I527-290 ESRIF Final Report (WEB).indd - European Commission

Foreword
Dragutin Mate,
Chairman of ESRIF and former Minister of Interior of Slovenia
Over the past two years, more than 600 experts and 65 distinguished
personalities from all over Europe intensively debated in an open
forum aspects of European Research and Innovation deemed
essential to enhancing the security of our citizen. ESRIF (European
Security Research and Innovation Forum), is the name of that forum.
ESRIF tasks itself to define the European Research and Innovation
needs for the mid- to long term, following the 'public – private
dialogue' as a model.
I took over ESRIF's chairmanship a year ago from Mr Gijs de Vries,
together with my two co-chairmen Mr Jürgen Stock, the Vice
President of the German Federal Criminal Police Office and
Mr Giancarlo Grasso, Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO
of FINMECCANICA. We are proud to present the Final report of the
Forum. The ESRIF final report consists of an 'Executive summary', 'Part-
1' which constitutes the main report and 'Part-2' giving the individual
reports of the working groups as well the detailed listing of security
research topics to be considered for funding.
Europe's main objective is to preserve its values as an open society and respect for fundamental rights and freedom while
addressing the increased security threat. At the same time, our society is very dependent on technologies and infrastructures.
We however insisted that 'Human Dignity' is the most precious and is an 'end' by itself and as such it can never become a 'means'.
ESRIF looked at scenarios with a 2030 time horizon to frame. These scenarios embraced a range of risks, from natural to
man-made incidents; Capabilities and Capacities need to be mobilised to deliver equipment and services to deal with these
risks and we need to obtain them from those that can provide these best. Being prepared is key to minimising the impact.
We believe that European security solutions must have their foundations in the European way we desire security for our
citizen. ESRIF considers that research and innovation leading to security equipment and services can only become a market
success if it can fi nd broad public acceptance. Following these principles we wish to guide investments to make our industry
strive for global leadership by creating a 'European market' that aids effi ciency and eff ectiveness.
On behalf of those that have been actively contributing to ESRIF, I can say that we are confi dent to have started an important
European process; a process that is not fi nished with this 'fi nal report'; it merely begins here.
Brussels, in December 2009
Dragutin Mate
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