The work done during the first period of SEREN4 project, meaning from the 1st of May 2018 until the 31st of October 2019, ensured that all the objectives foreseen for this first time- frame and defined in the Description of Action (DoA) have been reached by the consortium.
Under WP1 'Project Management', the consortium has been reunited several times, from the beginning of the project, in order to allow a proper cooperation of beneficiaries and coordination of the project’s activities. Furthermore, the coordinator submitted a deliverable concerning quality assurance procedure that all partners should follow while delivering the reports for which they are directly responsible. In parallel, the WP leader elaborated the reimbursement conditions for allowing Secure Societies National Contact Points from associated partners to join SEREN4 events (e.g. trainings, fora). According to the DoA, an interim report was delivered at M9 in order to evaluate the activities and expenditures trends.
Under WP2 'NCP Capacity building', a first round of benchmarking has been launched, two trainings have been organised together with two different twinning activities, one webinar and one forum for SC7 National Contact Points have been organised.
Under WP3 'Strengthening Participation', one European Information Day was organised in close cooperation with the European Commission and the Research Executive Agency in March 2019 for the launch of the security call 2019 and, in conjunction with the Info Day, SEREN4 organised a very successful Brokerage Event, an Oral Pitch Session and a training for stakeholders. Furthermore, according to the Description of Action, the network organised a second brokerage event in Latvia and was involved as one of the main organisers of the SMI2G event. The SeReMa database has been updated according to the GDPR policy and the project consortium has provided a systematic update of H2020 SC7 calls’ results on trans-national, regional and national basis in the SC7 field to monitor sectorial performance.
Under WP4 'networking', the collaboration with several NCPs networks has been improved and consolidated together with with the Enterprise Europe Network. With reference to practitioners, SEREN4 has been included in the golden circle of practitioners at European Level and has been enclosed also in an online private space for networking, directly managed by the EC; on the other hand, the collaboration with security key players (e.g. EARTO, EOS) is constantly increasing, thanks also to the SMI2G event that is organised by several of these actors in close cooperation.
Under WP 5 'Dissemination and Communication', a very good dissemination strategy has been developed together with a brand new visual identity which includes the logo, the posters and other promotional materials and gadgets; furthermore, the project website has been properly updated. SEREN4 was represented at a number of EU and national events.
Under WP6 'Ethics', procedures for ensuring personal data protection have been established and included in a dedicated deliverable.
