The project began with close collaboration among the consortium partners, which are a combination of end-user and technology partners.
As Law Enforcement and Customs Agencies, the COSMIC end-user partners (DCA, INP and GUCI) expect the COSMIC technology to serve in the future toward a safer society, to contribute to the fight against terrorism, organised crime and international crime, and to improve freedom, security and justice in and around the EU. Together with the technology partners, the end-users agreed on the prioritised list of CBRNE substances along with their threat level and criminal use.
Target subsets of bacteria and virus were selected by CNB-CSIC. Stocks of the non-pathogenic bacteria were generated at the CNB-CSIC lab and sent to SEA, TECH and BGU in order to improve and test their respective bacteria sensors. In addition, stocks of non-pathogenic viruses, UV-inactivated viruses and non-infectious virus-like particles (VLPs) were generated at CNB-CSIC and sent to SEA and Yale University (USA) to improve and validate the virus sensor.
Eight new CBRNE sensors for the three inspection stages, with capabilities of detection currently not available, have been developed and improved by COSMIC partners.
During the design and implementation of the COSMIC Analytics System by ATOS, the end-users provided crucial feedback toward optimal user-interface and proper data collection to gather all necessary parameters needed for effective and rapid decision-making during a container’s inspection process. DCA, GUCI and INP provided ATOS with Analytics System requirements to capture, view, analyse and report the field detection results.
Field-trials were performed at the three end-user sites (Seaports of Rotterdam, Valencia and Haifa), as well as laboratory tests for the biological sensors. The development of the CBRNE sensors is very promising, which has been confirmed by the results from the field-trials. The TRL of the sensors was increased to the next stage, with either continued development or commercialization as a next step.
Dissemination activities were undertaken by the project partners, including the website, brochures, meetings and discussions with other projects and with the ENCIRCLE cluster, etc. The consortium presented the results at the end of the project with a webinar targeted to end-users and relevant industry partners. In addition, the consortium carried out a holistic dissemination approach that combined networking with other research projects, publishing in specialised media, presentations in congresses, dissemination and commercialisation actions, both to partners staff and clients, and creating specific groups in social media at international level.
