BOrdDErGuArd - Proactive Enhancement of Human Performance in Border Control

Project Information

BODEGA

Grant agreement ID: 653676

DOI

10.3030/653676

Project closed

EC signature date 20 May 2015

Start date 1 June 2015

End date 31 October 2018

Funded under

• Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens

Total cost

€ 4 999 238,00

EU contribution

€ 4 999 238,00

Coordinated by

TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY
Finland

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - BODEGA (BOrdDErGuArd - Proactive Enhancement of Human Performance in Border Control)

Reporting period: 2017-12-01 to 2018-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In the light of the current European border control situation, the partners of the BODEGA project have summarised the possible future improvements to the solutions elaborated during the runtime of the project.
The solutions suggested by the BODEGA project can help to improve the ethical acceptability of border controls independently of the changes that will occur in its implementation. The broadening engagement can increase the quantity and quality of knowledge, which is useful to solve existing and future problems. Increasing the level of information available to the different actors involved in border controls can generate a better understanding of the process and improve its acceptance. And finally, integrating cultural and personal differences in the process can guarantee the respect of fundamental human rights and equality.

The measures suggested by BODEGA are soft ones, meaning that they are not expensive and do not question the development of the process. Instead, these suggestions help to improve single, but crucial aspects of controls. The general, adoption of BODEGA solutions can enhance not only the relation between different drivers at stake in border controls (speed, security, fairness) by the overall objective for which borders are in place, that is the freedom of citizens.


The objective of the recommendations is to enable an informed deployment of smart borders by taking into consideration all stakeholders and with a high focus on the border guards, who will be directly impacted in their everyday work. To be applicable to all, the recommendations are generic but point out crucial aspects that need to be considered from the methodological view point (for example how to introduce the smart border to the team), but also regarding key aspects of the human factors at the organisational and operational levels.
Together with the technical recommendations, the Human Factors recommendations should provide a help for managers who need to consider how the smart borders can be deployed efficiently at their borders not only from the technical side but also from the organisational or process viewpoint. These recommendations must be considered as a complement of already available documents such as the Best Practice Operational Guidelines for Automated Border Control (ABC) Systems, but do not substitute to other exchanges of practice between different BCPs. Further improvements may occur with specific Human Factors studies for each border type or systems and processes implemented. In that context, the recommendations from Bodega can be further complemented to fulfil the specificities of each border crossing.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The three-year project, which has included 16 partners from 7 different EU countries, has delivered many notable results that are accessible through the PROPER Toolbox Platform (https://happywise.eu/tmp/propertoolboxtest/index.html) an online environment designed to provide stakeholders (e.g. border authorities, policy-makers, etc.) access to a set of solutions for improving EU border management from a human factor point of view. The platform includes in fact guidelines, recommendations, technology tools, interactive contents and other resources for stakeholders to translate and use within their operational contexts.

The work carried out for the BODEGA project has resulted in a number of recommendations that have an impact on:
• the border guard well-being (improvements of environmental working conditions and improvement of the equipment provided),
• the organisation and management of border guard organisations (change management, shift work, cooperation, motivation),
• the border security (improvements of automatic border control tools implementations),
• the interaction between border guards and travellers.

As commercial exploitation of research results is one of the key objectives promoted by the EC through the H2020 funding programme, each organisation involved in the project will benefit from the research carried out during BODEGA for the following purposes:
• Informing and orienting future R&D activities;
• Enriching and tailoring advisory/training services according to the needs of end-users;
• Enhancing the effectiveness of decision-making and training as well as the quality of human factors conditions in border control activities;
• Improving cooperation and establishing new partnerships with relevant stakeholders in the border control domain;
• Enlarging their customer base by strengthening the organisation's subject-matter expertise and visibility;
• Selling licenses of the solutions and applications developed in the context of BODEGA.

More specifically, consortium members will pursue a set of business opportunities associated with specific technological solutions proposed by BODEGA. Business plans have in fact been developed around the following 8 solutions:
• Interoperability analysis of document readers;
• Algorithms and software to evaluate document readers;
• Evaluation for contactless fingerprint capture and matching;
• User interface for mobile devices for border control purposes;
• Decision Support System for Smart Borders security;
• HMI facial recognition system;
• Advisory services for early detection of high-risk travellers;
• The BodeGame;
• The hybrid game PASS.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The initiative’s PROPER Toolbox platform offers all the information and results in a consolidated format. This online environment provides solutions for improving EU border management from a human factors point of view.
Stakeholders can appropriate and use the resources in their operational context to support development of more user-friendly equipment and improvements in working conditions of border control staff. The platform can also be used for next-generation border guard training and to educate travellers on border crossing procedures.


Gamification featured heavily in design activities of applications. One example of the methodology used in developing project resources was strong activity analysis and co-creation aspects with travellers. Further, BODEGA placed strong emphasis on RRI – responsible research and innovation – including ethical design approach.



Other opportunities available through the platform include the PASS and BodeGame solutions. In the first, a hybrid card game, different digital stories are played out to increase the knowledge level of travellers related to border crossing. The second has to do with the application of serious gaming to border guard training. BODEGA has produced a demonstration video offering a brief overview of this simulation-type game focusing on interaction with technical systems, document verification and social interaction.


Initiated in the framework of the BODEGA project, the ESBF LinkedIn group, with over 150 members from the European border control and border management community, is helping to raise awareness on project activities and developments. O

Follow-up projects can apply project outcomes in their work, especially when focusing on human factors and ethical dimensions in the design of systems supporting border management. More generally, BODEGA results can be utilised very widely in relation to border control and security studies.

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