MINISTERUL AFACERILOR INTERNE

Their core work

Romania's Ministry of Internal Affairs is the national authority responsible for law enforcement, civil protection, and emergency services. In EU research, they contribute operational expertise and real-world validation for security tools — from VR-based police training and criminal network analytics to emergency medical response coordination. They serve as an end-user partner, bringing practitioner perspectives on how technologies perform in actual field conditions for policing, counter-terrorism, and disaster response.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early projects (2017–2018) focused squarely on frontline security: crowd protection, law enforcement networking, and emergency medical services — the traditional mandate of an interior ministry. From 2019 onward, a clear shift emerged toward technology-enhanced capabilities: VR training for police, AI-driven criminal speech analytics, and digital government transformation via blockchain. This evolution shows a ministry actively modernizing its operational toolkit beyond conventional policing into data-driven and digitally-enabled security.

Moving toward technology adoption in law enforcement — expect future interest in AI analytics, simulation-based training, and cross-border digital infrastructure.

How they like to work

Always a participant, never a coordinator — consistent with their role as an operational end-user who validates and tests solutions developed by research partners. With 130 unique partners across 29 countries, they connect into large, diverse consortia rather than leading small teams. This makes them a reliable validation partner: they bring real operational environments and practitioner feedback, which is essential for security research projects needing end-user involvement.

Broadly connected across Europe with 130 unique partners in 29 countries, reflecting the pan-European nature of security research. Their network spans law enforcement agencies, research institutions, and technology developers across the EU.

What sets them apart

As a national interior ministry, they offer something academic partners and SMEs cannot: direct access to real law enforcement operations, emergency services, and civil protection infrastructure for testing and validating security technologies. Their dual presence across both security and digital government projects makes them valuable for consortia that need a public authority end-user who can bridge policing, emergency response, and e-government. For any project requiring operational validation in a large EU member state, Romania's interior ministry brings scale, institutional authority, and cross-domain reach.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SHOTPROS
  Largest single grant (EUR 114,375) — applied VR training to police decision-making under stress, combining human factors research with immersive technology.
• ROXANNE
  Positioned the ministry in AI-driven criminal analytics — speech recognition and network analysis for combating organised crime and terrorism.
• NO FEAR
  Longest-running project (2018–2023) building a pan-European network for emergency medical services and critical care response to security incidents.