The vision of the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence (CoE) is to become a world-class Digital Innovation Hub for Earth Observation, space technology and Geospatial Information and to be the reference Centre in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa.

A new, autonomous, and self-sustained Centre of Excellence, namely ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) has been established through the ‘EXCELSIOR’, H2020 Widespread Teaming Phase 2 project. The newly established centre has been created as a result of upgrading the existing Remote Sensing and Geo-Environment Lab, which has been operating within the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of the Cyprus University of Technology since 2007.

The Digital Innovation Hub will create an ecosystem which combines state-of-the-art remote sensing, data management and processing technologies, cutting – edge research opportunities, targeted education services and promotion of entrepreneurship. In order to be dynamic and innovative, the Digital Innovation Hub will be based on two major infrastructures, which are a Satellite Ground Receiving Station and a Ground-based atmospheric remote sensing station. ERATOSTHENES Centre of excellence is paving the way for Cyprus to enter the space arena.

The Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) is a public university founded in Limassol in 2003 and consists of six faculties. Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2018/19 ranked the Cyprus University of Technology in the top 301-350 universities of the world; the University also received the highest score among all universities in Cyprus and Greece. Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) enrolled its first students in 2007. With its orientation towards applied research, the University aspires to establish for itself a role in support of the state and society in their efforts to confront problems, which cover all areas of science and technology. CUT is an advanced University equipped with the most modern infrastructures and technological equipment which makes it possible to be the strongest on the island in research, with specialized units directed by distinguished professionals.

Mission: The mission of the ERATOSTHENES CoE is to conduct both basic and applied research towards improved understanding, management, and monitoring of natural resources and infrastructures and to offer expert services and products of excellent qualities in line with the latest development remote sensing and related geospatial technologies or other high-tech tools.

Vision: The vision of the ERATOSTHENES , is to become within the next 7 years into a world-class Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) for EO and Geospatial Information becoming the reference Centre in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa (EMMENA).

White Research is a leading social research enterprise specialising in consumer behaviour within the ICT, health, and related sectors. We excel in uncovering and interpreting complex consumer insights through an innovative blend of modern analytics and advanced marketing research methods. We focus on addressing business, market, and user-related challenges, transforming complex data into actionable recommendations. With extensive experience in European Commission-funded projects and strong connections to European civil society networks, White Research delivers impactful and widely disseminated insights.

Our team is comprised of people with a variety of different backgrounds ranging from political sciences and economics to engineering and social sciences, to mention just few. This variety, both in backgrounds, experiences, skills and personalities is an essential component of our ability to take on wide selection of different tasks and always continue to innovate in in these tasks. Navigating complex issues and solving problems is something thar our team thrives on. Our team prides itself on its thought leadership. It is by seeing the trends of tomorrow and coming up with ways of preparing for them that we continue to serve our partners in the best possible way. We think a step ahead and push ourselves to make our ideas a reality. Our focus on thought leadership forces us to question the status quo and drives us to innovate on a daily basis. Standing still is moving backwards.

Role in LandShift

As a key partner, White Research leads the demanding Dissemination and Communication work package, ensuring LandShift’s visibility and impact across Europe. Our team is responsible for engaging stakeholders across Europe, tailoring key messages to diverse audiences, producing dissemination and communication tools and creating synergies with other EU projects. Additionally, we are tasked with conducting a behavioural survey in the later stages of the project to assess the effectiveness of the project’s strategies and inform future developments.

Through strategic communication efforts and targeted outreach, White Research not only ensures that LandShift’s innovations reach and resonate with diverse audiences but also demonstrates our expertise in amplifying project impact. By showcasing LandShift’s results and fostering engagement with stakeholders, we position our company as a key player in driving meaningful change in sustainable land use and climate resilience, while highlighting our ability to support similar initiatives across industries and sectors. 

Key People Involved

Alexandros Altsitsiadis, Head of Bioeconomy and Agri-food Unit, [email protected]  

Nikolaos Sotiriou, Communication Officer of Bioeconomy and Agri-food Unity,  [email protected] 

Martin Fox, Project Manager, [email protected] 

Metabolic Institute is an Amsterdam-based think tank dedicated to accelerating the transition to a fundamentally sustainable global economy. Our work focuses on two core areas: the bioeconomy and urban transitions.

