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Knowledge Networks for security Research & Innovation

HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions

Basic Information

Identifier: HORIZON-CL3-2022-SSRI-01-02
Programme: Strengthened Security Research and Innovation 2022
Programme Period: 2021 - 2027
Status: Closed (31094503)
Opening Date: June 30, 2022
Deadline: November 23, 2022
Deadline Model: single-stage
Budget: €1,500,000
Min Grant Amount: €1,500,000
Max Grant Amount: €1,500,000
Expected Number of Grants: 1
Keywords: First respondersQuantitative analysisInnovation policySecurityExploitation of resultsCompetitiveness, innovation, research and developmPolicy and SupportTechnology commercialisationResearch to businessKnowledge transferHorizontal issuesPolicy impactEnd-usersInnovation managementImpact AssessmentKnowledge managementKnowledge and Technology transferUsing results for policy development (streaming)Certification, Verification, Validation, TechnicalMission CapabilitiesInnovationSecure SocietiesDemand driven innovationMarket analysisSocial sciences and humanitiesStandardisationTechnology evaluationEconomic impactInformation exchangeSocietal impactDisaster resilience and crisis managementForesight / ForecastEvaluation of resultsFight against crime and terrorismOther effectiveness and performance studies

Description

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

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Destination & Scope

The EU-funded security research and innovation framework was launched with the Preparatory Action for Security Research[[COM(2004) 72]]. Since then, the programme has contributed substantially to knowledge and value creation in the field of internal security and to the consolidation of an ecosystem better equipped to capitalise on research and innovation to support the EU security priorities.

While the success of the programme has materialised in relevant scientific findings, maturation of promising technology areas, operational validation of innovative concepts or support to policy implementation, a key challenge remains in improving the uptake of innovation.

The extent to which innovative technologies developed thanks to EU R&I investment are industrialised and commercialised by EU industry, and later acquired and deployed by end-users, thus contributing to the development of security capabilities[[For the purpose of this work programme, the terms “Capability” should be understood as "the ability to pursue a particular policy priority or achieve a desired operational effect”. The term “capability” is often interchanged with the term “capacity”, but this should be avoided. “Capacity” could refer to an amount or volume of which one organisation could have enough or not. On the other hand, “capability” refers to an ability, an aptitude or a process that can be developed or improved in consonance with the ultimate objective of the organisation.]], could give a valuable measure of the impact achieved with the programme. However, there are factors inherent to the EU security ecosystem (often attributed to the market) that hinder the full achievement of this impact. These include market fragmentation, cultural barriers, analytical weaknesses, programming weaknesses, ethical, legal and societal considerations or lack of synergies between funding instruments, among others.

It is worth noting that such factors affect all the security domains addressed in Cluster 3; that there is not one predominant factor with sufficient leverage by itself to change the overall innovation uptake dynamics; and that they exhibit complex relationships among them which are difficult to disentangle. It should also be noted that the innovation uptake process starts before the R&I cycle is triggered, and it is not finalised with the successful termination of a research project. Therefore, the uptake challenge extends beyond the realm of R&I. However, from within R&I it is possible, if not to materialise the uptake in every case, at least to pave the way towards its materialisation.

To that aim, there is a need to create a favourable environment that is designed with the main purpose of increasing the impact of security R&I, that is visible and recognisable to those interested in contributing to this aim, and which provides bespoke tools that serve to tackle the factors that hinder innovation uptake.

The SSRI Destination has therefore been designed with this purpose to serve equally to all the expected impacts of Cluster 3. Research applied in this domain will contribute to increasing the impact of the work carried out in the EU security Research and Innovation ecosystem as a whole and to contribute to its core values, namely: i) Ensuring that security R&I maintains the focus on the potential final use of its outcomes; ii) Contributing to a forward-looking planning of EU security capabilities; iii) Ensuring the development of security technologies that are socially acceptable; iv) Paving the way to the industrialisation, commercialisation, acquisition and deployment of successful R&I outcomes; and v) Safeguarding the open strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty of the EU in critical security areas by contributing to a more competitive and resilient EU security technology and industrial base.

While the other Destinations of this Horizon Europe Cluster 3 Work Programme offer research and innovation activities to develop solutions to address specific security threats or capability needs, the SSRI Destination will contribute with instruments that will help bringing these and other developments closer to the market. Such instruments will help developers (including industry, research organisations and academia) to improve the valorisation of their research investment. They will also support buyers and users in materialising the uptake of innovation and further develop their security capabilities.

In addition, the SSRI Destination will offer an open environment to create knowledge and value through research in matters (including technology, but also social sciences and humanities) that are not exclusive of only one security area, but cross-cutting to the whole Cluster. This will contribute to reducing thematic fragmentation, bringing closer together the actors from different security domains, and expanding the market beyond traditional thematic silos.

Finally, SSRI will allow the allocation of resources to the development of tools and methods to reinforce the innovation cycle itself from a process standpoint, thus increasing its effectiveness, efficiency and impact. This Destination will contribute to the development of an analytical capacity tailored to the specific needs of security stakeholders for the materialisation of a structured long-term capability based planning of research and innovation for security.

In order to accomplish the objectives of this Destination, additional eligibility conditions have been defined with regard to the active involvement of relevant security practitioners or end-users.

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following impacts:

A more effective and efficient evidence-based development of EU civil security capabilities built on a stronger, more systematic and analysis-intensive security research and innovation cycle;
Increased industrialisation, commercialisation, adoption and deployment of successful outcomes of security research reinforces the competitiveness and resilience of EU security technology and industrial base and safeguards the security of supply of EU-products in critical security areas;
R&I-enabled knowledge and value in cross-cutting matters reduces sector specific bias and breaks thematic silos that impede the proliferation of common security solutions.

Eligibility & Conditions

General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

The following additional eligibility conditions apply:

Each consortium must commit and propose a plan to contribute, every 6 or fewer months, to working groups chaired by the European Commission and/or EU Agencies supporting the identification of security research needs referred to in the topic text;
Each proposal must include a work package to disseminate their findings, including an annual workshop or conference;
Participation as beneficiaries of end-user authorities with a recognised mandate in the areas addressed by the network from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries is mandatory[[The applicable definition of end-user authority or practitioner is the same as the one used in this work programme under the Destinations corresponding to the type of network addressed by the submitted proposal.]]. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Eligibility information about practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool.

Some activities, resulting from this topic, may involve using classified background and/or producing of security sensitive results (EUCI and SEN). Please refer to the related provisions in section B Security — EU classified and sensitive information of the General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

5. Evaluation and award:

Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes

Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

To ensure a balanced portfolio covering the different Destinations of this WP part, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one project that is the highest ranked within each of the two options (Option A "Disaster Resilience", Option B "Fighting Crime and Terrorism"), provided that the applications attain all thresholds.

Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].

Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties.
The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of prizes.
The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard application form (HE CSA)

Standard application form (HE PCP)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)

Standard evaluation form (HE PCP PPI)

MGA

HE General MGA v1.0

Call-specific instructions

Template for Security & eligibility conditions in Horizon Europe

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 6. Civil Security for Society

HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Support & Resources

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Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.

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Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.

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The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.

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