Horizon 2020 Briefing Sheet - Secure Societies Challenge

Enterprise and Commercial Development, External Projects Team

Horizon 2020 Briefing Sheet - Secure Societies Challenge

Horizon 2020 is the EU’s main funding programme for research and innovation and will run from 2014 to 2020. The full call documents for the Horizon 2020 funding are expected to be launched in January 2014. However, we have been able to get hold of some draft documents which indicate the direction the Commission wishes to take.

What is Horizon 2020 and who should apply?

Horizon 2020 is a funding programme for all types of actors involved in research and innovation – academia, research, industry and other stakeholder organisations. These are for large scale projects.

Activities can be funded under three pillars:

Pillar 1: Excellent Science

Pillar 2: Industrial Leadership

Pillar 3: Societal Challenges

This call falls under Pillar 3
Pillar 3 – Tackling Societal Challenges
Seven societal challenges have been identified under pillar 3:
1. Health, demographic change and wellbeing
2. Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research and the bio-economy
3. Secure, clean and efficient energy
4. Smart, green and integrated transport
5. Climate action, resources and raw materials
6. Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies
7. Secure societies
Funding under this pillar is predominantly for collaborative projects, following a more top-down approach with two-year work programmes of defined, challenge-based topics. Usually, a minimum of three legal entities from three EU Member States participate in these projects.
Given that the overall aim of this pillar is to tackle Societal Challenges, most projects will require a broader approach in terms of disciplines and might require the inclusion of different stakeholders. If you are a researcher from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) area, you will find that it is worth looking beyond Challenge 6, as all other challenges will also identify areas where input from SSH is relevant.

Funding, eligibility and project details

Funding rates for Horizon 2020 have been harmonised compared to its predecessor programme FP7. All beneficiaries are now entitled to a reimbursement of 100% of their direct costs related to a research project, with a single flat rate for indirect costs of 25%. For the so-called innovation actions (close-to-market activities, usually with a stronger industry focus), the general reimbursement rate is 70% (100% for non-for-profit entities).

What is funded?

What is funded exactly depends on the project type. The most common project type is a Collaborative Project (CP), which usually requires a minimum of three participants from three different EU Member States or the countries that are associated to Horizon 2020. CPs fund research activities including personnel costs, travel, consumables, management costs and dissemination.

There are other project types, such as the Co-ordination and Support Actions (CSAs), which do not fund research as such but fund, for example, the co-ordination of research policies across Member States in a particular field. They sometimes fund studies and also occasionally conferences and other networking activities. In addition, the Commission is planning to include prize competitions in the Horizon 2020 work programmes.

Funding is mainly based on the reimbursement of actual direct costs incurred for a project. For some types of projects, such as the MSCA, funding can be based on flat rates and granted as lump sums.

What is the project duration and how many partners do I need?

The duration of projects can vary immensely, a typical small or medium-scale Collaborative Project would usually last 2-4 years, and larger projects could run for 3-5 years. There are no formal limits on project duration imposed under Horizon 2020. The best way to approach project planning is to ensure that projects are underpinned by solid time planning with clear milestones and objectives. Minimum or maximum budget levels for projects in the Horizon 2020 work programmes can give an indication of the appropriate project duration. There are some exceptions where the duration of a project or grant is specified or suggested.

How many partners should be involved and which countries should be included in a project mainly depends on what you judge is most appropriate for the work you are planning to undertake. Again, there are no fixed rules as such on the maximum, but there are usually minimum requirements in terms of the number of partners and sometimes also the types of organisations in the project. We would also recommend that you look at projects funded under FP7 in your area to see some examples.

