On February 19th 2020 the University of Muenster, represented by the ERCIS Competence Center for Crisis Management (C³M) team, was heavily involved in the DRIVER+ Advanced Crisis Management Conference - the climax of 6 years of productive work, which took part at BluePoint Brussels.

The DRIVER+ (Driving Innovation in Crisis Management for European Resilience) project was launched in May 2014 and its main objective was the development of innovative solutions to address existing and future challenges in Crisis Management. In context of the DRIVER+ project, the C³M contributed as a solution provider of different decision support tools for disaster relief logistics, the development of the Trial Guidance Methodology (TGM) and facilited the methodological support to the design, execution and evaluation of the conducted D+ Trials and the Final Demonstration.

Thus, C³M facilitated the TGM stand where main result, the TGM handbook and the website, were presented to the visitors. Next to TGM, C³M presented the HumLogSUITE solution, which took its deserved place at the marketplace of the conference. HumLogSUITE is an adaptable simulation environment, designed to analyze and evaluate the performance of disaster relief logistics networks, processes and configurations and thus, assist higher-level crisis managers in the design of crisis management networks (see also here its application with the Federal Agency for Technical Relief). HumLogSUITE was also selected and applied in the third DRIVER+ Trial which took part in May 2019 in the Netherlands, where it addressed the problem of evacuation and sheltering of the affected population (more information can be found here).

A marketplace of the conference and its poster area were the spotlights of the event, giving solution providers an opportunity to present their innovative crisis management solutions and allowing visitors of the event to discover them. The conference hosted over 220 crisis management specialists, academics, technology providers and those who devoted themselves to the project during its active phase and came to emphasize the results of the conducted work, share their experiences and visions.

The special attention of the conference was given to innovation for crisis management in the context of climate change-related events such as floods and wildfires. The conducted work, outcomes and their practical usability and sustainability, and future potential were discussed. The focus of the conference was placed on the development of Trial Guidance Methodology (TGM), reports on conducted trials which enabled assessment of various innovative crisis management solutions in realistic scenarios, establishment of Crisis Management Innovation Network Europe (CMINE) and Centres of Expertise (CoE), and Portfolio of Solutions (PoS), a central repository of innovative solutions for crisis management.

The first day sessions of the conference included welcome speech from Felix Bloch, Head of Unit B3, Disaster Preparedness and Prevention, DG ECHO, European Commission, and speeches of Matthew Jones from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Patrick Meier from WeRobotics, Konstanze Lechner from German Aerospace Center (DLR), Chiara Fonio from Joint Research Center (JRC), Steven van Campen from XVR Simulation, Karmen Poljansek from Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Center (DRMKC), Denis Havlik from the  Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and an award ceremony holded by Todor Tagarev from Institute of ICT, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Matthew Jones reminded us about drastic consequences of fires in Siberia and Australia and introduced projected changes of temperature and their impact on the global environment. Climate models were representing possible futures of the best and the worst-case scenarios, thus, highlighting once again that climate change is an enabler of wildfires.

Patrick Meier presented the major problems and obstacles for rescuing operations, and how humanitarian technologies can help in assessing damage and guiding operations. Using Nepal as an example, he especially stressed the positive outcome of engaging local population in operations and showed the importance and the power of locals.  The positive outcome led to encouraging local experts to take part and to take lead in humanitarian emergency and set up an idea for the next innovation in humanitarian technology – radical inclusion.

Konstanze Lechner provided an overview of the current satellite-based emergency mapping and the next generation emergency mapping, emphasizing the importance of the future development in space domain for speeding up the process of getting image information from satellites. Despite the technological breakthrough, it was emphasized that the cooperation of end users and crisis managers is of high importance and ensures that research is moving in the right direction and the right solutions are being developed.

