Tools and processes to support stress tests of critical infrastructure

Expected outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following outcomes:

• Critical infrastructure operators and authorities have access to efficient, adaptable, resilient and reliable tools and processes enabling or improving virtual and physical stress tests of their respective assets/ and operations;
• Critical entities have broader and deeper understanding of their technical and operational vulnerabilities and adaptive capabilities, improving the scenario building and stress tests exercises;
• Systems allowing notification and collaboration under stress conditions are available for relevant stakeholders;
• Critical entities are better equipped for post-incident investigations, including data collection, analysis and improved learning, management and sharing in a secure manner;
• Improved operational procedures including incidents management and training curricula are developed.

Scope

The resilience of critical entities is of paramount importance as disruptions to these systems can have significant consequences for the whole economy, public health, security or safety. These systems, responsible for providing essential services for modern society, are increasingly complex and interconnected, making them vulnerable to a range of threats, including cyber-attacks, physical attacks, malfunctions, human-induced or natural disasters.

The objective of this topic is to facilitate the stress testing of critical infrastructure by providing specialized tools and methodologies and support validation. This will enable the identification and testing of technical and operational vulnerabilities, inform of effective solutions to mitigate these risks, and facilitate the collection and analysis of data to enhance resilience plans that shall be established by each critical entity. Building on the insights gained from previous exercises, the ultimate goal is to establish more robust and comprehensive stress testing protocols, thereby ensuring the reliability and integrity of critical infrastructure.

The proposed solutions may, among others, support simulation and modelling, multi-hazard and multi-threat scenario building, data analytics, including geospatial information, Digital Twins, assessment of risks and adaptive capabilities, as well as impact of human factors.

These solutions should be designed to be inclusive and accessible, considering the needs of diverse users and stakeholders. Solutions should allow flexible configuration taking into account the evolving nature of threats and hazards. If feasible they should also be adaptable to different sectors and should support stress testing under diverse environmental and geographical conditions, including operation in harsh and remote environments. Moreover, they should comply with the relevant legislative frameworks and allow application of the developed tools under the current regime taking into account the sensitivity and confidentiality of the processed information.

Coordination among the successful proposals from this topic and projects funded under HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-INFRA-01: Open topic for improved preparedness for, response to and recovery from large-scale disruptions of critical infrastructures and HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-INFRA-02: Open topic for role of the human factor for resilience of European critical entities, should be envisaged in order to avoid duplication, share resources and exploit complementarities and opportunities for increased impact.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.

Where relevant, funded projects are encouraged to liaise with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, for complementary real-scale testing at the Reaction Wall and HopLab of the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA).