EU funding

SERMAS project

eXtended Reality, the sum of experiences deriving from augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality, is an immersive technology that offers users a new experience in the way they interact with the digital world.

Current XR systems (Avatars, robots, cobots, web-based augmented reality solutions, etc.) are unable to capture people's attention and/or guarantee their full technological acceptance. In fact, these systems mostly provide experiences similar to a web application one with limited interaction capabilities and, in the case of current robotic virtual assistants, offer poor dynamic performance and limited interaction capabilities.

The revolutionary opportunities offered by XR technologies can be exploited only when will be identified models and tools with which users can interact in different social contexts, without feeling uncomfortable or out of place in the interaction, but on the contrary, perceiving it as pleasant, useful and comprehensible.

The SERMAS Project (Socially Acceptable Extended Reality Models and Systems) fits into this context, financed with funds from the European Commission's HORIZON EUROPE Research and Development programme.

  • MembersPoste ItalianeCeRICTDipartimento di Informatica, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Technische Universität Darmstadt, DW Innovation, Poste Italiane, F6S Innovation, Spindox Labs, King's College London and University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
  • Websitehttps://sermasproject.eu/
  • Cost:
  • Rule: Partner nel proposta di progetto "3Dify: Automatically turning 2D human images into animated customizable avatars with emotions"
  • Found
  • Project duration: January 2024- 2025

NEOLAIA project

NEOLAiA, our Alliance of European Universities transforming Regions for an Inclusive Europe, has been selected as one of the new funded alliances in the European Universities 2023 call. With over 30 consortia participating and only 7 funded, this achievement is a clear evidence of the hard work of the 9 partner universities, led in this project proposal for 2023 by the University of Jaén. NEOLAiA is the result of the partner universities’ sustained commitment to a long-term institutional collaboration strategy that will shape the future of the alliance for the next 10 years. The success in the European Universities Initiative call is another initiative by NEOLAiA aimed at strengthening its cooperation strategy and collaboration structures. It will enable the implementation of the project work plan’s actions.

NEOLAiA is composed of nine young European universities: the University of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava (Romania), the University of Bielefeld (Germany), Siauliai State University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania), the University of Orebro (Sweden), the University of Salerno (Italy), the University of Tours (France), the University of Nicosia (Cyprus), and the University of Jaén (Spain), which coordinates the group. These universities are of medium or small size, committed to their social and economic environment, and have a prominent position in rankings, particularly those analyzing the positioning of young universities, such as “THE Young Universities.”

NEOLAiA’s goal is to have a lasting impact on the partner universities’ strategy and structure. During the initial four-year period funded by the European Universities call, NEOLAiA will expand upon the cooperation achieved thus far among the partner universities by establishing sustainable collaboration and governance structures and incorporating new coordination internal mechanisms related with new legal forms available at the European level. The consortium will also broaden its activities to include innovative teaching, cross-university research, entrepreneurship, societal diversity and inclusion within a digital environment. Additionally, NEOLAiA will enable partner universities to drive participative regional citizenship, mobilizing Europeans where participation is most needed, particularly in non-metropolitan regions far from Europe’s main decision-making centers.

NEOLAiA’s motto is “Transforming Regions for an Inclusive Europe”. The consortium is structured around 10 work packages that define the alliance’s management areas, including mobility, teaching and learning, regional research impact, entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion, interculturalism and plurilingualism, digital transformation, and sustainability/dissemination of project actions. The objective is to generate a resource structure that facilitates synergies in these aspects and improves the consortium’s position and effectiveness in the medium and long term

Call: https://neolaiacampus.eu/neolaia-has-been-selected-by-the-european-commission-as-one-of-the-funded-alliances-in-the-european-universities-2023-call/

Members: the University of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava (Romania), the University of Bielefeld (Germany), Siauliai State University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania), the University of Orebro (Sweden), the University of Salerno (Italy), the University of Tours (France), the University of Nicosia (Cyprus), and the University of Jaén (Spain), which coordinates the group.

