Twenty partners across the EU have joined forces and launched an almost €2 million three-year Horizon Europe project to support policymakers in shaping and produce data-driven evidence-based policies, while boosting the innovation capacity of Critical Infrastructures (CI) operators, authorities, and innovators (including SMEs).

The project officially kicked-off on 19-20 October 2022 in Rome, Italy and was attended by the project officer Mr Juuso Stenfors, representatives of partner organisations and Advisory Board members. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the contributions of the different partners in relation to their areas of expertise and to review the objectives and structure of the project.

EU-CIP will leverage the capacity, organisation, community, and achievements of the ECSCI cluster towards establishing an EU-wide knowledge network with advanced analytical and innovation support capabilities. To facilitate information collection and analysis, the project will establish a FAIR data observatory of research projects, research outcomes, technologies, standards, and policies.

As such, EU-CIP will offer:

• Analytical capabilities for evidence-based policies.
• Innovation support services to EU projects and other innovators in CI security and resilience, including training, support in business planning and access to finance, as well as support in the validation, standardization, and certification of novel solutions.
• A Knowledge Hub, integrating and sharing all project outcomes to a vibrant ecosystem of over 1000 stakeholders.

EU-CIP will also organise an Annual Conference on Critical Infrastructures Resilience, held each September in Brussels, Belgium. Project partners ambition for this to become a flagship event for critical infrastructures.