ERA Chair in Internet of Underwater Things at LABUST

Project Information

UWIN-LABUST

Grant agreement ID: 101086340

DOI

10.3030/101086340

EC signature date 10 October 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2027

Funded under

• Widening participation and spreading excellence

Total cost

€ 2 499 300,00

EU contribution

€ 2 499 300,00

Coordinated by

SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU FAKULTET ELEKTROTEHNIKE I RACUNARSTVA
Croatia

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - UWIN-LABUST (ERA Chair in Internet of Underwater Things at LABUST)

Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

UWIN-LABUST project aims to create conditions and opportunities at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical and Engineering and Computing (UNIZG-FER) in Croatia for high quality researchers and research managers to move and engage to achieve excellence in a sustainable manner within the area of Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT), at the Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies (LABUST).
The objectives of the UWIN-LABUST project are: 1) to recruit Prof. Roee Diamant from University of Haifa as ERA Chair holder who will establish his own team of postdocs, PhDs, a group leader and a technology transfer officer; 2) to achieve excellence in the research area of IoUT (a network of smart interconnected underwater objects) with particular focus on 3 strategic research domains: a) underwater sensor communications, b) underwater acoustic signal processing, and c) underwater collaborative autonomy; 3) to ensure sustainability of the achieved excellence; and 4) to increase UWIN-LABUST group scientific involvement and visibility.
These objectives will be reached through a set of strategic measures: expert visits and outgoing study visits for providing knowledge transfer; research & innovation management trainings and establishment of Technology Transfer Office for transferring results from academia to industry; new MSc and PhD courses to ensure knowledge transfer to new generations; organization of workshops, summer schools and conferences for strengthening links to industry, end-users, and the scientific community.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main results obtained in the first three years of the project include:
• Recruitment of 2 postdocs, 4 PhD students, 1 TTO, and a Group Leader, thus setting firm foundations for the operation of the UWIN-LABUST research group
• 86 expert visits in forms of lectures and tutorials were executed
• 4 outgoing study visits were executed
• 14 collaborative research trials were performed
• 1 new PhD course was established and new materials and contribution to 2 more courses (one MSc and one PhD) are provided
• 8 R&I management training sessions have been held
• 3 workshops for industry (EMRA’23, EMRA’24, EMRA’25) were organized
• 4 summer schools (BtS’23, BtS’24, BtS’25, bootcamp) were organized
• 2 scientific conferences (WUWNet’24, Tech4Bio’25) were organized
• 10 conferences and 4 industry fairs were attended

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The following key performance indicators clearly demonstrate the scale and significance of the outcomes:

OUTCOME 1. Increased attractiveness of the institution
- 86 expert visitors hosted
- 112 students attending BtS summer schools
- 7 visiting PhD students
- 5 visiting MSc students
- 593 attendees at BtS summer schools
- 339 attendees at EMRA workshops
- 210 attendees at scientific conferences organized within UWIN-LABUST

OUTCOME 2. Excellent science
- 21 journal papers (list at https://uwin-labust.fer.hr/uwin-labust/results/publications)
- 14 conference papers (list at https://uwin-labust.fer.hr/uwin-labust/results/publications)
- 3 postdocs involved
- 10 PhD students involved
- 26 submitted research proposals
- 12 granted research proposals

OUTCOME 3. Strong innovation growth
- 71 participants in total in R&I management trainings
- 1 trademark submitted and granted
- 1 spin-off company in the making

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