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Migration and Home Affairs
  • News article
  • 16 December 2024
  • Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs
  • 2 min read

Workshop on securing major public events closes year of CERIS events

CERIS workshop 12 December

On 12 December, the last CERIS event of the year took place in Brussels and gathered around 70 stakeholders for a discussion on “Securing Major Public Events”. Participants included representatives from the world of academia and industry (both SMEs and large companies), policymakers as well as practitioners and representatives of large sporting organisations. 

Due to the increasing complexity and scale of events like international sports competitions, music festivals, and elections, the discussions centred on leveraging EU-funded research to develop innovative solutions to enhance the security of such events. The participants took stock of the lessons learned from major public events hosted recently in the EU, like the Olympic Games in Paris, and discussed how EU-funded Innovation and Security Research can best contribute to the safety of European citizens enjoying these events. 

The day began with an opening address by Marta Cygan, Director of Innovation and Audit at DG HOME. Director Cygan who emphasised the importance of fostering innovation to tackle evolving threats and underscored the need for sustained research investments. Renaud Mellies, Head of International Cooperation of the RRF programme at the French Ministry of the Interior, followed with a keynote speech. He highlighted the key aspects of secure communications capabilities and gave insights into how they were instrumentalised to support the enhancement of security during the Olympic Games in Paris.  

The event also hosted an exhibition space for EU-funded projects SAFE-CITIES and TRACY, showcasing their developments and advanced solutions in securing major public events. JRC colleagues demonstrated the in-house developed tools which are intended to enhance the security of public spaces. 

The ensuing panel discussions explored the role of advanced technologies in safeguarding large gatherings. Crisis management emerged as a cornerstone of public event security in the second panel, while the third panel addressed the delicate balance between maintaining public safety and respecting individual fundamental rights.  

CERIS workshop 12 dec

The event concluded with a networking session and live demonstrations of cutting-edge security technologies, offering attendees a glimpse into the future of safeguarding major public events. 

For more information regarding the projects present at the event, please take a look at the links below:  

  • POPART - Protection of Public Spaces by Means of an Advanced Security Platform (ISF) 
  • LETSCROWD - Law Enforcement agencies human factor methods and Toolkit for the Security and protection of CROWDs in mass gatherings (H2020) 
  • SHIELD4CROWD - Setting baseline for a PCP Heightening Innovation Procurements in the European security ecosystem and Leveraging synergies through Dissemination activities for CROWD management (Horizon Europe) 
  • PROTECDOME - PROTECtion DOME for public spaces against rogue drones (ISF) 
  • APPRAISE - fAcilitating Public & Private secuRity operAtors to mitigate terrorIsm Scenarios against soft targEts (H2020)  
  • SAFEGUARD - SAFEguardinG pUblic spAces through intelligent thReat Detection tools 
  • SAFECITIES - riSk-based Approach For the protEction of public spaces in European CITIES (Horizon Europe)  
  • GATHERINGS - Common Standards for Security, Privacy and Cost of the Surveillance of Public Gatherings (Horizon Europe) 
  • TRACY (Managed by HaDEA) 
  • PARAGON (UCPM) 

 

Details

Publication date
16 December 2024
Author
Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs