Law enforcement capabilities topic 3: Pan European platform for serious gaming and training

Specific Challenge:

Police forces, first responders, civil security agencies and operators of critical infrastructures in the EU are constantly facing new challenges and threat scenarios. New immersive training simulations in mixed-reality environments, dynamically addressing physical threats and cyber attacks, are needed to effectively prepare and train police forces, security teams, first response units and infrastructure operators for these new situations.

Scope:

Proposals should take the following aspects into account:

• incorporate high engagement, interactivity, immersion and active participation;
• non-linearity/multiple outcomes/replayability through adaptive scenarios;
• context relevant narrative game-play and interactivity with the virtual content;
• high consequences/safe failure;
• real time summative feedback; deep diagnostics and measurement functionality;
• opportunities for interoperability with other existing Sector tools and utilities;
• skills acquisition and practice including problem solving/analytical/ decision making;
•  mixed-reality approach supplemented with immersive user’s interface enablers (e.g. enabling use of real and/or training weapons within mixed-reality environments for enhanced realism).

The solutions would be expected to automatically generate game scenarios based on the surrounding real-life environment. Proposals for fully-immersive user interfaces enabling mixed-reality single-person and cooperative team-based training experiences, and hybrid solutions involving multiple human sensose should be explored for achieving near real experience. In addition scenarios and training material can be defined, executed and evaluated.

Proposals may address one or more areas like fighting cyber-attack for LEA, fighting Terrorist and/or Serious Crime organisation for investigators and intelligence analyst, protection of critical infrastructures, solving crisis for first responders and decision makers.  The involvement of the relevant end users from the conceptual phase of this project until the testing of the final solutions is essential for all proposals.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between €4m and €6m would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately (similar to the Seventh Framework Programme Capability Projects described in the general introduction). Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected impact:

Research under this topic should lead to the development of training curricula, solutions and serious gaming tools for representing and modelling the environment, including computer and network systems, and the challenges and decision making processes.  The results of projects stemming from this topic should be used for the training of personnel on high stress situations, very sensitive material or the challenges related to new technological evolutions.

These developed solutions should be shared among the police forces and civil security agencies of all Member States and Associated Countries.

 Type of Action: Research and Innovation Actions