Main Topic: CBRN Threats
We need to build a community of users on secure, safe and resilient societies
Horizon 2020 – chances to reduce CBRNe risks
by Philippe Quevauviller, DG Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission, Brussels
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly 80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). It is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, the “Europe 2020 flagship initiative”, aiming to secure Europe’s global competitiveness. By coupling research and innovation, Horizon 2020 is helping to achieve this goal with emphasis on excellent science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges. It covers many different research programmes, among which the Secure Societies Programme, which is featured in this paper.
Objectives of the Secure Societies challenge The goal is to ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation. Among the different thematic areas, the Secure Societies challenge focuses on the protection of citizens, society and economy as well as infrastructures and services. More specifically, through the development of new tools, technologies and methods, it aims to: • enhance the resilience of our society against natural and man-made disasters and to develop novel solutions for the protection of critical infrastructure; • fight crime and terrorism through the development of new forensic tools to the protection against explosives; • improve border security including improved maritime border protection and supply chain security and support the Union’s external security policies including through conflict preven-
tion and peace building, and • provide enhanced cyber-security with activities ranging from secure information sharing to new assurance models, bringing together all security stakeholders with the active involvement of end-users.
CBRNe-related threats Threats of either accidental or intentional character are regulated by a range of policies which involve security practitioners. They follow an integrated management approach which requires a solid support from research and innovation with tools, technologies, methods helping Member States to implement measures of prevention and preparedness, surveillance, response and recovery. But not all of the above research areas of the Secure Societies Programme cover CBRNe issues. This paper highlights some key CBRNe-related policy features and research areas covered by the ongoing H2020 calls for proposals (2016–2017).1
Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Policy background The new approach to the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection2 (EPCIP) aims to ensure a high degree of protection of EU infrastructures and increase their resilience against all threats and hazards, including CBRNe-related ones. Complementing the CIP policy, the guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure3 stipulate that the Union’s energy infrastructure should be upgraded in order to increase its resil-
Philippe Quevauviller has been Research Programming and Policy Officer in the Directorate General on Home Affairs of the European Commission since 2015. Holding two PhD in oceanography and environmental chemistry, he has been a researcher in chemical oceanography from 1984 to 1989, working at the University of Bordeaux, then at the Portuguese Environment Ministry in Lisbon, and at the Dutch Ministry for Public Works in The Hague. Mr Quevauviller joined the European Commission in April 1989, firstly as a Scientific Officer at the Research General Directorate, then as a Policy Officer at the Environment Directorate-General in 2002. In October 2008, he went back to the Research General Directorate where he managed research projects on climate change impacts on water systems/resources and natural hazards. In April 2013, Mr Quevauviller moved to the Secure Societies Programme (firstly at DG Enterprise, then DG Home Affairs since early 2015) where he is responsible for programming and managing security research projects, in particular on Photo: private
disaster risk and crisis management (natural catastrophes, accidents, terrorist threats).
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