Stepping into the world of AI can feel exciting, but also overwhelming. That’s exactly where we come in.

Build with AI: From Idea to Prototype by AETHON Engineering is a practical online course designed to help you understand how AI can support innovation, business development, and early-stage building.

Over one practical live online session, you’ll learn how to:

1. Understand how AI is changing innovation and entrepreneurship and where it can create real business impact.
2. Use AI for business development, including market research, competitor analysis, idea validation and structured thinking.
3. Explore real AI workflows used in practice at AETHON, with examples of how we use AI tools in everyday work.
4. Learn the logic of rapid prototyping, even if you are not technical and see how AI can support early product or software exploration.
5. Evaluate the benefits and limitations of AI tools, so you can use them more effectively, critically and responsibly.

This course is designed for people who want to move beyond AI curiosity and start using AI as a practical tool for building, validating and communicating ideas.

Whether you are an early-stage founder, a startup team member, or a non-technical professional exploring AI for business use, this course gives you a structured and accessible starting point.

Taking the first step into the world of entrepreneurship can feel overwhelming—but that’s exactly where we come in. The Ideas to Ventures course by AETHON Engineering is your launchpad to turn ambition into action.

We don’t just teach theory; we give you the tools, guidance, and confidence to start, move forward, and make your idea happen.

Over six dynamic sessions, you’ll learn how to:

1. Unlock the entrepreneurial mindset and discover where innovation begins.
2. Build teams that last, because great ideas need great people.
3. Shape your vision into a solid business model using the Business Model Canvas.
4. Validate your idea with real-world feedback and lean testing.
5. Pitch like a pro, mastering storytelling and investor-ready presentations.
6. Create your MVP, the first tangible version of your product.

This is your first step into entrepreneurship, and we’re here to make sure you take it with confidence.

Whether you’re an early-stage startup, team or an individual with a bold idea, this program is designed to help you start strong and succeed.

Smart-Pumps (Sustainable Multi-Functional and Recyclable Heat Pumps) aims to revolutionize heat pump technology by optimizing both the design and manufacturing processes to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and performance. The project focuses on five key objectives: (1) redesigning heat pump components based on the Design for Additive/Hybrid Manufacturing concept, considering both operational characteristics and life-cycle parameters such as recycled material sourcing and recyclability; (2) utilizing mixed materials with varying percentages across different operational sections of heat pump components, employing the Functional Grading methodology to maximize material usage efficiency and exploit their full potential (mechanical, thermal, electrical, etc.); (3) embedding sensors and devices within heat pump components to monitor operations, extract data, and actively adjust component structures for optimal performance; (4) standardizing testing and creating manufacturing and assembly protocols; and (5) developing comprehensive training curricula on digital design, manufacturing, and testing of Smart Heat Pumps.

Incorporating AI-driven algorithms, smart connectivity, and circular economy principles, Smart-Pumps aims to ensure the long-term sustainability and reliability of heat pump systems, providing efficient heating and cooling solutions for residential applications while promoting environmental responsibility through recycling and reusing materials.

PROSPECTS 5.0 is a smart study on the analysis and identification of practices, drives, success factors, and obstacles of transition towards industry 5.0 for SMEs, start-ups, and scale-ups. PROSPECTS 5.0 aims to support the transition to Industry 5.0 by providing practical guidance, reports, tools, solutions, and a collaborative platform for industry stakeholders to remove the barriers for industry to opt into the I5.0. To provide real-world examples the project will analyze 14 use cases from different European Union countries and 6 different industries, covering various types of manufacturing, service providing, education, energy, aviation transport, and automotive. The use cases from these sectors will ensure a focused and effective transition to Industry 5.0.

PROSPECTS 5.0 results are expected to encourage collaboration between different entities, including companies, universities, research centers, and government agencies, to co-create solutions and innovations, improve the skills and mindsets of individuals regarding Industry 5.0 and study pilot projects to test, validate, and measure the impact of I5.0.

Additionally, PROSPECTS 5.0 will raise awareness of Industry 5.0 through workshops, seminars/webinars, and collaborative online platforms and web applications. PROSPECTS 5.0 is relevant to the worker Horizon Europe Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry, Space) specifically to destination 6: A human-centers and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies since the project results will lead to a more inclusive and sustainable EU industry, and indirectly, the project findings will facilitate the understanding of the required skills needed to support the twin transition.

