The European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF) - Public-Private Dialogue in Security Research

MEMO/07/346
Brussels, 11th September 2007
The European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF) - Public-Private Dialogue in Security Research
The origin of Public Private Dialogue in security Research
To develop the longer-term perspective in the field of Public-Private bodies dealing with European Security research, a “Group of Personalities”, composed of high level industrialists, Members of the European Parliament, and representatives of international organisations and research institutes, chaired by Commissioners Busquin and Liikanen, was set up. They presented a report to the Commission in 2004. As a follow-up to this report, the Commission adopted the Communication ‘Security Research: The next Steps’ (COM(2004)590 final) on 7 September 2004 which subscribed to the main thrust of the recommendations of the Group of Personalities.One of the actions the Commission announced was its intention to create a ‘European Security Research Advisory Board’ (ESRAB). The Board included high level strategists, with a responsibility relating to security research, from a broad spectrum of stakeholder groups including public and private users, industry, the European Defence Agency and research establishments. The board published its final report on 22 September 2006. One of the recommendations was the creation of ESRIF to foster greater dialogue and a shared view of European security needs.

The creation of a “European Security Research and Innovation Forum” (ESRIF) was announced at the “2nd European Conference on Security Research” in Berlin on 26 March 2007 by the German Minister for Education and Research, Ms. Annette Schavan and Commission's Vice Presidents Günter Verheugen and Franco Frattini.

The importance of Public Private Dialogue in Security Research

Public-private dialogue in the field of security research is important to increase the security of infrastructures and utilities, fight organised crime and terrorism, help restore security in a crisis, analyse political, social and human issues related to security research and improve surveillance and border control.

Research and public private partnerships have a role to play in protecting critical infrastructures (see the 12th of December 2006 policy package on EPCIP European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection - EPCIP) such as airports, railway stations, roads, power stations, dams and bridges. They can also help make travel documents more secure and link reliably the document and its holder. Considering possible human rights implications of new technologies is also part of what public and private stakeholders need to do in partnership.

The European Security Research and Innovation Forum

The European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF), is a forum for the development of a Public-Private Dialogue in the area of EU security research and innovation. ESRIF will

* bring together all the relevant stakeholders in order to discuss issues of cross-cutting, common concern;
* identify proposals for forming a strategic security research and innovation agenda, involving national and European stakeholders, laying out a shared and clear view of European security research needs and priorities; and
* share ideas, views and best practices in order to make better use of existing capabilities and to enhance the use of technology in security-related domains, e.g. by inter alia making the best possible use of the various funding instruments in the present financial programming period.

By ensuring the connection between security research and security policy making, ESRIF will contribute to delivering more effective policies and ultimately better security to EU citizens.

The European Union has responded to the need for more security research with two seven-year Framework Programmes in the area of Security, with a total funding of € 2.135 billion over the 2007-2013 period. These are the FP7, which includes for the first time a Security theme, and the EU Framework Programme on ‘Security and Safeguarding Liberties’. Moreover, several EU Member States have developed and launched their own complementary national security research programmes. ESRIF will hence go beyond FP7 security research; it will go towards meeting long term security research and technological development needs throughout the EU to be covered by national, EU and private investments.

This dialogue should also enable coherent research programming and funding that lead to better innovation. This will ultimately strengthen the EU security market and the competitiveness of industry and other providers of technologies and solutions.

The functioning of ESRIF

The ESRIF will be set up in agreement with the Member States and organised by stakeholders.

It will have a single plenary with a balanced representation of all stakeholders in security research, from the public and private sectors, i.e. industry, research establishments, public and private end-users, civil society organisations, European institutions, in particular the European Parliament, and European organisations. To ensure both satisfactory representation of all stakeholder groups and operability, the target size of the plenary is 50-70 members. Members have been nominated by their Member States. Chairperson will be elected in the constitution phase of ESRIF.

