Project description
Strategic foresight in law enforcement policymaking
The emergence of disruptive technologies like AI and virtual reality poses challenges for law enforcement and civil security practitioners. They are required to anticipate technological advancements, identify potential threats, and transform them into opportunities. While technology foresight is a viable solution, it is imperative not to rely solely on technology watch-based approaches. The EU-funded AHEAD project will establish a sustainable, capability-based civil security foresight framework by adopting a comprehensive 360-degree approach. This framework will be tested with the objective of offering practical courses of action that can aid decision-makers and policymakers at both the EU and national levels. Ultimately, the project aims to integrate strategic foresight more systematically into the policymaking process.
Objective
With the rise of potentially disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, a particular challenge has emerged for LEAs and other civil security practitioners. Tasked with fostering safe societies and protecting European citizens from new forms of criminality, they need to pre-empt technological evolutions, turning potential threats into opportunities, and anticipate the operational future of policing.
Technology foresight is one possible anticipatory process. However, pure technology watch-based approaches are not helpful for decision-making if not embedded in a qualitative assessment of threats and capabilities. Hence the need to move towards a comprehensive foresight framework which is the rationale behind AHEAD.
Standing for TowArd TecHnological ForEsight for IncreAseD Security, AHEAD is a LEA-led project which will adopt a 360-degree approach accounting for megatrends but also contextual elements (i.e. legal, ethical, societal and economic) to design and operationalise a sustainable capability-based civil security foresight framework. Tested through iterative Foresight Exercises addressing the five Destinations of the Horizon Europe Cluster 3 (Fighting crime and terrorism, Border management, Resilient infrastructure, Increased cybersecurity and Disaster-resilient society), this framework will be tailored to the needs of civil security practitioners to generate “evidence-based” capability roadmaps.
Such roadmaps will translate the foresight process’ outcomes into concrete courses of actions to support decision- and policy-makers at EU and national levels when deciding on strategies and policy actions in the field of civil security, including the programming of security research and innovation investments. By enhancing a forward-looking culture in civil security, AHEAD will contribute to the strategy put forward in the European Commission's Foresight Agenda to embed in a more systematic way strategic foresight into policy-making.
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HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
75800 Paris
France