Call: Toolkits integrating tools and techniques for forensic laboratories

• Health, demographic change and wellbeing;
• Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the Bioeconomy;
• Secure, clean and efficient energy;
• Smart, green and integrated transport;
• Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials;
• Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies;
• Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens.

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

A wide, heterogeneous, variety of forensic tools are in use or being developed across Europe, making the comparison and exchange of information among forensic laboratories difficult and sometimes impossible, which limits the use of forensic data in cross-border investigations, and in foreign courts. Forensic data need to be quickly available, at an acceptable cost, across borders.

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. Furthermore, there must be a minimum of two legal entities which are ‘public procurers’ from two different EU Member States or Horizon 2020 associated countries. Both legal entities must be independent of each other. 

Indicative budget: The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of 10 million € would allow for this topic to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

The funding rate for Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) actions is limited to 90% of the total eligible costs (PCP is procurement of R&D services) to leverage co-financing from the procurers.