The European Commission has allocated €4.43 million to Portuguese entities participating in 11 international R&D projects under Cluster 3 – Civil Security for Society of Horizon Europe.
In total, 111 proposals were submitted with Portuguese participation, of which 11 were selected, corresponding to a success rate of 10% compared to the overall rate of 10.4%. Around 47% of the total budget allocated to national entities was raised by companies, including Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), around 31% of the same budget was raised by research centers, while entities classified as “other”, which includes municipalities and relevant ministries in the area of civil security, retained 22% of the national budget. INESC-TEC also coordinated a project.
Seventeen national entities are taking part in the funded projects, including, as end users, the Judicial Police in three projects dedicated to cybercrime, forensic science and crime using emerging technologies; the Ministry of National Defense in a project on maritime border security and management; the Coimbra Hospital and University Center in a project dedicated to information security; and the Lisbon City Council in a training project for its police.
Also noteworthy is INESC-TEC, the Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, which coordinates the SEAGUARD project: Sea Environmental Awareness and Guard enhanced with Unmanned AI Robotic Detection.
The main objective of this funding is to boost research and innovation in the field of civil security and contribute to the development of capacities, technologies and solutions that will make it possible in the future to fill the gaps identified by policymakers, professionals and civil society organizations.
These results refer to the 6 2023 calls of this cluster in the areas of: Combating Crime and Terrorism, Border Management, Cybersecurity, Disaster Resilient Societies, Resilient Infrastructures and Support for Security Research and Innovation.
The Civil Security for Society theme is managed in Portugal by the ANI as part of the PERIN network.
