Since the early 2000s, the EU has funded many R&D projects on border security. However, devices developed through these programmes have met ‘violent ends’: firstly, by appearing to face abrupt ends after EU funding ceased; secondly, by materialising to serve as violent border devices. This article traces the fate of devices funded by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for managing human and non-human movements. Theoretically, it adds to the literature on ignorance by approaching debates on non-knowledge through a Bourdieusian analytical lens, and methodologically, it proposes to mobilise the concept of ‘symbolic violence’ to investigate and compare what is acknowledged and what is not, what is obscured or obfuscated in and through R&D projects. Empirically, the paper examines several projects that aim to manage people and things on the move, and which have materialised in more or less overt ways. The article argues that projects focused on border security play a precursory role in the enactment of violent devices, and simultaneously obfuscate the non-knowledge of ‘violent ends’ that shape the future of the EU’s border governance. It shows that even if these projects do not apparently materialise, they nevertheless find ways of achieving their violent ends.