The Director General of the Civil Guard, José Manuel Holgado, closed out the CLOSEYE Project yesterday in Málaga. This is a maritime border surveillance and control initiative whose goal is to incorporate new tools such as unmanned aircraft, satellites and balloons into surveillance systems in an effort to improve the security of external maritime borders.
CLOSEYE is the first European innovation project led by Spain’s Civil Guard, and it represents its commitment to protecting and managing Europe’s southern border. All of the consortium’s members, including Isdefe, have devoted great efforts to this initiative, making available to it all of the material, aerial, maritime and human resources that were required.
The project lasted 47 months and was financed by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. CLOSEYE was kicked off in 2013 with help from the European Commission as part of a pioneering initiative on the application of new technologies to maritime surveillance, the first time such an initiative was led by Spain’s law enforcement agencies.
Isdefe is a partner in the consortium that successfully developed the CLOSEYE Project. Its participation was essential not only as an expert consultancy in areas related to the project, but also due to its expertise and knowledge in managing and implementing surveillance services. Isdefe thus reaffirms its constant commitment to innovation by taking part in cutting-edge R&D projects.
The CLOSEYE Project successfully accomplished its goals and is, in the words of the Civil Guard’s Director General, “the first and only example of an R&D project that paves the way to an initiative for community action amongst member States and that is going to be financed by Internal Security Funds”.