Project Alpha

The aim of the Project Alpha, which is of national and international significance, is to create new knowledge, expertise and new shared innovations for identifying cyber threats as well as for improving situational awareness. The Project Alpha research develops data models that can be used to integrate data from different systems and data sources. It is part of the Business Finland Digital Trust programme.

In the last year with the tense international situation, cyber threats have become one of the most urgent discussion topics. At the same time, improving the efficiency of public safety authorities is an important development target. The aim of the Project Alpha, is to create new knowledge, expertise and new shared innovations for identifying cyber threats as well as for improving situational awareness.

Project actions and objectives

Responding to cyber threats requires broader than before situational awareness based on field data and diverse data sources. The Project Alpha research develops data models that can be used to integrate data from different systems and data sources. The data models aim to enable the presentation of user-specific situational awareness in networked and allied inter-agency activities.

To create situational awareness, a huge amount of data is needed that can be collected by monitoring the environment and utilising state-of-the-art technologies such as smart analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), various forms of data processing, telecommunications technologies and IoT technologies.

Experimenting in test environments supports and verifies the research of situational awareness solutions, the integration of solutions from different organisations and public field experiments. Workshops and field trials also play an important role in the achievement of the Project Alpha’s co-operation and objectives. 

The aim of the Project Alpha is to enable authorities a better understanding of situational awareness and to improve decision-making capabilities in the authorities’ field operations, control centres, and regional and national organisations. The aim is also to give different authorities a better ability to coordinate their actions, which improves public safety. The project’s business partners strive to accelerate their growth by renewing their product portfolios and aiming for new market segments, which will be reflected in the long-term growth of business, exports and employment opportunities.

Many changing and global threats to the environment, society and technological risks have contributed to the need for a project such as the Project Alpha. The project also increases international co-operation in cyber security, situational awareness and decision-making between authorities.