Website: https://neolaiacampus.eu/

Found: (Total) 14.398.401 € from which 1.585.254 € University of Salerno, Italy

Rule: Partner

Project duration: January 2024 - December 2027

CS-AWARE-NEXT

CS-AWARE-NEXT aims to provide improved cybersecurity management capabilities to organizations and local/regional supply networks. Such organisations and networks operate in a highly dynamic cybersecurity environment, and are required to comply with prevailing European legislation such as the network and information security (NIS) directive. The way such organizations approach cybersecurity increasingly needs to be more dynamic and more collaborative, building on a shared situational awareness of potential cybersecurity issues relevant to the organisations and networks in question. To achieve this, CS-AWARE-NEXT has identified several focus areas to be addressed:
(a) Improved organisational policy support to enable organizations to deal better with the dynamic nature of cybersecurity.
(b) Greatly enhanced cooperation/collaboration within the organization and with external actors, such as those comprising the local/regional supply chain.
(c) Better integration of threat intelligence in operational cybersecurity management using innovative AI approaches and techniques.
(d) Much improved disaster recovery/business continuity, integrated in operational cybersecurity management.
(e) Elevated evidence collection and information sharing with relevant actors on the multi-level European cybersecurity framework.
(f) Improved capacity for enabling organizations to assess their security status in comparison with other relevant actors through benchmarking and profiling

Collaboration: 21 partners from eight member states, including Finland, Estonia, Austria, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark, and coordinated by the University of Oulu in Finland. 

  • website
  • Funding Scheme: 4993275.00 euros
  • EU Contribution:: Horizon Europe
  • Rule: Partner
  • Project duration:  2022 - 2025

COLTRANE - COLlaboraTive cybeRsecurity AwareNess LEarning

COLTRANE is concerned with improving cybersecurity CS awareness education at High Education Institutions (HEIs).
COLTRANE aims at joining forces across Europe and creating a Cybersecurity Awareness Education Community, providing a collaborative environment with tools and methodologies and developing a practice for sharing learning resources and good practices.
The project objectives of COLTRANE are:
1) To modernize and streamline cybersecurity Education across Europe by developing innovative educational concepts and teaching and learning methodologies.
2) To develop an educational concept for cybersecurity awareness that results in a paradigm shift from the current perception of cybersecurity, to cyber-security as a collective societal and organizational problem where each employee and citizen can have a role in improving cybersecurity.
3) To foster collaboration among European cybersecurity educators for development and maintenance of education material. This action includes both the innovative use and development of technological support (providing a collaboration environment), as well as providing technical support for transnational community management tailored to the cybersecurity education context.
4) To provide a toolkit for innovative evaluation and validation of learning outcomes (grading) to allow for the assessment of the collaborative and hands-on context of the project material in European HEI environments. Furthermore, the toolkit will provide guidelines for institutional implementation of the novel COLTRANE learning and validation approach.

Collaboration: Università di Salerno (Italy), Austrian institute of technology (AIT) , University of Vienna, Wise & Munro (Netherlands), University of Oulu (Finland), University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)
Funding Scheme: Erasmus+
EU Contribution: 446 466,00
Rule: Partner
Project duration: September 2020 - 2023

LIGATE - LIgand Generator and portable drug discovery platform AT Exascale

Today's digital revolution is having a dramatic impact on the pharmaceutical industry and the entire healthcare system. The implementation of extreme scale computer simulations in the drug design and development process offer an excellent opportunity to lower the risk of investment and reduce the time to patient. In LIGATE, we aim to integrate and co-design Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) solutions exploiting today's high-end supercomputer, aiming at supporting the discovery of a novel treatment to fight virus infections and multidrug-resistant bacteria. The University of Salerno will accelerate CADD solutions on parallel heterogeneous architectures equipped with accelerators, and provide enhanced scalability on large scale HPC supercomputers with modern programming models and runtime systems.

Collaboration: Università di Salerno (Italy), Dompe Farmaceutici SpA (Italy), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), CINECA (Italy), KTH (Sweden), University of Innsbruck (Austria), University of Basel (Switzerland), E4 Computer Engineering SpA (Italy), Chelonia SA (Switzerland), Tofmotiong GmbH (Austria), Technical University Ostrava (Czech Republic)
Funding Scheme: Horizon 2020, EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, Innovation Action: Innovating and Widening the HPC use and skills base
EU Contribution: 463 750 euro ( 50% EU and 50% national)
Coordinated by: Biagio Cosenza, Unit coordinator and task leader
Project duration: January 2021 - 2023
Website: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/956137

ROUTE-TO-PA "Raising Open and User-friendly Transparency-Enabling Technologies fOr Public Administrations" - Horizon 2020

ROUTE-TO-PA is an innovative multidisciplinary project which, thanks to the contribution of experts and researchers in the field of digital administration, information technology and economics, aims to improve the impact, in society and among citizens, of information and communication technologies that promote transparency. These technologies will increase the involvement of citizens making them able to interact on open data, entering into existing online communities or creating new ones, in which common interests are shared and in which topics of importance are discussed with regard, for example, to local politics, the provision of services or standards.

