Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SecurIT (New industrial value chain for Safe, sECure and Resilient cIties and Territories)
Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2024-08-31
The security sector is considerably evolving, by adapting the offer to the risk and threats and by permanently aggregating emerging innovations. The digital is disrupting this industry, by adding new capacities and new threats. Based on the fact that the security sector is very fragmented, SecurIT aimed at creating a new global competitive security industrial (product & service) value chain by supporting a better integration of innovative security systems, with a cross-sectoral and European approach, to support the time to market optimization, the integration of privacy and security by design at all steps of maturity, with a cross-border collaboration between SMEs and other RDI actors.
The objective sought out was to further structure the industrial & services value chain, and to address global safety, resilience, security, cybersecurity, cyber-physical and cybersecurity towards the whole issues of safe public spaces, territories and critical infrastructures. In particular the project proposed an integrated approach that will raise the maturity and support the overall growth of the European security market.
In this regard, SecurIT permitted to identify promising security solutions’ needs and use cases through a market-pull orientation with consultations carried out with security experts, LEAs, end-users in order to define a list of gaps and needs to be addressed by promising SMEs and projects. After 3 years of completion, SecurIT project has supported 42 innovative technological solutions & projects in the field of security, developed by consortiums of 95 European SMEs, granted with a funding up to 88K€ to develop a prototype or demonstrator, and selected through a top-notch selective process of 2 Open Calls. Laureates of both Open Calls declared a total increase of turnover of 3,5M€ and 87 jobs created thanks to SecurIT funding.
The objective sought out was to further structure the industrial & services value chain, and to address global safety, resilience, security, cybersecurity, cyber-physical and cybersecurity towards the whole issues of safe public spaces, territories and critical infrastructures. In particular the project proposed an integrated approach that will raise the maturity and support the overall growth of the European security market.
In this regard, SecurIT permitted to identify promising security solutions’ needs and use cases through a market-pull orientation with consultations carried out with security experts, LEAs, end-users in order to define a list of gaps and needs to be addressed by promising SMEs and projects. After 3 years of completion, SecurIT project has supported 42 innovative technological solutions & projects in the field of security, developed by consortiums of 95 European SMEs, granted with a funding up to 88K€ to develop a prototype or demonstrator, and selected through a top-notch selective process of 2 Open Calls. Laureates of both Open Calls declared a total increase of turnover of 3,5M€ and 87 jobs created thanks to SecurIT funding.
The SecurIT consortium has been working towards raising awareness and providing further insights onto the project to various stakeholders, in a first hand to attract applicants to the Open Calls. All media channels of the EU-funded project were used: the website of SecurIT https://securit-project.eu ; the social networks (Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/75071710/admin/(opens in new window) Twitter account: https://twitter.com/SecurIT20(opens in new window) Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgugF8EkG2Qs9HMUIloBsnw(opens in new window) Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SecurITproject ), and the consortium relied on a specific global visual identity of the project (logos, flyers, communication kits, templates, etc.).
Upon start of the project, SecurIT carried out processes of consultations with end-users and experts in the field of security and cybersecurity in order to gather and collect their gaps and lacks, and identify potential areas of needs that could be addressed by the project applicants. These activities within the scope of the preparation of the Open calls led to the final list of 11 challenges and 3 domains that the applicants would address when applying for SecurIT funding: protection of critical infrastructure, disaster resilience and protection of public spaces. The full list of related challenges is publicly available on SecurIT website: https://securit-project.eu/challenges/(opens in new window).
In the 3-year time, SecurIT launched 2 Open Calls, that led to the selection of 42 projects to receive funding, up to 88K€, through the prototyping or demonstration instrument. The selection was composed of several stages in order to ensure a fair process for all consortium of candidates and to select the most promising innovations. In total, for both Open Calls, 241 applications were received, from 511 European SMEs, covering 38 countries, and 68% of applications were submitted by consortia composed of SMEs from different countries, highlighting cross-border collaboration. All 3 domains were fairly targeted by the applicants.
In total, 3,5M€ were allocated as direct funding on both Open Calls, with a payment scheduled into several instalments: 14 prototypes (with a funding up to 74K€) and 21 demonstrators (with a funding up to 88K€).
The 42 projects that were selected for funding after the final stages of evaluation all entered into a 12-month support program to develop their solution for which they were granted SecurIT funding. Their progress was carefully monitored through the support of dedicated SecurIT consortium members.