In addition, a number of working groups will be defined by the ESRIF after its constitution and will involve an estimated total of 200-300 contributors, with smaller ad-hoc groups to take forward particular activities. Structure, number, duration and mandate of ESRIF working groups and their leaders are determined by ESRIF plenary as required. Contributors are nominated and invited by ESRIF members.

A group may be created to accompany the process at political level at specific stages, in particular for the preparation of the final ESRIF report.

ESRIF is informal, voluntary, consultative and co-owned by the stakeholders. In view of the potential benefits of such a forum, the Commission will participate actively in its proceedings.

Today is the ESRIF's inaugural meeting and it is expected to be fully operational later in the year. The ESRIF will present a Joint Security Research Agenda towards the end of 2009. This Joint Security Research Agenda will contain, where appropriate, recommendations to public authorities. ESRIF will be established for a limited period of time, until the end of 2009.
For more information on the activities of Vice-President Verheugen, please visit his website at:
http://www.ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/verheugen/index_en.htm

For more information on the Commission’s security research programme:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/security/index_en.htm

For more information on the activities of Vice-President Frattini, please visit his website at:
http://www.ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/frattini/index_en.htm

For more information on funding opportunities in the Justice, Freedom and Security policy areas:
http://www.ec.europa.eu/justice_home/funding/intro/funding_intro_en.htm

Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.
Office: BREY 09/144. Telephone: direct line (32-2) 2951912. Fax: (32-2) 2988022.
E-mail: eva.engdahl@ec.europa.eu
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
ENTERPRISE AND INDUSTRY DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
Aerospace, GMES, security and defence
Security Research and Development
Brussels, 22 November 2007
DG ENTR.H.4/EME/mp D(2007) 38385
1ST MEETING OF THE FP7 SECURITY ADVISORY GROUP
Friday 9 November 2007, Brussels
Summary of the meeting
The Agenda for the meeting is attached (annex 1), and the various points on it will be
followed for this summary. A list of participants is also included (annex 2).
1. Welcome and introduction
This first meeting of the FP7 Security Advisory Group (Sec AG) was chaired by Mr
Tjien-Khoen Liem (Acting Head of Unit H4 in DG ENTR), who welcomed the members,
and sent apologizes from the Director Paul Weissenberg, who could not attend the
meeting due to a conflicting schedule.
2. Presentation of the mandate of the group and the links between the FP7
Security Advisory group and ESRIF.
The mandate and role of the FP7 Security Advisory Group (Sec AG) were presented (the
slide presentation is available on CIRCA).
The Sec AG is one of 16 AGs set up for the different parts and themes of FP7 with the
purpose of advising the Commission on the implementation of FP7. It is a group of
advisors whose members act in their individual capacities. Principles of transparency and
independence must be respected. The duration of the group is for the entire FP7 (2007-
2013). It is composed by 20 members representing academia, industry, users and Member
States and Associated States. It will meet two to three times per year and its main yearly
task will be to provide written advice on the Work Programme for Security Research.
The Sec AG will be in close cooperation with the European Security Research and
Advisory Forum (ESRIF), which has a mandate beyond FP7, and members of the Sec AG
will be invited to participate in the working groups of ESRIF. A few Sec AG members
are also members of ESRIF.
ESRIF aims at providing strategic advice for security programme owners, achieving
innovation in security research and having an impact on the development of the European
security equipment market, and it therefore goes beyond FP7. It is set up for a limited
time period (until the end of 2009). It involves public and private players and from both
supply and demand perspectives. ESRIF is now in the process of setting up 11 working
groups covering all relevant areas (the slide presentation is available on CIRCA).
=> Any Member interested in participating in any ESRIF working group, should inform
E-M Engdahl by e-mail. She will then liaise with the colleague in charge of ESRIF to
ensure that invitations are sent also to the Sec AG member. The list of ESRIF members
as well as any additional information on the working groups of ESRIF will be added onto
CIRCA.
3. Election of chairperson, vice chairperson and rapporteur (for the WP 2008)
The Sec AG will appoint a Chairperson, a Vice-chairperson and a rapporteur among its
members. However, as this was the first meeting, it was decided to postpone this until the
following meeting, and meanwhile ask for any candidates for these three posts. A possible
volunteer for being rapporteur was Mr. Brian Cranmer.
It was agreed that the Commission (Mr Liem) would continue to Chair the first meeting.
The Commission (Mrs Eva-Maria Engdahl, DG ENTR-H4) will be in charge of the
Secretariat for the group.
=> Members were asked to send in their candidatures to E-M. Engdahl by e-mail.
4. Presentation of the Security Research theme of the Specific programme
“Cooperation” in FP7
A presentation was made on the Security Research theme in FP7, its background and also
on the main outcome of the first call for proposals (the slide presentation is available on
CIRCA).
The first Work programme was based on the work of ESRAB (the ESRAB report is
available on CIRCA). It included a small Joint call with ICT and the large first call for
proposals (FP7-SEC-2007-1) and covered both the 2007 and 2008 budgets. In the first
large call, 325 eligible proposals were received and these were evaluated in July 2007. 44
proposals were selected and negotiations are currently on-going, and a first batch of grant
agreements is expected to be signed in December 2007.
The next large call (FP7-SEC-2008-1) will be published in July 2008 and using the 2009
budget. For that call it is possible that an External Agency, which is planned to start in
2009, will manage parts of the implementation of the Security research theme. The budget
would then be shared with about 1/3 managed by the Commission services in DG ENTR
and by 2/3 managed by the External Agency. The former will keep any activities that deal
with classified information.
5. Presentation of the timetable and outline for the work with the 2008 Work
Programme (2009 budget)
The Commission explained that the main task of the Sec AG will be to give advice of the
yearly Work Programme for Security research. This work will start immediately, as the
timetable agreed among the Commission services is rather tight. It has been decided to
have a yearly update of all work programmes with an adoption in May/June every year,
and advice on the content therefore needs to be provided as of now until the end of
February. The Programme Committee (PC), which is composed of representatives’ from
the Members states and Associated States, will then give an opinion on the work
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programme before it can be adopted by the Commission (slides presented are available
on CIRCA).
A first outline of the next Work Programme using 2009 year’s budget was sent out in a
Note to the members (available on CIRCA) before the meeting. The mains points are as
follows:
- The structure of the Work programme will be the same as the previous one (and in line
with all FP7 work programmes), but with a few clarifications added in the text.