Call areas including the page numbers in the draft document

Call - Disaster-resilience: safeguarding and securing society, including adapting to climate
change...... 8
DRS 1 - 2015: Crisis management topic 1: potential of current measures and technologies
to respond to extreme weather and climate events ...... 9
DRS 2 – 2014: Crisis management topic 2: Tools for detection, traceability, triage and
individual monitoring of victims after a mass CBRNE contamination with dual-use
applications...... 10
DRS 3 – 2015: Crisis management topic 3: Demonstration activity on large scale disasters’
governance and resilience of EU external assets against major identified threats or causes
of crisis ...... 11
DRS 4 – 2014: Crisis management topic 4: Feasibility study for strengthening capacitybuilding
for health and security protection in case of large-scale pandemics – Phase I
Demo ...... 13
DRS 5 – 2014: Crisis management topic 5: Situation awareness of Civil Protection
decision-making solutions – preparing the ground for a PCP...... 14
DRS 6 – 2015: Crisis management topic 6: Addressing standardisation opportunities in
support of increasing disaster resilience in Europe ...... 15
DRS 7 – 2014: Crisis management topic 7: Crises and disaster resilience – operationalizing
resilience concepts...... 16
DRS 8 – 2014: Crisis management topic 8: Trans-national co-operation among National
Contact Points (NCPs) for Security...... 18
DRS 9 -2014-2015: Disaster Resilience & Climate Change topic 1: Science and innovation
for adaptation to climate change: from assessing costs, risks and opportunities to
demonstration of options and practices ...... 19
DRS 10 – 2014: Disaster Resilience & Climate Change topic 2: Natural Hazards: Towards
risk reduction plans at national and European level...... 21
DRS 11 – 2015: Disaster Resilience & Climate Change topic 3: Mitigating the impacts of
climate change and natural hazards on cultural heritage sites, structures and artefacts...... 21
DRS 12 – 2015: Critical Infrastructure Protection topic 1: Critical Infrastructure “smart
grid” protection and resilience under “smart meters” threats...... 23
DRS 13 – 2015: Critical Infrastructure Protection topic 2: Demonstration activity on tools
for adapting building and infrastructure standards and design methodologies in vulnerable
locations in the case of natural catastrophes...... 24
Page 3 of 88
DRS 14 – 2015: Critical Infrastructure Protection topic 3: Critical Infrastructure resilience
indicator - analysis and development of methods for assessing resilience...... 25
DRS 15 - 2015: Critical Infrastructure Protection topic 4: Protecting potentially hazardous
and sensitive sites/areas considering multi-sectorial dependencies ...... 26
DRS 16 -2015: Critical Infrastructure Protection topic 5: Cybercrime on Industrial Control
Systems protection...... 27
DRS 17 – 2014: Critical Infrastructure Protection topic 6: Improving the aviation security
chain ...... 28
DRS 18 – 2014/2015: Critical infrastructure protection topic 7: SME instrument topic:
“Protection of Urban soft targets” ...... 30
DRS 19 – 2014: Communication technologies and interoperability topic 1: interoperable
next generation of broadband radio communication system for public safety and security -
PCP...... 32
DRS 20 – 2014: Communication technologies and interoperability topic 2: Next generation
emergency services...... 34
DRS 21 -2014: Ethical/Societal Dimension topic 1: Improving protection of Critical
infrastructures from insider threats...... 35
DRS 22 - 2014: Ethical/Societal Dimension topic 2: Better understanding the links
between culture and disasters ...... 36
DRS 23 – 2015: Ethical/Societal Dimension topic 3: Impact of climate change in third
countries on Europe's security ...... 37
Call – Fight against crime and Terrorism...... 40
FCT 1 – 2015: Forensics topic 1: Tools and infrastructure for the fusion, exchange and
analysis of big data for forensic investigation ...... 41
FCT 2 - 2015. Forensic topic 2: Advanced easy to use in-situ forensic tools at the scene of
crime ...... 42
FCT 3 – 2015: Forensics topic 3: Mobile, remotely controlled technologies to examine a
crime scene in case of an accident or a terrorist attack involving CBRN materials...... 44
FCT 4 – 2015: Forensics topic 4: Internet Forensics to combat organized crime...... 46
