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Emotionally Intelligent Innovation for Sustainable Futures

Objective

ALT-FRONTIER harnesses artificial intelligence and cultural wisdom to pioneer emotionally intelligent innovation, reclaiming innovation as a civilisational choice for the good life and charting a renewed EU–Africa trajectory. Current innovation and development models, shaped by technocentric logics of optimisation and control, have delivered advances but also fragility—accelerating ecological breakdown, social disconnection, and erosion of human capacity. My experience of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake revealed resilience lies not in control but in resonance with nature, exposing the limits of dominant models and inspiring a re-imagination of the vector of innovation. Yet most sustainability “solutions” remain framed within the same paradigms they seek to repair.
This fellowship proposes an alternative frontier by rooting innovation in emotional intelligence (EI) and relational ontologies, making sustainability and wellbeing inherent outcomes rather than engineered targets. Through co-creation across island and archipelagic contexts — Malta, Ghana, Hawai‘i, and Japan — it develops an EI knowledge base grounded in diverse cultural ways of knowing and being, beyond Western universals, an emotionally intelligent voice interface, and a mixed-reality artifact embedding EI in daily life. Outcomes converge in a prototype demonstration of an emotionally intelligent smart community, showing technology and cultural wisdom co-function to chart an alternative smart-development trajectory. These proofs-of-concept will be co-created and tested in Malta and Ghana, ensuring cultural grounding and policy impact. The project advances scholarship by reframing innovation as ontological and civilisational, and contributes to policy by aligning with Horizon Europe priorities, the AU–EU partnership, and the New European Bauhaus. ALT-FRONTIER offers one of the first demonstrable models of emotionally intelligent innovation, opening pathways toward plural and regenerative futures.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITA TA MALTA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 189 474,24
Address
TAL OROQQ
MSD 2080 MSIDA
Malta

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Region
Malta Malta Malta
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Partners (2)

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