The BEPROACT and ATHENA back-to-back event, held on 16–17 March 2026 at the Rijkswaterstaat LEF Future Center in Utrecht, brought together experts, policymakers and infrastructure professionals from across Europe to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure. Combining innovation demonstrations with hands-on training, the two-day programme highlighted the importance of collaboration, digital skills and knowledge exchange in addressing today's rapidly evolving challenges.
The event was officially opened by Floris van der Bas, Director of Data Collection and Data Analysis (IGA), and Ingeborg Absil, Director of Network Accessibility and Quality at Rijkswaterstaat.
The two-day Innovation Demonstrations and Training Event united partners from the BEPROACT Interreg North-West Europe programme and the ATHENA Digital Europe programme, connected by a shared ambition: strengthening the resilience of Europe's critical infrastructure networks.
While BEPROACT focuses on data-driven asset and infrastructure management and ATHENA on cybersecurity upskilling, the two projects address complementary aspects of the same challenge: protecting both the physical infrastructure that society depends on and the digital systems that keep these networks operational.
The importance of this work is further underscored by today's geopolitical developments, which continue to increase the need for resilient infrastructure and well-prepared organisations. ATHENA therefore focuses not only on technological solutions, but also on equipping professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to respond effectively to cyber incidents. Through realistic digital attack simulations and real-life multi-crisis examples, including the large-scale power outages in Portugal and Spain in 2025, participants gained valuable insights into organisational resilience and learned how to make effective decisions under pressure.
The event also reflected the growing importance of European policy frameworks such as the NIS2 Directive, the EU Cybersecurity Strategy, and the Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive, all of which emphasise the need to strengthen both cyber and physical resilience across Europe.
Over the course of two days, participants exchanged knowledge, demonstrated innovative solutions, explored new approaches to training, and reinforced the collaboration needed to safeguard Europe's critical infrastructure for the future.