Focus areas may include, but are not limited to:

• operational preparedness and response capacities (e.g. crisis response, incident management, operational coordination, rapid deployment capacities, etc.);
• intelligence and investigative capacities (e.g. intelligence analysis, investigative coordination, evidence handling procedures, strategic threat assessment, operational planning, etc.);
• cross-border and inter-agency cooperation capacities (e.g. coordination mechanisms, joint operational procedures, information exchange practices, institutional collaboration workflows, etc.);
• cybercrime and hybrid threat response capacities (e.g. cyber incident response preparedness, ransomware response coordination, cyber threat monitoring capacities, hybrid threat preparedness, etc.);
• policy and strategic coordination needs (e.g. EU and national policy priorities, capability development agendas, strategic planning, alignment of operational needs with policy objectives, etc.);
• human resources and workforce preparedness (e.g. specialised expertise, training needs, digital skills, organisational adaptation, operational decision-making capacities, etc.);
• critical infrastructure and public security protection capacities (e.g. resilience planning, protection preparedness, operational monitoring capacities, public-space security preparedness, etc.);
• organisational resilience and adaptability (e.g. continuity planning, stress-testing capacities, lessons learned processes, resource allocation capacities, institutional adaptability, etc.);
• capability maturity and operational gaps (e.g. operational readiness, coordination gaps, resource constraints, procedural bottlenecks, scalability challenges, capability shortfalls, etc.).

Guiding questions (indicative)

• What policy gaps at EU or Member State level need to be addressed to strengthen the EU response against Crime and Terrorism?
• What operational capability gaps and coordination challenges emerge in cross-border investigations involving encrypted communication platforms used by organised crime groups?
• How do hybrid threat scenarios targeting public spaces or major events expose weaknesses in inter-agency coordination, crisis response and operational continuity capacities?
• How can operational needs be better translated into strategic planning, policy priorities and future capability development agendas?
• How can specific training and organisational models better support intelligence‑led operations?

Focus areas may include, but are not limited to:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics (e.g. generative AI, computer vision, predictive analytics, NLP and multilingual intelligence extraction, etc.);
• cybercrime and digital investigations (e.g. digital forensics, malware analysis, blockchain analytics, threat intelligence platforms, OSINT automation, etc.);
• interoperability and information sharing (e.g. secure data-sharing architectures, federated databases, API interoperability frameworks, expert knowledge bases, etc.);
• biometrics and identity technologies (e.g. facial recognition, voice recognition, multimodal biometrics, etc.);
• surveillance, detection and situational awareness (e.g. UAV/UAS systems, IoT sensor networks, smart cameras, edge AI analytics, geospatial intelligence platforms, etc.);
• emerging and disruptive technologies (e.g. quantum computing, synthetic media/deepfakes, autonomous systems, advanced cryptography, anti-spoofing, etc.);
• technology readiness (e.g. TRL maturity, scalability, cost-efficiency, integration complexity).

Guiding questions (indicative):

• Which particular technology(/ies) is emerging or becoming strategically important, how, what are the implications?
• How mature and deployable are particular technological solutions?
• How does (e.g.) synthetic media/content applied in criminal tactics change the landscape of cybercrime?
• How are emerging technologies adopted by high-risk or malicious organisations, what are the implications and risks for EU technology stakeholders and LEAs?
• What is the technology readiness, the on-going public or private roadmap, the technical barriers and challenges for LEA preparedness toward (e.g.) quantum technologies adoption?
• Where do gaps exist between innovation, standards, and real‑world adoption?
• What limits the effective operational deployment of advanced technologies?

Focus areas may include, but are not limited to:

• market uptake and deployment pathways (e.g. barriers to adoption, procurement challenges, operational deployment models, transition from pilots to sustained use, etc.);
• market fragmentation and industrial ecosystems (e.g. fragmentation of suppliers and solutions, dependencies on non-EU providers, public–private cooperation models, innovation ecosystems, etc.);
• standards and interoperability frameworks (e.g. interoperability standards, certification schemes, common technical specifications, harmonisation approaches, etc.);
• scalability and sustainability of security solutions (e.g. cross-border scalability, long-term sustainability, maintenance and support capacities, cost-efficiency considerations, etc.);
• innovation governance and strategic autonomy (e.g. European competitiveness, resilience of supply chains, trusted European technologies, strategic industrial priorities, etc.).

Guiding questions (indicative):

• What market, procurement or industrial ecosystem challenges limit the transition of security innovations from EU-funded research projects to sustained operational deployment?
• What hinders or enables large-scale operational uptake and cross-border deployment of particular security solutions within the EU market?
• How do gaps in interoperability standards, certification schemes or common specifications affect the adoption and integration of security technologies across Member States?

Focus areas may include, but are not limited to:

• fundamental rights and legal safeguards (e.g. privacy, data protection, proportionality, non-discrimination, due process, legal oversight mechanisms, etc.);
• ethical governance and accountability (e.g. transparency, explainability, human oversight, accountability frameworks, responsible governance models, auditability, etc.);
• societal impacts and public trust (e.g. societal acceptance, legitimacy of security practices, impacts on vulnerable groups and victims, public perceptions, trust in institutions, etc.);
• misuse and harmful applications of emerging technologies (e.g. malicious use of AI, synthetic media manipulation, surveillance abuse, discriminatory impacts, disinformation and influence operations, etc.);
• impact assessment and safeguards (e.g. fundamental rights impact assessments, ethical impact assessments, risk mitigation measures, safeguards-by-design approaches, etc.).
• misuse of emerging technologies by malicious actors;
• societal implications for victims and vulnerable groups;
• public trust, legitimacy, and societal acceptance;
• accountability and rights‑based governance models;
• Impact assessments and other safeguards related to fundamental rights.

Guiding questions (indicative):

• How do emerging technologies and evolving security practices reshape ethical and societal risks in FCT?
• What are the implications of particular technologies (e.g. AI-enabled surveillance, biometric identification, synthetic media) for fundamental rights, accountability and public trust?
• How can transparency, human oversight and rights-based safeguards be operationalised in the deployment and governance of security technologies and operational practices?
• What are the best practices regarding ethics and fundamental impact assessments in new technologies aimed at FCT?