Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AeroSTREAM (Strengthening Research and Innovation Excellence in Autonomous Aerial Systems)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-10-01 al 2025-06-30
Built on lessons learned and experience gained upon successful implementation of twinning project AeroTwin, the project AeroSTREAM is conceived as an effort to stream AeroTwin positive effects on a network of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to enlarge the capacity for research and innovation and to prepare and establish long-lasting and integrated cooperation between those institutions and their partners in the local ecosystem. The essential support to reach this objective will come from internationally leading HEIs and innovation-intensive organizations from Spain, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The long-lasting and integrated cooperation between institutions will be established in the field of autonomous aerial systems (AAS) applications, with emphasis on smart agriculture, forestry and logistics.
The project objectives are:
Objective 1
Integrated and long-term cooperation between HEIs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with international partners in the field of autonomous aerial systems applications, with emphasis on smart agriculture, forestry, and logistics.
This Objective will be achieved through 1) the Identification of resources and challenges of w-HEIs, 2) the Preparation of an action plan for long-term cooperation and 3) The Preparation to embark on the future European Universities Initiative.
Objective 2
Increase in scientific excellence profiles of HEIs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of autonomous aerial systems, and sharing of capacities with international partners.
This objective will be achieved through 1) Raising scientific excellence, 2) Promoting talent and preventing brain drain and 3) Implementation of a shared infrastructure plan
Objective 3
Improvement of quality of innovation management, technology transfer and citizen involvement of HEIs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This objective will be achieved through: 1) Developing an innovation strategy, 2) Strengthening innovation capacity, 3) Mainstreaming the entrepreneurial mindset of researchers, 4) Inducing cooperation with industry stakeholders, 5) Outreach to children, schools, and the general public and 6) Open Science.
Research areas that are going the focus of project AeroSTREAM are AR1: Smart Agriculture, AR2: Forestry and AR3: Logistics.
The project objectives are:
Objective 1
Integrated and long-term cooperation between HEIs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with international partners in the field of autonomous aerial systems applications, with emphasis on smart agriculture, forestry, and logistics.
This Objective will be achieved through 1) the Identification of resources and challenges of w-HEIs, 2) the Preparation of an action plan for long-term cooperation and 3) The Preparation to embark on the future European Universities Initiative.
Objective 2
Increase in scientific excellence profiles of HEIs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of autonomous aerial systems, and sharing of capacities with international partners.
This objective will be achieved through 1) Raising scientific excellence, 2) Promoting talent and preventing brain drain and 3) Implementation of a shared infrastructure plan
Objective 3
Improvement of quality of innovation management, technology transfer and citizen involvement of HEIs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This objective will be achieved through: 1) Developing an innovation strategy, 2) Strengthening innovation capacity, 3) Mainstreaming the entrepreneurial mindset of researchers, 4) Inducing cooperation with industry stakeholders, 5) Outreach to children, schools, and the general public and 6) Open Science.
Research areas that are going the focus of project AeroSTREAM are AR1: Smart Agriculture, AR2: Forestry and AR3: Logistics.
To reach Objective 1, in the second reporting period AeroSTREAM partners analyzed the possibilities of includion to European Universities and other alliances focused on joint higher-education and prepared an analysis described in Deliverable 1.4. In the second reporting period, the most significant achievement regarding Objective 1 was the preparation of a Shared research strategy and action plan for long term cooperation (Deliverable 1.3). This strategy defined the cooperation vision to create an inclusive network of expert partners in aerial robotics, each contributing unique and complementary strengths, working together to drive impactful advancements in the field. The strategy also established five strategic goals, each accompanied by associated actions that will be implemented and monitored on a yearly basis.
