Projects

Reinforcing Skills in Chips Design for Europe (RESCHIP4EU) aims to support the excellence of EU higher education in the area of embedded systems design in a holistic way, from silicon via System-on-Chip design and manufacturing to smart and safety-critical platform and application software. The holistic nature of the program is essential for innovation and provides a unique competitive edge to program graduates to design, analyse and innovate smart, green and safety-critical embedded systems in Europe. RESCHIP4EU will achieve this goal by designing and delivering a double-degree master’s programme (ISCED Level 7, 120 ECTS) in Embedded Systems Design with several specialisations related to the holistic design of embedded platforms safer, greener, smarter, and more efficient and a minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The master’s programme will be designed and delivered by 9 higher education institutions from 5 different countries with the collaboration of Semi.org, the global industry association representing the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, ST Microelectronics, a global semiconductor company, 1 innovative SME expert in delivering education program, communication and dissemination, 1 ASBL (Association internationale sans but lucrative), and EIT Digital, a pan-European organisation with experience in delivering education programmes in advanced digital skills across Europe.

CitySense is an innovative urban sensing ecosystem that leverages a fleet of public vehicles to provide scalable, mobile data collection and advanced data analytics for smart cities. Unlike traditional static sensors, CitySense uses a modular, roaming hardware system that collects real-time data on urban infrastructure, air quality, and traffic conditions. The system aggregates data from existing sources and processes it using advanced AI models, offering actionable insights for city officials, businesses, researchers, and citizens. By transforming public vehicles into mobile sensing hubs, CitySense reduces the cost and complexity of city-wide sensor networks while ensuring comprehensive coverage of urban environments. The project focuses on addressing key urban challenges in Tallinn (Estonia), Pula (Croatia), and Dublin (Ireland), where each city faces unique issues such as road condition monitoring, traffic sign inventory, and air quality management. CitySense offers a flexible solution through its modular design, allowing the easy integration of various sensor modules to address specific city needs. This approach not only minimizes infrastructure costs but also improves data collection efficiency across large urban areas.

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.

In heart muscle cells, calcium regulates cells' contraction and mitochondria energy production needed to perform mechanical work and maintain ion balance. The primary calcium source in adult mammalian cells is the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Recently, it has been shown that SR and mitochondria are physically linked and regulate mitochondrial respiration. The precise interaction between them is essential for maintaining energy balance in the heart, yet many aspects of this regulatory pathway are still poorly understood. This project aims to unravel mechanistic aspects of SR-mitochondria interaction by taking advantage of structural and functional changes in heart muscle cells during development and in disease. We expect this knowledge to be applicable at the other end of the heart physiology spectrum – disease, as failing hearts resemble in many ways the hearts from early stages of development.

Asymmetric catalysis plays one of the most important roles in the modern organic chemistry providing methods for the synthesis biologically active compounds and pharmaceuticals. Merging well-developed organocatalysis with electrochemistry opens new horizons for asymmetric transformation beyond the classical thermochemical activation. This approach is sustainable, since it employs harmless organocatalysts to induce chirality and electrons as traceless and green reagents to generate highly reactive radical species under mild reaction conditions avoiding the utilization of highly toxic and expensive RedOx chemicals. The efficiency and reliability of such transformations can be enhanced by performing the reaction in continuous-flow mode. The project is an example of cutting-edge science combining different research areas of organic synthesis and chemical engineering that can be potentially applied for discovery of new and potent life-saving drugs.

We shall custom-engineer MAS and metabolomics NMR and apply it on selected problems, notably Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, COVID, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions, fluor ion batteries, wood chemistry, also universal AI-assisted diagnostics and monitoring. We shall in particular focus on phytochemicals as the fastest and least harmful option to address acute health issues like SARS infection and neurodegenerative diseases. New hardware, based on fast mechanical spinning up to 15 Million RPM, electron spin polarization transfer (DNP), a sophisticated multi-axes sample rotation (DOR) and also 1.2GHz NMR magnets are expected to provide an unprecedented resolution and sensitivity in NMR, rendering it principally more helpful for a significantly wider range of material sciences and biomedical topics. In complex functional cases, the NMR will be arguably more informative and convenient than presently popular methods of plasmon resonance, CryoEM, X-ray or MS.

