not quantified by modern techniques or to export from the ocean surface. It is unknown how much plastic debris actually floats on the ocean's surface, what mechanisms control the transport and fate of plastic from land to the deep sea, and what ecological impact this may have.

The HOTMIC project addresses these knowledge gaps by focusing on a land-ocean link model between Western Europe and the North Atlantic Ocean current. The purpose of HOTMIC is to map the distribution of PM, including <10μm particles and microfibers, in water, sediments and biota from the coastal ocean to the open ocean gyre and deep sea. This project will quantify the processes that control the lateral and vertical transport of PM, including biofouling, (bio)aggregation and deposition, for incorporation into global ocean models. To understand the fate of PM in the ocean, HOTMIC will examine microplastic weathering signatures during maritime transport and assess the predominant mechanisms that create the weathering signature, including the biological effects of biodestruction and ingestion.

This project is aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goal (SDG):

CleanAtlantic project aims to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving the ability to monitor, prevent and remove (macro) marine litter. The project will also contribute to raising awareness and changing attitudes among stakeholders and improving marine litter management systems.
The project's main objectives are:

• To provide an overview of the current situation, existing knowledge, data and initiatives in the Atlantic regions and definition of gaps;
• Review of current systems to monitor and record marine litter and provide protocols, tools and indicators to address monitoring needs;
• Development of modelling tools to predict the origin, circulation and destination of marine litter and elaboration of regional maps of accumulation hot spots using models, remote sensing technologies and aerial, surface and submarine systems;
• Address prevention through the development of best practices to reduce inputs from the fisheries and port sectors;
• Combat the removal of marine litter by implementing litter fishing initiatives, reducing the presence of “abandoned and discarded fishing gear” on the seabed, and developing best practices for routine beach litter cleaning by local authorities;
• Provide training and awareness-raising activities aimed at various audiences and transfer project results to competent authorities and key stakeholders in order to improve management and facilitate the implementation of the DQEM Directive (Marine Strategy Framework Directive).

O projecto CIVITAS-DESTINATIONS enquadra-se na iniciativa CIVITAS 2016-2020, reúne parceiros de 11 países europeus, aos quais se junta ainda a China, e é financiado diretamente pela Comissão Europeia no âmbito do programa "H2020-EU.3.4. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport", na call "MOBILITY for GROWTH 2014-2015 - MG-5.5a-2015 - Demonstrating and testing innovative solutions for cleaner and better urban transport and mobility". Foi uma das 3 candidaturas aprovadas entre as cerca de 40 submetidas.

O coordenador europeu do projeto é a empresa Horários do Funchal (HF) e, a nível regional são ainda parceiros, a ARDITI (Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação), a Câmara Municipal do Funchal (CMF), a AREAM (Agência Regional de Energia e Ambiente da Madeira) e a Secretaria Regional da Economia Turismo e Cultura (SRETC). Os restantes parceiros europeus são da França, Itália, Espanha, Chipre, Malta, Grécia, Alemanha, Reino Unido, Roménia e Bélgica. As cidades envolvidas são todas insulares e são o Funchal (Madeira, PT), Las Palmas (Canárias, ES), Limassol (CY), Portoferrio + Rio Marina (Elba, IT), Rethymnon (Creta, GR) e La Valletta (MA).

A ARDITI participa em 4 medidas regionais, liderando duas delas: uma no âmbito do "Smart sensing/metering and user generated content to improve planning and mobility services – MAD2.2" e outra no âmbito da "Gamification as a way to induce behavioural change in Mobility – MAD6.1". Para além desta coordenação a Agência participa ainda em outras duas medidas subordinadas aos temas:  "Smart PT traveller information service – MAD7.3" e "Green credits: A Business Model for Mobility, Sustainability and Tourism – MAD6.2".

O projecto teve o seu início a 01/09/2016, tem uma duração prevista de 48 meses (4 anos) e um orçamento total de 4,5 Milhões de Euros para os parceiros regionais (Madeira), com um co-financiamento médio da Comissão Europeia de 89% (4 Milhões de Euros). A este projecto corresponde o grant agreement Nº 689031 (nº do contrato de projeto com a Comissão Europeia).

Para além do CIVITAS-DESTINATIONS, nesta call foram aprovados apenas mais 2 projetos de “living lab” desta natureza, sendo que os outros dois são o CIVITAS-PORTIS e o CIVITAS-ECCENTRIC (mais informação em http://www.civitas.eu).