ExpectedOutcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Enhanced analytical capacity to support the programming of EU-funded security research and capacity building funds through a periodic and timely evidence-based policy feedback ;
- Periodically aggregated and consolidated view of the capability needs and gaps in the thematic areas under consideration[1];
- Periodically aggregated and consolidated view of the state-of-the-art technologies, techniques, methods and tools that can contribute to fill the identified capability gaps;
- Periodically aggregated and consolidated view of outcomes (including on technological, industrial, legal and ethical issues), future trends, lessons learnt and best practices derived from past and current security research effort incurred in the thematic areas under consideration.
- More systematic assessment and validation of the outcomes of EU-funded security research projects with respect to identified capability gaps through harmonised support mechanisms;
- Common and updated map of opportunities and constraints for the exploitation of EU security research and innovation projects, with special focus on industrialisation, commercialisation, adoption and deployment of innovative solutions in response to common capability gaps;
- Common and updated map of areas requiring standardised solutions and/or certification schemes to foster innovation uptake and market creation, as well as trainings and options for the implementation of such schemes.
- Enhanced cooperation between research institutions, smaller private research agencies, security practitioners, SMEs and community representatives to support integrated participation in requirements determination and analysis, research and validation and evaluation of results.
Scope:
Innovation uptake is not a linear process, and even less a single-step process that happens only at the end of a research project and it is not automatically enabled by a successful research result. The innovation uptake process begins with the identification of a need and ends with an innovative solution deployed on the field of operations, being R&I only one of the many contributors to the overall process, but not the first and not the last. In other words, successful results of research projects are a necessary but not sufficient condition to guarantee the uptake of innovation.
Investment in security research needs to be designed taking into consideration how and when it can deliver outcomes that contribute to the development of security capabilities. Therefore, research needs to be undertaken, from its very early stages, in a way that addresses real needs while guaranteeing the impact in the final solutions. It should also ensure to identify and underpin the factors that could help in the implementation of its results. However, the programming of research is highly conditioned by the quality, reliability and timeliness of the evidence that supports its decision making process. This includes the identification and understanding of the contextual elements that can or will influence or be influenced by the research (process), the research team and the research projects themselves.
The European Commission and the EU Member States carry out this programming exercise periodically, taking into account a wide variety of inputs. The complexity of the challenge is notable, considering that the EU security landscape is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous in what regards the security threats, the capabilities required to face them, the evolution of modern technologies, and the skillset needed to deploy those. In order to carry out a sound programming exercise, the European Commission and the EU Member States strive to consult and involve all actors. With that aim, experts are gathered in different configurations and their inputs are coordinated at EU and national levels to be factored in by the decision-making bodies of EU-funded security research.
These experts require high quality, reliable and timely evidence to support their assessments, but information is often scattered, hardly visible and requires bespoke processing for the detection of patterns and for the generation of actionable intelligence. In other cases, it is simply not presented in the right format to unveil its value.
Applicants are invited to submit proposals for the establishment of Knowledge Networks for Security Research & Innovation. The role of these networks is to collect, aggregate, process, disseminate and exploit the existing knowledge to directly contribute to the expected outcomes of this topic.
Networks must engage with the main sources of information in order to have a sound and updated picture of the aspects mentioned above. This includes interaction with security experts (beyond the members of the project consortium), organisations, projects or initiatives, but also an extensive review of available databases, studies, reports or literature (notably all information generated under the EU-funded security research programmes, and possibly under other EU or MS funding programmes).
The networks have to ensure the dissemination and exploitation of their findings to the different communities of the security research ecosystem, including policy makers, security authorities, industry, researchers and citizens. Special emphasis needs to be made on the contribution of these networks to the work of entities and initiatives established by the European Commission and the EU Agencies (e.g. Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network) to contribute to the security research programming effort. In this regard, the networks have to contribute timely and intensively to the work of the Thematic Working Groups of the Community of Users for Secure, Safe and Resilient Societies (future CERIS –Community of European Research and Innovation for Security) and of other equivalent innovation labs/groups set-up by EU Agencies (e.g. EUROPOL). The networks will have to contribute to these working groups with the quantitative and qualitative evidence required to carry out their activities in support to a more impactful EU-funded Security R&I and to a more frequent and systematic innovation uptake.
Each proposal should include a plan, and a budget amounting at least 25% of the total cost of the action to interact with industry, academia and other providers of innovative solutions outside the consortium, with a view to assessing the feasibility of their findings, give support in validation processes, promote competitive development (e.g. via prizes) or dissemination of results, among other options.
The networks must be in a position to deliver findings on the abovementioned challenges starting from the month 6 of the project and periodically every 6 months or less, in accordance with the information needs of the entities and initiatives they are contributing to.
Proposals should clearly describe the process and timing for the collection of inputs and the generation of outcomes. This plan should go beyond the description of project deliverables and milestones, and describe in detail how and when the findings will be disseminated and exploited during the project and in collaboration with the communities described above.
The consortia submitting the proposals should ensure sufficient representativeness of the communities of interest (including, but not only, geographical representativeness) and a balanced coverage in terms of knowledge and skills of the different knowledge domains required to face the challenge, including security operations, technologies, research & innovation, industry, market, etc. The applying consortia should demonstrate how the project beneficiaries guarantee the expertise required to steer the project activities in all the knowledge domains to ensure the success of the action. The work of the partners should be supported by solid and recognised tools and methods, also accompanied by the required expertise to put them in practice.
The networks should build to the extent possible on the work initiated by the Networks of Practitioners funded under H2020 Secure Societies work programmes. Should such networks be still ongoing, maximum cooperation and minimum overlapping should be ensured and demonstrated.
Under this call, the applicants are invited to propose networks on the thematic areas of:
Option A: Disaster Resilience
Option B: Fighting Crime and Terrorism.
The project should have a maximum estimated duration of 3 years.
This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.
Cross-cutting Priorities:
Social sciences and humanities
[1]The thematic areas under consideration are described in the topic and are different for each call. Only one network in each area can be funded
