Marseille ramps up security and training ahead of 2030 Olympics — Tampere imaging tech appears in body cameras

Business Tampere reports that Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur regional authorities are ramping up security measures and expanding training programmes in Marseille ahead of the 2030 Olympic Games, officials said during a recent EU SafeSkills study visit.

Representatives from Business Tampere and the Baltic Institute of Finland joined local officials and international partners. Tampere delegates included Mari Taverne, Director of International Talent Services at the City of Tampere, and Niina Nyyssölä, Key Account Manager at Tampere University. Taverne said the visit provided new perspectives on ensuring the availability of skilled labour in the security sector, noting that the region links strategic security expertise to education pathways and preventive youth work. Nyyssölä praised the project's practical, dialogical approach: "The security theme is examined boldly from several different perspectives, through discussion and by sharing practices and ideas."

The delegation toured Marseille’s Saint-Charles railway station. It's a major transport hub handling some 16–18 million passengers a year and nine train operators. Station authorities use 222 fixed cameras and record roughly 13,000 security-related incidents annually — figures that underline the need for coordinated measures at large transport sites. The visit also revealed a Tampere connection: the SNCF security patrol's body-worn camera is produced by US firm Axon and uses imaging technology designed at its Tampere unit.

Event speakers stressed that security work now spans physical safety, youth intervention and cybersecurity. Army General (ret.) David Galtier, councillor of the Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur region and former inspector of the French National Gendarmerie, said the region aims to be safe for everyone and highlighted the Mediterranean’s strategic importance and the growing role of cybersecurity. Lieutenant-Colonel Fabien Suchaud warned that criminal use of artificial intelligence is lowering thresholds for offenders and pointed to large-scale forced labour operations producing cyber threats.

Local initiatives included Montjoye’s school-based early-intervention programme for roughly 200,000 lower and upper secondary students in the region; La Plateforme’s company-driven cybersecurity education and its Cyberpark campus with about 1,000 students; and Simplon’s digital inclusion training aimed at people distant from the labour market. Organisers said the event demonstrated how regional coordination between authorities, education and business is central to building security expertise.

The SafeSkills project continues as an EU-funded network for regions to share practices in security skills development. Partners plan the next intensive training visit in Rzeszów, Poland, near the Belarusian border.