Drug production and trafficking is a major societal challenge globally, with a high focus on the EU. The drug trade wreaks devastation throughout its value chain: from overwhelmed government administrations, to violence and brutality of the drug cartels, to citizens who succumb to addiction or fatal overdoses. On top of that, we now need to deal with a quickly evolving and very dangerous situation: the proliferation of synthetic drugs, including new psychoactive substances (NPS), which represent a real threat to society, causing serious cross-border threats to health. Synthetic drugs have already changed the traditional drug production and supply model to the extent that traditional seizing methods do not work efficiently and as effectively anymore. This situation forces the authorities to develop and implement new strategies to combat their trade which is based on the importation of chemical precursors from Eastern countries with local production, highly concentrated in different EU areas, such as the case of the Limburg Region (The Netherlands). In addition to such new strategies, novel technologies, with better performances are required for the detection, specifically in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, versatility, portability and wider databases; this is the objective of the PENTION project which aims to develop a new vapour detector that relies on a very innovative concept of a differential mobility analyzer (DMA), which classifies molecular ions based on their electrical mobility, followed by mass spectrometry analysis. This analysis generates a chemical fingerprint of the samples, and after the processing with intelligent detection routines, it becomes possible to accurately classify and detect new drugs and precursors, as well as potential manufacturing sources. The project involves the Netherlands Police and the Limburg region (associated partner) where the problem of new drug synthesis is exponentially increasing year by year.

The SAUST project aims to revolutionize aviation security and customs inspections by providing a rapid, non-intrusive and efficient alternative for vapor baggage screening at airports, being the first attempt before the Explosive Vapour Detection (EVD) European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) Standard 2 and 3 (hold baggage and cabin baggage) implementation, but with a high focus on drug detection at airport arrivals where the 85% of the drugs are seized in Europe providing new technology to police and customs authorities to increase both the inspection rate, efficiency and drug database including NPS (New Psychoactive Substances). SAUST’s primary objective is to adapt an existing EVD methodology, previously tested under different conditions, mainly explosive screening of air cargo, to create a smaller, more affordable, and faster solution for luggage inspection since the requirements are totally different. The consortium is determined to address this issue through collaboration with industry, mainly SMEs, and police agents as experts who possess an in-depth understanding of the genuine requirements and constraints in customs and airport security. SAUST will develop a versatile, cost-effective, and expeditious screening technology, adapted to luggage screening, that enhances detection capabilities for a wide range of substances, including drugs and explosives, and other illicit substances like tobacco and drug precursors among many others. The ultimate goal is to develop a Technological Readiness Level (TRL) 7 operational prototype, which will bridge critical security and operational gaps in the current screening processes. In addition, the project will provide an analysis of the different scanning options for luggage in order to ensure the airport logistics without disrupting the flow. SAUST border impact has the potential to revolutionize customs inspections, providing technology to activities that currently are mainly done using traditional or manual techniques.

Safe and legal global transport is essential to human welfare, but it demands that customs authorities implement security regulations with a special focus on illicit goods. To enable enforcement of regulations tackling illicit goods trafficking, customs authorities have expressed their need for portable, affordable, non-intrusive, reliable screening technologies aiming to facilitate on-site and rapid inspections. The current technologies are mainly based on X-ray screening, but have its limitations in detecting illicit goods, are very expensive and the process is time consuming. This makes that currently less than 5% of the containers may be inspected, which is undesirable for customs authorities and society. In the METEOR project, the consortium will develop a prototype of a portable and versatile air sampling-based screening system. This will enable customs administrations worldwide to rapidly and reliably inspect for the presence of illicit goods. The METEOR technology will provide a new concept of cargo screening detector with a highly efficient air sampling technique and the ion mobility multidetector sensing technology. The METEOR analyser relies on a very innovative concept of a multi-detector differential mobility analyser (DMA), that classifies molecular ions based upon their electrical mobility. This generates a chemical fingerprint of the samples, and after the processing with non-targeted screening techniques, it is possible to accurately classify and detect the threats. The focus will be on the detection of illicit drugs, but also explosives and other substances. The goal is to develop the METEOR technology up to TRL7, and validate it in the operational environment. This is done by the four customs administrations (The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Ireland) involved in the project, that cover some of the main ports in Europe.

EU customs authorities are a cornerstone in the international trade landscape, playing a critical role in preventing the entry of illegal goods, safeguarding revenue, & ensuring the seamless flow of goods. Balancing these responsibilities is particularly challenging in today’s environment, where the volume of global trade continues to expand rapidly. Mitigating the entrance of illegal goods is becoming increasingly difficult, especially with limited human resources. Aiming to address these challenges, the CustomAI consortium has united its expertise and competences to develop an AI-toolkit that will reduce the number of false positives (situations where the cargoes like shipping containers or parcels have been selected for inspection despite not containing contraband). The proposed AI-toolkit will revolutionise customs operations by involving non-intrusive and robust AI-enhanced technologies for predicting, detecting, and selecting high-risk cargoes for inspection. The VCCO concept is adopted for managing all processes in the customs control of artefacts (e.g. container, parcel). Key components of the AI toolkit include: * AI-based risk anticipation relying on AI-analysis of internal knowledge in compilation with external multilingual data, including manifest and declarations. Only relevant cargos will be sent for inspection. * AI-enhanced vapour-based detectors implied only on the containers selected in the previous step. * AI-based x-ray for threat detection in containers applied on output of step two (the human inspection takes place only after this step). * Multimodal LLM Continual Learning model, which will have as input, x-ray and camera images, and will be trained on threat dataset composed of threat samples (x-ray and visual images of threat parcels) updated by customs. * Blockchain technology for secure data sharing & supply chain traceability. By adopting these cutting-edge technologies, the CustomAI toolkit is set to revolutionise customs operations.

Biotoxins pose significant challenges to current crisis management approaches. Existing concepts of operation, derived from Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear doctrines, and Union Civil Protection Mechanism initiatives, do not address the distinctive and highly complex attributes of a biotoxin crisis. EMBRACE aims to improve Europe’s capacity to respond effectively to biotoxin incidents. We will consolidate and apply scientific and clinical knowledge of biotoxins to revise response protocols and deliver innovative solutions specifically tailored to address gaps and needs identified in current provision. Highlights include analysis of biotoxins not previously addressed in this context, risk-based recommendations for PPE and novel decontaminants, in vitro studies to identify human biomarkers of exposure, novel samplers, portable biosensors and field diagnostics devices, and software tools to assist responders in biothreat risk assessment. To ensure intersectoral and cross-border interoperability of these solutions and successful commercialisation of our exploitable assets, we will prioritise a carefully planned standardisation and valorisation programme. EMBRACE will engage with existing initiatives and projects to create a vibrant biotoxin knowledge network; a multi-sectoral community of stakeholders, on the basis of which a sustainable Biotoxin Task Force will be established as a source of expertise and guidance on biotoxin incidents both for EMBRACE and the wider community. The network of stakeholders and EMBRACE’s ambitious programme of scientific, technological, and operational advances will be supported by the creation of a biotoxin reference and stakeholder hub designed to facilitate knowledge exchange and provide users with direct access to widely distributed and expertise. Finally, EMBRACE’s innovative sustainability strategy will ensure that its solutions and the biotoxin community continue to thrive beyond the duration of the project.