Call for Proposals for Europol's EC3 Cyber Innovation Forum 2026 in The Hague

The next edition of the EC3 Cyber Innovation Forum is coming to The Hague in October 2026. The Cyber Innovation Forum brings together law enforcement, policymakers, industry, and academia to explore cutting-edge approaches to cybercrime investigation and prevention. The forum aims to foster collaboration, share practical innovations, and shape the future response to cybercrime.

With over 70 applications received in last year’s edition, the Cyber Innovation Forum welcomes over 150 authors at Europol each year to present their work, and the next presenter could be you. Are you a law enforcement agency, private company, university, or research and technology institute? Are you working on an innovative solution that supports cybercrime investigations and prevention? This is your opportunity to engage directly with practitioners and cross-sector partners to present your creations in a unique platform and collaborative environment.

Scope of the call

Bringing your proposal to a cross-sectoral environment of LEAs, private and academic partners help to amplify the impact of your work and find opportunities for collaboration. We are always looking for ways to increase the uptake and scale the effect of innovative solutions that makes Europe safer!

Proposals addressing innovation in cybercrime investigation, prevention, and resilience are invited, including but not limited to:

• Tools and technologies supporting cybercrime detection, investigation, attribution, and disruption;
• Research papers and applied studies with operational, strategic, or policy relevance;
• Investigative techniques and methodologies, including cross-border and multi-stakeholder approaches;
• Legislation, regulatory frameworks, and legal analysis related to cybercrime and digital evidence;
• Policies, strategies, and best practices for prevention, capacity building, and public-private cooperation;
• Case studies and lessons learned from real-world operations or implementations.

Submissions may be conceptual, technical, operational, legal, or policy-oriented, provided they offer clear value to the cybercrime ecosystem. 

Who should submit their proposal?

Proposals are welcome from contributors across all sectors from EU Member States and third countries with agreements with Europol, including:

• Law enforcement agencies;
• Public authorities and policymakers;
• Private sector organisations and technology providers;
• Academic and research institutions;
• International organisations and NGOs;
• Independent experts and practitioners.

Proposal can be a product of previous research, case investigation/examination or a project. Authors are encouraged to demonstrate the practical applicability of their work. However, submissions primarily intended to promote commercial tools or services will not be considered.

Selection criteria

Proposals will be assessed based on:

• Alignment of the proposal with the topics referenced in the Call for Proposals;
• Innovative nature of the new concept, technique, approach, tool, report, service, solution;
• Suitability of the proposal to the needs of European Law Enforcement Agencies as users of technology with a strong interest in compliance;
• Maturity level of the proposed solution;
• Non promotional intend or commercial nature.

Submissions will undergo an objective review by a Selection Committee composed of Europol’s staff. The Selection Committee will evaluate the submitted proposals to select the most relevant in order to offer a diverse agenda. Europol reserves the right to only contact the authors of selected proposals who will be invited to present their work at the Cyber Innovation Forum. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered for invitees, subject to the availability of funds.

The selected proposals will be presented during the Cyber Innovation Forum 2026 and will undergo an additional selection procedure with scoring done by a jury composed by Europol and the audience of the forum, with the purpose of selecting the best proposal of the Cyber Innovation Forum 2026.

Selection criteria and process, list of topics and timelines are available via the official Call for Proposals documentation.

Interested? Submit your proposal here!

Source: Europol

Photo: Istock.com/olrat