To achieve Objective 2, 14 short visits of WHEI partners to international partners were conducted, where PhD students and senior research staff visited partners to work on a common topic. 26 expert visits, 8 research trainings, two IAV competitions and one summer schools were organized, all dealing with different topics in the field of aerial robotics. In addition, an open remote laboratory developed in the framework of Open Science and infrastructure sharing among partners, which was developed in the first reporting period, was used in 12 experiments. A document listing equipment available by partners and procedures for using them was given in Shared Infrastructure Plan prepared (D2.8)
To achieve Objective 3, innovation strategy for w-HEIs in the area of aerial robotics for AeroSTREAM application areas was developed by ICENT (Deliverable 3.2). Four end-user workshops were organized (DroneDays in Zagreb, 2x BoundingBox in Osijek, workshop in Karlovac). These events consisted of presentations by end users, experts and AeroSTREAM researchers, and exhibition area (except for Karlovac workshop) where WHEI consortium members presented their research. Consortium members organized 4 Workshops for aerial robotics community (3xERF 2024, 2025, 1x ICUAS 2024), 6 Round Tables about Innovation in aerial robotics with focus on application areas, 14 Innovation Trainings (organised by CTA, ICENT, CATEC). Consortium members participated in 34 industry fair throughout the second reporting period. As for goals related to outreach to children, citizen involvement and open science, consortium members participated in 45 outreach events for general public and children (Open Doors, Workshops, Science festivals), and published with AeroSTREAM support in Open Access- 13 journal papers and 21 conference papers.
To achieve Objective 2, 14 short visits of WHEI partners to international partners were conducted, where PhD students and senior research staff visited partners to work on a common topic. 26 expert visits, 8 research trainings, two IAV competitions and one summer schools were organized, all dealing with different topics in the field of aerial robotics. In addition, an open remote laboratory developed in the framework of Open Science and infrastructure sharing among partners, which was developed in the first reporting period, was used in 12 experiments. A document listing equipment available by partners and procedures for using them was given in Shared Infrastructure Plan prepared (D2.8)
To achieve Objective 3, innovation strategy for w-HEIs in the area of aerial robotics for AeroSTREAM application areas was developed by ICENT (Deliverable 3.2). Four end-user workshops were organized (DroneDays in Zagreb, 2x BoundingBox in Osijek, workshop in Karlovac). These events consisted of presentations by end users, experts and AeroSTREAM researchers, and exhibition area (except for Karlovac workshop) where WHEI consortium members presented their research. Consortium members organized 4 Workshops for aerial robotics community (3xERF 2024, 2025, 1x ICUAS 2024), 6 Round Tables about Innovation in aerial robotics with focus on application areas, 14 Innovation Trainings (organised by CTA, ICENT, CATEC). Consortium members participated in 34 industry fair throughout the second reporting period. As for goals related to outreach to children, citizen involvement and open science, consortium members participated in 45 outreach events for general public and children (Open Doors, Workshops, Science festivals), and published with AeroSTREAM support in Open Access- 13 journal papers and 21 conference papers.
In order to keep track of the project implementation and the overall results of the project, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were defined to show the progress of the project and the impact on the beneficiary groups from w-HEIs. The KPIs covered the areas of scientific outputs (focussing on the number of publications, citations, number of submitted and granted projects), innovation (focussing on the number of projects with industry), collaboration (number of joint events, joint publications, joint PhD supervising) and open access (number of open access software, datasets and publications). The baseline was set to the values for w-HEIS before the start of the project (2016-2021).
The majority of the KPIs were met or exceeded (47 out of 60 (78%)), and some of them were even significantly exceeded. The number of KPIs that have increased compared to the baseline is 9 out of 60 (15%) and KPIs that have decreased compared to the baseline - 4 out of 60 (7%). The results show the significant positive impact of AeroSTREAM project to project w-HEI partners.
The majority of the KPIs were met or exceeded (47 out of 60 (78%)), and some of them were even significantly exceeded. The number of KPIs that have increased compared to the baseline is 9 out of 60 (15%) and KPIs that have decreased compared to the baseline - 4 out of 60 (7%). The results show the significant positive impact of AeroSTREAM project to project w-HEI partners.