Improving the uptake and diffusion of innovative solutions in the EU Single Market is crucial to support the public sector, drive economic growth and competitiveness, and to enhance the EU’s resilience and strategic autonomy. This is particularly relevant in the field of security where security threats evolve quickly, and are very complex to manage.
However, the innovation from EU-funded security research is not adopted in one simple step, and there is no single way to ensure that successful research results are taken up. Innovation uptake is a long process that depends on many supporting actions, both before the research begins and after it is completed.
On 29 and 30 September 2026, the CERIS event on innovation uptake gathered more than 120 participants. It provided a space for public authorities, security practitioners, policy makers, innovators and researchers to connect and discuss practical ways to support the transition from promising research results to deployable solutions for European security practitioners.
Discussions highlighted the value of EU support in connecting innovators with operational users. Participants also discussed obstacles to operational deployment such as procurement readiness, intellectual property arrangements, commercialisation and sustainable funding.
One of the panel discussions focused on the challenges and opportunities of Pre-Commercial Procurement from the public buyer’s perspective. It concluded that uptake depends not only on the procurement design itself but on long-term planning, organisational readiness and follow-up deployment.
Another discussion focused on the impact of Horizon Europe Cluster-3 grants for advanced SMEs innovation. For example, these grants support partnerships across value chains and speed up the development of new technologies. However, challenges remain when expanding manufacturing and moving from research and innovation to full production. The event also focused the main challenges associated with the uptake and operational deployment of security solutions stemming from EU-funded projects.
The workshop brought together companies of different sizes that have developed security solutions that security practitioners apply on the ground, as well as practitioners like the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief. Participants discussed challenges such as legal hurdles, financial barriers, slow procurement and unclear intellectual property rights.
The final session focused on opportunities for fostering the uptake of innovative security solutions, such as Europol’s Industry and Research Days or initiatives by the European Anti Cyber-Crime Technology Development Association. The debate also focused on the European Innovation Act and EIC Scaleup Funding as opportunities for innovation uptake in security.