The threat of CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives) components used by terrorists is major concerns for EU and worldwide security. Today there is a major security gap in the existing security flow that can be used by terrorists to hide and smuggle CBRNE materials inside containers and vehicles. The challenge of improving container and vehicles border crossing and critical infrastructure entrance security checks is of great importance in fighting terrorist threats, theft and smuggling. Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) could be detonated using nuclear weapon components, modified nuclear weapons, or a self-made device and Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) could be designed to disperse radioactive materials through an explosion (or ‘dirty bomb’).It was also reported that since 1998, in the US alone, there have been more than 1,300 reported incidents of lost, stolen, or abandoned devices containing sealed radioactive sources, an average of about 250 per year. Chemical and Biological are in use by terrorists. Report of Wm. Robert Johnston summarizes the “historical attacks using chemical or biological weapons” with 23 attacks since 1994, while all the recent attacks were done mainly by terrorists and the Syrian militants. The attacks demonstrating the attempts and capability of terrorists to acquire chemical and biological materials (chlorine, mustard, sarin, etc) and to prepare chemical or biological bombs. COSMIC system plans to bridge the major security gap for fast inspection of large number of containers and vehicles in sea port and in crossing borders for CBRNE materials. COSMIC’s technology can be adapted also to air containers. COSMIC proposes a novel technological approach for the detection of CBRNE materials hidden in shipping containers. COSMIC project includes the research, design and implementation of a three stage (primary, secondary, focused manual inspection) detection system using new set of innovative sensors

Safe and legal global transport is essential to human welfare, but it demands that customs authorities implement security regulations with a special focus on illicit goods. To enable enforcement of regulations tackling illicit goods trafficking, customs authorities have expressed their need for portable, affordable, non-intrusive, reliable screening technologies aiming to facilitate on-site and rapid inspections. The current technologies are mainly based on X-ray screening, but have its limitations in detecting illicit goods, are very expensive and the process is time consuming. This makes that currently less than 5% of the containers may be inspected, which is undesirable for customs authorities and society. In the METEOR project, the consortium will develop a prototype of a portable and versatile air sampling-based screening system. This will enable customs administrations worldwide to rapidly and reliably inspect for the presence of illicit goods. The METEOR technology will provide a new concept of cargo screening detector with a highly efficient air sampling technique and the ion mobility multidetector sensing technology. The METEOR analyser relies on a very innovative concept of a multi-detector differential mobility analyser (DMA), that classifies molecular ions based upon their electrical mobility. This generates a chemical fingerprint of the samples, and after the processing with non-targeted screening techniques, it is possible to accurately classify and detect the threats. The focus will be on the detection of illicit drugs, but also explosives and other substances. The goal is to develop the METEOR technology up to TRL7, and validate it in the operational environment. This is done by the four customs administrations (The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Ireland) involved in the project, that cover some of the main ports in Europe.

The aim of this project was to develop evidence-based didactical material for financial literacy education for tertiary and secondary education levels and exchange best-practices. There was and remains a need for increased financial literacy education in view of widespread financial illiteracy and the benefits for individual well-being and society at large that are associated with high levels of financial literacy education. Although the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) policy recommendation to introduce financial literacy education at school is well accepted, there is still no consensus on the optimal way to implement financial literacy education at school. By developing innovative materials on financial literacy education, and testing these materials in tertiary and secondary schools, we provided evidence based tools to improve financial literacy education. In addition, based on the OECD recommendation country specific strategies were developed to increase the level on financial literacy education across Europe and worldwide. However, there was no exchange of best practices across countries or exchange of didactical materials. We aimed to change this by creating an open-source website and actively exchanging practices and didactical materials. The project involved 14 different partners from five European countries – Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia and the Netherlands. Taking a cross-sectoral approach, cooperation between these countries was proposed for the project, with universities, secondary schools and intermediary organisations dealing with financial literacy promotion participating from each country respectively. The project addressed students and lecturers at teaching colleges and universities, and teachers and students at secondary education. Moreover, we actively have foreseen networking opportunities between the organisations outside the educational institutions. That way the project guaranteed a high impact at different levels. Moreover, the consortium worked (in two different domains) on key competences for lifelong learning and contributed to the realisation of the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006. The consortium worked on six different intellectual outputs and organised three multiplier events. 1. Financial Literacy education 2018: descriptive and comparative analysisA comprehensive assessment and a comparative study was published, including the state-of-the-art related to financial literacy in the participating countries (for example: financial literacy in the training of teachers, in curricula and teaching resources for secondary schools) and complementing non-school initiatives in other educational institutions. 2. Curricular module 'Financial Literacy Education'The project partners developed a curriculum (module) on ‘Financial Literacy Education’. The aim of the module is to increase the level of financial literacy and help university students to make successful financial decisions. The curriculum covers aspects on making payments, loans, savings, and insurance. 3. Testing and transfer of the module 'Financial Literacy Education' in higher educationThe material, developed in output 2, was tested and evaluated. The implementation and evaluation took place in all participating tertiary education institutions in the second year of the project. 4. Didactical material on 'Financial Literacy Education' for secondary schoolsThe consortium developed didactical material for secondary schools. We found out which material in the participating countries already exist (output 1). Based on the results we developed new didactical material, which can be adopted to specific needs within a country. 5. Testing and transfer of the didactical material in secondary schoolsThe material, developed in output 4, was tested and evaluated in an experimental way. The implementation and evaluation took place in all participating secondary schools in the third year of the project. 6. Knowledge-PortalDuring the project a Knowledge-Portal was created. All developed content is integrated in this portal. In addition, the project partners linked the existing materials to this portal, which is also open to non-participating partners. An e-learning-portal, the project website, a news-portal etc. are part of the Knowledge-Portal.