Evolving business models are progressively reshaping the scope and structure of ICT services, with massive introduction of virtualization paradigms and tight integration with the physical environment. Several market forces are already driving towards the creation of multi-domain and complex business service chains, which undoubtedly bring more agility in service deployment and operation but introduce additional security and privacy concerns that have not been addressed in a satisfactory way yet. Tackling conflicting trends in the cybersecurity market, like fragmentation or vendor lock-ins, GUARD will develop an open and extensible platform for advanced assurance and protection of trustworthy and reliable business chains spanning multiple administrative domains and heterogeneous infrastructures. The purpose of GUARD is manifold: i) to increase the information base for analysis and detection, while preserving privacy, ii) to improve the detection capability by data correlation between domains and sources, iii) to verify reliability and dependability by formal methods that take into account configuration and trust properties of the whole chain, and iv) to increase awareness by better propagation of knowledge to the humans in the loop. The distinctive approach of GUARD will be the architectural separation between analysis and data sources, mediated by proper abstraction; this paradigm will result in an open, modular, pluggable, extendable, and scalable security framework. This holistic solution will blend security-by-design with enhanced inspection and detection techniques, raising situational awareness at different levels of the companies’ structure by tailored informative contents, so to enable quick and effective reaction to cyber-threats. Demonstration and validation in two challenging scenarios is envisioned to bring the technology to an acceptable level of maturity, as well as direct involvement of relevant stakeholders for concrete business planning.

The integration of edge computing, advanced 5G connectivity, and decentralized processing drives the widespread deployment of private edge ecosystems capable to reshape numerous industry sectors. However, unlocking the full potentials of edge-level intelligent management requires concerted efforts in platform development and cross-sector collaboration. COP-PILOT, develops a Collaborative Open Platform framework geared towards orchestrating end-to-end services across diverse industry domains. In crafting an open platform, COP-PILOT provides a flexible solution designed to effectively manage various industry sectors while ensuring robust security, automation, and intelligence features. Regarding interoperability, the framework seamlessly integrates with underlying technologies, ranging from IoT platforms to core infrastructure, facilitating collaboration across the compute continuum. Furthermore, COP-PILOT empowers the development of advanced cross-sector applications by offering support for cutting-edge network services, thereby enabling heightened security, resource management, and automation capabilities. The implementation strategy revolves around two primary directions: enabling platform implementation and real environment integration. For the former, COP-PILOT adopts a modular orchestration approach, simplifying the onboarding of complex applications through a user-friendly generative AI interface. This approach includes integration with multi-tiered data processing, policy-driven optimization, and dynamic reasoning capabilities, ensuring alignment with prevailing industry standards. In terms of real environment integration, the platform is deployed across four large piloting clusters, addressing a diverse array of edge paradigms. These use cases span across energy, smart city, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing sectors, fostering the development of cross-sector applications in mobility, logistics, and resource management.

Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) is the natural evolution for both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) because they are mutually beneficial. AI increases the value of the IoT through machine learning by transforming the data into useful information, while the IoT increases the value of AI through connectivity and data exchange. Therefore, InSecTT – Intelligent Secure Trustable Things, a pan-European effort with 52 key partners from 12 countries (EU and Turkey), will provide intelligent, secure and trustworthy systems for industrial applications to provide comprehensive cost-efficient solutions of intelligent, end-to-end secure, trustworthy connectivity and interoperability to bring the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence together. InSecTT aims at creating trust in AI-based intelligent systems and solutions as a major part of the AIoT, i.e. moving AI to the edge and making AI and ML based systems trustable, explainable and not just a black box. InSecTT will foster cooperation between big industrial players from various domains, a number of highly innovative SMEs distributed all over Europa and cutting-edge research organisations and university. The project features a big variety of industry-driven use cases embedded into various application domains, i.e. smart infrastructure, building, manufacturing, automotive, aeronautics, railway, urban public transport, maritime as well as health. The demonstration of InSecTT solutions in well-known real-world environments like trains, ports, airports and the health sector will generate huge impact on both high and broad level, going from citizens up to European stakeholders. It will establish the EU as a center of intelligent, secure and trustworthy systems for industrial applications enabled by a strong industry with a strong reputation and an informed society, in order to enable products and services based on AI compliant to European values and “Made in Europe".

Creating trust in wireless solutions and increasing social acceptance are major challenges to achieve the full potential of the Internet of Things. SCOTT, with 57 key partners from 12 countries (EU + Brazil), will provide efficient solutions of wireless, end-to-end secure, trustworthy connectivity and interoperability to bridge the last mile to the market (TRL 6-7). SCOTT focusses on wireless sensor & actuator networks and communication in mobility, smart infrastructure and health, thus addressing essential European societal challenges and significantly contributing to burning issues such as Automated Vehicles or Industry 4.0. SCOTT is based on 15 industrial use cases with a focus on cross-domain applications and heterogeneous environments, emphasizing 5G and cloud computing aspects. It uses a standardized multi-domain reference architecture, fully compliant with ISO 29182, which fosters reusability, scalability, and interoperability. Nearly 50 reusable technical building blocks will be developed and utilized, proving cross-domain sharing of trustable wireless technologies and services. Finally, more than 20 tangible demonstrators will be presented all over Europe to a broader public. Following a user-centred design to put security and privacy really in the hands of the user, SCOTT will build up and apply a dedicated Trusted System Development Framework to significantly foster acceptance of SCOTT solutions on the market, including the creation of an unprecedented, standardisable ‘privacy labelling’. SCOTT covers full value chains from silicon to end-users/operators showing full vertical integration. Via reference implementations and open innovation approaches as well as close cooperation with AIOTI and other cluster organizations, SCOTT will establish an attractive, long-term eco-system. Ultimately, SCOTT will foster Europe’s independence for security enabling components and systems and will further boost the growing “internet economy”.