Frontex to provide border security expertise to European Commission’s research projects
06 February 2020
Frontex press release, 6 February 2020.
Originally published here.
Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, will provide its expertise in the area of border security research and innovation to assist the European Commission in supporting the development of state of the art technology for the border and coast guard community.
The collaboration between Frontex and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs will be based on Terms of Reference (ToR) that were signed yesterday by Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri and the Director General of Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs Monique Pariat.
EU-funded security research enables innovation in technologies and knowledge that is crucial for developing capabilities to address today’s security challenges and to anticipate tomorrow’s threats and opportunities.
Over the last 15 years, Frontex has developed expertise in the area of integrated border management research and innovation, which will allow the Agency to assist the Commission in evaluating research and innovation results to improve border security, including improved maritime border protection.
Frontex will contribute to the effective implementation of relevant parts of the Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe).The Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020 for Secure Societies plans an indicative budget of EUR 118 million of EU grants for research projects under research topics in the area of “Border and External Security”.
Within the framework of this ToR, Frontex, will:
- identify research activities addressing capability gaps in the areas of surveillance, situational awareness, biometrics, cybersecurity and information availability and exchange;
- translate these gaps into requirements for solutions to be researched;
- contribute to the development of solutions by facilitating their operational testing and validation within the framework of Frontex Joint Operations and in close cooperation with national authorities;
- monitor the outcomes of research and assess their continued operational relevance in order to better address national and the Agency's operational needs and
- disseminate and exploit successful results, facilitating their market uptake and deployment and
- contribute to the national capability development planning and the definition of the European Border and Coast Guard capability roadmaps with the results and knowledge obtained from the Border Security research and innovation projects.