by Andrea Siposova, Rudolf Mayer (SBA Research), Matthias Schlögl (GeoSphere Austria) and Jasmin Lampert (AIT)

Climate change brings about changes in both frequency and intensity of extreme weather events around the globe, with impacts on mountain areas such as the Austrian Alps being particularly severe. Conditions conducive to natural hazards such as landslides are expected to increase. The potential damage resulting from such gravitational mass movements underscores the importance of strengthening knowledge about the likelihood of their occurrence. Within the Austrian project gAia, funded by KIRAS [L1], we develop a data-driven approach to provide stakeholders with actionable knowledge to increase preparedness, aid decision-making and support adaptation measures for making our society more climate resilient.

by Monique Kuglitsch and Eri Stern (Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut, HHI)

The Focus Group on AI for Natural Disaster Management was created to address the growing interest in using novel artificial intelligence (AI) methods to manage natural disasters. The Focus Group is tasked with analysing use cases, consulting with experts and reviewing scientific literature to produce standards, with an emphasis on stakeholder and end user involvement, as well as initiating capacity-building activities such as hackathons, hands-on training sessions and workshops.

by Kemal S. Arsava, Ragni F. Mikalsen and Tian Li (RISE Fire Research, Trondheim)

The TREEADS project aims to improve the efficiency of early detection systems, firefighting capabilities, coordination between firefighting and rescue services, and restoration activities. The main goal of TREEADS is to build state-of-the-art products and unite them into a holistic fire management ecosystem. The developed ecosystem will provide solutions to all main phases of wildfire management: prevention, detection, response, and restoration.

by Konstantinos C. Apostolakis, George Margetis and Constantine Stephanidis (FORTH-ICS)

Climate change leads to an increased risk of natural disasters, calling for better-prepared public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) agencies to prevent and suppress life-threatening incidents. Superior network technology will play a key role in enhancing the capacity of first responder organisations to anticipate and efficiently deal with such threats. The 5G-EPICENTRE project is developing an ecosystem comprising experimental evidence, tools and innovative systems, which aim at communicating the benefits of 5G-connected solutions to PPDR organisations.

by András L. Majdik (HUN-REN SZTAKI), Zoltán Székely (SFC), Anita Keszler, Zsolt László Márkus and Tamás Szirányi (HUN-REN SZTAKI)

In case of a disaster, “Plan A” is that first responders arrive and save everyone. But until then, everyone needs a “Plan B” to survive. B-PREPARED is an EU funded project, using virtual reality and gamification  to teach disaster survival skills to European citizens via the medium of a mobile app (Project lifecycle: 2023-2026)

by Sofia Papadogiannaki, Natalia Liora (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and Anastasia Poupkou (Academy of Athens)

Discover the significance of the carbon footprint (CF) in addressing climate change and shaping sustainability strategies for research projects. This article explores a comprehensive methodology drawing from key data elements, delving into emission sources like electricity, materials, transportation and events. Uncover how this meticulous approach, showcased through a case study of two research projects, provides actionable insights into reducing environmental impact and steering toward a greener future.

by Pavel Kogut (21c Consultancy), Lieven Raes (Digital Flanders) and Susie McAleer (21c Consultancy)

Reaching net zero requires fundamental changes to our values and habits, to how we work, travel, produce and consume. It’s a journey that needs all hands on deck. Not just policy-makers or industry but the whole of civil society. Citizen science – the involvement of the public in scientific research – is a form of social innovation that leverages the power of the crowd to provide new insights and solutions to existing problems. COMPAIR is an EU-funded citizen science project that combines inclusive stakeholder engagement and new technologies to develop policies for more liveable, sustainable cities.

by Athanasia-Maria Tompolidi (Consortium for Battery Innovation, CBI), Jonathan Wilson (Loughborough University) and Hassan A Khan (Lahore University of Management Sciences)

This short article introduces the EU funded project LoCEL-H2, which aims to provide low-cost, circular, plug and play, off-grid energy for remote locations along with a hydrogen solution for clean cooking. LoCEL-H2 addresses hot topics such as energy poverty in Africa, the adverse effects of climate change and female health degradation by indoor air pollution due to use of harmful cooking fuels. LoCEL-H2 introduces a unique low-cost, hydrogen-based energy solution (the battery-electrolyser) and a novel battery technology with high performance and excellent circularity, integrated through a decentralised peer-to-peer prosumer microgrid with renewable energy generation.

