May 22, 2025
CiROCCO Project Convenes for its Third General Assembly Meeting in Cairo
From May 20u201321, the CiROCCO project u2014 u201cEnhancing the In-situ Environmental Observations across Under-sampled Desertsu201d u2014 held its 3rd physical plenary meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Kleanthis Erotokritou, R&D Project Manager at eBOS, participated in the meeting, which was hosted by Dr. Omar Elbadawy and Prof. Hesham El-Askary, representing Pilot 1 u2013 Egypt. The meeting brought together all project partners to share progress, align implementation schedules, and plan the upcoming deployment phase.nnWith initial batches of devices already undergoing testing and the next generation of nodes being finalized, we are entering an exciting new phase: deployment and real-time data collection across all pilot regions.nnCiROCCO (Enhancing the In-situ Environmental Observations across Under-sampled Deserts) is a Horizon Europe-funded project aiming to improve environmental monitoring in desert regions. It deploys cost-effective, scalable sensor networks in under-sampled ecosystems across Egypt, Serbia, Spain, and Cyprus. These sensors collect in-situ environmental data, which are integrated with Copernicus Earth Observation data to enhance climate models and support European Green Deal objectives.nnCiROCCO enables services such as renewable energy planning, air quality alerts, and land use management. It leverages both local wireless and satellite IoT connectivity to reach remote areas. Coordinated by ICCS in Greece, the project involves a consortium of 12 partners and runs from March 2023 to February 2026.nnDuring the event, Dr. Panayiotis Klitou, R&D Project Manager at eBOS, represented the EU-funded XGain project. Dr. Klitou delivered an insightful presentation outlining the projectu2019s key achievements and conducted a live demonstration of the Knowledge Facilitation Tool (KFT) u2013 a web-based platform developed within the project. The KFT aims to bridge the digital divide in rural and coastal regions across Europe by providing stakeholders with access to innovative technological solutions.nnThe NESTLER workshop centred on the integration of advanced technologiesu2014such as remote sensing, AI-driven analytics, and circular economy principlesu2014into agri-tech systems to promote food security and environmental sustainability. The event brought together stakeholders from various EU-funded initiatives, fostering collaboration, exploring synergies, and facilitating the exchange of best practices among projects such as XGain, NESTLER, and GEORGIA.nnThe XGain project supports sustainable, inclusive, and balanced development across rural, coastal, and urban areas. It seeks to enhance systemic resilience, improve energy efficiency, mitigate climate change, and reduce the digital divide across populations, sectors, and regions. Through the KFT, users can explore a rich repository of smart next-generation (XG) technologies, last-mile connectivity solutions, and edge computing tools, along with assessments of their socio-economic and techno-environmental impacts.
eBOSu2019 role in the project is the translation of the functional and non-functional pilot requirements into technical specifications, for the development of the technological components of CiROCCO. eBOS leads the pilots Work Package, and specifically the scene set-up, benchmarking definition, operational management and DevOps task. eBOS is also responsible for developing and prototyping the low-cost, in-situ, electronic sensing nodes that will be used in the high-density sensor network, aiming to enhance the measurement resolution in hard-to-reach areas. Furthermore, eBOS acts as the projectu2019s Quality Assurance manager and contributes to the elaboration of CiROCCOu2019s dissemination and sustainabilityu00a0plans and plans to maximise the projectu2019s impact by presenting the projectu2019s results to key membership associations.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
