Special Track 5

Special Track Chairs: Charalampos Chatzimallis (ViLabs, Greece), Pantelis Velanas (European University, Cyprus), Christoph Busch (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway), Luuk Spreeuwers (University of Twente, Netherlands), Eleftherios Ouzounoglou (ICCS, National Technical University of Athens, Greece), Stefanos Vrochidis (Center for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece)

Brussels region

This special track will concern the role of data, new technologies and new approaches in order to strengthen EU security through border management. This includes both control and surveillance issues, on land and in the maritime domain. It contributes to the further development and enhancement of the use of new technology for border checks, also in relation to the Smart Borders legislative initiative. 

The aim of this track is to present and bring forward the innovations, solutions and developments of technologies and capabilities which are required to enhance systems and their interoperability, equipment, tools, processes, and methods for rapid identification to improve border security, whilst respecting fundamental rights including free movement of persons, protection of personal data, and privacy. New technologies, capabilities and solutions are required to support the Union’s external security policies in civilian tasks, ranging from civil protection to humanitarian relief, border management, law enforcement, or peace-keeping and post-crisis stabilisation, including conflict prevention, peace-building and mediation. 

An overview of the motivation and topics to be covered: 

• Strengthening of security through border management;
• The role of AI in border management; 
• Control and surveillance issues, on land and in the maritime domain;
• Use of new technology for border checks in relation to the Smart Borders legislative initiative;
• Supply chain security in the context of the EU’s customs policy, and migrant smuggling; 
• Development of technologies and capabilities to enhance systems and their interoperability, equipment, tools, processes, and methods for rapid identification to improve border security, whilst respecting fundamental rights including free movement of persons, protection of personal data, and privacy;
• Technology acceptance monitoring: data-driven monitoring and prediction acceptance of different BCP technologies to early identify likely roll-out and adoption problems; 
• Efficiency of the new border technologies, the societal and ethical impact on the non EU citizens, the satisfaction and acceptance of both border authorities/ managers and travellers;
• Border Predictive analytics & smart decision-making support; 
• Big Data Analysis in the field of border related information;
• Perceptions of non-EU citizens and analysis of social media datasets; 
• Analysis of perceptions that lead to threats and security issues on its citizens and territories, and suggestions on how such perceptions can be avoided or even actively and effectively counteracted through various measures;
• Border Data collections and evidence-based policy-making; 
• Advanced technologies, tools and novel methods to be integrated with existing models and systems that will lead to a “no gate crossing point solutions”;
• New technologies, capabilities and solutions are also required to support the Union’s external security policies in civilian tasks, ranging from civil protection to humanitarian relief, border management, law enforcement, or peace-keeping and post-crisis stabilisation, including conflict prevention, peace-building and mediation; 
• Data, ethics and technology acceptance in the area of border management; 
• Gender and the use of no-gate solutions; 
• Intersectionality and technological solutions for Border External security; 
• predictions and adequate management solutions of migration flows in the European Union; 
• understanding of how Europe is perceived abroad and the mechanisms involved in the process; 
• Applied solutions for enhanced border and external security, including e.g. multilayered data lake platform for end-to-end interoperability and data exploitation and such.