Building on TalTech’s expertise in the field of computer engineering and its high-level capacity in the domain of diagnostics and testing of nanoelectronic systems, this project aims at establishing in TalTech, with the strong support of the Advanced Partners, the capacity to R&D&I a complete customised AI-chip design flow. The research ambition of the TAICHIP (TalTech AI-chip) action is a leading-edge forward-thinking R&D framework for reliable and resource-efficient custom AI-chips based on open HW architectures (e.g., RISC-V, NVDLA), open EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools, methodologies and implementation technologies satisfying the requirements of AI applications of tomorrow. TAICHIP project also allows building at TalTech the necessary scientific knowledge, research skills, administrative and management skills, as well as strengthening its advanced training and education capacity. Evenly related to the central goal are the additional measures that focus on building the supporting capacities, as well as dissemination, exploitation and communication, and public policy focused activities.

The project aims to redesign the current RAPID sensors to make them more fault-tolerant. This makes the testing of underwater sensor devices faster, easier, and more reliable. These sensors help researchers understand the physical conditions fish experience in hydropower plants. Currently, testing the sensors is slow and requires expert knowledge. This project will create a simple computer program that allows anyone to check the sensor's condition in just a few seconds. The results will help make future sensor systems more robust and easier to use in the field.

This project aims to foster children’s digital and AI literacy and promote their rights and safety in digital environments across the Western Balkans, with a particular focus on Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Grounded in principles of inclusion, ethics, and empowerment, the initiative responds to the urgent need for structured, rights-based digital education that reaches all children—especially those from marginalized and underrepresented groups. The project will empower children aged 8–18 with the knowledge and critical thinking needed to navigate the digital world safely and ethically, introducing key concepts such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and misinformation. Through a cascade Training-of-Trainers (ToT) model, over 250 educators will be equipped to deliver gender-sensitive, age-appropriate digital and AI education using an inclusive training curriculum and a co-designed Digital AI Literacy Toolkit. To ensure that children are not just passive recipients, the project will actively engage them as co-creators and campaigners, enabling them to lead awareness initiatives such as “My Digital Voice” and contribute to resource development. The approach will prioritize Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to close digital access gaps for girls, children with disabilities, rural youth, and those in institutional care. On the policy level, the project will drive change by producing a regional Policy Paper and organizing roundtables with ministries and digital stakeholders, advocating for the integration of children’s rights and ethical AI use into national education and child protection strategies. By combining local action with regional and EU-level dialogue, the project will build long-term capacities, promote cross-border collaboration, and contribute to a safer, fairer digital future for all children in the Western Balkans and beyond.

Around 13% of the adult population suffers some form of kidney damage, and the death rate of complications related to chronic kidney disease (CKD) is very high. The primary cause of death in CKD patients is cardiovascular disease. Vascular calcification (VC), one of the cardiovascular complications, is prevailing in CKD. One of the causes of VC in CKD is the disbalance between VC inhibitors and inducers due to failed kidney function. During the dialysis therapy for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, inducers and also inhibitors are removed from the patients’ blood. This project (VasCalDi) aims to develop unique optical methods to estimate VC and monitor VC inhibitors removal during dialysis in patients with ESRD. The project's goal is to make the work of hospitals and physicians more efficient and improve the life quality and survival of ESRD patients by monitoring disturbances in VC inhibitor balance and vasculature allowing timely interventions.

The general goal of the project is to foster the transition to a fully carbon-neutral economy. The objective is to find new effective and low-cost amine-based protic ionic liquids (IL) for latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). ILs can be considered potential “green” phase change materials (PCM) which have received little attention despite their excellent properties, like high enthalpy of fusion, high density, stability, and the potential for utilizing renewable feedstocks for their production. The project uses both computational and experimental methods for finding the most likely ILs for LHTES applications. Consequently, the study will provide broad fundamental knowledge on the applicability of ILs considering their physicochemical properties as well as toxicity, corrosivity, and stability along with the impact of nanoparticles on their performance.