Detection and characterisation of threats or illegal/ smuggled goods in cargo
Civil Security for Society 2027 · HORIZON-RIA · TRL 4–5 · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds research and development projects that create new technology to detect hidden threats and illegal goods (like explosives, drugs, trafficked wildlife, weapons or CBRN materials) concealed in cargo moving by air, sea, road, rail or post. The goal is to help customs authorities find dangerous or illegal items faster without slowing down legitimate trade, and to make their equipment more mobile, interoperable and coordinated across borders. Projects should bring technology from early lab validation to a tested prototype stage.
defence security · internet of things · environmental monitoring · artificial intelligence · mobility transport
Who wins this
A consortium of technology developers and research organisations partnered with at least two customs authorities from different EU or Associated Countries, building and testing cargo-screening or threat-detection technology aimed at customs use.
Could you win this call?
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The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €3.5M
- Funding model
- Lump sum — paid per completed work package, no financial reporting of actual costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Type of action
- HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium — at least 2 partners, from 2 countries.
- Eligible applicants
- research organisation, industry, customs authority
- Support to third parties
- Beneficiaries must provide financial support to third parties in the form of grants, up to EUR 100,000 per third party, to support collaboration with additional national Customs Authorities including testing and validation activities.
- Also required
- Requires active involvement as beneficiaries of at least 2 Customs Authorities from at least 2 different EU Member States or Associated Countries, and satellite-based data use must rely on Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS; proposals must select either Option a (security of cargo) or Option b (detection of smuggled goods).
- Sectors
- Cybersecurity · Defence
- Eligible countries (45)
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, IL, TR, UA, RS, MK, ME, AL, BA, XK, GE, AM, MD, TN, NZ
Read the full conditions from the official call ›
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 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 Customs Authorities from at least 2 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security 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 To ensure a balanced portfolio, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one proposal that is the highest ranked within each of the two options: Option a, and Option b; provided that the applications attain all 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 ]]. Beneficiaries must provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 100 000 to support the expected outcomes of the topic and effective collaboration and/or coordination with additional relevant national Customs Authorities, including testing and validation activities within the projects; the organisation of testing and validation activities also justifies the maximum amount to be granted to each third party indicated above. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the topic conditions 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.
Who has won calls like this
Organisations that most often win this call family · 31 past winners