Demand-led innovation in security

Scope: As past experience shows that pre-commercial procurement opens up the procurement market for startups and enables the public sector to address societal challenges more effectively, public procurers should make more strategic use of PCP. Applicants are invited to submit proposals for PCP action to acquire Research and Development (R&D) services and innovative civil security technology solutions. Proposals should demonstrate interest from a broader community of potential buyers, beyond the direct beneficiaries, who share similar needs and are open to jointly adopting the solutions developed, provided they are proven mature and operationally viable. The proposals are expected to include an analysis of the state of the art and market landscape, aligning research activities with identified needs and presenting a range of technical alternatives to address the challenge. Furthermore, to stimulate dialogue with the supply side, public procurers are required to organise proposals that should demonstrate sustainability of the action beyond the life of the project. The proposals should build on the outcomes of CSA projects funded under previous Horizon Europe work programmes aimed at creating Stronger grounds for pre-commercial procurement of innovative security technologies . The proposals should provide clear evidence to justify and de-risk the PCP action, demonstrating that the identified challenge is significant and necessitates a PCP action to mature certain technologies and compare alternatives. It should be shown that a consolidated group of practitioners and procurers with shared needs and requirements is committed to the PCP process, enabling informed decisions on future joint procurement of innovative solutions. Activities covered should include cooperation with policymakers to reinforce the national policy frameworks and mobilise substantial additional national budgets for PCP and innovation procurement in general beyond the scope of the project. The tender process to be followed is described in Annex H. Proposals should demonstrate commitment to exploiting project results beyond its conclusion, ensuring engagement with stakeholders and implementation of strategies for future uptake. Applicants should also clarify measures to ensure compliance with the principles of the EU Directive on public procurement, particularly those related to PCP. The required open market consultations should be completed in at least three EU Member States. Prior consultations conducted under previous CSA projects should be used, provided they ensured procurement viability and remain relevant to the current state of the art. Involvement of procurement decision makers is recommendable to ensure that end solution(s) are adopted by public buyers, increasing the societal impact of the related research activities. Therefore, procurers should declare in the proposal their interest to pursue deployment of solutions resulting from the PCP in case the PCP delivers successful solutions and indicate whether they will: Procure successful solution(s) as part of the PCP. Launch a separate follow-up procurement after the PCP to buy such type of solutions. Adopt successful solutions without the need to procure them (e.g. in case of open-source solutions). Foresee financial or regulatory incentives for others to adopt successful solutions (e.g. in case the final end-users of the solutions are not the procurers but for example citizens). In these four cases, the procurers can implement the project as a fast-track PCP [1] . In the first case, the procurers should foresee the budget in the proposal to purchase at least one solution during the PCP. In the second case, the procurers should include in the proposal a deliverable that prepares the follow-up procurement to purchase such type of solution(s) after the PCP. In the first and third case, the procurers should foresee sufficient time during the project to deploy and validate that the solutions function well after installation. In the fourth case, the procurers can use financial support to third parties to provide financial incentives to final end-users that are not part of the consortium (e.g. citizens) to adopt the solutions, including costly hardware components, with a maximum budget of EUR 100.000. Applicants should propose an implementation of the project that includes: A minimal preparation stage dedicated to finalising the tendering documents package for a PCP call for tenders based on the technical input, and to define clear verification and validation procedures, methods and tools for the evaluation of the prototypes to be developed throughout the PCP phases. Moreover, to ensure the sustainability and uptake of the developed solutions, proposals should outline clear plans for post-PCP activities. As outlined in the general annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027, the topic allows public buyers to use the fast-track PCP option (e.g. 2 instead of 3 phases) when they commit to buying or deploying the resulting solutions after the PCP. However, if such a commitment is not yet in place at the proposal stage, the call expects proposers to include a deliverable outlining concrete activities to prepare the ground for follow-up deployment or procurement after the PCP. Launching the call for tenders for research and development services. The call for tenders should envisage a competitive development composed of different phases that would lead to at least 2 prototypes from 2 different providers to be validated in real operational environment at the end of the PCP cycle; Conducting the competitive development of the prototypes following the PCP principles including a design phase, an integration and technical verification phase and a validation in real operational environment phase. In evaluating the proposals and the results of the PCP phases, the applicants should consider technical merit, feasibility and commercial potential of proposed research efforts. Consolidating the results of the evaluation of the developed prototypes, extracting conclusions and recommendations from the validation process, and defining a strategy for a potential uptake of solutions inspired in the PCP outcomes, including a complete technical specification of the envisaged solutions and standardisation needs and/or proposals. This strategy should consider joint-cross border procurement schemes and exploit synergies with other EU and national non-research funds. Applicants are expected to maximise the visibility of the project outcomes to the wide community of potential EU public buyers. Liaison with other civil security communities beyond those addressed by the project is encouraged in order to assess the possible reuse and extensibility of the identified solutions to different domains. Finally, proposals are expected to address all applicable considerations expressed in the Introduction of the Strengthened Security Research and Innovation Destination. Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. [1] See General Annex H of the Horizon Europe Work Programme.

