Lukasz Kielban
Content & Communications Lead
PPHS
We are entering the final days of the 20th year of the Polish Platform for Homeland Security (PPHS) activity. It has been an intensive year, marked by growth and new directions. This is a good moment to look back at what 2025 has brought for our organisation.
Projects, both national and international, remain at the heart of PPHS’s work. While homeland security continues to be our main focus, this year we significantly expanded our activities in the field of defence. In 2025, we successfully completed seven EU-funded projects: 2PS and INTERCEPT, coordinated by PPHS, as well as EU-CIP, EU-HYBNET, IN2PREV, SAFE-CITIES and VR4React.
The completion of the 2PS project coincided with the publication of the second issue of our magazine Platforma, dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse and exploitation. In addition to the results of the initiative coordinated by PPHS, the issue also features insights and contributions from leading child protection institutions around the world.
As these projects were coming to an end, we also launched cooperation on eight new initiatives. SHIELD PCP, SHIELDed and UNICOPS focused on public spaces security. DETECTOR addresses the identification of deepfakes, while POSEIDON explores the future of cybersecurity. Moreover, OnMoveID and COURAGEOUS2 concentrate on strategic security, and, last but not least, SWARMER is another defence-related project in our portfolio.
European security has been changing rapidly in recent years, and we take a broad approach to it. There is a growing demand for dual-use technologies that can support both the police and the armed forces. At the same time, defence is playing an increasingly important role in homeland security. As a result, PPHS has stepped up its involvement in projects under the European Defence Fund, joined the European Network of Defence-related Regions (ENDR), and further strengthened its presence in European cooperation and knowledge-sharing structures.
Beyond project work, 2025 was also a busy year in terms of events. We organised three major conferences. The third edition of "Cybercrime – Technologies" focused on tackling crime involving digital solutions. The fourth edition of CINTiA once again centred on criminal intelligence and analysis. We also held the first Congress of the Sector Skills Council for Protection and Safety of Property and Persons, which brought together Polish representatives from across the sector. The Council, established by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, is another initiative that PPHS joined as a partner this year. All of these events will be held again in 2026.
PPHS also continued to strengthen cooperation with services in Poland and across Europe. A few months ago, the Technology, Expertise and Implementation Department was formally established, supporting uniformed services in the deployment of new technologies and in strengthening officers’ competences in response to evolving internal security threats and challenges. Our key partners remain the Polish Police, the Prison Service and the Border Guard. For the Prison Service, we organised innovative training sessions using VR headsets, as well as training on radicalisation and extremism. At the European level, our educational activities within the EU Knowledge Hub remain an important part of our work. In total, thousands of participants took part in our training programmes this year, covering topics such as countering radicalisation, cybersecurity and safety in schools.
Looking back, we must admit that a great deal has happened within our organisation over the past year; however, in terms of citizens’ security, this year has also revealed many challenges. It would be untrue, though, to say that this period has been exceptional for us in this respect. The twentieth year of activity of the Polish Platform was certainly ambitious, but ambition is also one of our fundamental characteristics. It is reasonable to assume that future summaries will sound even more ambitious. Nevertheless, we hope that this effort will contribute to greater peace of mind for people in Poland and across Europe. We wish this to ourselves, our partners and everyone who follows the activities of PPHS.
