This section presents all past projects related to Ca' Foscari's Global Challenges. To discover the on-going projects, please visit the page Projects.
SIforREF – Social policies for refugees integration
The challenge that SIforREF addresses is combating the risk of marginalization of refugees after the reception phases, which are different in each country, through the design and implementation of social innovation methodologies. The project aims to facilitate refugees’ autonomy by enhancing or launching refugee integration policies at regional and local level (countries involved: Italy, Germany, Austria and Slovenia). To achieve this objective, refugee integration should be included in the decisional agenda both at local and transnational level and policy-makers should adopt inclusive measures in governance. The complexity of this issue requires a mutual learning among central European regions, especially neighbourhood regions like those involved in the project.
Website
Researcher: Francesca Campomori
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2021
ECOS4IN ‐ Cross‐border Ecosystem for Industry 4.0
The final goal of the project is to contribute to the organizational and technological culture within micro, small and big enterprises in all the economic-productive sectors, raising awarness on the potential of the digital progress. More specifically, ECOS4IN looks at the sustainable transnational cooperation through a consortium made of seven central-European partners bringing together professionals coming from research centers, universities and companies to cooperate on common challenges. The starting point is the belief that the forth industrial revolution is the new reality that is challenging all the industrial sectors, whose benefits will depend on the local and regional entities to accept, apply and manage the necessary changes.
Website
Researcher: Vladi Finotto
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2021
Funding: Interreg Central Europe
Con 3 Post: Mapping the Trend in the Construction Sector
Con3Post ("Posting of Third Country Nationals: Mapping the Trend in the Construction Sector") explores a persistent and under-researched trend of recruiting and posting of third-country nationals to work in the construction sector within the single European labour market. It seeks to produce new knowledge on the phenomenon, encourage transnational cooperation and exchange of information between key stakeholders in the EU and third countries, and increase access to information.
Website
Researcher: Fabio Perocco
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2020
AI4EU - A European AI On Demand Platform and Ecosystem
Artificial Intelligence is a disruptive technology of our times with expected impacts rivalling those of electricity or printing. Resources for innovation are currently dominated by giant tech companies in North America and China. To ensure European independence and leadership, we must invest wisely by bundling, connecting and opening our AI resources. The AI4EU project will efficiently build a comprehensive European AI-on-demand platform to lower barriers to innovation, to boost technology transfer and catalyse the growth of start-ups and SMEs in all sectors through Open calls and other actions. The platform will act as a broker, developer and one-stop shop providing and showcasing services, expertise, algorithms, software frameworks, development tools, components, modules, data, computing resources, prototyping functions and access to funding. Training will enable different user communities (engineers, civic leaders, etc.) to obtain skills and certifications.
It will mobilize the whole European AI ecosystem and already unites 80 partners in 21 countries including researchers, innovators and related talents. Eight industry-driven AI pilots will demonstrate the value of the platform as an innovation tool. In order to enhance the platform, research on five key interconnected AI scientific areas will be carried out using platform technologies and results will be implemented. The AI4EU Ethical Observatory will be established to ensure the respect of human centred AI values and European regulations. Sustainability will be ensured via the creation of the AI4EU Foundation.
Project website / EU Cordis database
Researcher: Marcello Pelillo
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2021
Funding: Horizon 2020 Industrial Leadership: Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
QUEST - QUality and Effectiveness in Science and Technology communication
Science Communication (SciCom) plays a key role in addressing today’s societal challenges. To be effective, it must be conceived as multi-directional communication, involving scientists, policy-makers, journalists, other communications actors and citizens. On one side, scientists produce research results but are not always equipped to communicate efficiently to the public and to policy-makers. On the other, journalists and other communications actors act as the interface between science, citizens and other audiences, although they may face challenges in fully comprehending the scientific message. Citizens will have a varied perception of the information received but limited knowledge and tools impeding a qualitative assessment. The variety of means of communication existing today makes communications faster and easier, but that increases the complexity of these interactions and the challenge to communicate “sound” science. We also need to consider that much of today SciCom passes through the digital sphere, as the advent of digitalization has changed the way in which information flows and opinions are shaped, also regarding science. Social media are one of the key representatives of these modern means of communication, deserving a special focus.