LEAD "Technology-enhanced Learning and
Problem-solving Discussions: Networked Learning Environments in the Classroom" - VI Programma Quadro FP6-2004-IST-4

The LEAD project focuses on a specific type of cognitive learning activity based on the solution of collaborative problems. The fundamental objective consists in the development of a software system capable of supporting face-to-face discussions, in order to promote learning and knowledge, not only through the use of computers, but also through collaboration and interaction between groups. In this context, the development of face-to-face (synchronous) cooperation techniques, technologies and methodologies is the role of the unit of the Computer Science Department of the University of Salerno, coordinated by Vittorio Scarano. The main result is a platform for the development of cooperative systems (Cooperative Face2Face Educational Environment, CoFFEE), released with open-source license to the scientific community and educators, extensible and programmable.

WHITE "Web for Handicap Integrated Training Environment" - LEONARDO

Development of software systems to contribute to the improvement of educational / training systems in order to provide help and support to people with physical handicaps (especially people with sight impairments). The objective of the project is to contribute to the development of a software system capable of providing advanced services in order to make web browsing more accessible for all users, without limits or barriers even by users with disabilities ( motor and visual), suffering from pathologies such as low vision, color blindness, low cognitive abilities, etc.

National funding

LibreRT: Portable Heterogenous Real-time Programming for the Embedded Computing Continuum - PRIN: PROGETTI DI RICERCA DI RILEVANTE INTERESSE NAZIONALE – Bando 2022

The emerging paradigms of Industrial IoT and edge computing, as well as the increasing interest in applications such as machine learning and image processing, have drastically increased the demand for embedded systems that are, on one hand, highly responsive and capable to handle real-time requirements, while, on the other hand, can deliver higher computational power.

In particular, heterogeneous embedded systems with low-power GPUs have become ubiquitous and can be found in domains ranging from wearable devices and mobile computing, to automotive systems. It is expected that heterogeneous architectures will soon become widespread among embedded systems, from micro-edge systems with ultra-low power CPUs and GPUs, to larger, more powerful deep- and meta-edge systems for the automotive industry.

However, there are no portable system software solutions in terms of programming models, compilers and operating systems, that can efficiently target all devices in the embedded systems computing continuum. The LibreRT project aims at providing a portable system software stack, which is capable to deliver highly responsive, real-time and high-throughput computation for the embedded computing continuum.

Specifically, LibreRT propose a SYCL-based programming model with extensions for real-time, e.g., with priority-based scheduling for CPU and GPU with preemption support, as well as approximate computing, which supports state-of-the-art mixed precision and GPU kernel perforation techniques. The LibreRT programming model builds on modern C++ semantics and advanced runtime systems, and is capable to target embedded GPUs. For the Operating System, LibreRT will target micro-edge devices with Miosix, an OS with higher responsivity and advanced scheduling support; deep- and meta-edge devices will rely on more traditional Linux distribution.

Finally, an autotuning layer will introduce adaptive, self-tuned methods that tune the approximation accuracy to meet the real-time constraints. In terms of Key Performance Indicators, the project aims at delivering schedulers with preemption latency.

  • Funding: Finanziamenti da bandi nazionali Ministeriali ed altri EEPP
  • Funders: Università  degli Studi di SALERNO MIUR - MINISTERO DELL'ISTRUZIONE DELL'UNIVERSITA' E DELLA RICERCA
  • Cost: 100.480,00 euro
  • Project Duration: 28 September 2023 - 28 September 2025

FFABR 2017" FINANZIAMENTO ATTIVITÀ BASE RICERCA 2017

Individual annual funding of research-based activities. MIUR funding

  • Department: Dipartimento Informatica/DI
  • Principal Investigator: MALANDRINO Delfina
  • Funding: Finanziamenti da bandi nazionali Ministeriali ed altri EEPP
  • Funders: MIUR - MINISTERO DELL'ISTRUZIONE DELL'UNIVERSITA' E DELLA RICERCA
  • Cost: 3.000,00 euro
  • Project duration: February 16, 2018 - December 31, 2025

PAUN "Parco Archeologico Urbano Napoli" del Distretto ad Alta Tecnologia per i Beni Culturali DATABENC - POR Regione Campania

The project aims to lay the foundations for the realization of the City Archological Park of the City of Naples by defining its initial location in the archaeological site of Piazza Municipio. An Urban Archaeological Park is based on the assumption that without knowledge there is no lasting exploitation and without protection there is no patrimony to transmit to future generations. One of the main objectives is, therefore, to satisfy the need for information and services relating to cultural heritage through ways that favor the innovation of protection and enhancement systems. In this sense, each of the project objectives intends to give life to an interaction of skills and knowledge, creating a synergistic solution to different needs of the region's cultural sector. The project runs according to 3 interconnected lines of action:

  • analysis of the archaeological-monumental and environmental functional heritage for the creation of the Integrated Knowledge System within the CHIS platform;
  • creation of a network for monitoring archaeological, historical and monumental risks and the impact of tourist flows;
  • realization of tools for a Social and Sustainable Fruition in augmented and virtual reality.

