An Overview from Perspective of EU Representative:FP7 Security Research Programs / Interview

Mr. Khoen LIEM, EU DG Enterprise and Industry represantative has participated to the conference organised by TUBITAK FP7 National Coordination Office. Defence Turkey found an opportunity to interview with him about EU Framework Programs, security research , project consortiums, the ways of active and efficient participation to the projects and partner search.

Defence Turkey: Within the scope of 7th framework program, Security has been determined as separate research field. Could you please tell us the background of the activities and preparatory phase in last 3 years? What are the results of the projects and supporting activities since 2004 within the scope of PASR (Preparatory Action for Security Research) work program?

In 2004, 05 and 06, the Commission received a small research budget (3 X 15 Million Euro) from a budget-line outside the then running FP6. This budget was used to conduct the ‘Preparatory Action for Security Research (PASR)’; this is to try out, in small scale, a new domain for EU research being Security Technologies.

The demand for such research work to be covered was overwhelming as we can see in the extremely high -15 fold, oversubscription. Only a small percentage of the proposed activities could be funded. At the end, we awarded grants to 23 research projects and 16 accompanying / supporting actions.

We have projects covering practically all priority areas we wish to cover within the PASR, being Protection of Citizen against Terrorism and Crime, Situation awareness, Crisis Management, Inter-operability and Networked systems. With the experience of PASR, the recommendation of a group of ‘Personalities’, encouragements we received from the European Parliament and other EU bodies the Commission prepare to include Security Research to be part of Community funded research. Now, in FP7 (2007 – 2013), Security Research has a budget of 1.4 Billion Euro.

Defence Turkey: ESRAB report which has been issued in September 2006. Could you please tell us the history about formation of ESRAB? What are the details of ESRAB report?

While PASR was running, the Commission assembled the ‘European Security Research Advisory Board (ESRAB)’, to: a) assist in further defining the research areas to be covered under FP7 security Research and b) recommend ways to deal with specific requirements stemming out of Security Research, such as IPR, exchange of classified information (if this is needed in a project), the importance of Users’ participation, etc. Over a period of one and a half years, the (50) ESRAB members and their (about 250) experts worked to sharpen the profile of ‘European Security Research’. The result is quite remarkable and can be found in the report that can be down loaded from: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/security/doc/esrab_report_en.pdf ].

ESRAB recommends that the Commission funds: -a very limited number of very large system of systems ‘demonstration projects’, -large ‘integrated projects’ and smaller ‘capabilities’ projects.

Defence Turkey: What is the objective of Security Theme in 7th Framework program? Could you tell us the scope and content of the security theme? What are the mission and cross cutting areas? Could you explain the details of security research calls?

First of all, I have to say that Security Research is to support EU policies relevant to the security of citizen. As such, the agenda of security research is not / can not be driven by the interest for technology acquisition only. FP7 Security Research work must be orientated towards the 4 security missions, and these missions are:

1) enhancing Security of Citizen (against Terrorism and Crime),
2) protecting Critical (civil) Infrastructure and utilities,
3) new technologies for intelligent surveillance and Border Control and
4) to increase our ability to restore safety and security in/after a crisis situation.

We also have identified 3 cross cutting areas to be covered:

a) to improve the integration, interconnectivity and interoperability of security systems,
b) the inter-relation between security and society (non-technological research work can also be covered here, such as the acceptability of certain security solutions) and
c) to bring more coherence by structuring and co-ordination in security research activities in Europe, be it funded by the EU, national/ regional governments and private funding.

The first call for proposals was launched last 22 December 2006; proposals must be submitted by 31 may 2007. The budget we have for this call is 155 Million Euro. ESRAB was instrumental in defining the full spectrum of European Security Research for 2007 – 2013. For the first call we have identified the most urgent work to start at the end of 2007 / early 2008. We have prioritized so work towards preparing for the large demonstration projects can start in the field of ‘European-wide integrated border control system’ and on the ‘Security of mass transportation’.

Defence Turkey: How can Turkey participate to the project consortiums? What are the ways of partner search and match making? What is your recommendation to Turkish companies to participate in research projects/studies more actively and efficiently?

Turkey is an ‘Associated State’ in FP7; Turkish based organisations can participate in FP7 activities just like any organisation from within the EU27. I would explicitly encourage Turkish organisations to collaborate in FP7 security research activities with their counterparts in the EU. At this point I like to stress the importance of having ‘Users’, like government agencies, cost guard, the police department, and other law enforcement bodies, to participate in security research activities.

As concerns finding project partners, you may wish to look and contact earlier PASR project co-ordinators; also the large industry associations and the Research and Technology Establishments are co-ordinating the planning of proposal submittal of their members. Last but not least, I like to mention the ‘Partners-Search’ feature in the ‘CORDIS’ web-site.

Defence Turkey: In the following years could defence be a separate research field within the scope of EU Framework Programs? Do you have any studies or plans on this issue?

Here I can only give my personal opinion. I do not expect that Defence research will become part of the Framework Program, certainly not in the 2007-2013 FP7. I think that Defence Research will remain a domain covered by other European organisations such as the European Defence Agency (EDA). However, I also think that the Commission must always seek ways to optimize the efficiency of technology acquisition by creating Europe-wide synergies.

Between the Commission’s Security Research and EDA’s Defence Research, we have created a very open working relationship, targeting at exactly this.

Defence Turkey: Are there any new events related with security to be organized in the near future in Turkey? Could you please inform us these events?

I was positively surprised to see such a high degree of interest for the first Information-event hold in Ankara on the 5th of February 2007; I believe we had over 100 participants. I had very good discussions on the margins of that info-event and I am impressed by the availability of technological capability in Turkey. I also believe that the ‘National Contact Points (NCP)’ at TUBITAK (Mr.Cihan Kızıltan, +90 312 468 5300, ncpsecurity@tubitak.gov.tr) have a clear idea for Turkish priorities in FP7 security research. For this year, we have not planned further infoevents in Turkey; the next one should be planned (together with TUBITAK) to be synchronous with the second call in 2008. We surely will keep you informed.

Mr. Liem, We would like to thank you for the fruitful interview and we wish you success for the fulfilment of your objectives and studies within the scope of EU Framework Programs.