Call: Cyber Security for SMEs, local public administration and Individuals

The primary aims of the Secure Societies Challenge are:

• to enhance the resilience of our society against natural and man-made disasters, ranging from the development of new crisis management tools to communication interoperability, and to develop novel solutions for the protection of critical infrastructure;
• to fight crime and terrorism ranging from new forensic tools to protection against explosives;
• to improve border security, ranging from improved maritime border protection to supply chain security and to support the Union's external security policies including through conflict prevention and peace building;
• and to provide enhanced cyber-security, ranging from secure information sharing to new assurance models

Europe's SMEs, local public administration and citizens face particular challenges in addressing basic cyber security threats. In the case of SMEs and local public administration, their size and budgetary constraints often precludes them from putting in place highly granular organisational structures, retaining dedicated information security personnel and making significant investments in cybersecurity products or services. Whether addressing SMEs, local public administrations or individuals, few cyber security solutions have been designed with the human factor in mind and therefore present severe limitations in their usability which hampers proper decision making and adequate usage. Proposals should develop innovative solutions with a high degree of usability and automation while ensuring that the end-users retain an adequate degree of cyber situational awareness and control.

At least three legal entities. Each of the three must be established in a different EU Member State or Horizon 2020 associated country. All three legal entities must be independent of each other. 

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU between 3 and 4 million € would allow these areas to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

EU funding rate: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of 100% applies).

Electronic submission here.

Link to the National Contact Point Finder.