The European Union is increasing investment in civilian security research in response to growing concerns over cyber threats, organised crime and critical infrastructure resilience. German organisations remain involved in almost half of the projects selected for funding. Yet declining grant success rates and fewer German-led consortia highlight the intensifying competition for European research resources.

Europe’s security challenges are becoming increasingly interconnected. Cyberattacks can disrupt essential services, organised criminal networks operate across national borders, and hybrid threats expose vulnerabilities in both digital and physical infrastructure. Addressing these risks requires more than national security measures. It also depends on research partnerships capable of translating scientific knowledge into technologies, operational procedures and practical security solutions. Against this backdrop, the European Union is expanding its investment in civilian security research. The latest results from Horizon Europe, the EU’s principal research and innovation funding programme, illustrate both the scale of this commitment and the increasingly competitive environment in which research organisations operate.

Germany provides a particularly revealing example. According to an analysis by Germany’s National Contact Point for Security Research (NKS Sicherheit), German companies, universities and research institutes are participating in 26 of the 59 projects selected under the 2025 calls of Horizon Europe’s Cluster 3, Civil Security for Society. This represents approximately 44 per cent of all funded projects. At the same time, Germany’s share of the allocated funding declined from approximately ten per cent in 2024 to seven per cent in 2025. Its position in the country ranking for funding received consequently fell from third to seventh. These figures require careful interpretation. They do not establish a general deterioration in the quality of German security research, nor do they indicate that German organisations are withdrawing from European cooperation. Rather, they reveal an increasingly demanding funding environment in which extensive participation and strong scientific proposals do not necessarily translate into proportional financial success.

A Larger Research Budget Meets Unprecedented Competition

The EU allocated approximately €246.9 million to projects selected under Horizon Europe’s civilian security research cluster in 2025, compared with €191.62 million in 2024. The number of funded projects increased from 45 to 59. Cybersecurity accounted for the largest allocation, receiving €90.7 million. Research addressing crime and terrorism received €43.4 million, while disaster-resilient societies attracted €40.9 million. Further funding supported border management (€28.3 million), resilient infrastructures (€22 million), and initiatives designed to strengthen security research and innovation (€21.5 million). The distribution reflects the broadening scope of European security policy. Digital protection remains a major priority, but the programme also addresses the resilience of essential services, emergency preparedness, border security and the operational capabilities needed to confront complex threats.

However, the expansion of available funding has been accompanied by an even sharper increase in demand. The number of project participations submitted across Europe rose from 7,407 in 2024 to 11,060 in 2025, an increase of 49 per cent. Demand therefore grew substantially faster than the available budget. According to NKS Sicherheit, the programme reached a new level of oversubscription. For every euro requested, only approximately seven cents were available. This imbalance has important implications for applicants. Scientific excellence and technological innovation remain essential, but they cannot guarantee success when the programme is heavily oversubscribed. The strategic composition of research consortia, alignment with European priorities and the ability to demonstrate tangible benefits for civilian security become increasingly important. For Europe’s security research community, the figures reveal a paradox: greater investment is creating more opportunities for collaboration, while simultaneously intensifying competition for access to those opportunities.

German Research Quality Remains Strong Despite Lower Success Rates

German organisations submitted 771 project participations in 2025, compared with 598 in the previous year. Despite this substantial increase in applications, the number of successful German participations declined from 49 to 45. Germany’s success rate consequently fell from 8.19 to 5.84 per cent, below the programme-wide average of 7.31 per cent. Taken in isolation, these figures might suggest weakening competitiveness. The evaluation results, however, present a more nuanced picture. Of the 771 German participations submitted, 546 received at least ten evaluation points and were therefore considered to meet the threshold for funding eligibility. This represents more than 70 per cent of German submissions. Many proposals nevertheless remained unfunded because the available budget was insufficient. The average evaluation score of projects ultimately selected for funding was 13.8 points.

These findings suggest that Germany’s reduced funding share cannot simply be attributed to declining research quality. Instead, they illustrate the difference between producing scientifically credible proposals and securing funding within an exceptionally competitive European selection process. For research institutions and industrial applicants, this distinction matters. Successful participation increasingly requires not only technical expertise but also a clear understanding of programme objectives, carefully developed international partnerships and compelling evidence of the expected European added value. NKS Sicherheit identifies the declining German funding return as a warning signal while simultaneously emphasising the quality of German proposals and the country’s continued involvement in funded projects.

Fewer German-Led Consortia Raise Questions About Research Leadership

One of the more significant developments concerns the coordination of European research projects. In 2025, German organisations submitted 57 proposals as project coordinators, compared with 37 in 2024. Despite this increased ambition, only one German-coordinated project secured funding, down from three in the previous year. The successful project, SilentBorder2, is coordinated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), specifically its Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures in Bremerhaven. It falls within the border management research area.

Project coordination carries responsibilities that extend beyond administrative management. Coordinators oversee the organisation of international research partnerships, represent consortia in their dealings with the European Commission and play an important role in structuring cooperation among participating institutions. They are also well positioned to influence how research activities are organised and how scientific, industrial and operational expertise is brought together. The reduction in successful German-led projects therefore deserves attention. It concerns not merely the distribution of funding but also opportunities for German institutions to assume coordinating responsibilities within European research networks. Nevertheless, a single year of results cannot establish a lasting decline in research leadership. A reliable assessment would require a longer-term comparison of coordination success, consortium participation and funding outcomes. What the figures do demonstrate is that securing a coordinating role has become particularly challenging, even for established research organisations.

