ECCC launches cluster of projects on AI for cybersecurity

These projects will actively contribute to the EU Action Plan on Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence, adopted by the European Commission in July 2026, and reflect the urgency to build sovereign, trustworthy and European AI capabilities for cybersecurity. 

The Cyber AI Cluster aims to promote dialogue, increase visibility, foster cooperation and facilitate shared learning on AI for cybersecurity. Its first public gathering took place at the event “Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence: From Innovation to Impact,” held on 27 October 2026 in Brussels and organised together with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT). 

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the cybersecurity landscape. It can strengthen cyber defence by supporting vulnerability discovery, threat detection, incident response and recovery, but malicious actors can also exploit it to automate and scale their attacks. 

Supported by the ECCC, the projects have a European scope and bring together more than 70 partners from universities, research organisations, innovative SMEs, industrial leaders and public authorities. Partners are based in 14 EU Member States and the United Kingdom.

• AICYROS, coordinated by the University of Murcia, develops a GenAI-powered cyber-risk “operational shield” that unites autonomous detection, incident response, secure deployment and compliance-as-code. It will be validated in telecom, industry, robotics, software-defined vehicles, healthcare, media and smart cities.
• AIGENTIC, coordinated by University of Piraeus Research Center, is building a Made-in-the-EU ecosystem of guardrailed, auditable GenAI agents for threat intelligence, incident response, adversarial robustness, recovery and regulatory compliance. It will be validated in nine use cases across automotive, railway, telecom, finance, maritime and smart cities.
• GENESIS-AI, coordinated by the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, is building a self-improving, regulation-aware GenAI ecosystem to defend complex infrastructures. It combines multi-agent systems, Red/Blue team co-evolution, federated privacy-preserving learning, and validation in a secure cyber range. Its industrial partners include Siemens, Airbus and Bosch.

All three projects started on 1 October 2026 and will run for 36 months.

The Cluster will seek to align its activities with the Action Plan, strengthen collaboration with ENISA and the European Commission, maximise complementarity among EU-funded initiatives, and gradually involve a broader range of stakeholders, including relevant projects funded under the Digital Europe Programme. The goal is to translate European strategic priorities into concrete, trustworthy AI capabilities for cybersecurity across Europe.

Check out the slides presented during the event “Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence: From Innovation to Impact", held on 27 October 2026 in Brussels.