Data repository for security research and innovation
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Funding Description
What the Grant Funds
* Design, build and validate a fully-functional, common European security research data repository that operationalises the LAGO roadmap and extends it to additional domains (terrorism & crime, disaster resilience, border management, infrastructure protection, etc.).
* Development of the technical architecture (centralised, distributed or hybrid), APIs, data-ingestion pipelines, harmonised data models, search & discovery tools, anonymisation and access-control mechanisms (MFA, digital signatures, role-based authorisation).
* One-year live pilot in which ongoing Horizon Europe security projects ingest and reuse data, providing verification & validation evidence.
* Legal, ethical and governance framework (GDPR compliance, bias mitigation, data ageing rules, security scrutiny procedures).
* Stakeholder engagement, training, dissemination, communication and clustering with EOSC, TESSERA, European Data Spaces and GAIA-X.
* Exploitation & long-term sustainability plan, including viable business/operating models and potential integration into larger EU infrastructures.
Funding Modalities
* Action type: Horizon Innovation Action (IA) – 100 % funding of eligible direct costs + 25 % flat-rate overhead.
* Maximum EU contribution per grant: €18 000 000 (no co-funding required unless consortium chooses to).
* Project duration: up to 36 months; repository must be operational and tested for ≥12 months before project end.
* Technology readiness: repository expected to reach TRL-7 (operational prototype) by project completion.
Eligibility Snapshot
* Minimum consortium: 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or Horizon-Europe Associated Countries.
* Recommended profiles:
* Public security practitioners/end-users (law-enforcement agencies, civil-protection authorities, border guards, etc.) – at least one with real operational data.
* Research / academic organisations with proven data-management & security R&I expertise.
* Industry / SMEs specialising in cloud & cyber-security solutions capable of hosting and operating the repository.
* Legal-ethical experts (GDPR, fundamental rights) and social scientists (bias, gender dimension).
* Non-EU/AC partners may join if they secure own funding and pass the mandatory security scrutiny.
Timeline & Process
* Call opens: 12 June 2025
* Submission deadline: 12 November 2025 – 17:00 Brussels time (single-stage).
* Grant agreement signature: ~Q2 2026 (indicative).
* Earliest project start: mid-2026; completion by mid-2029.
Compliance Requirements
* Repository and processes must follow FAIR data principles and the open-science maxim ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’.
* All activities subject to ethics review and, where applicable, security scrutiny.
* Gender dimension in research content to be integrated where relevant.
* Alignment with Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement (HORIZON-AG) rules on IPR, financial reporting, and open-science obligations.
🎯 Objectives
📊 At a Glance
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🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for "Data Repository for Security Research and Innovation" (HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-05)
1. Single Market Access (EU-27, 450+ million citizens)
• One-stop security data hub: A pan-European repository becomes the reference point for all security R&I projects funded under Horizon Europe, EDF, ISF, Digital Europe, etc., giving every beneficiary immediate visibility in the entire Internal Market.
• Faster commercial uptake: Harmonised datasets accelerate validation of AI-based security products, shortening time-to-market across all Member States without the need for country-by-country data collection.
• New service lines: SMEs can build add-on analytics, certification, or training services for the repository and deploy them EU-wide under common contractual conditions (Digital Services Act / Data Act compliant).
2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange
• Mandatory multinational consortia: Horizon calls require at least three MS/AC; the repository naturally extends this network to every new project that uploads/consumes data, fostering an EU security research community.
• Interoperability by design: Alignment with EOSC, GAIA-X, European Data Spaces and TESSERA delivers plug-and-play connectivity between national police forces, civil-protection agencies and research labs.
• Joint exercises & simulations: Raw and annotated datasets for terrorism, border and disaster scenarios can be shared for EU-level training, enabling transnational incident-response drills under rescEU and CEPOL programmes.
3. EU Policy Alignment
| EU Strategy | Repository Contribution |
|-------------|-------------------------|
| Security Union Strategy 2021-2025 | Common data pool strengthens intelligence-led policing and cross-border crime prevention. |
| Digital Europe Programme | Facilitates European Data Space for Security; aligns with Digital Europe objectives on trusted data infrastructures. |
| European Green Deal – Climate Resilience | Disaster-risk data supports climate adaptation planning and early-warning systems. |
| Open Science & ERA | Implements FAIR principles, reinforcing Europe’s commitment to open, reproducible science. |
| AI Act & Cyber-Resilience Act | Provides high-quality, bias-controlled datasets required for compliant, trustworthy AI development. |
4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits
• GDPR & Law-Enforcement Directive (LED) cleared workflows: A single pan-EU governance model, based on LAGO’s legal blueprint, removes the need for 27 separate DPIAs and data-sharing agreements.