FCT 5 -2014: Law enforcement capabilities topic 1: Develop novel monitoring systems
and miniaturised sensors that improve Law Enforcement Agencies' evidence- gathering
abilities ...... 48
FCT 6 – 2015: Law Enforcement capabilities 2: Detection and analysis of terroristgenerated
content on the Internet...... 49
FCT 7 - 2014: Law enforcement capabilities topic 3: Securing the vehicle supply chain
from production to destruction ...... 50
Page 4 of 88
FCT 8 – 2014: Law enforcement capabilities topic 4: Trans-national cooperation among
public end-users in security research stakeholders...... 51
FCT 9 – 2014: Urban security topic 1: Innovative solutions to counter security challenges
connected with large urban environment...... 53
FCT 10 – 2014: Urban security topic 2: Countering the terrorist use of an explosive threat
...... 54
FCT 11 - 2014: Ethical/Societal Dimension Topic 1: Factors affecting (in-) security -
Phase 1 Demo Project...... 56
FCT 12 – 2014: Ethical/Societal Dimension Topic 2: Enhancing cooperation between law
enforcement agencies and citizens - Community policing...... 56
FCT 13 – 2015: Ethical/Societal Dimension Topic 3: The role of new social media
networks in national security...... 57
FCT 14 – 2015: Ethical/Societal Dimension Topic 4 - Understanding the underlying social,
psychological and economic aspects of the genesis, methods and motivation of organized
crime (including cyber related offenses) ...... 58
FCT 15 – 2015: Fast track to Innovation Topic ...... 59
Call – Border Security and External Security ...... 61
BES 1 – 2014: Maritime Border Security topic 1: radar systems for the surveillance of
coastal and pre-frontier areas and in support of search and rescue operations...... 62
BES 2 – 2015: Maritime Border Security topic 2: Low cost and “green” technologies for
EU coastal border surveillance ...... 63
BES 3 - 2014: Maritime Border Security topic 3: Light optionally piloted vehicles for
maritime surveillance ...... 64
BES 4 2015: Maritime Border Security topic 4: Detection of low flying aircraft at near
shore air space ...... 65
BES 5 – 2014: Border crossing points topic 1: Novel mobility concepts for land border
security ...... 67
BES 6 – 2015: Border crossing points topic 2: Exploring new modalities in biometricbased
border checks...... 68
BES 7 – 2014: Border crossing points topic 3: Improving border checks at railway Border
Crossing Points...... 69
BES 8 – 2015: Border crossing points topic 4: Optimization of border control processes
and planning ...... 70
BES 9 – 2015: Supply Chain Security topic 1: Development of an enhanced non-intrusive
(stand-off) scanner...... 71
Page 5 of 88
BES 10 – 2014: Supply Chain Security topic 2: Technologies for inspections of large
volume freight ...... 72
BES 11 – 2015: Information management topic 1: Intervention forces tracking...... 75
BES 12 – 2014: Information management topic 2: Information management, systems and
infrastructure for civilian CSDP missions...... 75
BES 13 – 2014: Conflict prevention and peace building topic 1: Enhancing the conflict
prevention and peace building capabilities of the EU ...... 76
BES 14 – 2015: Conflict prevention and peace building topic 2: Training curricula for
Crisis Prevention and Peace Building personnel...... 77
BES 15 – 2014: Ethical Societal Dimension topic 1: Human factors in border control ..... 78
Call – Digital Security: Cybersecurity, Privacy and Trust ...... 80

View Full Draft Work Programme

If you are interested in seeing more details about these funding areas, the External Projects Team has copies of draft documents which outline the research areas the commission are looking to focus on for each theme. The documents cover 2 years.

Getting Involved

The best way to get ahead of the game with these grants is to start talking to people who you could work with on projects and developing your network before the calls come out. The best ways to find contacts is to use existing leads and to talk to colleagues to see if they know anyone you could partner with.

Other ways could be though attending conferences or training courses which have a European audience.

Useful Contacts

European Commission Horizon 2020 website

Sign up to the UKRO Portal News to stay up to date on Horizon 2020 general developments, calls, events and results

For in-house support on these grants contact