Horizon Europe Pillar 2 – Cluster 3 Civil Security for Society

Cluster 3 supports research and innovation aimed at strengthening Europe’s resilience against a wide range of security threats. This includes disaster risk management, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, border security, and the prevention and response to crime and terrorism. Successful proposals are expected to combine technological innovation with operational relevance and a clear pathway to deployment in real security environments.

A key requirement in this Cluster is that solutions are not only innovative, but also operationally credible and usable by security practitioners and public authorities. Evaluators place strong emphasis on end-user involvement throughout the project, the realism of testing and validation scenarios, and the ability to demonstrate added value in real-life security contexts. Equally important are considerations of ethics, privacy, legal compliance, and interoperability across systems and Member States.

EFMC supports applicants in translating complex security challenges into clear, structured, and evaluator-oriented proposals. We help consortia strengthen their operational use cases, impact logic, and implementation strategy, ensuring that proposals are both technically robust and positioned for real-world adoption and European security impact.