ARIES main goal is to deliver a comprehensive framework for reliable e-identity ecosystem comprising new technologies, processes and security features that ensure highest levels of quality in eID based on trustworthy security documents and biometrics for highly secure and privacy-respecting physical and virtual identity management, with the specific aim to tangibly achieve a reduction in levels of identity theft, fraud and associated crimes. The set of solutions will be designed to achieve required levels of multi-party trust with efficiency, ease of adoption and convenience for all end-users (citizens, law enforcement, businesses), consolidating Europe as world leader in enhanced identity-based services as a basis to boost the competitiveness of its economy. ARIES will leverage virtual and mobile IDs cryptographically derived from strong eID documents in order to prevent identity theft and related crimes in the physical (e.g. an airport) and virtual (e.g eCommerce) domains. Both, the derivation process, and the derived IDs will be univocally linked to citizens' biometric features, increasing the level of identity assurance during the credential issuance process and during authentication. Highest data protection standards will be followed to provide digital privacy-preserving features. Thus, the project will provide a global approach for ID Ecosystem in Europe to address European-specific concerns to improve identity, trust and security, and better support the law enforcement to address the new threats in cybersecurity while achieving far-reaching socio-economic positive impacts. ARIES will demonstrate its outcomes and the levels of identity prevention reduction achieved in two use case demonstrators (secure eCommerce and identity virtualization for secure travel), covering the complete vision of virtual id ecosystem and its practical application.

The aim of AUGGMED is to develop a serious game platform to enable single- and team-based training of end-users with different level of expertise from different organisations responding to terrorist and organised crime threats. The platform will automatically generate non-linear scenarios tailored to suit the needs of individual trainees with learning outcomes that will improve the acquisition of emotional management, analytical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills. The game scenarios will include advanced simulations of operational environments, agents, telecommunications and threats, and will be delivered through VR and MR environments with multimodal interfaces. This will result in highly realistic training scenarios allowing advanced interactivity while encouraging security staff and first responders to engage and actively participate in the training process. In addition, the AUGGMED platform will include tools for trainers enabling them to set learning objectives, define scenarios, monitor training sessions, modify scenarios and provide feedback in real-time, as well as evaluate trainee performance and set training curricula for individual personnel in the post-training session phase. Finally, the platform will be offered in affordable and cost-effective Modes including Basic Mode (low VR fidelity and interactivity through mobile devices), Intermediate Mode (immersive multimodal VR) and Full Mode (immersive multimodal MR On-Site).

The Unity vision is to strengthen the connection between the police and the diverse communities they serve to maximise the safety and security of all citizens. The end-user focus of Unity shall identify best practices in Community Policing (CP) through primary and secondary research to enhance cooperation between Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and citizens through the development and live pilot demonstrations of technological tools in six EU member states that facilitate, strengthen and accelerate community and LEAs communications. These tools shall be amplified and supported by the design and delivery of CP training and awareness raising activities to LEAs, citizens and community partners, including online virtual communities. Unity will provide LEAs with a new CP model and shared framework of governance and enabling tools and technology to support closer cooperation for greater, more effective and efficient and more inclusive CP. The citizen-centred approach of Unity support the combined protection, safety, security and well-being of communities, but it will also support a more collective, shared ownership of large scale, collective risk. Coordinated by pioneers and practitioners in CP, Unity seeks new ways of working in which the police will serve as a catalyst for change within communities, helping the latter to become an integral part of the solution, and thereby sharing the ownership and delivery of a sustainable CP model which simultaneously embraces the benefits of technology while meeting diverse community needs. This new and sustainable citizen-centred CP model will have community trust and confidence at its heart, with the ability for two-way flows of information and communication to allow for greater understanding of the problems and issues faced by communities. By working with citizens and community stakeholders to arrive at a full understanding of their concerns, targeted interventions and solutions can be agreed to keep local communities safe

The NEXES Research and Innovation Action aims to research, test and validate the promising integration of IP-based communication technologies and interoperability into the next generation emergency services, so that they attain increased effectiveness and performance. Empowered by smartphones with cameras, messaging and internet-based applications connecting to social media, citizens expect emergency services to use the same technologies. However, this is not the case. NEXES innovates the approach to the dynamics between emergency services and citizens, allowing (i) the use of total conversation capabilities in emergencies, including social media, to the benefit of citizens, including those with disability or special needs (ii) the exploitation of improved location information to rapidly and effectively identify and locate the caller and the incident site and (iii) the leverage of Internet-enabled connectivity to enhance interoperability and shared awareness among emergency services, to the benefit of a more secure society. The NEXES Consortium gathers world-class European entities, well experienced in the research and development of innovative solutions for communications and emergency products and solutions. The NEXES Team presents extensive background knowledge and in-house solutions to adapt, test and validate in NEXES’s open Testing Regime and Validation Framework, ensuring solid results are achieved to produce relevant Recommendations and contributions to Europe’s standardisation effort on emergency services. To leverage related dissemination and market exploitation activities, the NEXES System, Apps and its operational benefits are demonstrated in three realistic pilots to end-users and stakeholders. In fact, end-users’ involvement, directly ensured by NEXES Partners and indirectly by invited Advisors, is a key contributor to guarantee NEXES’s operational validity as a reference implementation system for next generation emergency services.