Transcrime awarded ISF project SECURE to strengthen anti-corruption enforcement

SECURE is a research project co-funded by the European Union’s Internal Security Fund. Its aim is to strengthen anti-corruption efforts across Europe by addressing current and emerging threats. The project will enhance anti-corruption enforcement by:

• reviewing the anti-corruption pillar of the EU Rule of Law (RoL) report and analysing obstacles to effective enforcement in target countries and EU-level processes – providing recommendations;
• developing tailored anomaly indicators;
• developing an advanced tool to support authorities and civil society in effectively and collaboratively detecting and monitoring corruption risks.

Transcrime, coordinator of WP2, will lead the development of advanced red-flag indicators focusing on conflicts of interest, undue influence, and foreign interference. Leveraging enriched datasets – such as corporate and beneficial ownership registries, procurement data, and open sources – and new analytics technologies, these indicators will help map corruption risks across regions and industries. Transcrime will also co-develop a digital dashboard to visualise corruption risks, integrating both findings from the RoL analysis and the risk indicators, and explore AI-based functions, including text analytics services, to further facilitate investigative efforts.

Outreach will be ensured through capacity-building activities, including training sessions for authorities and civil society, regional forums to promote best practices, and advocacy campaigns to encourage the enforcement of the Rule of Law recommendations and the adoption of the developed tools and risk indicators.

The project’s consortium, led by Transparency International, involves Transcrime-Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and 10 other beneficiaries, alongside two law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies as associated partners. Transcrime’s spin-off, Crime&tech, will also contribute to the development of the tools.