Crime as a service

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Grant Name

Crime as a service

Funder

Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)

European Commission

Research Field

Artificial Intelligence

Fight against criminality

Cybercrime

Fight against crime and terrorism

Police authorities

Digital Agenda

Organised crime

Deadline

2023-11-23 (Expired)

Grant Size

€4000000

Eligibility

General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

The following additional eligibility criteria apply:

This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 3 Police Authorities[[In the context of this Destination, ‘Police Authorities’ means public authorities explicitly designated by national law, or other entities legally mandated by the competent national authority, for the prevention, detection and/or investigation of terrorist offences or other criminal offences, specifically excluding police academies, forensic institutes, training facilities as well as border and customs authorities.]] from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security practitionerss” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

5. Evaluation and award:

Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes

Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

MGA

HE General MGA v1.0

Call-specific instructions:

Template for Security & eligibility conditions in Horizon Europe

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 6. Civil Security for Society

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Grant Number

HORIZON-CL3-2023-FCT-01-05

Description

ExpectedOutcome:

Projects’ results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:

European Police Authorities and policy makers are provided with a robust analysis of the evolution of the contemporary organised crime, its structure, role of hierarchy, membership in the organisation and subcontracting of specialised criminal services.
Policy makers benefit from an analysis of the legal framework utilised for countering organised crime, in terms of the validity of the legal definitions and penal provisions adopted and their impact on the effectiveness of judicial verdicts;
Methodology for the identification of the means of advertising, communication, marketing and money flows used for offering criminal services on the underground market is developed, as well as the set of respective prevention, investigative and policy countermeasures; and
Improved knowledge within European security institutions regarding developments in the field of organised crime and prospects for the future.

Scope:

The Crime-as-a-service (CaaS) model proliferates and becomes a prominent feature not only for the cybercriminal underground, but also for traditional criminals hiring specialised digital and financial services. Thus, availability of exploit kits and other services not only serves cybercriminals with low technical skills, but also makes the operations of mature and organised threat actors more efficient. Recently Malware-as-a-service (MaaS) offerings on the Dark Web increased, of which ransomware affiliate programs seem to be the most prominent.

The shape of the organised crime evolves, apart from traditionally closed, clandestine criminal structures, and investigators are increasingly confronted with modern, flexible, specialised and "multi-ethnic" organisations with a global operational range. As these groups seem not to work within permanent multi-layered structures but with various actors delivering on demand services, some of the organised crime characteristics might be subject to a review. Actors in the shadow economy while seeking to maximise their profit, take instant advantage of new ways of operations, exploring and benefiting from modern technologies and organisational schemes to achieve their goals, thus resulting in dynamic transformation of subject networks. The observed trend may be a challenge for the codified laws and definitions of organised crime as supposedly sealed off to outsiders and characterised by fixed and permanent cooperation. In order to enhance the fight against organised crime at the European level, there is a need for distinct research to gain comprehensive insight into the internal workings of modern organised crime structures and their marketplaces.

Coordination among the successful proposal from this topic as well as with the successful proposals under topics HORIZON-CL3-2023-FCT-01-06: Enhancing tools and capabilities to fight advanced forms of cyber threats and cyber-dependent crimes and HORIZON-CL3-2024-FCT-01-06: Tracing of cryptocurrencies transactions related to criminal purposes should be envisaged to avoid duplication, and to exploit complementarities as well as opportunities for increased impact.

Specific Topic Conditions:

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5-6 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

Funding resources
Purdue Grant Writing Lab: Introduction to Grant Writing	Open Link
University of Wisconsin Writing Center: Planning and Writing a Grant Proposal	Open Link