The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC)

ORIGINAL INFORMATION (1998)

The Joint Research Centre is the European Union's scientific and technical research laboratory and an integral part of the European Commission. It is a Directorate General, providing the scientific advice and technical know-how to support EU policies. Its status as a Commission service, which guarantees independence from private or national interests, is crucial for pursuing the mission. Its institutes carry out extensive research of direct concern to European citizens and industry. Over the years, the JRC has developed special skills and unique tools to provide autonomous and Europe-wide expertise to improve understanding of the links between technology, the economy and society. The activities range from the assessment of safety standards for children's toys and improved biomaterials for hip implants to new technologies for recycling water and the use of satellite systems to monitor land use and deforestation.

UPDATED STATEMENT (2005)

The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions an a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.

JRC's Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (IPSC)

Multidisciplinary analysis of industrial, socio-technical and environmental systems, innovative application of information and communication technologies, science and technology for safety management.
The mission of IPSC is to provide research-based, systems-oriented support to EU policies so as to protect the citizen against economic and technological risk. The Institute also continues to maintain and develop its expertise in information, communication, space and engineering technologies in support of its mission.
In order to help safeguard EU citizens against damage caused by natural disasters, human activities or criminal fraud, IPSC maintains and develops expertise in technologies relating to information and communication, space, and engineering. The Institute's scientific and technical services cover the full cycle from the conception of a new policy, through support in its development and implementation, to the monitoring and evaluation of eventual results. Added benefit derives from the ability to call on the expertise of network partners and collaborating research establishments throughout the EU.
Key competences: Cybersecurity and new technologies for combating fraud; Monitoring agriculture with remote sensing; Humanitarian security; Technological and economic risk assessment; European laboratory for structural assessment; Non-proliferation and nuclear safeguards.

Cyber-security and New Technologies for Combating Fraud Unit (CSCF)

The Unit supports EU efforts to protect citizens from risks associated with cybercrime, privacy and Internet vulnerabilities. This is achieved by providing support and assistance for specific EU initiatives, by setting-up trial and prototype infrastructures to provide hands-on security and evaluation capabilities of networked IT systems, by performing benchmarking of tools and system. The Unit also supports EU efforts to harness new technologies for the monitoring of compliance to EU regulations and for the detection and prevention of fraud. The activities involve the exploiting, analysing and federating of large volumes of data, collected or reported from numerous sources, in order to detect patterns and extract useful intelligence in order to provide early warnings. Language engineering is increasingly employed to give cross-language access to information in multilingual document collections. Monitoring of compliance to EU regulations focuses on data fusion of signals from positioning and observation satellites for fast identification of the position of fishing vessels.

JRC's Institute for Systems, Informatics and Safety (ISIS)

The Institute for Systems, Informatics and Safety was one of the Istitutes of the European Union Joint Research Centre. ISIS supported EU policies with systems oriented research in areas where safety and security were of concern. Its prime objectives were to develop techniques for the assessment of risk in complex system and to apply information, communication and engineering technologies for improving their reliability, safety and security. Part of its activities converged in the recently created IPSC Institute.

ISIS's Unit for Reliable Information Technologies (RIT)
The unit performed research and development in reliable applications of Information and Communication Technologies. Part of its activities converged in the recently created CSCF Unit.

The VOICE Project's activities are carried out at the JRC's Ispra Site  
Map of Ispra and Major Lake's area 
General view of JRC Ispra Site