Projects

The aim of the project is to assess the partner universities' IT curricula from the point of view of industries' and digital services end-users' needs, and to develop and pilot additional modules by universities.

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured digital collection of product-related information, including data on sustainability and circularity performance. DPPs are an essential tool to support European policies towards the twin, Green and Digital, transitions. Built on the results of the CIRPASS project, CIRPASS-2 will support 13 pilot deployments of DPP-enabled circular use cases, across multiple complex value chains in the textiles, electronics, tires and construction sectors. DPP system interoperability will be demonstrated for all pilots and confirm viable cross-sectoral, large-scale deployment of the DPP in real-life settings. The DPP Information System deployed will be aligned to European harmonized standards and regulatory requirements. The project will assess the information understanding and satisfaction of consumers, end-users and authorities in using the DPP. The environmental, economic and policy impacts of the DPP, as well as its benefits and challenges for all stakeholders, will be assessed.

TThe EuroTeQ 2030 is the next stage in the European Universities Alliance to deepen, expand and intensify the existing cooperation. Eight partners propose an unprecedented approach to collaborative education that not only brings together various countries but also a broad coalition of stakeholders in industry, society, and both academic and non-academic education. With our partnership, we will enhance today’s engineering study programmes with new core competencies, transversal skills, design methodologies, and structured links to relevant stakeholders. New ideas will occur from merging different perspectives, and new groups of learners will enrich the diversity in the classroom, which leads to innovation. Participating in EuroTeQ initiatives shall train learners to find answers to societal challenges, human needs, and real-world questions in a collaborative and responsible approach. We strongly believe that this European network will foster and strengthen European values by enabling young citizens to meet their peers and inviting the entire university family to make connections across Europe

The complexity of an urban water collection system, which includes wastewater, rainwater and drainage water, can be expressed in the length and connections of pipelines, the use of pumping stations or various collection tanks and tunnels, the consumer profile (domestic wastewater or industrial wastewater), the inflow of rainwater, the use of pre-treatment plants, etc. Therefore, there is a risk of unforeseen disturbances, which also results in odor nuisance. Large-scale and voluminous sewage networks are usually associated with a long residence time of wastewater before reaching the water treatment plant. Due to the long residence time, water pollution can be carried into the air through mixing processes in the pipeline and exit from sewage wells. Sewage gases can cause disturbances because unpleasant odors significantly affect the living and working environment and pose a threat to human health. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a well-known irritant in the human respiratory tract. This gas has an unpleasant odor that is recognizable to humans as a rotten egg. One of the main goals of this project is to investigate the spread of hydrogen sulfide in urban sewage networks and to explain its effects in densely populated urban areas and on underground pipeline structures.

MARTA addresses agronomically and economically important traits in plant breeding to support sustainable and self-sufficient food production in Estonia. We will create novel breeding knowledge together with a toolbox of modern breeding tools (including novel genetic markers, genomic selection and genome editing). Target traits for breeding include climate-resilience, disease resistance, product quality, production sustainability and high yield. We have chosen 7 strategically important crop species for Estonia as prime targets for application of modern breeding tools. Wheat, barley and potato are important in ensuring energy and protein supply as food crops. Nitrogen fixing capability and high protein content (29% of seed dry matter) of faba bean make it a strategically important crop in Estonia’s protein self-sufficiency. Apple and blackcurrant are important horticultural crops ensuring a healthy diet and providing a local supply of vitamin- and antioxidant-rich resources for the industry. Bridging the gap between fundamental and applied plant biology will allow faster translation of research results into breeding. The research questions (Q) addressed in the project range from broad phenotypic and genotypic screening to application of precision breeding and creation of novel genetic markers. The establishment of a pipeline for using genomics and transcriptomics results will speed up and create new possibilities for breeding climate-resilient future crops. Q1 aims to create specific scientific knowledge, data and results for input to Q2 and Q3, which serve to develop modern tools for breeding (e.g. novel genetic markers for disease resistance, pre-breeding material from precision breeding). MARTA will generate and validate a modern breeding toolbox for flexible and sustainable plant breeding in Estonia to ensure food security.

The project supports Ukraine’s war-affected population by improving access to evidence-based mental health services through digital solutions. Through the DocuMental platform, at least 1,800 online psychological and psychiatric consultations will be provided, reaching 1,125 people, particularly in frontline and rural areas. Tallinn University of Technology integrates internationally recognised mental health screening tools (GAD-2, PHQ-2 and WHO-5) in Ukrainian, enabling early identification of mental health needs and targeted referral to specialists. The standardised use of these tools generates aggregated data that supports public health analysis, helping identify regional needs and risk groups and improving mental health service planning in Ukraine. In addition, eight Ukrainian mental health specialists strengthen their competencies in telepsychiatry and e-health through a study grant in Estonia.

How do neurons maintain their function throughout life? Neurons are born early in development and are not regenerated during an individual’s lifetime. Therefore, after maturation, our neurons must remain functional throughout life, which in humans can be up to a hundred years of more. The goal of my ERC Starting Grant 2024 proposal EpiNeuroLife was to uncover how the formation of the epigenetic landscape during neuronal maturation contributes to the maintenance of neuronal gene expression and function during adulthood and ageing. My preliminary studies show that developing neurons in the mouse cerebellum accumulate extremely high levels of the repressive histone modification H3K27me3 during maturation, which I hypothesise is critical for regulating chromatin compaction and neuronal gene expression later in life. In MOB3ERC113, I will generate supporting data for my ERC application to uncover the mechanisms of H3K27me3 deposition in neurons.

Mycoprotein texturization technologies are being developed to create high-quality alternative meat and fish products. The work includes optimizing the composition and structure of prototypes and evaluating their quality. The technology will be scaled up from laboratory to industrial scale. The result will be an industrially applicable solution for developing mycoprotein-based products.

The aim of the project is to investigate how the properties of raw materials affect the fermentation of carrot juice in order to help the company better control and optimize the production process.

Food and biotechnology industry needs new screening technologies to find cells with new properties (bacteria, yeasts, mammalian cells, etc) in order to produce high-value biomolecules (enzymes, antibodies, food components, etc). Those molecules are used in diagnostics, drug development of for making special foods. Droplet microfluidic-based screening technology is less resource-demanding alternative to traditional screening: cheaper because of less reagents used, faster due to small confined experimental volumes and machinery takes less lab space being table-top. Project CELLSIEVE will develop the technology in order to be used as a service-platform in collaboration with food and biomedicine industry.

Although there is a clear need in Estonia to make economic policy more responsible and smarter, the call for projects highlights the challenge of a lack of unified understanding of what sustainability entails across different sectors in the long term. Most of the described pain points are also noted in strategic documents guiding Estonia’s sustainable economic development. Hence, the key problems are more evident at the policy implementation level, where public sector interventions have sometimes yielded opposite results, had minimal impact, or progressed too slowly. The project aims to analyze and solve these problems through the following activities First, to analyze and synthesize what opportunities does the green transition offer for Estonia, and what prerequisites are needed to realize them? We will validate some of these opportunities, create cross-sectoral links, and obtain a realistic picture of what the green transition entails in sectors most crucial for sustainability transition. Second, clarifying the above and mapping the way forward will allow for a deeper investigation into necessary changes in policy measures: which public sector interventions should be increased, newly created, reduced, or discontinued. Third, to achieve real change in businesses, we will collaborate with the Client to design novel interventions for the next period's economic policy. We expect long-term results, as the project coincides with policy design for the 2027-2034 budget period, enabling the public sector to acquire skills that are more effective for solving today’s and future problems. The output will be policy recommendations (measure design and skills) implemented from 2027 onward.