• Unified security clearance & access tiers: Multi-factor authentication and role-based access enable authorised practitioners (police, border guards, civil-protection services) to retrieve data under common rules, reducing administrative friction.
• NIS2 & Data Governance Act alignment: Repository architecture can embed cybersecurity certification (EUCS) and data-altruism mechanisms once instead of duplicating in every Member State.
5. Innovation Ecosystem Leverage
• Connection to 3000+ EOSC research organisations gives instant critical mass for testing and code-sharing.
• Synergy with European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs): SMEs can prototype security solutions using repository sandboxes and receive business acceleration support in 200+ hubs.
• Access to EuroHPC & EDI infrastructures: Large security datasets (video, lidar, social-media streams) can be processed on EU supercomputers with legal certainty.
• Talent attraction: Early-career researchers gain pan-EU recognition through dataset DOIs, fostering mobility under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
6. Funding Synergies & Leverage
1. Digital Europe (DEP): Apply for DEP-DIGITAL-INFRA-DATA-2025 calls to expand storage/compute nodes.
2. European Defence Fund (EDF): Dual-use algorithms validated on repository qualify for EDF maturation funding.
3. Internal Security Fund (ISF) & BMVI: National ministries can co-invest in vertical data layers (e.g., CBRN incidents).
4. Cohesion Policy / ERDF: Regions hosting disaster-risk datasets (floods, wildfires) can tap Smart Specialisation funds to run local mirror nodes.
5. Connecting Europe Facility (CEF2 Digital): Finance cross-border high-capacity networks linking repository nodes.
The combined pot easily exceeds €300 million, multiplying the €15-20 million Horizon IA budget.
7. Scale & Impact Potential
• Pan-European standard: By project end (≈ 2029) repository can become obligatory for all CL3 projects, similar to European Medicines Agency EUDAMED model, ensuring sustainability.
• Public-sector uptake: Interfaces for ministries of interior, justice, civil-protection and customs unlock large-scale deployments under the EU Customs Union data model (UCC).
• Economic impact: Up to €2 billion annual cost savings from avoiding duplicate data collection and enabling common certification of AI security tools (JRC estimate, 2023).
• Societal impact: Faster roll-out of lifesaving disaster-prediction models; improved trust through reproducible research; gender-disaggregated data enhances inclusivity.
8. Unique Strategic Value of EU-Level Operation
1. Critical mass of sensitive datasets (terrorism, border surveillance, CBRN events) unlikely to be legally sharable outside EU legal umbrella.
2. Network effect: Every additional dataset/project increases repository value for all 27 Member States; this can only be captured at EU scale.
3. Political signalling: Demonstrates EU capability to govern high-risk data responsibly, reinforcing strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty.
9. Actionable Opportunities for Applicants
• Consortium composition: Combine data-rich security agencies (e.g., Frontex, Europol), IT infrastructure leaders (GAIA-X nodes), legal-ethics centres (EDPS liaison), and high-TRL SMEs.
• Living-lab pilots in at least 5 Member States to test cross-border data flows (e.g., Spain–Portugal wildfire data; Finland–Estonia maritime border).
• Sustainability model: Blend subscription fees for industry users, ISF maintenance grants and EOSC integration to ensure post-project life.
• Policy-lab work-package supplying real-time feedback to EU Home Affairs DG and JRC for upcoming Security Data Space regulations.
10. Summary
The "Data Repository for Security Research and Innovation" call offers far more than a technical database project. Executed at EU scale it:
• Unlocks the full Single Market for security data services.
• Institutionalises cross-border cooperation and open science.
• Aligns perfectly with multiple flagship EU strategies and regulations.
• Creates a sustainable, interoperable backbone for every future security, AI and disaster-resilience initiative in Europe.
Leveraging these EU-wide advantages will markedly increase proposal excellence, impact and implementation scores, positioning the consortium for a strong chance of selection and long-term success.
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