Petty crime has a significant negative impact on European citizens’ quality of life, community cohesion and the safety and security of the urban environment. The aim of the Cutting Crime Impact (CCI) project is to enable Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and security policymakers to adopt a preventative, evidence-based and sustainable approach to tackling high-impact petty crime. Tailored to the needs of end-users, CCI will design, develop and demonstrate four Toolkits covering: (i) predictive policing; (ii) community policing; (iii) crime prevention through urban design and planning; and (iv) measuring and mitigating citizens’ feelings of insecurity. Using social science methods and innovation tools from the design industry, CCI will support LEAs in researching and innovating practical, evidence-based tools that meet end-users needs and operational contexts. In delivering CCI, LEAs will gain valuable experience in requirements capture, problem framing, ideation, concept generation, solution design and prototyping that is transferable to other areas. Practical consideration of ethical, legal and social issues throughout the project's research and innovation activities will ensure developed Toolkits help promote safe and secure towns and cities, without compromising fundamental human rights. All toolkits will be demonstrated in an operational setting to assess performance, and materials developed to support integration into LEA operations and foster wider implementation. CCI aims to encourage wider EU adoption of effective approaches to safety and security, and will develop an extended European Security Model that includes high-impact petty crime and citizens’ feelings of insecurity. CCI will result in greater openness to innovation and design approaches amongst LEAs and security policymakers across Europe, as well as demonstrate the value of practitioner-led approaches to EU-funded research and innovation projects.

Engage2innovate (E2i) will investigate and address barriers to implementing EU security research and innovation outputs, including: poor engagement with end-users, stakeholders and citizens; lack of front-end research and problem framing; and ineffective innovation processes. E2i adopts a human-centred, transdisciplinary approach (as demonstrated in CCI – GA: 787100), recognising innovation as requiring both key elements: novelty and implementation. Social Innovation is a human-centred approach to developing meaningful solutions rooted in a rich understanding of end-user contexts, such that novel ideas (inventions) are actually implemented. Through effective engagement with security policymakers, researchers, and practitioners across the quadruple helix, E2i will champion good practice in Social Innovation and human-centred design. Researchers will demonstrate and deliver the E2i Security R&I Toolbox: (i) enabling adoption of Social Innovation and human-centred design approaches to engage citizens and end users in security R&I; (ii) supporting security R&I actions in framing and designing security solutions and outputs and optimising their acceptance and adoption; (iii) providing benchmarks, standards and quality criteria for security solutions through Responsible Research and Innovation; and thereby (iv) strengthening EU security research and innovation. To promote the engagement of citizens and end users, E2i will develop a Societal Development Plan describing the current landscape of Social Innovation. This will provide guidance on how the approach can strengthen EU security research and innovation, and include an explanatory conceptual model and practical exemplars to inspire and motivate. Finally, E2i will build on the enthusiasm and inspiration of the next generation of researchers and design thinkers through two international Social Innovation Design Challenges, showcasing new innovative thinking and solution concepts while fostering adoption of E2i outputs.