Cybersecurity Accounts for Almost Two-Thirds of German Funding

The distribution of German funding reveals a pronounced concentration in cybersecurity. Of the approximately €16.3 million awarded to German participants in 2025, around €10.2 million went to cybersecurity projects. This represents nearly two-thirds of the country’s total allocation. Further funding supported border management projects (€1.9 million), research into crime and terrorism (€1.5 million), resilient infrastructures (€1.2 million) and disaster resilience (€1.2 million). Approximately €300,000 was allocated to activities supporting security research and innovation. These figures underline the significance of digital security research within Germany’s European project portfolio.

At the same time, German applicants demonstrated interest across a much wider range of security challenges. Outside cybersecurity, substantial numbers of applications addressed disaster resilience, crime and terrorism, and the protection of critical infrastructure. This breadth is strategically relevant. Europe’s security requirements increasingly demand interdisciplinary solutions. Protecting a major transport hub, for example, may involve cybersecurity, physical protection, emergency management, communications resilience and cooperation among public authorities and private operators. Similarly, safeguarding energy infrastructure requires more than technical protection against cyber intrusions. It also involves continuity planning, operational resilience and the ability to respond to complex incidents affecting interconnected systems. European research partnerships provide opportunities to integrate these different capabilities. Germany’s strong cybersecurity participation offers a foundation for such cooperation, while its broader research engagement reflects the multidimensional nature of contemporary security challenges.

Industry Plays a Central Role in German Participation

Another notable feature of the 2025 results is the contribution of private-sector organisations. Companies accounted for 40 per cent of successful German participations. Research institutes and universities each represented 22.2 per cent. This distribution demonstrates the importance of industry within Germany’s involvement in European civilian security research. Industrial participation is particularly valuable where research outcomes must be translated into operational technologies, deployable systems or commercially viable security solutions. Companies can contribute engineering expertise, product development capabilities and practical knowledge of implementation requirements. Research institutions and universities, meanwhile, provide scientific expertise, methodological development and longer-term innovation capacity. The interaction between these groups is central to the objectives of collaborative European research.

According to NKS Sicherheit, successful participation by German universities has also shown a continuing upward trend following a pronounced decline in 2023. Germany’s overall presence in the selected projects remains substantial. Its 45 successful participations are distributed across 26 of the 59 funded projects, giving German organisations a presence in approximately 44.1 per cent of the portfolio. Germany also retained fourth place in the country comparison for average funding per successful participation. These indicators reinforce the need to distinguish between the volume of funding received and the wider significance of participation in European research networks. A smaller funding share does not necessarily imply marginal involvement. German organisations continue to contribute to a substantial proportion of the collaborative projects selected under the programme.

European Security Research Is Becoming a Strategic Capability

The 2025 results point to a broader transformation in European civilian security research. As security threats become more complex, research programmes are expected to deliver solutions that can support operational resilience, technological innovation and cooperation across national boundaries. The increasing number of applications demonstrates strong interest among European research institutions and companies. It also indicates that competition for research funding is likely to remain an important consideration for organisations seeking to develop international partnerships.

Germany enters this environment with significant scientific and industrial capabilities and an established presence in European research consortia. Yet the decline in its funding share and the limited number of successful German coordinators show that maintaining this position requires continuous strategic effort. Early consortium development, effective international partnerships and a clear understanding of European research priorities will be important for future applicants. So too will the ability to connect technological innovation with the operational requirements of security authorities, infrastructure operators and other potential end users.

The significance of these findings extends beyond national funding statistics. European security research helps establish collaborative networks, develop technological capabilities and strengthen the knowledge base from which future security solutions emerge. Participation enables organisations to exchange expertise and contribute to shared innovation. Coordination offers additional opportunities to shape how such cooperation is organised. Germany remains a substantial and well-connected participant in European civilian security research. The challenge is not to rebuild a research base that has disappeared, but to translate existing expertise and international engagement into stronger funding outcomes and renewed opportunities for project leadership. For Europe as a whole, the underlying objective is more consequential than any individual country’s position in a funding table. In an environment characterised by persistent cyber threats, pressure on critical infrastructure and increasingly interconnected security risks, the ability to develop and implement effective solutions through international research cooperation is becoming an essential component of European resilience.

FACT BOX | Horizon Europe Civilian Security Research: 2025 Results

Additional findings: German participants received approximately €16.3 million in 2025, with €10.2 million allocated to cybersecurity. German organisations are involved in 26 of the 59 selected projects (44.1 per cent). Companies accounted for 40 per cent of successful German participations, while Germany ranked fourth for average funding per successful participation.

About the programme: Horizon Europe is the European Union’s research and innovation funding programme. Cluster 3, Civil Security for Society, supports collaborative research addressing cybersecurity, crime and terrorism, border management, disaster resilience, critical infrastructure protection and related security challenges.

Source: German National Contact Point for Security Research (NKS Sicherheit), Information Bulletin on Civil Security Research 09/26, analysis of the 2025 Horizon Europe Cluster 3 calls.