QUEST aims at facing this challenge with a multi-step approach that will: (1) understand the dynamics of today SciCom (2) design tools to evaluate SciCom quality (3) experiment best practices and proposing innovative ways for SciCom (4) promote SciCom training (5) build an engaging SciCom community. The focus will be on (a) journalism (b) Social media (c) Museums, recognized as having the highest impact in this context. Climate change, vaccines and Artificial Intelligence are used as case studies.
Project website / EU Cordis database
Researchers: Fabiana Zollo, Enrico Costa
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/01/2021
Funding: Horizon 2020
Immersive Underwater Museum experience for a wider inclusion
Aim of the Underwater Muse project, coordinated by ERPAC of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, is the development of proposals for the valorization of the underwater archaeological heritage of the Italian and Croatian Adriatic coasts. In particular, the partners, respecting the guidances of the Unesco Convention on the Underwater Heritage, will promote the in situ maintenance of the sites and the organization of parks which allow the underwater visit of this heritage. The digital virtual visit of the underwater sites, a solution which guarantees a completed sharing of this particular heritage, and the creation of a GIS platform for the dissemination of the most important sites, will be other important topics on which the team of Ca’ Foscari, coordinated by Carlo Beltrame, will work.
Website
Researcher: Carlo Beltrame
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 30/06/2021
RiskGONE: Risk Governance of Nanotechnology
Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are covered by REACH/CLP regulations; the general opinion is that the risk assessment (RA) approach routinely used for conventional chemicals is also applicable to ENMs. However, as acknowledged by OECD and ECHA, the OECD and ISO Test Guidelines (TGs) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) need to be verified and adapted to be applicable to ENMs. The project RiskGONE will support the standardization and validation process for ENM by evaluating, optimizing and pre-validating SOPs and TGs and integrating them into a framework for risk governance (RG) of ENMs.
Project website / EU Cordis database
Researcher: Antonio Marcomini
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2022
Funding: Horizon 2020 Industrial Leadership - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced materials
Smart Accelerators of Cultural Heritage Entrepreneurship
The main objective of "SACHE" is to develop and deliver integrated local development strategies based on tools and approaches that would accelerate creative entrepreneurship within and around cultural heritage (CH). The project intends to expand and strengthen the role of CH sites, symbols and values by transforming them into “Smart Accelerators of Creative Heritage Entrepreneurship" thorough the development of a central European model. Museum, galleries, theatres and festivals will be conceived not only as sites of education or entertainment but also as accelerators, i.e. cultural engines that mobilize and nurture the energies of small creative business. This will expand the access to CH but also the production of value enhancing services, the development of innovative clustering of CCIs around each SACHE and the fostering of cross-sectorial cooperation with other industrial and service sectors especially in the digital technologies.
Website
Researcher: Fabrizio Panozzo
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2021
Innovative packaging and display tools for cultural heritage: APACHE
Most cultural heritage objects housed by museums are often stored under unsuitable climate conditions. The project APACHE will develop a cutting edge technology to control and prevent the degradation of such patrimony. It will take advantage of advanced sensing and absorbing materials to control the artifacts’ environment, modeling of artifacts’ degradation and remote control of the works of art stressors to reduce to the lowest possible level the costs actually required by conventional technology for art conservation. On the other hand, new generation of active and intelligent display cases, crates, and storage boxes, will be implemented. Wireless sensing devices will be employed, as well as multiscale models integrated in an open simulation environment will be used to predict the degradation of artifacts.
Project website / EU Cordis database
Researcher: Antonio Marcomini
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 30/06/2022
Funding: Horizon 2020 Industrial Leadership - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced materials