- The next Work Programme will include one major Call for proposals, using the 2009
budget only. The budget for this Call will be around 115 M€ (which is ~27% smaller than
in the first Call).
- The number of topics suggested for the call is smaller (30-35 topics in comparison with
47 topics in Call 1), in order to avoid a very high oversubscription, with a subsequent very
low success rate.
- There are three types of topics suggested to be covered by this Call:
· Topics open in the 1st Call but not covered by successful proposals, thus giving
these topics “a second chance”;
· Topics already indicated in the Work Programme 2007 to be covered in the 2nd
Call;
· Additional topics considered important to cover in the 2nd Call.
The types of projects to be covered would be the same as for the first Call (i.e. integration
projects, capability projects; coordination and supporting actions - including
demonstration projects in phase 1) and for each topic the most suitable type of
project/funding schemes would be indicated.
A first discussion will be held today in the Sec AG, and further input can be sent to the
Commission after the meeting. A second round of discussion, and in order to finalise a
report of the Sec AG, will then be held in February 2008.
6. First discussion on the 2008 Work Programme
An initial discussion was held among the members, and the following points were made.
On the issue on how to focus the next call, in view of the amount of topics presented
before, and in order to maintain the same level of success for proposals as in the first Call,
the following suggestions were made:
- To let projects and ideas freely compete with each other following the US Style.
However, this might be difficult with the much more limited resources that are available
for Security research in FP7;
- to shorten the list of topics by widening the scope of each topic.
On the topics that should be included for the next Work programme and Call, the
following suggestions were made:
- to include Crisis management in the run-up of crisis and for the detection of potential
risks.
- it is very important to allocate enough resources to the detection of potential risks
(concerning defence in particular). Risk assessment should be done not only on
technological basis but also taking into account the technical and economic means of
potential attackers.
- In order to define security needs, end users and their needs must be identified.
- to allocate part of the budget to more experimental technological projects and “blue
sky” research, similar to the FET scheme under the ICT programme.
- to support a kind of “back-up” centre of European best brains from different disciplines
to be called in crisis situations, similar to the US centres of excellence.
- to include a general topic on research on how to lower the cost of key technologies.
- to set up of an information centre to ensure the capacity to respond in crisis, and which
would collect all existing information concerning security. However, a centre of this type
already exists in Luxembourg (more information on this will be collected by the
Commission)
- the borderline between the Security and the Space Theme in FP7 need to be looked at,
to avoid overlaps, for instance with GMES.
=> Members were invited to send comments on the outline for the WP and suggestions
for topics by e-mail to Mrs. Engdahl preferably by 21/11/08. She will then incorporate
them into a first draft to be sent to the Programme Committee in view of its meeting on
13/12/07.
7. Any Other Business
Some practical arrangements for the Sec AG were explained, including how to access the
CIRCA extranet of the Sec AG. The CIRCA group will be restricted to Sec AG members
only, and here all documentation for the group will be made available. Access will be
granted to the members immediately after the meeting.
The next meeting of the Sec AG will preliminary be held on 7 February 2008 in Brussels.
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Annex 1
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
ENTERPRISE AND INDUSTRY DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
Aerospace, GMES, security and defence
Security Research and Development
Brussels, 9 November 2007
DG ENTR.H.4/EME/jfv D(2007) 33912
1ST MEETING OF THE FP7 SECURITY ADVISORY GROUP
Friday 9 November 2007 at 09:30 – 15:00
Agenda
1. Welcome and introduction
2. Presentation of the mandate of the group and the links between the FP7
Security Advisory group and ESRIF
3. Election of chairperson, vice chairperson and rapporteur (for the WP 2008)
4. Presentation of the Security Research theme of the Specific programme
“Cooperation” in FP7
5. Presentation of the timetable and outline for the work with the 2008 Work
Programme (2009 budget)
6. First discussion on the 2008 Work Programme
7. Any Other Business
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Annex 2
1ST MEETING OF THE FP7 SECURITY ADVISORY GROUP
Friday 9 November 2007, Brussels
List of participants
ADAMCZYK Marek Polish Border Guard
BARONTINI Giovanni Finmeccanica SpA
CRANMER Brian Malta Maritime Authority - Maritime Trade Centre
HENDEN Peter Petards EIMC Ltd
JACOBS Thierry Fabrique Nationale Herstal
KÁTAI Szabolcs NSZ, Hungarian Association of IT Companies
MADALENO Utimia EMPOREF - Empresas Portuguesa de Defesa
MARCU Niculae General Inspectorate of Romanian Police
CERNY Pavel European Defence Agency *)
MARMUR Abraham Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
SLEIGH Andrew QinetiQ Group plc
SPRENGSEIS Gabriele Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz
STAIMER Angelika Siemens Building Technologies GmbH & Co. oHG
VAN DUYVENDIJK Cees TNO - Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific
Research/TNO Board of Management
WIEDEMANN Sabine Deutsche Post World Net
ZOLESIO Jean-Luc THALES D3S
European Commission:
ENGDAHL
Eva-Maria
DG Enterprise and Industry - unit H4
LIEM
Tjien-Khoen
DG Enterprise and Industry - unit H4
MALACARNE Marco
DG Enterprise and Industry - unit H3
SANCHEZ A.
Matxalen
DG Enterprise and Industry - unit H0
*) Observer (representing Mr B. DE CORDOUE)