Open topic on efficient border surveillance and maritime security

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcome(s):

• Improved security of EU external borders, or of maritime environment, infrastructures and activities, against natural, accidental or incidental disasters; challenges such as illegal trafficking (covering air, maritime, underwater, land/surface), irregular migration or exceptional situations of mass arrivals at external borders, illegal exploitation of natural resources, piracy and potential terrorist attacks, cyber and hybrid threats;
• Sustained and improved surveillance, real-time situational awareness, and reaction capabilities to cope with potential critical situations at the EU external borders;
• Improved decision-making processes and capabilities for assessing, confirming and responding to distress situations at sea and land, allowing a better and faster response.

Under this topic, proposals are welcome to address new, upcoming or unforeseen challenges and/or creative or disruptive solutions for improving capabilities of practitioners in border surveillance and/or maritime security. External border areas, pre-frontier areas as well as contexts and scenarios in Europe’s border regions that may in the future be impacted by geopolitical instabilities, hybrid threats, or tensions from outside the EU, and need sustained and improved surveillance and reaction capabilities, could be particularly considered. If they relate to some of the topics covered by Horizon Europe Calls Effective Management of EU External Borders 2021-2022 or 2023-2024, the proposals should convincingly explain how they will build on and not duplicate them.

Proposals may also address capabilities of information exchange, capabilities for detection of illegal activities, and/or solutions that can be deployed efficiently across diverse geographical regions; capabilities for operational event data recording; capabilities to detect irregular activities in areas of terminals for travel (air, sea) or logistics terminals around a Border Control Point, without disrupting the flow of operations; capabilities that support and help the decision-making process and facilitate operating in different scenarios (air, sea, land) simultaneously.

The EBCG Capability Roadmap recognises that future surveillance capabilities that help detect cross-border irregularities and cases requiring Search and Rescue activities are essential. Solutions should be modular and scalable to cater to the regional and challenges specificities.

Examples of technologies and solutions that may be relevant for this topic include but are not limited to: sensing (at tactical, operational, and/or strategic levels), autonomous platforms, vehicles and systems (aerial, ground, surface or underwater, vessel-based or not, mobile or land-borne, etc); interconnectivity between sensors and platforms and automated data fusion; data processing systems; image and signal processing and analysis; robotics; computing technologies including edge and cloud computing; decision-support systems and human-machine interfaces.

Projects should integrate:

• perspectives of safeguarding and promoting human rights, including gender equality, developing solutions that contribute to those safeguarding and promotion;
• inputs from human rights, law and ethical perspectives, as well as the consideration and views of individuals and society, as well as a gender sensitive approach, as appropriate; proposals can engage with civil society organisations for wider input and support;
• aspects of cybersecurity of the technology proposed, and the protection of communication systems and networks involved in the solutions, if and as relevant.

Proposals that include solutions and/or methods that would contribute to a lower environmental impact and footprint, better cost-efficiency, better energy-efficiency, and/or better operational autonomy of the capabilities and solutions in this topic, would be welcome.

Depending on the particular scope of the proposal, participation of Police and/or Customs Authorities is welcome.

To ensure the active involvement of and timely feedback from relevant security practitioners, proposals should plan a mid-term deliverable consisting in the assessment of the project’s mid-term outcomes, performed by the practitioners involved in the project.

In this topic, the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.