EBEAM succeeded among proposals submitted for FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020), in subtopic D: Measuring the Unmeasurable - Sub-nanoscale science for Nanometrology. 

The project aims to enhance technology for electron microscopy (EM), a crucial and highly useful analytic technique behind many of recent scientific and technological breakthroughs, as the scale of EM resolution reveals atomic structures and chemical composition of materials. Contrary to a classical optical microscope, which uses beam of light and therefore its resolution is limited by the wavelength of photons, an electron microscope offers ultrahigh resolution, as it uses a beam of accelerated electrons which has a much smaller wavelength. Therefore, electron microscopes can detect smaller structures and provide more detailed images.

Nevertheless, even EM technology has its limits, namely when it comes to temporal resolution, energy resolution, and energy range. EBEAM wants to surpass the state-of-the-art in these areas by merging the most recent approaches in the field of analytical microscopy. The project team specifies their aim in the project proposal:

“Our ambition is to demonstrate <20 fs time resolution and <1 meV energy resolution, and to open up the 4-400 neV (1-100 MHz) energy range, all inaccessible in EM so far. Using new correlation and coincidence modalities that have never been used in EM before, we will unveil new methods to probe selection rules, low-energy band structures, trace elements, and more.”

The EBEAM project will demonstrate the broad applicability of the new EBEAM techniques by carrying out selected research projects that target key questions in energy conversion materials, opto-electronic materials, and quantum technology.

EBEAM is a 63-month project, which starts in January 2021. It brings together a proven consortium of experts in electron microscopy from the Netherlands (with Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research being the coordinating institution), Spain, France, Germany and Belgium. 

Prof. Albert Polman, of NWO-institute AMOLF and EBEAM grant coordination leader, expressed excitement about this expansive new research effort: “Increasing temporal and energy resolution opens up a fantastic array of both fundamental and applied research directions for electron microscopy, including phonon studies, quantum optics, electron wavefront shaping, and many more.  Our multi-national consortium is very much looking forward to advancing Europe’s, and the world’s, electron microscopy capabilities over the coming months.”

Background information
FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.
 

The project is conducted by research groups from Leiden University, the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, and the University of Vienna. The programme, which has a budget of 3.7M€ and will last 48 months, is coordinated by the physicist Thomas Juffmann (University of Vienna). ONEM is one of only two proposals that succeeded in the topic Measuring the Unmeasurable of the call from the European Innovation Council called ‘FET Proactive: Emerging Paradigms and Communities (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020)’.

“Imaging the dynamics at interfaces is of great importance throughout science and technology. ONEM aspires to build a microscope that can image these dynamics on the nanoscale without damaging the specimen.” says Thomas Juffmann. “It will extend the toolbox of biologists and material scientists and will give new insights into processes like corrosion, battery charging, or protein aggregation in lipid bilayers,” he continues.

The ONEM project aims to establish a worldwide unique imaging technology in Europe: optical near-field electron microscopy. The new hybrid imaging technique will be complementary to the state-of-art techniques currently in use to provide nanoscale imaging, such as super-resolution microscopy, atomic force microscopy or cryo-electron microscopy.

“We envisage a technique that combines the non-invasiveness of probing with light with the spatial resolution offered by electron optics,” explains Sense Jan van der Molen (Leiden University). “The technique can be realized by combining low energy electron microscopy, ultrathin high efficiency photocathodes, and liquid cell technology,” he adds.

The team will build the first ONEM prototype and demonstrate the new technique in proof-of-principle studies in plasmonics, electrochemistry, and molecular biology.

“We would love to watch the dynamics of proteins within lipid bilayers. If ONEM allows us to do so at high resolution and over extended periods, then this would open doors to many investigations in molecular cell biology such as following the formation of functional supramolecular protein complexes of relevance in pathology of disease.” says Mariana Amaro  (J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences).

In order to facilitate rapid commercialization of Optical Near-field Electron Microscopy, ONEM will collaborate closely with industrial partners (SPECS GmbH, RMD Inc.). The collaboration just had its kick-off event, and is taking first steps towards realizing this new concept for damage-free nanoscale imaging. You can find more information on the project website.

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.

HySolChem  (A Hybrid Reactor for Solar CO2 and N2 Conversion Coupled to WasteWater Treatment) is a 36-month project, which started in January 2021 and was selected among proposals submitted for FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020), in subtopic B: Breakthrough zero-emissions energy storage and conversion technologies for carbon-neutrality. HySolChem focuses on converting greenhouse gases and pollutants that are normally present during wastewater treatment into energy-rich compounds.  

