Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EU-CONEXUS ENABLES (EU-CONEXUS ENABLES - Promoting excellence through innovative eco-systems)
Período documentado: 2024-02-01 hasta 2025-04-30
Coastal regions across Europe face rising challenges from climate change, environmental pressures, and the need for sustainable urban development. Many research institutions, especially in widening countries, have fewer opportunities to access tools and networks that could help them respond effectively.
The EU-CONEXUS ENABLES project was created to address these gaps by strengthening research capacity, boosting cooperation between universities, and helping local communities adopt innovative solutions. It unites ten universities in the EU-CONEXUS European University Alliance to develop smart and sustainable ways of managing coastal cities and ecosystems.
At its core, ENABLES promotes Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SmUCS). This means applying cutting-edge Digital Twin technologies—virtual models that simulate real environments—to improve planning, energy efficiency, and climate adaptation in coastal areas.
The project has several objectives:
-Creating a shared ecosystem for knowledge transfer between advanced and less-resourced institutions.
-Developing researchers’ skills and career opportunities, particularly for early-career scientists in widening countries.
-Building strong links between universities and their regions, ensuring research responds to real societal needs.
-Encouraging open science and transparent data sharing.
-Promoting gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in research practices
The EU-CONEXUS ENABLES project was created to address these gaps by strengthening research capacity, boosting cooperation between universities, and helping local communities adopt innovative solutions. It unites ten universities in the EU-CONEXUS European University Alliance to develop smart and sustainable ways of managing coastal cities and ecosystems.
At its core, ENABLES promotes Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SmUCS). This means applying cutting-edge Digital Twin technologies—virtual models that simulate real environments—to improve planning, energy efficiency, and climate adaptation in coastal areas.
The project has several objectives:
-Creating a shared ecosystem for knowledge transfer between advanced and less-resourced institutions.
-Developing researchers’ skills and career opportunities, particularly for early-career scientists in widening countries.
-Building strong links between universities and their regions, ensuring research responds to real societal needs.
-Encouraging open science and transparent data sharing.
-Promoting gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in research practices
In its first phase, ENABLES established interdisciplinary working groups and mapped 29 priority research topics, later refined into 10 joint proposals suitable for PhD and postdoctoral projects. The project produced a catalogue of tested Digital Twin tools covering fields such as energy optimisation, urban infrastructure monitoring, precision agriculture, and climate resilience.
Training programmes reached hundreds of researchers and research managers. The Expanding Your Horizons series delivered workshops on grant writing, open science, and interdisciplinary methods. A dedicated programme for Research Management Administrators strengthened project design and implementation skills.
ENABLES also funded 11 short-term mobility exchanges, allowing researchers to meet mentors, build networks, and co-develop proposals for future funding.
One of the project’s most visible results is the creation of CoReS – Coastal Resilience and Sustainability, an open-access journal that makes research freely available to scientists, policymakers, and the public.
Training programmes reached hundreds of researchers and research managers. The Expanding Your Horizons series delivered workshops on grant writing, open science, and interdisciplinary methods. A dedicated programme for Research Management Administrators strengthened project design and implementation skills.
ENABLES also funded 11 short-term mobility exchanges, allowing researchers to meet mentors, build networks, and co-develop proposals for future funding.
One of the project’s most visible results is the creation of CoReS – Coastal Resilience and Sustainability, an open-access journal that makes research freely available to scientists, policymakers, and the public.
The EU-CONEXUS ENABLES project has produced results that move significantly beyond existing practices in research capacity building and the application of digital tools for sustainable coastal development.
One of the main achievements is the creation of an integrated framework for applying Digital Twin technologies to Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SmUCS). While Digital Twins have been used in specific sectors such as energy or manufacturing, ENABLES is among the first initiatives to systematically identify, adapt, and share Digital Twin tools that address the complex needs of coastal cities—combining infrastructure resilience, climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, and public health monitoring in one coherent approach.
By assembling a catalogue of tested Digital Twin solutions, the project enables research institutions, public authorities, and businesses in widening countries to adopt advanced simulation methods more quickly and cost-effectively. This framework supports better-informed decision-making and helps regions prepare for climate and environmental challenges.
Another result beyond the state of the art is the development of a replicable capacity-building model. ENABLES combined interdisciplinary research planning, targeted training, and researcher mobility into a structured process that can be reused by other alliances. The Expanding Your Horizons training programme and the dedicated track for Research Management Administrators went beyond traditional courses by focusing on practical skills, including grant preparation, ethics, open science, and career development.
The project also demonstrated new ways to link research and policy through the launch of CoReS – Coastal Resilience and Sustainability, an open-access journal that makes scientific knowledge freely available and easy to use by policymakers, practitioners, and communities.
These results are expected to have significant impacts, including:
- Strengthening research ecosystems in widening countries by giving institutions access to tools and methods that were previously out of reach.
- Accelerating the digital and green transitions in coastal regions through practical applications of Digital Twin solutions.
- Improving the resilience of coastal cities to climate change by supporting better planning and risk management.
- Enhancing career prospects for early-career researchers and research managers trained in open, interdisciplinary approaches.
- Stimulating innovation by building stronger connections between universities, businesses, and public authorities.
One of the main achievements is the creation of an integrated framework for applying Digital Twin technologies to Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SmUCS). While Digital Twins have been used in specific sectors such as energy or manufacturing, ENABLES is among the first initiatives to systematically identify, adapt, and share Digital Twin tools that address the complex needs of coastal cities—combining infrastructure resilience, climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, and public health monitoring in one coherent approach.
By assembling a catalogue of tested Digital Twin solutions, the project enables research institutions, public authorities, and businesses in widening countries to adopt advanced simulation methods more quickly and cost-effectively. This framework supports better-informed decision-making and helps regions prepare for climate and environmental challenges.
Another result beyond the state of the art is the development of a replicable capacity-building model. ENABLES combined interdisciplinary research planning, targeted training, and researcher mobility into a structured process that can be reused by other alliances. The Expanding Your Horizons training programme and the dedicated track for Research Management Administrators went beyond traditional courses by focusing on practical skills, including grant preparation, ethics, open science, and career development.
The project also demonstrated new ways to link research and policy through the launch of CoReS – Coastal Resilience and Sustainability, an open-access journal that makes scientific knowledge freely available and easy to use by policymakers, practitioners, and communities.
These results are expected to have significant impacts, including:
- Strengthening research ecosystems in widening countries by giving institutions access to tools and methods that were previously out of reach.
- Accelerating the digital and green transitions in coastal regions through practical applications of Digital Twin solutions.
- Improving the resilience of coastal cities to climate change by supporting better planning and risk management.
- Enhancing career prospects for early-career researchers and research managers trained in open, interdisciplinary approaches.
- Stimulating innovation by building stronger connections between universities, businesses, and public authorities.