Backed by the French armaments board Delegation Generale pour l’Armement (DGA) and the Direction Generale de la Police Nationale, the 2008 version of the Concepts, Systemes et Outils pour la Securite Globale (CSOSG) program, launched at the end of January, works along the same research lines as the 2007 version (see graph below) and enjoys the same budget of roughly EUR 11 million for a dozen projects. However, it will make more room for small and medium sized companies and universities to prepare them for future European calls for bids.

Launched in 2006 by an inter-ministerial think tank concerning security research and technologies at the Secretariat General de la Defense Nationale (SGDN) the annual CSOSG program aims to lay the groundwork for a French industrial and university research community working in the field of homeland security. It would combine heavyweights in the sector such as Thales, Sagem and EADS with smaller firms and university labs. The CSOSG is preparing France's bid for the European security research program (worth EUR 150 million in 2007). The initiative seems to have borne fruit because France was in the front ranks of countries participating in last year's program, grabbing 13% of contracts (worth EUR 21 million) ahead of the United Kingdom and Germany.

The official representative of French players in the field on the European level is Claude Ayache, director of European affairs at the Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique (CEA). The CEA’s labs (LETI, LIST, LITEN) were involved in half of CSOSG’s 2007 programs.