NOUS will develop the architecture of a European Cloud Service that allows computational and data storage resources to be used from edge devices as well as supercomputers, through the HPC network, and Quantum Computers. NOUS will be an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)/Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) cloud provider, harnessing edge computing and decentralisation paradigms to incorporate a wide array of devices and machines in its computational flow to provide leaps in Europe’s capability to process vast amounts of data. The pipeline of the NOUS in the project will include three types of components: i) computational components that are responsible for executing computations, ii) edge components that are responsible for communicating with edge devices (such as IoT sensors/ actuators/ devices), iii) data storage components that are responsible for data storage and storage management. Components are researched individually, expecting to yield breakthroughs, and jointly, to create the architecture and cloud-level services such as syndication with other platforms and virtual labs. The project has defined 4 use-cases that will allow the testing of the developed technologies in real-world scenarios that industry leaders face. The NOUS architecture will be made open source to allow the capitalization by companies and organisations. Furthermore, a set of workshops and collaboration activities is envisioned with Data Spaces Support Centre, Gaia-X, FIWARE and EOSC powered by a strong consortium of 21 partners from 11 European countries.

SIGN-AIR will develop and pilot a new platform for an orchestrated sharing of data in multimodal traveling. The platform will provide the means for Transport Service Providers (TSPs) to register, reach Data Sharing Agreements with other TSPs and manage their contractual relationships. While the SIGN-AIR platform will only manage the contractual aspects through the types of data offered by the TSPs, the TSPs will continue managing their data and that of their customers. As an added value, the SIGN-AIR platform will provide a number of advantages and services to the stakeholders of multimodal travel for the B2B2C chain through the analysis and exploitation of the contracts: (i) templates for contracts to simplify the legal management, (ii) electronic management and information provision about each specific contract, (iii) routing information for Travel Companions (TCs) with enriched information about the specific contracts for their traveler customers, and (iv) facilitation of single ticketing through the comprehensive understanding of the contracts and the data managed, among others. The whole concept will be moved from TRL2, reached by the mother project SYN-AIR, to TRL 7. This will be done with an intensive evolution of the software and a continuous evaluation and piloting of the software with different important stakeholders that are present in the consortium. The development of the software will generate a Minimum Valuable Product in the first 12 months of the project and, in parallel, it will be piloted and improved through continuous development of the technologies in the following 21 months, reaching a TRL7 platform in month 33 of the project. The partnership is formed by knowledgeable teams in the areas of IT, legal and mobility; including airports TSPs and Transport Authorities on the piloting side.

The overreaching goal of KEYSTONE is to support the development of a sustainable, efficient, and safe transport system, allowing enforcement authorities to access data for the purpose of checking compliance with rules applied in the transport of goods and passengers.

The aim is to tailor standardised digital solutions that can be used from several realities to standardize the transport system.

To demonstrate the validity of the solutions proposed, an app will be developed so that two highly diverse pilots can prove the efficiency of the KEYSTONE’s innovation. Using the gained experience to develop a seamless, interoperable, and intermodal digital transport ecosystem that can be replicated at European level, the KEYSTONE digital solutions consist of standardised APIs for data and information sharing between transport enforcement authorities and logistics operators.

The concept is based on a federated approach that allows:

• to reduce the costs of logistics thanks to more efficient operations and interoperability;
• to reduce the impact on the environment thanks to data sharing;
• to consolidate flows and to improve safety thanks to seamless information exchange with enforcement authorities;
• to foster the acceptance of the CCAM solutions (Cooperative Connected and Automated Mobility).

The overall objective of the HS4U project is to offer an evidence-based approach extending standardized design and regulatory paradigms towards industry 5.0. The project is promoting principles of modularization, optimization, and smart systems engineering towards the detection, prevention, mitigation and management of large passenger and cruise ships. Hence, HS4U holistic solutions for stress relief over conditions of health crises prioritize the assessment of typical cruise designs and day-to-day tasks. Following its two use cases (CELESTYAL and COLUMBIA BLUE), and its 4U(nique) pillars approach for research, i.e., societal/human, environmental, technological, legislation factors, it adopts and delivers state-of the art ecosystem of technologies offering groundwork to rethink health and safety designs and frameworks. HS4U bridges cross-sectorial multidisciplinary expertise to cross-fertilize research findings and provide best practices, protocol/ policy recommendation and a complete solution for crew training based on multi-player gaming. Validation of proposed technology and passenger behavioral model will be based on live experiments. Special HS4Us open source/FAIR offerings are:

• Collaborative digital framework (CDF) for live interaction of crew/passengers and IoT edge devices on the ship based on co-robotics concepts and Artificial Intelligence mechanisms and models.
• Viral Detection Sensor (VDS) that will be developed, tested, validated, delivered, patented and commercialized to offer online indication of the location of pathogenic airborne spreads in indoor environments.
• “Robot-cabin” real-life demonstrator displaying evidence-based 4U solutions on the interoperability of smart, and innovative methods for ship systems effective and fast detection, prevention, mitigation and inter-compartment, intercompartment management ensuring healthy ship operations and safe return to port over conditions of health crises.