The European Union’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Center of Excellence Project 101 was formally launched in Noordwijk, the Netherlands in early October. The project, implemented by ISTC, with funding from the EU’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) and supported by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute UNICRI, will strengthen protection and security of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear critical infrastructure across Southeast and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. This infrastructure is important to public safety, national security and economic stability; but faces threats such as cyberattacks, physical attacks and natural disasters.

 

Project 101 will adopt space-based technologies and analytics, digital twins, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence to play an important role in simulating and monitoring CBRN infrastructure and provide real-time data to detect vulnerabilities and improve response strategies to physical and cyber threats. Legal analysis will focus on ensuring compliance with national and international regulations, address potential legal weaknesses and align the security measures of CBRN infrastructure with national and regional standards. Collaboration with national agencies and experts from the 19 participating countries will be essential to develop tailored solutions to protect critical infrastructure.

 

The Kickoff meeting was attended by close to 60 representatives of 15 of the 19 Partner countries, FPI, EU CBRN CoE Regional Secretariats, ISTC implementation Team and other international stakeholders. During the meeting, the scope of project P101 was introduced, a study visit was conducted to the European Space Agency (Space Expo), and several break-out sessions were held to discuss key aspects of the project, as an initial step to develop the detailed implementation plan.