by Ute Ebert and Jannis Teunissen (CWI)

Electric power grids will play a key role to transport energy in a sustainable way. However the switches in present high voltage grids operate on SF₆ gas, which is the worst greenhouse gas known. To investigate alternative gases, CWI (the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands) and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) now start their third project with Hitachi Energy as the main industrial partner. While TU/e performs experiments, CWI simulates the pre-spark phenomena in these gases. These discharges are surprisingly different from discharges in air and pose new numerical challenges.

by Soteris Constantinou (University of Cyprus), Andreas Konstantinidis (Frederick University) and Demetrios Zeinalipour-Yazti (University of Cyprus)

Due to the global energy crisis and increasing CO₂ emissions, energy efficiency has become a crucial focus. This has led to an increased usage of solar photovoltaic power generation in residential buildings to meet climate and energy targets set by the “Paris Agreement”. With the growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, implementing an intelligent home energy management system can offer energy and peak demand savings. However, planning the optimisation of these devices faces challenges due to the user-defined preference rules, and convergence issues arise when managing multiple IoT devices. We have devised a novel IoT data management system, called GreenCap, which uses a Green Planning evolutionary algorithm. The system focuses on load shifting of IoT-enabled devices, considering factors such as integrating renewable energy sources, managing multiple constraints, peak-demand times, and dynamic pricing. We have implemented a complete prototype of the GreenCap system on Raspberry Pi, connected with the openHAB framework, able to generate sustainable plans ensuring a high level of user comfort and self-consumption, while significantly reducing the imported energy from the grid and CO₂ emissions.

by Anita Graser (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology), Christos Doulkeridis (University of Piraeus) and George S. Theodoropoulos (University of Piraeus)

Innovations in the mobility sector are essential to address the climate emergency. Reliable and sustainable mobility services require actionable data. To address these challenges, the recently launched Horizon Europe project, MobiSpaces, develops an innovative, effective, robust and green ecosystem for the entire life cycle of mobility data. This article presents MobiSpaces’ vision and core technological developments.

by Alexandra Millonig and Marianne Bügelmayer-Blaschek (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology)

Human-made climate change is transforming our environment and confronting us with ever-increasing risks to our health and livelihoods. We therefore need to know how to avert even more serious consequences and how to adapt to the changes already happening. But that is not all, as we need to know whether the actions planned with respect to both aspects are mutually supporting or hindering. Only then can we achieve an effective, safe and just transformation.

by María Luisa Antequera Gómez, Cristóbal Barba González and Ismael Navas Delgado (ITIS Software, University of Málaga)

The Environmental and Biodiversity Climate Change Lab (EnBiC2-Lab) is a cutting-edge project employing virtual research environments (VREs) to comprehensively monitor and analyse climate change's effects on water, air, soil, flora and fauna aspects. EnBiC2-Lab aims to generate effective resolution strategies to enhance climate change resilience and safeguard biodiversity.

by Thomas Ederer, Martin Ivancsits (FH Burgenland) and Igor Ivkić (FH Burgenland, Lancaster University)

Agricultural production is highly dependent on naturally occurring environmental conditions like change of seasons and the weather. Especially in fruit and wine growing, late frosts occurring shortly after the crops have sprouted have the potential to cause massive damage to plants [L1,L2] [1]. In this article we present a cost-efficient temperature monitoring system for detecting and reacting to late frosts to prevent crop failures. The proposed solution includes a data space where Internet of Things (IoT) devices can form a cyber-physical system (CPS) to interact with their nearby environment and securely exchange data. Based on this data, more accurate predictions can be made in the future using machine learning (ML), which will further contribute to minimising economic damage caused by crop failures.

by Christine Liang (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) and the CityCLIM Consortium

Cities are a major contributor of greenhouse gases (75% of global CO2 emissions, according to UNEP [R1]) and are highly affected by climate change events such as heatwaves. However, cities also have the resources and power to be catalysts for change and can play a vital role in climate action. The CityCLIM project mobilises citizens with a variety of methods to raise awareness, contribute data and promote climate adaptation solutions.