Chiara Fonio and Steven van Campen opened the session of DRIVER+ Trial Experience, where the results and lessons learnt of the conducted trials were discussed, emphasizing the important role of volunteers. Trial organizers and solution providers shared their experiences and provided an overview of the conducted work. The visitors could also have real life experience of utilizing TGM and Test-bed Technical Infrastructure, which were demonstrated on stage.

The Innovative Solutions in Crisis Management Contest took part during the first day of the conference, where three solutions were chosen based on previously conducted popular voting and conclusions of jury. The first place was given to the solution CrowdTasker, which also participated in the Trial, and its developers Austrian Institute of Technology. The second and the third winners shared the same score, EHealthPass by Gnomon informatics and vieWTerra Suite by VWORLD.

Karmen Poljansek discussed how knowledge management is tackled on European level and how knowledge centres can improve EU policy making process and policies themselves. Practical applicability of Portfolio of Solutions was discussed and especially highlighted in the context of development of innovative policies as an efficient instrument for development of collective knowledge.

The second day of the conference started from the speech of Angelo Marino, the Head of Unit B4 Safeguarding Secure Society, Research Executive Agency, European Commission. He emphasized the high expectations European Commission put on the DRIVER+ project expecting it to live and thrive even after the financing is finished.

The second day sessions also included speeches of Kees Boersma from VU Amsterdam, Marie-Christine Bonnamour from Public Safety communication Europe, Egidija Versinskiene from Lithuanian CyberCrime Center of Excellence, Marcel van Berlo from TNO, panel discussion with Albrecht Beck (Chair) from Prepared International, Max Brandt from DG HOME, Harald Drager from TIEMS, Harm Bastian Harms from Johanniter, Joerg Szarzynski from United National University, Todor Tagarev from Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and panel discussion with Brigitte Slot (Chair) from Ecorys, Jon Hall from Resilience Advisors Network, Anna Nalecz from Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Christian Resch from Disaster Competence Network Austria and Thomas Seltsam from Austrian Red Cross.

Kees Boersma highlighted the importance of the links between technology and society. He reminded us that we are facing crises we have never seen before, which are often unintendedly caused by the institutions that were supposed to fight them. The root causes are the lack of effective frameworks, decline of expertise, problematic public relations of policy makers. This implies that there is a need for change in crisis response institutes.

Among two types of innovation, sustaining and disruptive, the disruptive innovations were defined to be more likely to change institutions. Mobilization of spontaneous volunteers was given as an example of disruptive innovation, providing new ways of working as in mobilizing people rather than just informing them. This type of crowd sourcing innovation was characterised as “do-it-yourself crisis governance”.

During the panel discussion, questions about importance of networking and community-building were discussed in the context of CMINE as an umbrella network, how to keep the network growing and the outputs of the project living. The experts from different international crisis management networks provided their impressions and recommendations.

Marie-Christine Bonnamour discussed the usefulness of standardization for crisis management as an enabler of collaboration and communication.

Egidija Versinskiene introduced current challenges of security and defence agencies: lack of human/financial resources, lack of competencies, lack of relevant tools/technologies, political and societal pressures. Product adoption curve showed that, when it takes lots of time for the institutions to transform radical innovation into the accepted solution, criminals do not need this time and take the role of early adopters of the innovation. Therefore, there is a strong need for a system that facilitates and speeds up the LEA innovation uptake for disruptive challenges.

The second panel discussion was focused on the question of how the outcomes of the project are utilized or will be utilised and what are the recommendations to those who are not sure how to incorporate them. Representatives of some of the first DRIVER+ CoE shared their experiences and recommendations.

During the Conference, some of the organisations signed the joint declaration and became CoE, thus joining the community of early adopters of Centres of Expertise.

As a final note of the conference, Marcel van Berlo once again pointed out the greatest focus that was put onto human centred approach all the way through the project, and highlighted that not only adopting the results inside of Europe is important, but also broadening the outcomes outside of Europe is crucial for their sustainability.

By Iryna Dubrovska