The goal of the SOUNDSCAPES project is to develop a framework and tools for the design and production of sound scenes and related sound effects and ambiences. To that end, the project develops a suite of Acoustic Scene classification, Audio Event Detection and Audio Scene synthesis tools aiming at: (i) providing a framework and solutions for the cost-efficient production of static and living soundscapes, background sound textures and foreground sound effects with the aid of cutting-edge ICT and (ii) overcoming obstacles that prevent individuals from incorporating high-quality sound scenes and ambiences into their products or services. SOUNDSCAPES relies on cutting-edge machine learning research with an emphasis on deep neural networks and reinforcement learning algorithms to develop solutions that deal with the research challenges of the exciting field of automatic scene analysis and production.