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.

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.

Platform work is a growing form of employment in Estonia, impacting social security options, career paths, and traditional forms of employment. It is essential to understand the economic and social outlook of workers engaged in platform work and the future of this sector in Estonia, in relation to developments in the European Union. This interdisciplinary project, which brings together social scientists, legal scholars, and economists, offers insights into the field of platform work and its broader impacts on the Estonian economy through various quantitative and qualitative methods. The central outcome of the work is a scenario-based analysis of the potential future development of platform entrepreneurship in Estonia, including an examination of emerging risks and opportunities-, considering regulatory developments in Europe, macroeconomic trends, and technological advancements. It also considers the impact of different scenarios on society, including the potential increase in vulnerability. The report produced within the framework of the project, and the related activities carried out within the project are based on the need to understand platform work more broadly while also considering its potential impacts on the development of social security in Estonia.

The general objective of the EquiTech project is to enhance capacity of public authorities in Estonia and Lithuania in addressing risks of bias and discrimination in ADM procedures. This will be achieved by developing research, support materials, trainings and media campaign. This will be reached by: 1. Desk research on gaps in policies and legal frameworks on AI in Estonia and Lithuania together with mapping of potential risks of discrimination and bias in ADM systems deployed by Estonian public authorities. 2. Development of practical toolkits to address potential risks for discrimination and bias in design and deployment of ADM systems; 3. Capacity building with inclusion among project stakeholders and target groups through trainings, study trips, international conference and academic webinars; 4. Raising public awareness on the risks of discrimination and bias in public sector ADM systems. As a result, we will minimize the probability of discrimination and bias in Estonian and Lithuanian ADM systems and set an example to other member states, contributing to the national action plans against racism and strategies against antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred and xenophobia, LGBTIQ-phobia and all other forms of intolerance.