Operational Challenges in Digital Security: Joint Takeaways from the LEA Projects Cluster

What are the key operational challenges preventing digital security innovation from translating into real-world impact?

On 26 March 2026, the LEA Projects Cluster, led by Privanova in cooperation with the Center for Security Studies (KEMEA), hosted a joint workshop bringing together EU-funded security projects, law enforcement authorities, and research organisations to address this question.

The discussion focused on critical gaps in digital security across intelligence, cybercrime and SME resilience, highlighting that current challenges are no longer limited to technological development, but increasingly relate to how data and tools are integrated, governed and applied in practice.

Contributions from the IAMI, SafeHorizon, and SECUR-EU projects, alongside input from practitioners and stakeholders, pointed to several structural concerns:

• fragmented data environments and limited interoperability
• persistent barriers to effective data sharing
• gaps between research innovation and operational adoption
• increasing scale and complexity of digital investigations
• significant vulnerabilities in SME cybersecurity.

These insights have been consolidated into Joint Policy Takeaways, co-developed with contributions from representatives of the participating projects, as well as the ENACT project. The document outlines key priorities for action, including strengthening interoperability, establishing trusted data-sharing frameworks, supporting the operational uptake of research solutions, and reinforcing SME cybersecurity resilience. It further highlights the need for stronger coordination across the EU security ecosystem and closer alignment between research, policy and operational actors, a role that the LEA Projects Cluster actively supports through its coordination and cooperation mechanisms.

The Joint Takeaways contribute to the ongoing efforts of the Cluster to reduce fragmentation in EU-funded security research and to support the development of more coordinated, policy-relevant, and operationally usable outcomes.

The recording of the workshop is available here.

Join the LEA Projects Cluster

Would you like to take part in future Cluster initiatives? If your organisation coordinates or participates in an EU-funded security research project and would like to learn more about the LEA Projects Cluster or explore opportunities for collaboration, please don’t hesitate to contact Kristina Isakzay, Cluster Coordinator at Privanova - kristina.isakzay@privanova.com.