Agentur für Innovation in Cybersicherheit launches new research initiative
On August 4, 2026, the Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur) published the call for proposals for the IRIS research program. The research program aims to develop innovative approaches that enable autonomous robotic systems in heterogeneous networks to interact robustly even in highly challenging situations. The focus will be on interactions between robots and between robots and humans, as well as between humans and swarms.
At the heart of IRIS lies a security-related question that is becoming increasingly urgent in light of current technological and geopolitical developments: How can autonomous robotic systems operating in swarms continue to work together reliably even when communication channels fail, localization becomes unreliable, or external factors complicate coordination? This capability is of fundamental importance for operations in crisis and disaster situations.
With IRIS, the Cyberagentur is building on key insights and ideas from the HAL2025 ideas competition “Autonomous Intelligent Systems in Swarms” and translating them into a research program with clear prospects for application and implementation. This marks a consistent continuation of an open innovation process: “Conceptual approaches and competition ideas are now to give rise to interconnected research that combines scientific originality with security-relevant effectiveness,” emphasizes Dr. Eva-Maria Heinke, Head of the Unmanned Systems and Robotics Division at the Cyberagentur.
For the end-users, the strategic relevance of the program is obvious. In the future, heterogeneous robotic systems could take on reconnaissance, protection, transport, support, and situational awareness tasks in environments where humans cannot be deployed, or can only be deployed at high risk. This becomes particularly significant in situations where (targeted) interference in the electromagnetic spectrum, GPS outages, or dynamic environments push conventional systems to their limits. IRIS therefore addresses the question of how to develop robust, self-organizing, and adaptive networks that remain capable of operating even under adverse conditions.
Tom Weber, program director at IRIS, emphasizes: “We are looking for submissions in the fields of robotics, communication, navigation, artificial intelligence, and human-swarm interaction. We expect research ideas that rethink robust robotic swarms under real-world disruptive conditions.”
The program, which will run for more than three years, is expected to provide a significant boost to internal and external security in Germany. The results of the research will be evaluated using a demonstrator to ensure the practical feasibility of the technologies developed.
The call for proposals is aimed at research institutions and companies that wish to contribute innovative concepts to the further development of robust and autonomous swarm robotics. Interested parties are invited to submit their proposals by October 6, 2026. Further information is available on the website of the Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit.
The call for bids, with contract notice number TED 539084-2026, was published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union; Evergabe-online.de: https://www.evergabe-online.de/tenderdetails.html?2&id=877591. The deadline for submitting bids is October 6, 2026.