Eligibility and submission conditions

"> General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide . 3. Other Eligible Conditions Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. The following additional eligibility criteria apply: This topic requires the participation[[See General Annexes page 12 on the Consortium Composition as regards Pre-commercial Procurement.]], as beneficiaries, of at least 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers[[Under this topic, the participation is required of minimum three procurers as beneficiaries in the buyer’s group for the PCP. The third procurer in the buyer’s group can be a private procurer or an NGO that provides similar services of public interest as the public procurers.]]. These beneficiaries must be from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. One organisation can have the role of practitioner and public procurer simultaneously, both counting for the overall number of organisations required for eligibility. Among the public procurers[[Under this topic, the participation is required of minimum three procurers as beneficiaries in the buyer’s group for the PCP, out of which minimum two must be independent legal entities that are public procurers, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country and with at least one of them established in a Member State. The third procurer in the buyer’s group can be a private procurer or an NGO that provides similar services of public interest as the public procurers.]], minimum two must be independent legal entities that are public procurers, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country and with at least one of them established in a Member State. For participants with practitioner status, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool. If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual . 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5. PCP/PPI procurement costs are eligible. The specific conditions for actions with PCP/PPI procurements in section H of the General Annexes apply to grants funded under this topic. Beneficiaries must ensure that the subcontracted work is performed in at least 3 Member States — unless otherwise approved by the granting authority. Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants / prizes. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 100 000 to provide financial incentives to final end-users that are not part of the consortium (e.g., citizens) to adopt the solutions, including costly hardware components. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme] Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Standard application form (HE PCP) Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations Standard evaluation form (HE PCP PPI) Guidance HE Programme Guide Model Grant Agreements (MGA) HE MGA Call-specific instructions Information on financial support to third parties (HE) Additional documents: HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 6. Civil Security for Society HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes HE Programme Guide HE Framework Programme 2021/695 HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Programme context

