Cyber threats are the most significant and growing risk for public administrations (PA). However, technological, organisational and structural issues hamper the ability, especially for local PAs (LPAs) to improve their cyber security level. Budget constraints and evolving legal, ethical, societal and privacy regulations render the situation even more complex. COMPACT’s goal is to empower local LPAs to become the main actors of their cyber-resilience improvement process. COMPACT’s objectives are to 1) increase awareness, skills and protection; 2) foster information exchange between European LPAs; 3) link LPAs to major EU initiatives, including the newly created cyber-security private-public partnership. COMPACT innovates at technological level and at process level – an important dimension in engaging LPA employees in the improvement of cyber-resilience. At technological level, COMPACT innovates in real time security monitoring, security awareness training, information sharing, cyber-security gamification, risk assessment, and threat intelligence. At process level, COMPACT adapts the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle for LPAs to do iterative removal of security bottlenecks and achieve compliance to EN ISO/IEC 27001 and BS ISO/IEC 27005. COMPACT delivers an integrated platform with 4 types of tools/services – 1) risk assessment, 2) education, 3) monitoring, and 4) knowledge sharing – characterized by a high degree of usability by non IT experts and automation. It protects LPAs’ investments by interoperating with market solutions from major vendors. It eases deployment and adoption by being both cloud-enabled (i.e. it addresses cloud specific issues) and cloud-ready (i.e. it can be deployed – if users wish– on the cloud). COMPACT validates its results through 5 challenging use cases provided by 5 users in 4 European countries. 90% of COMPACT solutions will achieve TRL7 and the residual part TRL6.

IW-NET will deliver a multimodal optimisation process across the EU Transport System, increasing the modal share of IWT and supporting the EC’s ambitions to reduce transport GHG emissions by two thirds by 2050. Enablers for sustainable infrastructure management and innovative vessels will support an efficient and competitive IWT sector addressing infrastructure bottlenecks, insufficient IT integration along the chain and slow adoption of technologies such as new vessel types, alternative fuels, automation, IoT, machine learning. The Living Lab will apply user-centered application scenarios in important TEN-T corridors demonstrating and evaluating the impacts in simulations and tests covering technological, organisational, legal, economical, ecological, and safety/security issues: 1) Digitalisation: optimised planning of barge operations serving dense urban areas with predictive demand routing (Brussels-Antwerp-Courtrai-Lille-Valenciennes); data driven optimisation on navigability in uncertain water conditions (Danube). 2) Sustainable Infrastructure and Intelligent Traffic Management: lock forecasting reducing uncertainty in voyage planning; lock planning; management of fairway sections where encounters are prohibited; berth planning with mandatory shore power supply and other services (hinterland of Bremerhaven via Weser/Mittelland Canal). 3) Innovative vessels: new barge designs fitting corridor conditions and target markets: barges with a high degree of automation for urban distribution (East Flanders-Ghent); new barge for push boats capable with low/high water levels optimising capacities (Danube from Austria to Romania); use of GALILEO services for advanced driver assistance like guidance, bridge height warning and automatic lock entering (Spree-Oder waterway close to Berlin). Accompanying activities are stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and the delivery of a European IWT development roadmap with policy recommendations for increasing the IWT share.

The Quantum Secure Networks Partnership (QSNP) project aims at creating a sustainable European ecosystem in quantum cryptography and communication. A majority of its partners, which include world-leading academic groups, research and technology organizations (RTOs), quantum component and system spin-offs, cybersecurity providers, integrators, and telecommunication operators, were members of the European Quantum Flagship projects CIVIQ, UNIQORN and QRANGE. QSNP thus gathers the know-how and expertise from all technology development phases, ranging from innovative designs to development of prototypes for field trials. QSNP is structured around three main Science and Technology (ST) pillars. The first two pillars, “Next Generation Protocols” and “Integration”, focus on frontier research and innovation, led mostly by academic partners and RTOs. The third ST pillar “Use cases and Applications” aims at expanding the industrial and economic impact of QSN technologies and is mostly driven by companies. In order to achieve the specific objectives within each pillar and ensure that know-how transfer and synergy between them are coherent and effective, QSNP has established ST activities corresponding to the three main layers of the technology value chain, “Components and Systems”, “Networks” and “Cryptography and Security”. This framework will allow achieving the ultimate objective of developing quantum communication technology for critical European infrastructures, such as EuroQCI, as well as for the private information and communication technology (ICT) sectors. QSNP will contribute to the European sovereignty in quantum technology for cybersecurity. Additionally, it will generate significant economic benefits to the whole society, including training new generations of scientists and engineers, as well as creating high-tech jobs in the rapidly growing quantum industry.