VASARI "VAlorizzazione Smart del patrimonio ARstistico delle città Italiane" - MIUR

As part of an increasingly broader national strategy for enhancing the immense artistic and cultural heritage, the VASARI project brings together the most recent innovations in digital technologies to radically change the activities of exploitation, use, and management of works of ar , both museum and open air. At the center of this ambitious goal is a paradigm shift with respect to the approach followed so far: VASARI builds a new cultural space in which the physical spaces of museums and historical sites with their heritage of works are integrated into the digital space of content and cultural services and interconnected in a multi-site logic. The guest and the works are at the center of this space in which knowledge, use and participation by citizens and tourists is favored, and the management, enhancement and cooperation by cultural institutions is facilitated.

WEBMINDS "Wide-scalE, Broadband, MIddleware for Network Distributed Services" - MIUR

The main objective of the project was the study and development of a middleware infrastructure that provides secure, reliable and continuously available support for access to information by fixed and mobile terminals, demonstrating its effectiveness through applications shared access and data and multimedia content delivery. The architecture provides a multiplicity of autonomous and geographically distributed servers and proxies, cooperating with each other also according to the peer-to-peer paradigm, to provide multiple services such as data storage, access and updating in a scalable, easily reconfigurable form to the needs.

TOCAI "Tecnologie Orientate alla Conoscenza per la Aggregazione di imprese su Internet" ("Knowledge-oriented technologies for business aggregation on the Internet") - MIUR

The project intends to study and develop innovative solutions that guarantee value for the territory and for the cultural and landscape assets that insist on it and at the same time render the response of that unique resource, through the use of new technologies. The main objectives of the project can be summarized in the study and prototyping of an innovative ICT architecture - cloud, mobile and web based - which, thanks to the declination of the "Internet of Things" paradigm, allows to provide "intelligence" to a given context. Given the heterogeneity and multiplicity of the scenarios and areas in which the CHIS platform is applicable, it will be necessary to define those that are the requisites required for a given space in order to be considered "smart", requirements that will then translate into specific implementation for the ICT platform.

Campania SNECS "Social Network delle Entità dei Centri Storici" ("Social Network of Historic Center Entities") of the High Technology District for Cultural Heritage DATABENC - POR Campania Region

The research project intends to collect and transmit the contents of scientific knowledge of an artistic, archaeological, literary, historical-philosophical nature on the territory of Campania, with particular emphasis on historical centers, activating and testing new strategies for their representation, organization, dissemination, and promotion based on paradigms of technological intelligence, which represent the challenges of Smart Cities and Smart environment, which the European community asks to collect. The technological equipment, composed of networks, cloud computing, open data (open data), and distributed sensors represents the enabling factor for the construction of ecosystems with an intelligence capable of supporting transparency and economic growth, or to coordinate economic development models and of real and participatory territorial governance.

INNOVA "Centro Regionale di Competenza per lo Sviluppo ed il trasferimento dell’Innovazione Applicata ai Beni Culturali ed Ambientali" - POR Regione Campania

The Competence Center aims to create a network that integrates and strengthens groups of researchers that refer to all the technical-scientific areas involved in the development and transfer of innovation to the Cultural and Environmental Heritage. Objective of the activities coordinated by Vittorio Scarano is to study and apply technologies and design methodologies of 3D environments that prove to be sufficiently stable and settled to be used for the realization of 3D representations to be associated with cultural resources usable remotely and locally with terminals of different capacity.

From the territory to virtual reality: the Fisciano campus in its reference context

This multidisciplinary project aims at the construction of virtual environments, usable locally or remotely, in collaboration and in real time, on the campus of the University of Salerno, together with relevant places in the geographical and historical / archaeological reference context. Researchers from 4 departments of the University of Salerno participate: Department of Computer Science and Applications, Department of Educational Sciences, Department of Cultural Heritage and Department of Environmental and Territorial Studies.

Shared fruition of cultural resources on the WWW (Campania Region)

Design of a system for sharing comments on cultural resources on the WWW.

Funding Scheme: Project Regional Law n. 5/2002. Regional funds (2008 required, 2015 assigned)
EU Contribution: 8.000 € (Campania Region)
Role: Project Coordinator

Structured Collaboration by CoFFEE in Jazz ( (IBM Jazz Innovation Award 2008)

Collaborative tools offered by CoFFEE are integrated into the Jazz architecture to offer advanced synchronous collaboration to the designers team.(April 2009 – March 2010)

Funding Scheme:
EU Contribution: 25.000 $ (IBM)
Role: Project Coordinator