International cooperation in civil security research

Whether natural disasters, fires, or power plant accidents -traffic routes and telecommunication networks are often damaged, making communication and deployment of rescue forces significantly more difficult. As part of the security research programme, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing 4.3 million euros in funding for the Project "UAV - Assisted Ad Hoc Networks for Crisis Management and Hostile Environment Sensing" (ANCHORS), which aims to develop a system for reconnaissance and communication with unmanned land and air robots. "ANCHORS is to ease and improve the deployment of rescue forces," explained Thomas Rachel, BMBF Parliamentary State Secretary, at the project kick-off at the Frauenhofer Institute in Euskirchen.

---

Threats such as natural disasters, terrorism and organized crime do not stop at national borders. That is why it is important - both within the European Union and at bilateral level - to take advantage of joint strengths in order to promote research and innovation and make sure that security solutions are developed with international markets in mind.

Cooperation between Germany and the USA

The intergovernmental agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America on cooperation in the field of civil security research submitted by Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan was approved by the Federal Cabinet on 11 February 2009. On 16 March 2009, the agreement was signed by Federal Minister of Research Annette Schavan and US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. A plan of action is now being negotiated, which includes a joint research initiative for securing commodity chains.

The BMBF created the national foundation for this cooperation through a corresponding funding programme that calls upon research, industry, and users to submit the best solutions for commodity chains security. The first evaluation round is now complete and the eight best proposals, including one from Bremen, have been selected. The applicants have been requested to further develop their ideas. In 2009, research for the "Monitoring and tracking of shipping containers" was also announced in the European Security Research Programme.

This sets the course for future cooperation with the USA in the important field of civil security research. The aim of research cooperation in this area is to develop innovative civil security solutions - including solutions that could develop into future standards - on the basis of joint strengths in research and technology. These security solutions must be consistent with open societies and economies that are becoming increasingly networked at an international level. The German security research programme is designed to link technological and social issues, thus encouraging the incorporation of legal, ethical and social science aspects. The same approach will also be applied to cooperation with the USA. The agreement will enter into force shortly. A summary of the agreement is available here as a pdf document.

Cooperation between Germany and France

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR) have signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of civil security research in 2009, with the aim of pooling efforts and intensifying research activities. The areas of cooperation will include protection against terrorism, organized crime, natural disasters and major accidents. The aim of the agreement is the mutual opening of security research programmes in Germany and France. By this collaboration, and a more international approach to security research in general, France and Germany not only want to strengthen each other's future security, but also contribute to Europe's security architecture.

Based on this agreement, BMBF and ANR have published a coordinated call at the beginning of 2011. The BMBF's call on Franco-German cooperation and the corresponding ANR's call "CSOSG 2011" provide the opportunity for Franco-German consortia to jointly submit proposals for interdisciplinary research projects in the area of civil security. Such projects should develop and conduct research into innovative solutions, taking into account technological and societal dimensions. Furthermore, funding can also be granted to independent projects dealing with overarching societal policy and cross-cutting issues. For this coordinated call a Partnering Platform and a Partnering Event support French and German potential applicants in forming joint consortia. In addition, a leaflet with important information on the application procedure is available.

To the joint call in 2011 the way has been led by two mutually opened calls. In 2008/2009 Franco-German research consortia had the opportunity to submit joint proposals in response to the BMBF's call for proposals "Securing the supply chains" and the ANR's call "CSOSG 2009 - Theme Axis: Securing the Logistics Chain". These calls focused on the minimization of risks when transporting goods, e. g. the risk of explosives, weapons or illegal copies being brought in.

In 2010 the call "Biometrics" of the BMBF and the call "CSOSG 2010 - Biometrics and Security" of the ANR were open for joint proposals. These calls address research projects that aim to improve security with the help of biometrics and on projects designed to improve the security of biometric procedures/technologies themselves. Furthermore research exclusively looking at social dimensions of biometrics can be funded.

Cooperation between Germany and Israel

The project "ChipSenSiTek" - the first collaboration between groups of German and Israeli researchers - has now been launched. Its aim is to develop a chip-based gas sensor system for the detection of explosives to be used in security checks in airports and other buildings. This German-Israeli pilot project is part of the funding priority "Detection of hazardous substances."

Cooperation between Germany and Israel is to be extended even further. A call for proposals has already been issued: The BMBF, MOST (the Israeli Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport) and MOITAL (the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor) have invited German and Israeli applicants to submit proposals for bilateral R&D projects, with the aim of intensifying scientific, technological and industrial cooperation between the two countries. The plan is to develop innovative solutions, particularly for the protection of the civilian population and of critical infrastructures as well as for disaster prevention and crisis management.

Click here for information on German-Israeli Cooperative Projects (in German only).