by Prokopis K. Theodoridis, (Hellenic Open University), Theofanis V. Zacharatos and Vasiliki S. Boukouvala (University of Patras)

A new mobile app has been developed in Greece to track household food waste. The app is the first of its kind in the country and has the potential to significantly reduce food waste. The app allows users to easily record how much food they waste each day. The data collected by the app can then be used to identify areas where food waste is most prevalent and to develop strategies for reducing it. The data processing reveals that an average Greek household wastes around 400 portions of food annually, with an economic cost of €800–1,000. The app has the potential to raise awareness of the issue, empower consumers to reduce their food waste and help Greece achieve its sustainability goals.

by Peter Kieseberg, Simon Tjoa (St. Pölten UAS) and Andreas Holzinger (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna)

Artificial intelligence (AI) and especially machine learning offer a plethora of novel and interesting applications and will permeate our daily lives. Still, this also indicates that many developers will use AI without possessing deeper knowledge of the security caveats that might arise. In this article, we present a practical guide for the procurement of secure AI.

by Joan Baixauli, Mickael Stefas and Roderick McCall (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology)

Is it time to stop thinking about just augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR)? Should we explore how we can connect different realities together to allow seamless experiences in real-time for work and pleasure?

by Philipp Brauner, Alexander Hick, Ralf Philipsen and Martina Ziefle (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)

With the advent of ChatGPT, LaMD, and other large language models, we wanted to find out what the public expects from artificial intelligence (AI). For a vast number of topics, we measured where the expected likelihood of occurrence is (im)balanced with the evaluation. The resulting criticality map can inform researchers and policy makers about areas in need of particular action.

by Michael Sonntag, René Mayrhofer (Johannes Kepler University Linz) and Stephan Schraml (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH)

The inspection of collector corridors or cable ducts requires permanent and large effort. Aiding (and in the future perhaps automating) this is important for many infrastructure operators. The INFRASPEC project [L1], a two-year project that started in December 2022, improves these periodic reviews by employing a mobile robot to automatically acquire the current physical state, check for missing/added objects and verify the absence of dangerous elements (e.g. gases).

by Letizia Jaccheri, NTNU, interviewed by Monica Divitini, as part of the ERCIM HR initiative to create awareness for diversity in the broadest sense.

Diversity in research institutes is of paramount importance. ERCIM News’ Monica Divitini interviewed Letizia Jaccheri, Professor at NTNU. Jaccheri: “Gender equality is not only a social right  but also a driver of economic development”.

The ERCIM Selection Committee for the Cor Baayen Young Researcher Award unanimously selected Rianne de Heide, nominated by CWI, as the winner for 2023. An honorary mention is given to Denis Merigoux from Inria.

by Maurice ter Beek (CNR-ISTI)

The yearly conference of the ERCIM Working Group on Formal Methods for Industrial Critical Systems, FMICS, the key conference at the intersection of industrial applications and formal methods, reached its 28th edition. This year the participants met in Antwerp, Belgium, from 20 to 22 September 2023.

Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik is accepting proposals for scientific seminars/workshops in all areas of computer science, in particular also in connection with other fields.

Grenoble, France, 19-23 February 2024

The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Socially Pertinent Robots in Gerontological Healthcare - SPRING [L1] seeks to develop Socially Assistive Robots with the capacity of performing multi-person interactions and open-domain dialogue in a gerontological healthcare institution. Starting in 2020, it has produced ground-breaking research to allow robots to move, see, hear and communicate with several actors in complex and unstructured populated spaces.

The ERCIM members Inria and CWI, two leading European research institutes in computer science and mathematics, have launched a new intensive research collaboration to tackle major societal challenges in the coming years. These challenges include:

• Digital Energy: Developing new solutions to manage the electricity grid more efficiently and sustainably, using computer science and mathematics to predict network usage and balance supply and demand.
• European ICT: Developing ICT systems that are aligned with European values, such as user control and privacy.Human interaction in a virtual world: Developing new technologies to enable more natural and engaging interactions between people in virtual environments.