“Our project proposes breakthroughs in development of low cost and sustainable materials and devices for solar energy conversion and storage by the production of fuels and chemicals from CO₂/N₂ and water pollutants,” specify the researchers in the project proposal.

In order to reach this ambitious objectives, HySolChem investigates CO₂ valorisation strategies, artificial photosynthesis, N₂ fixation and micro-plastics contamination.

HySolChem is a high risk/high gain project, which will include design, development, testing and industrial validation of a prototype photo-reactor, which will ultimately be a powerful technology for the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions.

The prototype will be designed keeping in mind portable applications and scaling up, in order to make it fit for a wide range of intensive industries or energy producers.

The HySolChem consortium consists of academic, research and SME entities specialized in catalysis, materials science, batteries, water treatment, social and environmental impact, and intellectual property, and represents partners from Spain (Fundacion IMDEA Energia, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, APRIA Systems SL), Italy (INNOVA Srl), Belgium (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Luxembourg (AMER-SIL SA), United Kingdom (Diamond Light Source Ltd).

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.
 

OPTOMICS (Combining optoacoustic imaging phenotypes and multi-omics to advance diabetes healthcare) is a 60-month project, which began in January 2021. The project was selected as one of the 13 out of 149 proposals submitted for FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020) in subtopic C, Digital twins for life sciences. OPTOMICS aims to develop a new methodology that will deliver a paradigm shift in type-2 diabetes healthcare.

Type-2 diabetes is considered one of “the diseases of civilization,” affecting more than 420 million people worldwide. With its incidence increasing at an alarming rate, there is more than ever a clear need for early detection solutions that can improve the ability to intervene. OPTOMICS proposes an innovative approach to satisfy this need, by harnessing Artificial Intelligence and statistical methods combined with state-of-the-art multi-omics and optoacoustic imaging technology to model static and dynamic processes in type-2 diabetes evolution. This so-called digital-twin model aims to improve prediction and early detection of individuals likely to develop the disease, which will improve the overall possibility for prevention. Simultaneously, the method will reveal potential risks for developing disease complications, all while personalizing patient treatment.

OPTOMICS’ digital twin model combines molecular biomarkers with a novel non-invasive imaging phenotyping concept that uses the skin as a window to the disease. The project involves in-depth molecular phenotyping of individuals at the DNA, protein and metabolite level.

“We are excited to combine deep interrogation of the genome, proteome and metabolome with novel imaging-derived traits to build better predictors of diabetes complications,” said Prof. Dr. Zeggini, lead on the integrative multi-omics analyses.

OPTOMICS will apply cutting-edge computational approaches leveraging progress in Artificial Intelligence and a novel optoacoustic technology, called Raster Scan Optoacoustic Mesoscopy (RSOM). RSOM, developed by two members of the OPTOMICS consortium, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), can identify diabetes-related biomarkers by optically imaging the skin with high detail and precision.

Furthermore, “RSOM provides a portable, non-invasive, label free, fast and safe way to obtain diabetes phenotypes, which may lead to a long-term comprehensive platform for diabetes monitoring and management,” said Prof. Dr. Vasilis Ntziachristos, the Coordinator of the project and under whom RSOM was initially developed.

The project brings together experts across disciplines from biology and multi–omics to biotechnology. The consortium includes teams located in Germany, Estonia, Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom. Prof. Ntziachristos adds that he is thrilled to collaborate with key partners in Europe at the forefront of metabolomics, proteomics and genomics analytics, as well as technology advances.

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.

The FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call aims to explore and consolidate a new technological direction in order to put it firmly on the map as a viable paradigm for future technology and to stimulate the emergence of a European innovation eco-system around a new technological paradigm. The subtopic A: Artificial Intelligence for extended social interaction explores the combination of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and immersive interaction technologies to enhance the social dimension in future virtual social spaces.

A total of 38 proposals were submitted to the subtopic A. Out of them, 4 gained support under the EIC Pathfinder/FET Proactive funding scheme: CAROUSEL, EXPERIENCE, SONICOM and TOUCHLESS.

The four projects will join forces through a series of collaboration activities, which will examine interaction technologies to enhance the social dimension in future virtual social spaces. An example of an area for such a collaboration is the multimodal aspect of Virtual and Augmented Reality. Specifically, the need for any immersive system/application to account for the various human senses, including video, audio, touch and others.

