Covert evidence gathering has not seen major changes in decades. Law enforcement Agencies (LEAs) are still using conventional, manpower based techniques to gather forensic evidence. Concealed surveillance devices can provide irrefutable evidences, but current video surveillance systems are usually bulky and complicated, are often used as simple video recorders, and require complex, expensive infrastructure to supply power, bandwidth, storage and illumination. Recent years have seen significant advances in the surveillance industry, but these were rarely targeted to forensic applications. The imaging community is fixated on cameras for mobile phones, where the figures of merit are resolution, image quality, and low profile. A mobile phone with its camera on would consume its battery in under two hours. Industrial surveillance cameras are even more power hungry, while intelligent algorithms such as face detection often require extremely high processing power, such as backend server farms, and are not available in conventional surveillance systems. Here we propose to develop and validate a novel, ultra-low-power, intelligent, miniaturised, low-cost, wireless, autonomous sensor (“FORENSOR”) for evidence gathering. Its ultra-sensitive camera and built-in intelligence will allow it to operate at remote locations, automatically identify pre-defined criminal events, and alert LEAs in real time while providing and storing the relevant video, location and timing evidence. FORENSOR will be able to operate for up to two months with no additional infrastructure. It will be manageable remotely, preserve the availability and the integrity of the collected evidence, and comply with all legal and ethical standards, in particular those related to privacy and personal data protection. The combination of built-in intelligence with ultra-low power consumption could help LEAs take the next step in fighting severe crimes.

A free, democratic and open EU provides endless opportunities for its people. However, growth is not without risk, especially in cyberspace, in the ubiquity of connected devices and rapid technological change. Criminality is also adapting, seeking opportunity and taking on new forms. CC-DRIVER will use a multidisciplinary approach from the domains of psychology, criminology, anthropology, neurobiology and cyberpsychology to investigate, identify, understand and explain drivers of new forms of criminality. We will focus on human factors that determine criminal behaviours such as cyber juvenile delinquency and adolescent hacking. Scientific investigation of drivers into cybercrime, impact of online disinhibition and the effect of youth decision-making processes will inform our evidence-based intervention, mitigation and deterrence strategies. Our measures will be designed to educate regarding criminality and to divert youth from crime. Our consortium will investigate “cybercrime-as-a-service”, its modalities, purveyors and trends so that Member States, stakeholders and citizens have a shared view of the dimensions of cybercriminality, its impact on our society and economy and what we, collectively and individually, can do to overcome them. We will produce a youth self-assessment online metric tool designed to help understand cybercriminal behaviour and to prompt positive pathways. We will also develop a self-assessment questionnaire so that SMEs, CSOs and other stakeholders can assess their vulnerability to cybercrime attacks. For LEAs, we will produce tools to gather evidence and investigate and mitigate cybercrime operations. We will produce policy templates for combatting online cybercriminality. We will deliver opportunities for EU LEAs to exchange knowledge and experiences with a view to fostering common European approaches and strengthening the European Security Union as an area of freedom, justice, security and, importantly, opportunity.

In order to address the fast-evolving challenges with respect to advanced forms of cybercrimes enabled by fully available state-of-the-art technologies (Crime-as-a-Service), there is a need for LEAs to form and apply cutting-edge collaboration frameworks that will break communication silos within the wider judicial ecosystem. These frameworks may span in numerous pillars, such as (i) regulated, privacy-preserving and easy sharing of information related to criminal activities enabling cross-border agency-to-agency collaboration in a transparent and explainable manner; (ii) joint criminal investigation further facilitated by beyond state-of-the-art tools enabling real-time collaboration and the full exploitation of distributed digital infrastructures to enhance cybercrime intelligence; (iii) exchanging different types of expertise (cybersecurity experts, forensics experts, lawyers and stakeholders from the judicial ecosystem, psychologists, social scientists) to realise cutting edge investigative approaches; and (iv) knowledge and best practices sharing with respect to trainings and cybercrime awareness. GANNDALF will set new grounds for the fight against advanced forms of cyber threats and cyber-dependent crimes; it will (i) realise cutting-edge agency-to-agency data sharing mechanisms, optimising the balance between transparency and privacy based on the needs of each LEA; (ii) deploy a modular, decision-support toolbox that will comprise not only ground-breaking technologies for collaborative investigation, prediction and identification of advanced forms of cyber threats, but also optimisation mechanisms enabling the full exploitation of these technologies; (iii) build on the above 2 offerings and deliver a customizable, collaborative crime investigation sandbox for scenarios, hypotheses analysis and crime investigation; and (iv) facilitate policy drafting, training and citizens’ engagement via innovative mechanisms that will realise the Cyber Hygiene 2.0 visiοn.

By 2050, European cities should be decarbonised, sustainable and provide for a high quality of life. In order to achieve this goal, society as a whole has to become more accountable and mutual responsibility needs to be distributed amongst all actors. Therefore, urban governance schemes need to become more transparent and inclusive so that all can benefit. This is why public administrations need to be equipped with skills and support schemes. Local transition roadmaps draw on the required skills and capacities of local authorities and allow them to become leaders of the energy transition. Such roadmaps provide explicit strategies and operational tools for local governments to address the multiple challenges of the energy transition and their ecological, economic, and social aspects. Thereby, their development provides both, space for innovations to develop, and participatory approaches to flourish. TOMORROW aims at empowering local authorities to lead the transition towards low-carbon, resilient and more liveable cities by engaging citizens and stakeholders in the development of 2050 transition roadmaps. The development process of local transition roadmaps lies at the core of TOMORROW, which recognizes that the achievability of the formulated energy transition targets relies upon effective engagement of civil society, local key actors and their collaboration with local governments. For implementing deliberative governance schemes, the project´s pilot cities will be involved in city trainings and benefit from peer-to-peer activities with lighthouse cities. Best practices and innovative sustainable energy solutions, as well as innovative engagement mechanisms will be shared. Tailored support material, such as a toolbox containing methodological guidelines and factsheets on best practices will be developed for replication. Learning relays and masterclasses will improve participants´ capacities. Policy recommendations aim at an enabling framework for cities´ transition.