Large-scale research and innovation in border security does not happen in a single project. It accumulates — through successive waves of EU-funded programmes, each building on the findings, datasets, prototypes, and partnerships of those that came before. Understanding EINSTEIN means understanding the ecosystem of projects that preceded it.
The projects that laid the foundations
Several earlier Horizon 2020 projects are directly relevant to EINSTEIN’s work. D4FLY developed document and biometric identity verification on the fly. iMars focused specifically on morphing attack detection, developing algorithms and evaluation methodologies that EINSTEIN’s work directly builds on — including the BOEP evaluation platform. H2020 PROTECT explored multibiometric corridors for fast, frictionless border crossings — a direct predecessor to EINSTEIN’s Walk-Through Biometric Corridor application.
The current ecosystem
EINSTEIN operates alongside a rich ecosystem of related current projects and agencies. At the European agency level, EINSTEIN has established formal connections with Frontex through a joint workshop in December 2025, and with eu-LISA through a research presentation in December 2025. These agency relationships are essential for translating research outputs into operational deployment.
The broader community
EINSTEIN is a member of the LEA Projects Cluster, which brings together over 50 EU-funded security research and innovation projects. The European Association for Biometrics (EAB) provides another coordination layer — through its annual Research Projects Conference, where EINSTEIN will present at the 13th edition in September 2026.
EINSTEIN’s outputs — algorithms, frameworks, field test results, standards contributions — are designed to outlast the project itself. The open-source ENCHANTER framework is available for use by any research group. The standards contributions feed into ISO/IEC processes that will shape biometric systems for a decade.
© 2026 EINSTEIN Consortium. EINSTEIN is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (GA No. 101121280) and by UKRI (IFS 10093453). Views expressed are those of the authors only. www.einstein-horizon.eu