Symposium: Advancements in Monitoring Food Contamination and Quality

At the recent symposium at IFA Tulln, diverse research was presented in engaging sessions: 

  • Emerging challenges in food safety and quality
  • Novel approaches to ensure food quality and safety
  • Digital solutions
  • Photonic-based solutions

 

The ECREAM members were invited to submit posters, resulting in a flash talk by Carlos Ramos from the member project SYMPHONY, who was on-site throughout the symposium to network and potentially gain new ECREAM members.

To stay updated, follow the ECREAM or BROMEDIR LinkedIn channels.


ECREAM


BROMEDIR

ECREAM cluster is joined by the innovative EU project BROMEDIR

BROMEDIR is a collaborative project developed by a multidisciplinary team under Horizon Europe and has recently joined ECREAM to foster collaboration. The project aims to tackle the increasing need for miniaturized sensors providing simultaneous access to multiple chemical and biochemical parameters sensing. Optical spectroscopy is the golden standard for the identification and quantitative measurement of several chemicals simultaneously, using a single device: a spectrometer. In BROMEDIR, this new generation of miniature spectrometers will be used to develop sensing platforms, to be demonstrated in three application domains: sustainable farming, hydrogen supply chain quality monitoring and fuel quality control. Launched on January 1st, 2023, BROMEDIR has established a newsletter and regularly uploads its latest results to its website.

The ECREAM cluster projects are looking forward to the collaboration with and added knowledge by BROMEDIR!

To stay updated, follow the ECREAM or BROMEDIR LinkedIn channels.


ECREAM


BROMEDIR

Symposium on monitoring food contamination and quality by PHOTONFOOD project

We are excited to announce the joint symposium Advancements in Monitoring Food Contamination and Quality, hosted by PHOTONFOOD in collaboration with DigiFoods and FoodSafeR. 

The symposium will highlight the latest trends and innovations in food safety and quality. A valuable chance for researchers and food authorities to discuss and share their expertise. PHOTONFOOD prototype demonstration and poster session will engage the idea exchange. 

Don’t miss this chance to collaborate and explore the future of food safety!  

Fore more information about the symposium and registration, please visit:


Project website

SYMPHONY – a groundbreaking project started in April 2024

SYMPHONY is a Horizon Europe project which started in April 2024 to develop new technology for gas sensing. It aims to enable the implementation of dense networks of cloud-connected, low-cost, portable and easy-to-use sensors, capable of multi-target detection for applications in air quality control, pollution monitoring, industrial process control and safety. The project will focus on two use cases: air pollution monitoring to improve air quality control, and monitoring of biogas production to measure and understand the process and allow its optimisation.

 

SYMPHONY will address this challenge by making key developments in silicon photonics, neuromorphic circuits, artificial intelligence, integration and packaging, while exploiting state-of-the-art silicon microelectronics for ultra-low power edge computing with AI, and the connected sensor network for spatially-resolved analysis and prediction.

For more details, please visit the project website or follow SYMPHONY on LinkedIn. 


Project website


LinkedIn

GRACED and h-ALO in the Photonics Partnership Annual Meeting

The ECREAM projects GRACED and h-ALO will be presented in the upcoming Photonics21 annual meeting in Brussels on the 15th of May 2024. Dr Stefano Toffanin, coordinator of h-ALO and Dr Alessandro Giusti, coordinator of GRACED, will present the latest updates on the two projects in the “Agriculture & Food” working group.

Both projects started in January 2021 and are close to their completion, thus, interesting results are now available to share with the research community, the end-users and the policymakers. Come join us in the “DoubleTree by Hilton Brussels City Hotel” from 11:00 until 12:30 on the 15  May 2024 for discussing project results, innovations, progress so far, but also next steps and opportunities.

