EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-INFRA-02

1. Single Market Access

• 450+ million end-users & operators: Solutions validated in at least three Member States under the grant can be commercialised or deployed across the entire EU without additional market-entry barriers.

• Public-procurement leverage: Once TRL 6–8 is reached, beneficiaries can tap into joint cross-border procurement (Articles 39–40 of the Public Procurement Directive) for security-relevant products and services.

• First-mover reputation: Early compliance with EU-wide standards for critical-infrastructure (CI) resilience (CER Directive, NIS2) positions consortia as default suppliers for the whole market.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Mandatory practitioner triad (≥3 operators/authorities from ≥3 MS/AC) automatically creates a multinational living-lab, accelerating transfer of best practices on insider-threat mitigation, cyber-physical security and post-incident forensics.

• Access to ERNCIP & EPCIP networks: Projects can plug into JRC-run platforms, gaining datasets, testbeds and peer feedback from 20+ thematic CI labs.

• Mobility of researchers & SSH experts funded through Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and COST networks to ensure continuous knowledge flow after project end.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• Green Deal: Resilient energy, transport and water infrastructures underpin climate-adaptation objectives; proposals can integrate nature-based solutions and low-carbon restoration logistics.

• Digital Europe & Cybersecurity Act: Human-centric cyber-range training modules can be certified under EU-CSA schemes, easing adoption EU-wide.

• EU Security Union Strategy: Direct contribution to Action 3 (critical-infrastructure protection) and 4 (public-private partnerships).

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• CER Directive (2022/2557) and NIS2 (2022/2555) create unified risk-management obligations—projects can design “compliance-by-design” toolkits valid across 27 MS instead of country-specific variants.

• GDPR & AI Act readiness: Developing privacy-preserving background-check systems under EU supervision reduces future legal uncertainty and speeds certification.

5. Access to the Pan-European Innovation Ecosystem

• 3,400+ Horizon Europe partner organisations active in cluster 3 offer ready-made testing facilities (e.g., ECHO, SPARTA labs).

• EIT Digital, EIT InnoEnergy & EIT Urban Mobility provide acceleration, venture creation and piloting sites for post-grant scale-up.

• Copernicus & Galileo/EGNOS data usage clause** allows free, high-quality EO/PNT inputs for threat-forecasting modules.

6. Funding Synergies & Leverage

• Digital Europe Programme (DEP): up to €10 m co-investment for large-scale cyber-security pilots.

• InvestEU (Security & Defence window): guarantees and blended finance for commercial rollout of validated resilience solutions.

• EU Civil Protection Mechanism & RescEU: operational budgets for cross-border emergency drills using the project’s training curricula.

• European Defence Fund (EDF) dual-use spin-offs** for advanced detection or AI-enabled situational awareness components.

7. EU-Scale Deployment & Impact Potential

• Interoperable standards developed under CEN/CENELEC/ETSI fast-track will enable plug-and-play adoption by thousands of CI entities.

• Pan-European stress-tests (similar to post-Fukushima nuclear tests) can become policy instruments, with project methodologies adopted by DG HOME.

• Replication toolkits translated into all EU languages through eTranslation services ensure rapid uptake by SMEs and local authorities.

8. Strategic Value Added vs National-Level Projects

• Risk pooling & data richness: Multi-country datasets capture diverse threat vectors (Nordic climate risks, Mediterranean wildfires, Central-European floods, varying cyber-maturity levels).

• Economies of scale lower per-unit R&D cost by 30-40 % compared with isolated national pilots.

• Stronger political endorsement: Involvement of EU-level agencies (ENISA, ERA, EMSA) de-risks future policy adoption.

9. Actionable Opportunities for Applicants

• Map consortium roles to CER sectors (energy, transport, digital, water, space) to maximise policy relevance.

• Integrate an SSH-led behavioural study on insider motivation with a tech work package developing AI-driven continuous-vetting tools.

• Plan a mid-term practitioner assessment workshop hosted by DG HOME’s Community of Users on Secure, Safe & Resilient Societies.

• Allocate resources for standardisation liaison (CEN/TC 391) from Month 6 to fast-track outputs into draft standards.

• Reserve budget for joint dissemination with projects funded under HORIZON-CL3-2025-INFRA-01-01 to create a single EU knowledge hub on CI resilience.