EUR 5.25 million for 14 projects with Portuguese participation

The European Commission has allocated funding of EUR 5.25 million (M€) to Portuguese entities that will participate in 14 international collaboration R&D projects, under the scope of Cluster 3 - Civil Security for Society of Horizon Europe.

A total of 93 proposals with Portuguese participation were submitted, of which 14 were selected, corresponding to a success rate of 15% against the overall rate of 11%. About 42% of the total budget allocated to national entities was raised by companies, including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and about 37% of the same budget was raised by entities classified as 'others', including municipalities and relevant ministries in the field of civil security. We should also highlight the coordination of three projects by national entities (INOV, Ministry of Justice and University of Minho).

14 national entities participate in the projects financed, among which, and in the role of end-users, the Criminal Police, which coordinates the ENACT - European Network Against Crime and Terrorism project, and the Public Security Police, which participates in two projects on fighting crime and terrorism; the Ministry of National Defence in a project on security and management of maritime borders; and the National School of Firefighters which will participate in 2 projects, one of which focuses on understanding citizens and their reactions in the event of a disaster.

In the European Commission's Framework Programme for Research & Innovation, there is a new entity, the public municipal company Naturtejo - Empresa de Turismo EIM. PME Factor Social is an entity that integrates the Human Social Sciences, to increase the preparation and management capacity in case of high-impact events, such as earthquakes, having raised 600 thousand euros for its project. Also noteworthy is INOV - Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas, Computadores e Inovação that coordinates the SafeNomads - Secure and Frictionless Identity for EU and Third Country National Citizens project and the University of Minho that coordinates the NBS INFRA – City Nature Based Solutions Integrations to Local Urban Infrastructure Protection for a Climate Resilient Society project.

The main objective of this funding is to boost research and innovation in the field of civil security that aims to contribute to the development of capabilities, technologies and solutions that will make it possible, in the future, to fill the gaps identified by policy-makers, professionals and civil society organisations.

These results refer to the six 2022 calls of this cluster in the areas of: Fighting Crime and Terrorism, Border Management, Cyber Security, Disaster-Resilient Societies, Resilient Infrastructure and Support to Security Research and Innovation.

The Civil Security for Society theme is monitored in Portugal by ANI, within the scope of the PERIN network.