The most promising projects were also granted with an additional prize, since an awards competition was set up by the end of the project, and led to the attribution of prizes (up to 10K€) to 6 projects from both Open Calls.
Upon start of the project, SecurIT carried out processes of consultations with end-users and experts in the field of security and cybersecurity in order to gather and collect their gaps and lacks, and identify potential areas of needs that could be addressed by the project applicants. These activities within the scope of the preparation of the Open calls led to the final list of 11 challenges and 3 domains that the applicants would address when applying for SecurIT funding: protection of critical infrastructure, disaster resilience and protection of public spaces. The full list of related challenges is publicly available on SecurIT website: https://securit-project.eu/challenges/(opens in new window).
In the 3-year time, SecurIT launched 2 Open Calls, that led to the selection of 42 projects to receive funding, up to 88K€, through the prototyping or demonstration instrument. The selection was composed of several stages in order to ensure a fair process for all consortium of candidates and to select the most promising innovations. In total, for both Open Calls, 241 applications were received, from 511 European SMEs, covering 38 countries, and 68% of applications were submitted by consortia composed of SMEs from different countries, highlighting cross-border collaboration. All 3 domains were fairly targeted by the applicants.
In total, 3,5M€ were allocated as direct funding on both Open Calls, with a payment scheduled into several instalments: 14 prototypes (with a funding up to 74K€) and 21 demonstrators (with a funding up to 88K€).
The 42 projects that were selected for funding after the final stages of evaluation all entered into a 12-month support program to develop their solution for which they were granted SecurIT funding. Their progress was carefully monitored through the support of dedicated SecurIT consortium members.
The most promising projects were also granted with an additional prize, since an awards competition was set up by the end of the project, and led to the attribution of prizes (up to 10K€) to 6 projects from both Open Calls.
SecurIT aimed to focus on increasing the security of current applications, services and infrastructures by integrating state-of-the-art security solutions or processes, supporting the creation of lead markets & market incentives in Europe, following an end-user driven approach, including for instance law enforcement agencies, first responders, operators of critical infrastructures, service providers, manufacturers, market operators and citizens.
As it was outlined that there was a strong need to bring together all security stakeholders: industry - including SMEs, research & technology organisations, universities, as well as public authorities, non-governmental organisations and public and private organisations within the security domain, SecurIT facilitated all contacts among these stakeholders.
Thanks to the direct funding support of SecurIT and the indirect services provided to the laureates, the innovation cycle has been shortened for SMEs, allowing them to carry out experimentations, while considering and facilitating all constraint aspects such as ethical and legal. SecurIT has been lowering barriers to market entry: the innovation potential of SecurIT relied upon the implementation of a focused, operational and sustainable European network of innovation clusters and practitioners in a security Innovation Hub, managing and facilitating access to demonstration sites, testing workbenches, and training facilities, supporting the building of an effective and sustainable Security union as well as the uptake of strategic research and innovation and business growth.
The project focused on providing support to SMEs in their innovation – while aiming at bringing them closer to the needs of the market, through the involvement of end-users and security experts. It was achieved through the initial consultation phase of the challenges’ definition of the Open Calls where end-users and security practitionners were involved, but also throughout the development of the 42 solutions where end-users were associated to the testing of the developed service/product in near-real environments.
As it was outlined that there was a strong need to bring together all security stakeholders: industry - including SMEs, research & technology organisations, universities, as well as public authorities, non-governmental organisations and public and private organisations within the security domain, SecurIT facilitated all contacts among these stakeholders.
Thanks to the direct funding support of SecurIT and the indirect services provided to the laureates, the innovation cycle has been shortened for SMEs, allowing them to carry out experimentations, while considering and facilitating all constraint aspects such as ethical and legal. SecurIT has been lowering barriers to market entry: the innovation potential of SecurIT relied upon the implementation of a focused, operational and sustainable European network of innovation clusters and practitioners in a security Innovation Hub, managing and facilitating access to demonstration sites, testing workbenches, and training facilities, supporting the building of an effective and sustainable Security union as well as the uptake of strategic research and innovation and business growth.
The project focused on providing support to SMEs in their innovation – while aiming at bringing them closer to the needs of the market, through the involvement of end-users and security experts. It was achieved through the initial consultation phase of the challenges’ definition of the Open Calls where end-users and security practitionners were involved, but also throughout the development of the 42 solutions where end-users were associated to the testing of the developed service/product in near-real environments.