STAIR4SECURITY- STANDARDS, INNOVATION AND RESEARCH FOR SECURITY

Project Information

STAIR4SECURITY

Grant agreement ID: 853853

DOI

10.3030/853853

Project closed

EC signature date 17 December 2018

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 30 June 2021

Funded under

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

Total cost

€ 900 000,00

EU contribution

€ 900 000,00

Coordinated by

COMITE EUROPEEN DE NORMALISATION
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - STAIR4SECURITY (STAIR4SECURITY- STANDARDS, INNOVATION AND RESEARCH FOR SECURITY)

Reporting period: 2020-07-01 to 2021-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project is aimed at developing the STAIR4SECURITY framework, which comprises of a core platform and a supporting eLearning tool, that is complemented with newly revised standardization tools and mechanisms. The framework is designed specifically to meet the growing needs of Chemical-Biological-Radiological-Nuclear and small sized quantity Explosives (CBRNe) and Disaster Resilience/Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) community for better European standardization governance and engagement. It is designed to support policy makers, practitioners, industry, researcher and standardizers on innovation research and standardization results.
The first objective of the project is to establish a digital platform for the better coordination of research-related standardization activities in the security sector and in particular for the CBRNe/DRR community. The platform builds on from a legacy of identified projects and provides a “single entry point” for any query related to pre-standardization and standardization in the CBRNe/DRR sectors. The platform is complemented by a supporting eLearning tool, designed to facilitate the use of the platform by delivering tailor-made tutorials, highlighting how separate features can be used to accomplish the different phases of the pre-standardisation process; and to provide relevant course material in the fields of standardization, CBRNe/DRR for practitioners and policymakers.
The second objective of the project is the revision of the necessary standardization tools and mechanisms to fit the needs of research and innovation. This translated in the review of the CEN-CENELEC Workshop Agreement (CWA) process and its accompanying guidelines and training materials addressing specific gaps identified in consultation with relevant stakeholders improving its fit for purpose for the CBRNe/DRR sector.

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 development of the STAIR4SECURITY Platform was achieved through the iterative and agile development process. It enables the evolution of the software through communication between different actors of the platform. It has been developed based on the feedback received from the different categories of stakeholders and participants of the platform demonstrations.
The eLearning tool is conceived to support the platform by providing hands-on, tailor-made tutorials for the use of the platform. To achieve this goal, the tool adopts a pro-active approach and answers specific questions that practitioners and policymakers may have while navigating through the pre-standardisation process.
To validate the state of the platform and supporting eLearning tool, an early alpha (December, 2020), an alpha (February, 2021), and a beta release (March, 2021) has been launched to the wider CBRNe/DRR community.
In parallel, the project worked on the revision of the CEN-CENELEC Workshop Agreement (CWA) process as well as its adoption as another type of standardisation deliverable (European Standards, Technical Specification) addressing the main gaps identified in consultation with relevant experts and practitioners and ensuring the process is suitable to meet stakeholders’ needs. Moreover, a series of guidelines and training materials have been developed to support the user friendliness of the CWA process. The involvement of H2020 security-related projects in the providing hands-on advices and recommendations on the fine tuning of the CWA process helped to ensure the delivery of high-quality results already tested by target users.
The STAIR4SECURITY final event took place on 27th and 28th of May 2021. The event covered ten sessions offering an overview of the STAIR4SECURITY ecosystem and results. Presentations were carried out by members of the Consortium and guest speakers from different projects (DG-ECHO, DG-HOME, ENCIRCLE, NO-FEAR, INCLUDING, STRATEGY, and AQUA3S), some of which will share their experience in using the STAIR4SECURITY tools. The event gathered over 100 participants representing 20 countries, 83 organisations, 27 nationalities, and 49 H2020 Projects.

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 STAIR4SECURITY platform will allow stakeholders - policymakers, practitioners as well as industry, SMEs, academics, standardizers as members of CBRNe/DRR business - to connect, access and contribute to platform resources and services. It provides them with easy access to and use of relevant research information, including standardization information, technical solutions, best-practices, guidelines that they require to strengthen their day-to-day business activities.
The Proof of concept of the STAIR4SECURITY platform and eLearning tool have both been accepted by the targeted community and are in use by the INCLUDING and NO-FEAR projects. DG-HOME and DG-ECHO have recognised the potential of the developed tools.
The strong engagement with the targeted community throughout the life of the project including the “Meeting of Minds” webinars, hackathons, workshops, physical events (e.g Community of Users, STAIR4SECURITY/NO-FEAR joint conference), complemented by strong presence on social media have culminated in much interest in project results, which was evident during the STAIR4SECURITY Final Event (27th and 28th of May, 2021). The project has obtained No.1 position on Google Search for “cbrne, standardisation” for wider impact interest.
The main impacts achieved by the projects are:
• Set-up of a single-entry point for integrated pre-normative and normative information on security
• Interaction and sharing of common information across co-related platforms (ENCIRCLE, NO-FEAR, STAIR4SECURITY), setting a marker for HORIZON Europe through the DRR Data Ecosystem and datasets
• Engagement of required stakeholders and experts including practitioners to ensure lasting impact
• Comprehensive overview on security related standardization/pre-standardization activities (and linked research activities), substantiated by the ongoing engagement with members of the CEN/TC 391
• Improved CWA process addressing specific gaps identified in consultation with relevant stakeholders
• Templates and training materials developed to support the user friendliness of the CWA process and to raise awareness of specific security risks early on
• Fast track approach solution developed to make the conversion of a CWA into another type of standardisation deliverable (European Standards, Technical Specification) more concrete and feasible.

Camille Cloitre (Stair4Security) presenting at the Stair4Security/NO-FEAR Conference in November 201

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