NWO is funding three new PPP projects that will investigate intervention and prevention of illegal activities that undermine our legal structures. This so-called subversive crime has disruptive effects on society. The research increases the action perspective for citizens, investigators and enforcement officers, making them more resilient and effective. Six million euros is available, of which NWO funds five million and companies and public organisations one million.
The fight against subversive crime will only become more effective if science, government, industry and citizens work together more intensively and in a more focused way, jointly developing innovative intervention models. Reducing undermining crime requires an integrated approach from the technical, social sciences and humanities. The topic 'subversive crime' is part of the 'Integral approach to organised crime' mission of the national Knowledge and Innovation Agenda on Security.
Within the KIC call Subversive Crime, the three awarded research projects will work on a variety of themes. The PRICELESS project focuses on analysing valuation practices of works of art and luxury items that are converted into financial assets for purposes such as money laundering. In the FIDBID project, forensic experts, data scientists and criminologists are exploring ways to automatically extract and report forensic information from lab analyses of drugs. This information provides important clues to the production, origin and transportation of evidence. In the FORT-PORT project, business, government organisations and scientists are working to stop cocaine trafficking, human smuggling and corruption in and around the port of Rotterdam.
Funded projects
PRICELESS - Dr. C. Rausch, Maastricht University
Crimes involving high-value unique goods, such as luxury items and works of art, have evolved in one surprising way. Where the lure for criminals once lay in stealing or forging such objects, it now lies in transforming them into financialized assets, for instance to obscure transactions, to launder money, or to hide wealth and evade sanctions. Key to the assetization of unique goods is their valuation, upon which subsequent collateralisation, securitization, and derivation depends. To understand and tackle vulnerabilities to subversive (financial) crime, PRICELESS analyses practices of value appraisal, insurance, and accounting, and examines how they can become corrupted.
Co-applicant
University of Amsterdam
Co-funders
Trends4FI/FIOD
ABN Amro/Trends4FI
Rabobank
Brightlands Smart Services Campus
Lege Artis
ArtTactic
Medical Data Works B.V.
Leastfixedpoint Software
Sprint Eins GmbH
Collaboration partners
Trends4FI/tax authority
Trends4FI, FIU
Trends4FI/Ministry of Justice and Security
Trends4FI/Police
Netherlands Public Prosecution Service/FIOD
Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed
SRAL
DACS
Maastricht European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity
AXA XL Nederland
Verisart
Deloitte Art and Finance, Luxembourg
Deloitte Nederland
Art loss register
De Correspondent
VPRO tegenlicht
FIDBID - prof. dr. A.C. van Asten, Universiteit van Amsterdam
In the Netherlands roughly 25.000 times a year evidence material is analyzed for the presence of drugs of abuse. These analyses are conducted in laboratories from the Dutch Polic, the Netherlands Forensic Institute, and the Dutch Customs Laboratory. The preferred technique, GC-MS, relies on gas chromatographic separation followed by mass spectrometric characterization. In addition to the detection of drugs of abuse, GC-MS also provides valuable information on the origin, production and transport of the confiscated material. In the FIDBID project, forensic experts, data scientists and criminologists join forces to fully automatically extract and report this goldmine of forensic intelligence.
Co-applicants
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Policy Academy
Co-funders
Netherlands Forensic Institute (NL)
Dutch Police
Dutch Customs
Capgemini
Collaboration partners
OM (Public Prosecution Office)
WODC, Ministry of Justice and Security
Strategic Knowledge Center for Organized Subversive Crime
University of Lausanne
European Network of Forensic Science Institutes – Drug Working Group
Special Testing and Research Lab, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) (Virginia, USA)
Department of Forensic Science (DFS) (Virginia, USA)
The Center for Forensic Science and Education (CFSRE), Pennsylvania (USA)
FORT-PORT - prof. dr. C.G. van Wingerde, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Rotterdam mainport offers employment to numerous people, like crane operators, boatmen and dockers. Yet, it also offers work to drug collectors and human smugglers who are connected to internationally operating criminal networks. In FORT-PORT, businesses, government organisations, and leading academics collaborate to stop cocaine trafficking, human smuggling and corruption in and around Rotterdam mainport in an intelligent and predictive way, now and for the future. FORT-PORT connects with the mainport, the city, and the international port network and thus contributes to the development of an economically prosperous, safe, resilient, and therefore future-proof mainport and increases societal resilience against subversive crime.
Co-applicants
Delft University of Technology, Utrecht University
Co-funders
Netherlands Defence Academy
Strategic Knowledge Centre Subversive Crime
Secure Logistics
Deltalinqs
Deloitte Financial Advisory – Forensic/ Financial Crime
Pandora Intelligence
Foundation (Stichting) De Verre Bergen
Rotterdam Municipality
Bureau Bridgges
Zadkine
Port of Rotterdam
Securitas
Collaboration partners
Seaport Police (Zeehavenpolitie)
Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD)
Public Prosecution Service Rotterdam
Team Migration and Human trafficking of the Alien Police (AVIM)
Customs (Douane)
STC-Group (Scheepvaart & Transport College)
KIC seeks technological economic opportunities
The NWO research programme KIC focuses on groundbreaking innovative solutions with societal and economic impact. Companies, knowledge institutions and government bodies jointly invest in the commercial application of knowledge to tackle major societal challenges through the use of smart technologies. By doing this, both jobs and income can be secured for the future. This is established in the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC) 2020-2023 that connects with the Mission-driven Top Sectors and Innovation Policy of the Dutch government. NWO brings together companies and knowledge institutions and funds groundbreaking research based on their innovative, high-impact research proposals.