Since the Preparatory Action for Security Research [1] the EU-funded security research and innovation programme has contributed substantially to knowledge and value creation in the field of internal security. The programme has been fundamental to the consolidation of a European security ecosystem, which is better equipped to capitalise on research and innovation outcomes to support the EU security priorities. This Destination aims to contribute to reducing thematic fragmentation, bringing closer together the actors from different security domains, and expanding the market beyond traditional thematic silos. It also creates knowledge and value through research in matters (including technology, but also social sciences and humanities) that are not exclusive of only one security area, but cross-cutting to the whole Cluster. As underlined in the Horizon Europe strategic plan 2025-2027, proposals for the topics under this Destination ‘should support with cross-cutting actions the expected impacts outlined above [in the Cluster 3 Destinations]. This destination will increase the impact of the work carried out in the EU security Research and Innovation (R&I) ecosystem and contribute to its core values, namely: a focus on the potential and practical final use of the outcomes of security R&I; forward-looking planning of EU security capabilities; the development of security technologies that are socially acceptable, developed in quadruple helix [2] and that have added value for industrialisation, joint procurement, commercialisation, and the acquisition and deployment of successful R&I outcomes; safeguarding the EU’s open strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty in critical security areas by contributing to a more competitive and resilient EU civil security technology and industrial base; experimenting with research and innovation programming; and helping to make the European R&I ecosystem more consistent’. Many of the programme outcomes have materialised in relevant scientific findings, maturation of promising technology areas, operational validation of innovative concepts or support to policy implementation. However, a key challenge remains in improving innovation uptake and thus contributing to the development of security capabilities [3] , support of Start-ups and Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and deployment of innovation by security practitioners. The extent to which innovative technologies developed thanks to EU R&I investment are industrialised and commercialised by EU industry, and acquired and deployed by end-users, could reflect the impact achieved with the programme. As explained in the Commission staff working document on Enhancing security through research and innovation [4] there are factors inherent to the EU security ecosystem (often attributed to the market) that hinder the full achievement of this impact, such as market fragmentation, cultural barriers, analytical weaknesses, programming weaknesses, ethical, legal and societal considerations or lack of synergies between funding instruments, among others. To that aim, there is a need to create a favourable environment that is designed with the main purpose of increasing the impact of security R&I, which provides the right tools that serve to tackle the factors that hinder innovation uptake. Therefore, security research and innovation should foster and enhance the development of innovative tools, technologies and capabilities for the benefit of practitioners that can use in their day-to-day work. To this end , proposals under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following impacts: A more effective and efficient evidence and knowledge-based development of EU civil security capabilities built on a stronger, more systematic and analysis-intensive security research and innovation cycle; Increased cooperation between demand and supply market actors, including with actors from other domains, fosters swift industrialisation, commercialisation, adoption and deployment of successful outcomes of security research and reinforces the competitiveness and resilience of EU security technology and industrial base and safeguards the security of supply of EU-products in critical security areas; R&I-enabled knowledge and value in cross-cutting matters reduces sector specific bias and breaks thematic silos that impede the proliferation of common security solutions. This Destination will trigger actions that will help bringing these and other developments closer to the market, thus contributing to the measures facilitating the uptake of innovation. Those actions will help developers (including industry, research organisations and academia) to accelerate product development and improve the valorisation of their research investment. They will also support buyers and users in materialising the uptake of innovation and further develop their security capabilities. The aim is to increase the capacity of EU public procurers to align their requirements with the EU security industrial capacity and to attract innovation and innovators from security and other sectors through common validation strategies, rapid innovation, experimentation and pre-commercial procurement. Finally, this Destination will contribute to the development of the tailored analytical capacity required for the adoption of capability-driven approaches aimed at fostering a forward-looking capability-driven approach in security. Where possible and relevant, synergy-building and clustering initiatives with successful proposals in the same area should be considered, including the organisation of international conferences in close coordination with the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS) [5] activities and/or other international events. Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes. [1] COM(2004) 72. [2] Through the interaction of public authorities, academia, industry and the public. [3] For the purpose of the work programme, the terms “Capability” should be understood as "the ability to pursue a particular policy priority or achieve a desired operational effect”. The term “capability” is often interchanged with the term “capacity”, but this should be avoided. “Capacity” could refer to an amount or volume of which one organisation could have enough or not. On the other hand, “capability” refers to an ability, an aptitude or a process that can be developed or improved in consonance with the ultimate objective of the organisation. [4] https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/ff888398-0b0a-4511-9717-ad41beb22314_en?filename=SWD-2021-422_en.PDF [5] https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/ceris-community-european-research-and-innovation-security_en

Hivatkozott dokumentumok

Annex A Horizon Europe Programme Guide Online Manual Standard application form (HE PCP) Standard evaluation form (HE PCP PPI) HE MGA Information on financial support to third parties (HE) HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 6. Civil Security for Society Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/ff888398-0b0a-4511-9717-ad41beb22314_en?filename=SWD-2021-422_en.PDF