Meet TRACY Synergy Partners!
STARLIGHT: Sustainable Autonomy and Resilience for LEAs using AI against High-Priority Threats
Duration: 1 October 2021 – 30 September 2025
Programme: Horizon 2020
LEAs’ data-rich environments provide the opportunity to adopt AI tools and capabilities that enhance investigatory practices and limit the criminal misuse of AI. Through STARLIGHT, LEAs will collaboratively develop autonomy and resilience in the use of AI to address major criminal threats. STARLIGHT aims to create a community that brings together LEAs, researchers, industry, and practitioners within the security ecosystem under a coordinated and strategic effort to integrate AI into operational practices.
Website: https://www.starlight-h2020.eu/
NOTIONES: iNteracting netwOrk of inTelligence and securIty practitiOners with iNdustry and acadEmia actorS
Duration: 1 September 2021 – 31 August 2026
Programme: H2020 – Coordination and Support Action (CSA)
The NOTIONES project seeks to build and maintain a pan-European ecosystem of security and intelligence practitioners in order to (1) monitor technologic opportunities and advancements and best practices and (2) define and refine requirements and standardization needs.
In order to achieve this objective the project, coordinated by TECNALIA, combines the expertise of 29 partners from 21 different countries; including 15 military, civil, financial and judiciary practitioners as well as local, national and international law enforcement agencies.
Based on its background, planned activities, and objectives, NOTIONES can significantly support TRACY in enhancing security and intelligence operations. By leveraging its established pan-European ecosystem, NOTIONES will help define end-user requirements, constraints, and operational scenarios for TRACY. This collaboration will be informed by the latest technological advancements and best practices identified by NOTIONES.
Website: https://www.notiones.eu/project/
CYBERSPACE
Duration: 1 December 2021 – 30 November 2024
Programme: European Union’s Internal Security Fund – Police Programme under grant agreement No 101038738
CYBERSPACE is a three-year project, funded through the European Commission’s Internal Security Fund Programme. Starting in December 2021, CYBERSPACE will provide the bigger picture regarding cybercrime in the European Union. By facilitating reporting of cyber-attacks, mapping response actions, and coordinating between LEAs, policymakers, and the private sector and across national borders, LEAs‘capacities to investigate cybercrime will be enhanced. The project consortium consists of eleven partners from eight countries.
Website: https://cyberspaceproject.eu
The CYBERSPACE and TRACY project both enhance law enforcement capabilities within the EU but focus on complementary aspects of technology and regulation. CYBERSPACE develops tools for improved cybercrime reporting and inter-agency collaboration, while TRACY delves into the legal and ethical implications of deploying AI technologies in law enforcement, ensuring compliance with the EU’s AI Act. Together, these projects create a comprehensive approach to modernizing law enforcement through technology while adhering to rigorous legal standards.
CYCLOPES: Cybercrime Law Enforcement Practitioners Network
Duration: 1 May 2021 – 30 April 2026
Programme: Funded under Secure societies – Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens
The CYCLOPES project is a five-year initiative funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, aimed at building a network of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) across Europe to combat cybercrime. Launched in May 2021 and coordinated by the Polish Platform for Homeland Security, it involves 20 partners from 14 European countries. The project focuses on identifying the capability gaps and technological needs of LEAs, promoting innovation, and facilitating collaboration with academia and industry.
The project is structured around distinct work packages that combine to create a unique action that addresses LEAs’ challenges, including the related standards, technologies, legal aspects and community and communication struggles that influence law enforcements’ response to tackling cybercrime. CYCLOPES addresses both cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled crimes, covering areas like digital forensics, cryptocurrency investigations, and social engineering. The project organizes annual workshops, live exercises, and events to enhance the exchange of best practices, standardization efforts, and the uptake of innovative solutions. Its goal is to reduce redundancy by integrating with existing networks such as Europol’s Innovation Lab, European Judicial Cybercrime Network (EJCN) and other EU initiatives.
The CYCLOPES project is connected across all of Europe and has cooperated with LEAs from several other counties worldwide.
Website: https://cyclopes-project.eu/
The CYCLOPES and TRACY projects are interconnected through their shared focus on enhancing law enforcement capabilities in combatting cybercrime and digital investigations. Both projects aim to improve the tools, standards, and methods available to law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for addressing cyber-enabled crimes.
While CYCLOPES emphasizes building a network of practitioners across Europe to identify gaps and share best practices in digital forensics and cybercrime investigations, TRACY focuses specifically on data-driven evidence processing and AI-driven analytics to improve operational procedures in crime resolution. TRACY, like CYCLOPES, seeks to empower LEAs with advanced tools and standards, particularly in areas like AI-based analytics and large-scale data integration.
Their synergies lie in the alignment of their goals to enhance LEA capabilities through research, development, and the integration of cutting-edge technology, although CYCLOPES operates more as a broad network for practitioners, and TRACY focuses more on specific technological innovations like AI and data analytics.
LAGO: Lessen data Access and Governance Obstacles
Duration: 1 November 2022 – 31 October 2024
Programme: Horizon Europe
LAGO aims to address the lack of domain-specific, high-quality representative datasets for research in the fight against crime and terrorism (FCT) domain, which negatively impacts the development of methods, platforms, and tools in the FCT research landscape. Therefore, to accelerate data-oriented innovation, the security research and innovation ecosystem needs a common approach to co-create, deposit, and share data and tools in a trusted and secure manner. LAGO will build an evidence-based and validated multi-actor reference architecture for a trusted EU FCT Research Data Ecosystem (RDE) to achieve this. The RDE will be open, transparent, and secure, where FCT-related data can be co-created, made available, and shared in a trusted environment.
Website: https://lago-europe.eu/
EMPOWER: Uptake of new generation AI Powered Investigative tools for Law Enforcement Agencies
Duration: 1 May 2023 – 30 April 2025
Programme: DIGITAL-2022-DEPLOY
The application of AI methods to Big Data heralds a new era in Law Enforcement, increasing the operational capabilities of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in fighting and predicting crime in a wide number of investigative domains, including the fight against Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Terrorism, Cybercrime and the protection of Public Spaces.
Promising technological solutions and tools are being developed within the framework of EU and nationally funded R&I projects reaching TRL 6 to 7 and applicable to a wide number of investigative fields. Building up from such previous and ongoing R&I projects, the overall goal of EMPOWER is to foster the uptake of innovative solutions based upon AI powered tools allowing Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to increase their capabilities in such investigative fields.
To that end, EMPOWER will pilot test a total of 8 investigative tools in the fields of Image/Video, Voice/Text and Federated Learning, in a concerted effort carried out by the consortium. As a result of the project, 8 tools will be brought to TRL 8 level, following their testing by LEAs in real-life environments.
Such tools will be made available to other non-partner LEAs through open repositories and licensing schemes in coordination with key players. Lastly, anonymised data sets, a training needs analysis, training materials and recommendations on the following will also be widely disseminated:
i) Data Interoperability and standardisation,
ii) AI Trustworthiness of LEA tools, and
iii) the Innovation Uptake models of new AI based solutions by LEAs.
Website: https://www.transgero.eu/EMPOWER