Collaborative work in this direction will allow not only to share best practices and state-of-the-art technologies, but also to take the potential achievements of each individual project well beyond what was originally envisaged. Furthermore, the organisation of activities such as special issues on academic journals, workshops and special sessions at international conferences, and other knowledge transfer efforts, will maximise the potential impact of the collaborative research.

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.
 

SONICOM is a 60-month project, which started in January 2021. It was selected among proposals submitted for FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020), in subtopic A: Artificial Intelligence for extended social interaction.

With the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data-driven technological paradigms, the SONICOM project will transform auditory social interaction and communication in Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR&AR). It focuses on immersive audio technologies, which could eliminate the different hearing experiences we feel between physical and remote communications. The SONICOM team presents the idea behind the project, as follows:

“Picture yourself being able to dynamically change the position of the various participants within a virtual conversation, modifying also the acoustical characteristics of the simulated environment. Then extend this to an interaction where some participants are present in person in the same environment, and some are accessing it remotely; imagine ‘blending’ the real and virtual so that it is not possible, from an auditory point of view, to distinguish between the two.”

Lead investigator Dr Lorenzo Picinali, of Imperial College London’s Dyson School of Design Engineering, said: “Our current online interactions are very different to real life scenarios: social cues and tone of voice can be lost, and all the sound comes from one direction. Our technology could help users have more real, more immersive experiences that convey the nuanced feelings and intentions of face-to-face conversations.”

In the first phase, the SONICOM team of researchers and creative tech experts from across Europe  will design a new generation of immersive audio technologies and techniques to transform social interactions, specifically looking at customisation and personalisation of the audio rendering. The researchers will explore and analyse behavioural, physiological, kinematic, and psychophysical reactions of listeners within social interaction scenarios, in order to develop appropriate hardware and software proofs of concept.

SONICOM is part of the paradigm of emerging virtual technologies. Over the five-year project, the team aim to release a comprehensive ecosystem for auditory data closely linked with model implementations and immersive audio rendering components, reinforcing the idea of reproducible research, and promoting future development and innovation in the area of auditory-based social interaction. Dr Picinali said:

“Imagine a virtual meeting space where you see colleagues to your right, left, and across from you. We want to make this possible in audio form, using AI not only to improve and personalise sound, but also to the reactions of the listeners and predict how this could influence the conversation.”

Alongside this work, the SONICOM consortium will be part of a cross-collaborative initiative with three other projects awarded under the same Horizon 2020 call known as ‘Artificial Intelligence for extended social interaction.’ The aim is to identify synergies within their projects and refine a joint vision to maximise the impact of each projects’ research in their respective emerging technological paradigms.

The SONICOM project brings together 10 experienced teams from 6 European countries (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria, Greece and Spain). The coordinating institution is Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.
 

Neurotwin (Digital twins for model-driven non-invasive electrical brain stimulation, neurotwin.eu) is a 48-month project initiated in January 2021. It was selected among proposals submitted for FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020), in subtopic C: Digital twins for life sciences. Neurotwin concentrates on digital-twin technology for neuroscience.

The project will develop hybrid brain models able to represent the effects of non-invasive electrical brain stimulation appropriate in the context of large-scale connectivity alterations and oscillatory deficits that are characteristic to some of the brain disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease. The research team specifies the aim of the project as follows:

“Our overall goal is to develop advanced individualized whole-brain models that predict the physiological effects of transcranial electromagnetic stimulation at the individual level and use them to characterize pathology, design, and test optimal brain stimulation protocols in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Neurotwin technology will benefit from newly emerging physical and physiological modelling techniques, which allow the project to improve the prediction of neuromodulation effects, and to design and test optimized neuromodulation protocols.

In the words of the Coordinator, Giulio Ruffini of Neuroelectrics Barcelona, “We are here because we want to revolutionize neuropsychiatry and provide model-driven solutions to all patients in need. Our approach is science-based and computational: we believe now is the right time to attack the problem of personalized, model-driven neuromodulation  computationally, bringing together the physical and physiological aspects of the therapy. And while our current focus is on epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, others will eventually  be approached computationally.”

This new sophisticated approach can lead to a major breakthrough in personalized therapy for neurodegenerative disorders: “The realization of the Neurotwin program will have a significant scientific impact because it requires a realistic representation of brain dynamics at several scales, states, and conditions. Our ultimate ambition is to deliver disruptive therapeutic solutions through a model-driven, individualized neuromodulation paradigm,” conclude the researchers.

That is, the goal is to revolutionize how some neuropsychiatric disorders are treated by creating personalized, model-driven solutions where physics and computational neuroscience come together.

The project brings together experts from various disciplines, such as nonlinear dynamics, network theory, biophysics, engineering, basic and computational neuroscience, clinical research, ethics and philosophy. The coordinating institution is a high-tech SME,  Neuroelectrics Barcelona. The other project partners are Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Spain; Universidad Pablo De Olavide, Spain; Uppsala University, Sweden; Forschungsgesellschaft für Arbeitsphysiologie und Arbeitsschutz, Germany; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, US; and Fundazione Santa Lucia, Italy.

Background information

 FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.

LIGHT-CAP was selected among proposals submitted for FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020), in subtopic B: Breakthrough zero-emissions energy storage and conversion technologies for carbon-neutrality. The project proposes an innovation for solar storage devices, which will contribute to a future sustainable and zero-emission energy landscape in Europe.

LIGHT-CAP will launch a long-term technological vision that combines energy conversion and storage into one single compact unit with low volume and weight, based on environmental-friendly and Earth abundant materials, with the additional cost benefit delivered by solution processing. The project team explains the idea further in the project proposal:

“LIGHT-CAP offers a solution in which the light absorption, charge separation and accumulation are combined in the same set of materials by exploiting multiple and reversible charge transfer processes in stable nanoscale components that are powered solely by light.”

The aim of the project is to provide more efficient sunlight harvesting, conversion, and storage into delocalized electrical charges, followed by the possibility of a controlled, on-demand release. In order to do this, LIGHT-CAP applies the most recent findings of material science.

“Our technology is based on the exploitation of the cooperative electronic properties of zero-dimensional and two-dimensional nano-materials, which take over the role of both the light energy conversion and for storage, together with the unique opportunity to accumulate multiple delocalized charges per nanostructural unit after photo-activation,” describe the researchers.

Within the scope of the project, LIGHT-CAP will also design proof-of-concept devices displaying the new technology and its possible applications in energy industry, especially in mobile devices and remote locations.

The project coordinator, Dr. Ilka Kriegel from Italian Institute of Technology IIT adds: “We are excited to start this FET Proactive project bringing together an excellent European research team with the support from Japan. This project will shed light on a fundamentally new concept that will push solar energy storage to a new level.”

LIGHT-CAP is a 48-month project starting in January 2021. It brought together an experienced consortium of multidisciplinary teams from Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Spain.

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.
 

EXPERIENCE was selected among proposals submitted for FET Proactive Emerging Paradigms and Communities call (FETPROACT-EIC-07-2020), in subtopic A: Artificial Intelligence for extended social interaction.

The EXPERIENCE project wants to extend the scope of distant social interactions by empowering them with a complex virtual-reality experience. To enable this particular feature, the research needs to analyse and investigate how to transfer the mental representation of self in space and time into digital communication interfaces, such as we know from social networks.

“EXPERIENCE aims to revolutionarily adapt spatiotemporal navigation tasks in the extended-personal reality to measure and manipulate the perception of space and time, which in this project will be uniquely and effectively linked to the person’s mood and emotions,” says the project team in the proposal.

The new technology should enable everyone to generate their own virtual-reality environment, leveraging also on the individual’s neurophysiological data to enrich the virtual-extended scenario with psychological, cognitive, neurophysiological, and behavioural information.

The new tool could radically change the way, how we communicate, e.g. on social media or similar platforms. The researchers summarize the main assets of the project, as follows:

“With a potential lack of multisensory information, the current digital social communication at the present moment significantly affect our ability to think about ourselves in the future, being biased by past experiences, episodic memories, and emotions. To this extent, this project will allow every person to share an experience, making real the complex interplay between multisensory information and emotions experienced by another person.”

Besides the anticipated applications of the EXPERIENCE technology in digital communication or e-learning, EXPERIENCE wants to also investigate its suitability for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, namely in the cases of affective and eating disorders.

EXPERIENCE is a 48-month project. It started in January 2021. The project Consortium includes interdisciplinary participants from Italy, Spain, France, Sweden and Switzerland. The coordinating institution is Università di Pisa.

•  Read also an article about the EXPERIENCE project on the FETFX website.

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.