Our mission is to harness scientific knowledge to drive practical action, inspiring the shift toward an economy and society that regenerates rather than depletes the environment. We leverage cutting-edge digital tools and data science to design solutions that are both innovative and actionable.

Within the bioeconomy domain, our team focuses on three key research areas:

• Bioregional Metabolism Scans: Assessing the impacts of local bioeconomies on health, equity, and the environment to guide sustainable regional development.
• Sustainable Land Use and Nature-Based Solutions: Mapping rural land management practices, developing frameworks to identify trade-offs among current and potential land use strategies, and collaborating with communities to select and deploy effective nature-based solutions.
• Regenerative Bio-based Value Chains: Analyzing biomass value chains to identify resource competition, opportunities for material cascading, and pathways to implement regenerative best practices.

Role in LandShift

Metabolic Institute is leading Work Package 4 in the LandSHIFT project, focusing on the selection and deployment of nature-based solutions (NBS) to enhance land management practices within the Living Labs. As part of this role, Metabolic will develop an open-source, New European Bauhaus-inspired library of proven NBS tailored to rural land use management. This library will serve as a tool for evaluating and supporting land use decisions across the five LandSHIFT pilot regions. We will assess the trade-offs and synergies of these solutions in each region to guide their effective deployment.

In addition, Metabolic is leading Task 3.5 under Work Package 3, working directly with the Living Labs communities to co-create transition strategies and roadmaps. These strategies will adapt and implement context-specific NBS, supporting each region’s transition toward more sustainable and resilient land-use systems.

Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) is a public university specializing in science and technology, dedicated to educating engineers, architects, and industrial designers. It has emphasized excellence and innovation in both teaching and research, fostering strong connections with industry and the business sector through applied research and technology transfer.

Within the LANDSHIFT project, POLIMI’s research focuses on monitoring the transition from land degradation to land regeneration, using remote sensing data and Geographic Information Systems within the LULUCF framework. POLIMI plays a key role as a specialized partner in Earth Observation technologies, with in-depth expertise in Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles, and Living Spaces (LSs).In addition to supporting decision-making processes for public authorities, and policymakers, POLIMI is responsible for identifying and collecting data requirements from diverse sources.

Role in LandShift

The role of POLIMI in LandShift is to drive workflow for selecting relevant data variables, identifying data sources (e.g., open databases, satellite imagery, field data), and continuously updating data requirements to support LULUCF (Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry) assessment. POLIMI is the leader of Task 2.1 – Driving datasets and workflow for LULUCF across the LSs and needs-based data requirements for management solutions, which is aimed to identify, document, and ensure the availability of diverse datasets required for LULUCF activities across the project’s Living Spaces. In collaboration with regional authorities and other LANDSHFT partners, POLIMI will define the types of data needed, such as socio-economic, historical land use, geospatial, climate, biodiversity, forestry, agricultural, and soil health data to support Land Use Change, Land Degradation into Land Regeneration estimation.

Key People Involved

Prof. Raffaella Brumana

Full professor

[email protected]

Prof. Elena Mussinelli

Full professor

[email protected]

Dr. Nicola Genzano

Assistant professor

[email protected]

Dr. Marzia Gabriele

Research fellow

[email protected]

Dr. Elisa Barilli

Administrative officer

[email protected]

UniBas – the University of Basilicata – was born in the aftermath of the severe earthquake which struck both the Basilicata and Campania regions on 23 November 1980 with a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale (X degree of the Mercalli scale), and caused 2,914 casualties.

‘This is why we celebrate our annual dies academicus every year on 23 November, because this University is, to the people of Basilicata, a sign of rebirth and resurrection, of glorious return to life, of conscious hope for a brighter future’.

(Rector Cosimo Damiano Fonseca during his opening address on the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s 1991 visit to the University of Basilicata)

There are six Academic Divisions (four Departments and two Schools) within the University of Basilicata, in charge of developing, organising and offering academic, research and training programmes and activities.

They were established in 2012, replacing the pre-existing twelve Departments and eight Faculties, in compliance with Italian law no. 240/2010 concerning ‘university governance and organisation, academic staff and recruitment’, and regulating how public universities must amend their statutes on the subject of governance and internal organisation, in the context of a comprehensive public-sector reorganisation.

The new University Statute was issued by the Rector on April 12, 2018 (Decree no. 88).