You are invited to register for the event and explore the latest agenda:


Photonics Partnership Annual Meeting

MONPLAS comes to an end

Against a growing concern for the potential health risks that micro and nanoplastics pose to us a H2020 ITN project began in January 2020 to train early-stage researchers for the development of technologies to MONitor concentrations of micro and nanoPLAStics in water for their presence, uptake and threat to animal and human life. The objectives of the project were threefold:

  1. to improve our ability to detect, trace the origin, determine the toxicity, and ultimately eliminate micro and nanoplastics from water
  2. to add to the limited data on microplastics in water and beverages, as well as develop and standardise a method for the initial data taking (identity and shape) of nanoplastic, so that uptake and effect on animal and human life can be studied through toxicokinetics and toxicity
  3. to develop and subsequently commercialise state of the art detection technologies, applications and methodologies through the creation of a multi- and inter- disciplinary network spanning different sectors.

A little over four years later, of which a half took place during the global pandemic, from leveraging advances in Lab on Chip and Machine Learning, it has successfully addressed all three objectives providing:

  • Its 14 ESRs with the skills and knowledge to develop state of art technologies that will lead to robust, easy to use and low cost in line instruments for microplastics and nanoplastics monitoring, some of which have been taken commercially up by its 8 equipment manufacturers and end-users.
  • 14 theses already defended or to be defended in the next 12 months, as well as 30 peer reviewed publications, four roundtable discussions held, two satellite workshops organised and innumerous outreach events to raise popular awareness of micro and nanoplastics and the interest of women in STEM.

Subsequently it has also led to over 15 submissions to national and international calls for proposals to further advance technologies and their applications for micro and nanoplastic monitoring, coherent with forthcoming ISO standards for drinking water and any harmonisation of analytical methods, in support the implementation of the 2020 EC drinking water directive.

Fore more information of the project, please visit:


Project website


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Linkedin


Instagram


X-twitter

AEOLUS partners present at SPIE Photonics Europe 2024

The AEOLUS project has two oral presentations at the upcoming SPIE Photonics Europe. One will focus on high performance grating couplers for the mid-infrared applications based on multi-parameter optimisation of the geometrical characteristics of the gratings in Silicon platform. It will be presented by Theoni Prousalidi on Saturday, 7 April 2024 at 16:00 CET. In addition, Georgios Syriopoulos will present some MID-IR spectroscopy solutions pursued within AEOLUS and heat dissipation evaluations that these entail at the PIC level. The presentation will take place on Monday, 8 April 2024 at 17:30 CET.

You can meet members of the AEOLUS team and also from GRACED, h-ALO, PHOTONFOOD, PASSEPARTOUT and TRIAGE at booth no. 307 from 7-11 April at the exhibition and discuss further our approach, innovations and results we have so far.

Check the programme for more relevant presentations from ECREAM partners and others:


SPIE Photonics Europe programme

ECREAM cluster on LinkedIn and X – TRIAGE project announces progress on LinkedIn

ECREAM – European Cluster for Research projects for Environmental and Agri-food Monitoring, a pioneering initiative in the field of environmental and food monitoring, recently announced its presence on the social media platforms X (@ECREAM) and LinkedIn (ECREAM_HORIZON).

At the same time, the TRIAGE project, a member of ECREAM, announced its presence on LinkedIn (TRIAGE) and plans to provide regular updates on the progress and developments of its final project phase.

Stay tuned by subscribing to the profiles and keep up to date with the latest developments in ECREAM and TRIAGE!

TRIAGE now on LinkedIn



LinkedIn

ECREAM now on LinkedIn and X



X (Twitter)


LinkedIn

h-ALO Training School

Registration now open! The Training School consists in a 5-day program where the main topics discussed will comprehend photonic/electronic sensing systems, smart-system integration, and advanced data management, with special attention to the transfer of the knowledge acquired in h-ALO. The school will contribute to young researchers’ professional development and will allow them to familiarise themselves with the developed new tools and solutions proposed.

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Agenda and speakers

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Website

Contact and registration

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