Advanced border surveillance and situational awareness
- Fetched
- 2026-06-09T15:42:49Z
Topic description
Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following expected outcomes: Improved detection, localization, characterization and, when applicable, neutralisation, of unmanned vehicles alone or in swarms, involved in trafficking or smuggling activities across external borders, while complying with legal and ethical guidelines; Improved border situational awareness, especially in the context of large-scale movements of people across borders, including from potential instrumentalisation of irregular migration, conflicts, social, economic, environmental and climate stress; Better safeguard and promotion of fundamental rights thanks to enhanced situational awareness; Reliable, redundant detection and reaction capacities without putting staff and society at risk. Scope: Capabilities for situational awareness and surveillance of land and sea borders need improvement, in consideration of potential future challenges that may require updated capabilities. These challenges may include potential future large-scale movements of people across external borders, resulting from future attempts to instrumentalisation of irregular migration, but also from conflicts, social, economic, environmental and climate stress in the European neighbourhood; as well as increasing availability and capability of unmanned aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles with increased payload capacity and range that make it easier to transport goods and, possibly, persons, including in connection will illicit or illegal activities such as trafficking of goods and smuggling of people across external EU borders. These challenges will be particularly relevant in regions close to the European neighbourhood. This may be particularly relevant for unsupervised and difficult-to-control land and sea borders of the Union and the Schengen area. Research funded under this topic should develop solutions that, through better awareness, improve efficiency and reaction time of detection, search, rescue, and recovery operations near land and sea borders, in diverse geographical and meteorological conditions, taking into account the different and diverse needs. Research funded under this topic can also promote cross-border cooperation at European regional level around innovative border management solutions demonstration testbeds. Actions funded under this topic should develop solutions that go beyond state-of-the-art in clearly demonstrable ways, including measurable improvements in detection range, accuracy, response time, automation, and system resilience. Improved border surveillance and situational awareness must better safeguard and promote fundamental rights and EU values, with a particular regard to human rights, using an inclusive approach that addresses diverse needs. Solutions should also provide reliable and redundant capacities, while ensuring the safety of staff, users, and persons who may be victim of illicit activities across external borders. The EBCG Capability Roadmap recognises that future capabilities that help detect cross-border irregularities and cases requiring Search and Rescue activities are essential. Solutions should be modular and scalable to cater to the regional and challenges specificities. Compatibility and integration with the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) is essential, and compatibility and/or exploitation of other European information-sharing environments, like the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE), would be an additional asset. Proposals should demonstrate that the proposed equipment and technologies contribute to cost reduction and energy efficiency of border surveillance and situational awareness operations. Proposals submitted under this topic are expected to address the priorities of the European Border and Coast Guard (ECBG) and of its Agency (Frontex). This should start from the definition of requirements and the design phase, including alignment with the EBCG Capability Roadmap and on the engagement with the Agency during the project implementation. At the proposal preparation stage, Frontex will not provide guidance on or otherwise be involved in the preparation of project proposals. However, proposals should consider and anticipate that Frontex may observe pilots and demonstrations during project implementation to facilitate the future uptake of innovations within the border and coast guard community. To ensure active involvement and timely feedback from relevant security practitioners, proposals should include a mid-term deliverable consisting of an assessment of the project’s mid-term outcomes, conducted by the practitioners involved in the project. Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
Conditions and documents
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 In line with the “ restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas ” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to participate in the action. Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. The following additional eligibility criteria apply: This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 2 Border or Coast Guard Authorities from at least 2 different EU Member States or Associated countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Eligibility information about 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. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf ]]. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the specific topic of the Work Programme Some activities resulting from this topic may involve using classified background and/or producing of security sensitive results (EUCI and SEN). Please refer to the related provisions in section B Security — EU classified and sensitive information of the General Annexes. 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 RIA, IA) Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) HE Programme Guide Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA Call-specific instructions Detailed budget table (HE LS) Information on financial support to third parties (HE) Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" 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
Budget overview
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