Strengthening the ecosystem collaboration for societal resilience against disinformation and disinformation-fuelled crime
What is a project cluster?
Project clustering refers to an alliance created by projects with related subjects or complementing interests, which can encompass partnerships for communication and dissemination activities, participation in meetings of common interest, joint capacity building activities and workshops, among other examples.
The European Commission incentivises the clustering of Horizon Europe projects in order to enhance the impact of financed projects. By forming or joining a cluster, projects can better collaborate and support each other through knowledge sharing and benchmarking project outcomes, hence creating synergies and facilitating the achievement of the proposed impacts.
The Hybrid Threats Cluster
Hybrid threats, a combination of tactics including diplomatic, military, economic, technological, have long been used to destabilise adversaries. Large-scale online disinformation campaigns for instance are used to shape the political narrative and subsequently hinder democratic processes. Countering these constantly evolving challenges by enhancing resilience, and detecting, preventing and responding to hybrid threats is a key priority for the European Union and its member states. In light of this, a cluster of innovative projects has been created to increase societal resilience to disinformation, misinformation and hybrid threats by strengthening cross-stakeholder collaboration. Knowledge sharing, upskilling and alignment on activities, enables the cluster participants to enhance the efforts and maximise the impact of their respective projects.
The projects involved in the cluster include:
ATHENA
An Exposition On The Foreign Information Manipulation And Interference
FERMI
Fake News Risk Mitigator
REGROUP
Rebuilding governance and resilience out of the pandemic
TENACITy
Travel Intelligence Against Crime And Terrorism
Vera.ai
VERification Assisted by Artificial Intelligence
VIGILANT
Vital Intelligence To Investigate Illegal Disinformation
The AI4SafeEurope cluster
To ensure the sustainability of its findings by sharing insights with EU-funded projects that have a longer life cycle, in 2025 FERMI also joined the AI4SafeEurope cluster, a collaborative network of EU-funded research and innovation projects dedicated to applying artificial intelligence to civil security. These AI4SafeEurope cluster projects support law enforcement agencies and public authorities in detecting threats, conducting secure investigations, and protecting democratic societies. Through shared technical expertise, ethical AI development and a focus on interoperability, the cluster addresses cross-cutting challenges including disinformation, organised and cross-border cybercrime, and border security. AI4SafeEurope ensures that artificial intelligence is leveraged responsibly and transparently, enabling safer societies through collaborative innovation and trustworthy AI solutions.
What Unites AI4SafeEurope Projects
- Detect threats & disinformation – monitoring online narratives, malicious content, and emerging risks.
- Conduct secure investigations – AI-driven, forensically sound, and cross-border collaboration tools.
- Protect borders & societies – countering hybrid threats, organised crime, and safeguarding democracy.
- Tackle cyber & organised crime – from cyber fraud and ransomware to firearms trafficking and terrorism.
- Ensure ethical & trusted AI – interoperability, accountability, and respect for fundamental rights.
The projects involved in the cluster include:
Empowers LEAs to combat disinformation, hate speech, and deepfakes using AI-powered OSINT, sentiment analysis, and secure intelligence sharing.
Fights illicit firearms trafficking with AI-based tools for online monitoring, in-field detection, and cross-border intelligence sharing.
Tackles cross-border cybercrime using explainable AI, collaborative investigation tools, and real-time threat monitoring.
Develops tools for understanding and mitigating offline risks stemming from online disinformation, radicalisation, and fake news.
Enhances cybercrime detection and investigation with modular decision-support tools, secure data-sharing, and cyber hygiene resources.
Establishes a practitioner–researcher network to monitor and assess emerging intelligence and security technologies.
Builds privacy-aware AI tools for proactive threat detection and behavioural risk analysis to support LEAs.
Delivers a counter-UAS platform enabling police authorities to detect and manage drone-based threats in public spaces.