by Katharina Flicker (EOSC Support Office Austria, SBA Research, TU Wien), Stefan Hanslik (BMBWF), Tereza Kalová (Vienna University Library, University of Vienna)

In 2015, the vision of a European federated and open multi-disciplinary environment, known as the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), was born. EOSC represents a significant leap towards more integrated and accessible scientific resources across Europe. In this context, the EOSC Support Office Austria (EOSC SOA) was launched to coordinate Austria’s contributions to EOSC’s implementation. If you are interested in exploring how EOSC and EOSC SOA are shaping the future of research and why they are crucial for the ERCIM community, continue reading.

by Rafael Kupsa, Amin Anjomshoaa and Markus Tauber (Research Studios Austria)

The EDEN project is at the forefront of sustainable agriculture, integrating Industry 5.0 technologies to improve upon aquaponics systems. This article explores how the project is developing innovative frameworks to maximise resource efficiency, optimise food production, and foster community engagement securely.

by Yasin Ghafourian (Research Studios Austria), Markus Tauber (Research Studios Austria), Germar Schneider, and Andrea Bannert (Infineon Technologies Dresden GmbH & Co. KG), Olga Kattan (Philips), and Erwin Schoitsch (Austrian Institute of Technology)

To promote AI adoption in industrial cyber-physical systems (CPS) within Industry 4.0 and 5.0, it’s crucial to develop tools that support the AI lifecycle and address knowledge gaps in standards among developers. Tailored guidance is needed to ensure AI solutions in safety-critical industries are trustworthy and ethically compliant. Given the fragmented standardisation landscape for CPS, this paper proposes an ethical compliance checklist and a self-assessment tool using large language models (LLMs) to help users navigate standards, close knowledge gaps, and ensure human-centred, legally compliant AI applications.

by Luca Caviglione (CNR-IMATI), Gianluigi   (CNR-ICAR), Massimo Guarascio (CNR-ICAR), and Paolo Zicari (CNR-ICAR)

Modern Man-At-The-End (MATE) attacks can take advantage of Language Models to produce deceptive information or malware variations. Fortunately, they can also be used to implement advanced defensive techniques. In this vein, we present the use of Small Language Models to reveal fraudulent communications or to automatically generate test cases for preventing the exfiltration of data through tampered MQTT brokers.

by Mehdi Akbari Gurabi, Lasse Nitz, Charukeshi Mayuresh Joglekar, and Avikarsha Mandal (Fraunhofer FIT)

As cyberattacks evolve and become more complex, defenders require advanced tools for effective incident response. In the H2020 projects, SAPPAN and CyberSEAS, we conducted research to develop a cybersecurity playbook management system that provides a robust framework for creating, maintaining, and sharing standardised incident response procedures. The pilot validation shows how the system can be streamlined into current cybersecurity operations, towards compliance with the latest security recommendations and directives.

by Hamidreza Yaghoubi, Navtaj Randhawa (University of Applied Sciences Burgenland), and Igor Ivkić (University of Applied Sciences Burgenland and Lancaster University, UK)

Traditional access control systems, such as key cards, PIN pads, and physical keys, face challenges in scalability, security, and user experience in today’s digital world. We present a cloud-based entry system using Raspberry Pi hardware and Amazon Web Services (AWS) technologies like Lambda, Simple Storage Service (S3), and Rekognition. This solution (AWSecure Entry System) enhances security, streamlines authentication, and increases operational efficiency.

by Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos, Vasileios Loukopoulos, Dionysia Mylona, Maria Veneri, and Konstantinos Bastas (Patras Science Park S.A.)

The Greek experience from operation of Science and Technology Parks (STPs) has demonstrated that the most important factors affecting operation of an STP are capacity building, and lack of funding for support of a wide range of services. A novel mechanism that will act as a Distributed Local Cluster is proposed for application in Balkan and Southern European countries.

by Simone Onofri (W3C)

Digital Identities have been in development for decades. As governments increasingly consider becoming providers and consumers of these technologies, they now more than ever have the potential to change the web and the concept of identity as we know it.