Author: Emilia Gugliandolo (ENG)
As the EU-CIP project officially concludes, we take a moment to reflect on an extraordinary three-year journey of collaboration, innovation, and impact in the field of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience (CIP/CIR). Funded under Horizon Europe and coordinated by a strong consortium of 19 partners across 13 countries, EU-CIP has laid the foundation for a sustainable European knowledge ecosystem that will sustain well beyond the end of the project.
What We Built
At the heart of the ecosystem is a Knowledge Hub, which centralises access to the project’s knowledge assets, including the infrastructures and results developed. The Knowledge Hub is supported by a proper digital infrastructure, and it provides a single access point to the project’s results, boosting knowledge sharing and collaboration between the various stakeholders. The EU-CIP Knowledge Hub brings together experts, practitioners, and stakeholders from various fields, including cybersecurity, energy, transportation, telecommunications, and more. By facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration, the hub aims to foster the development of a comprehensive understanding of potential threats, vulnerabilities, and effective countermeasures. The EU-CIP Knowledge Hub serves as a centralised repository, bringing together the primary knowledge assets pertaining to Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and Critical Infrastructure Resilience (CIR) within a unique and comprehensive framework. The Knowledge Hub is not just a repository, it’s an interactive, evolving environment where knowledge meets policy, innovation meets opportunity, and fragmentation gives way to collaboration.
The platform integrates over:
In a fragmented and complex domain like CIP/CIR, this unified access point is already proving invaluable.
Major Achievements
Over the past three years, EU-CIP has delivered:
Our mid-term review confirmed the project’s strong progress, and the Second Annual Conference in Madrid showcased the real-world adoption potential of our work.
From Knowledge to Action
EU-CIP was more than a research project, it was a catalyst. Through the Virtual Innovation Hub, the project supported real uptake of innovative solutions and research results. Our open calls selected and accelerated multiple innovative solutions now featured in the KH. In parallel, one of the main EU-CIP’s objectives is the establishment of an EU-wide ecosystem of CIP/CIR stakeholders. This ecosystem facilitates access to relevant knowledge, results, services, and infrastructures, while fostering engagement in innovation development and policymaking processes stemming from EU initiatives (e.g., research projects, technology initiatives, policy frameworks). EU-CIP project has been the emergence of a strong, cross-sectoral community committed to advancing the resilience of critical infrastructures in Europe. This community made up of researchers, innovators, policymakers, first responders, infrastructure operators, SMEs, and civil society actors, has shaped the direction of the project from the very beginning. Through collaborative exchanges, workshops, webinars, and conferences, the EU-CIP community has demonstrated how shared knowledge and coordinated efforts can break down silos and accelerate progress. Going forward, this community will remain at the heart of the initiative’s sustainability strategy, ensuring that the Knowledge Hub is not only maintained, but continuously enriched and expanded with real-world experience, emerging innovations, and policy developments. The strength of EU-CIP lies not only in its tools and outputs, but in the people who bring them to life.
What Comes Next?
As EU-CIP ends, our focus shifts to sustaining what we’ve built. Conversations have already started with ongoing and upcoming projects on how to integrate, co-develop, or extend the Knowledge Hub and its associated services. These collaborations will ensure that the platform continues to serve as a bridge between innovation, policy, and operational stakeholders. Our sustainability strategy is grounded in a community-based approach, where stakeholders across sectors continue to engage through thematic working groups, shared foresight activities, and co-authored whitepapers. Rather than closing a chapter, we are evolving into a dynamic, open ecosystem that others can join, contribute to, and benefit from.
The future of CIP/CIR in Europe is in safe hands because it’s now in many hands, working together through the ecosystem we built.