How can research support security? And how can researchers make sure that innovative projects tackling security issues get to be implemented and, more importantly, reach the people who need them the most?

We were excited to discuss these questions and to provide potential solutions at the recent Projects to Policy Seminar organized by the European Commission. The agenda included an overview of the HRB: Research Dissemination & Exploitation Services and the Horizon Results Platform.

“Dissemination and Exploitation (D&E) activities are crucial to raising awareness around research-based solutions and supporting their access to the market. Today, more than ever, security whether is online or offline, is a priority for governments, enterprises and citizens alike. We are glad to have supported three security emerging projects through Horizon Results Booster,” said Rosellina Di Santo from META Group, organization that coordinates Horizon Results Booster (HRB).

Some of the recent HRB success cases focused on security solutions include:

• Medina: a research project working in the areas of cloud security performance and audit evidence management;
• COPKIT: developed a range of prototype tools that do everything from scraping the darkweb for people selling weapons and illegal services to analysing crime hotspots based on open data;
• CitySCAPE: a research initiative on cyber security of multimodal transport.

The Horizon Results Booster (HRB) is an initiative by the European Commission which aims to maximise the impact of research projects funded by the Framework Programmes (FPs). It provides tailor-made services designed to build organizational capacity for disseminating research results.

It offers support, increase project results’ exploitation potential and improve access to markets for emerging research-based start-ups. Services are delivered to FP7, H2020, HE projects at no cost and fully supported by the European Commission

Learn more and apply here >

EU-funded security research

EU-funded security research is crucial to enable EU country authorities and industries to develop state-of-the-art solutions. The EU-funding represents roughly 50% of all public funding invested in the EU countries in the area of security.

According to DG HOME, between 2014 and 2020, the EU funded more than EUR 1.2 billion on 340 security research projects, and a budget of EUR 413 million is planned for 2021 and 2022.

The Projects to Policy Seminar is a yearly event organized by DG Home and the European Research Executive Agency (REA) to raise awareness on the new projects that have been launched.