EU research policy on information and communication technologies for disaster risk reduction Dr. Karen P. FABBRI ICT for the Environment, DG INFSO European Commission, Brussels

European Commission Largest of the EU institutions –Propose and implement EU policies Made up of «Directorate Generals» –Policy DG’s and Research DG’s –The EC supports EU R&D via its « Framework Programmes »: Every 5 years (now in FP6 ~ 17.5 Billion Є) R&D in support of EU policies & EU R&D policy (ERA) DG INFSO – promoting European research in Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) –ICT for Environmental Risk Management

Main EU instrument to fund Community research Implemented through specific programmes and work programmes, periodic calls for proposals, independent evaluation Community Framework Programmes

Promoting EU Research International and multidisciplinary applied research consortia, encouraging high end-user involvement By (co)financing RTD projects: Integrated Projects, Network of Excellence, Specific Targeted Research Projects, Coordination Actions, Specific Support Actions, including conferences, workshops, publications, Marie Curie fellowships, ERA-NET, Article 169, etc. Via specific « Calls for proposals » –See RTD INFO magazine at:

Response Dispatching of resources Emergency telecom Situational awareness Command control coordination Information dissemination Emergency healthcare Disaster Management Cycle Prevention and Mitigation Hazard prediction and modeling Risk assessment and mapping Spatial Planning Structural & non structural measures Public Awareness & Education.. Preparedness Scenarios development Emergency Planning Training Alert Real time monitoring & forecasting Early warning Secure &dependable telecom Scenario identification all media alarm Post Disaster Lessons learnt Scenario update Socio-economic and environmental impact assessment Spatial (re)planning Recovery Early damage assessment Re-establishing life-lines transport &communication infrastructure

Disaster Risk Reduction Current Environmental Issues Wolrdwide we are witnessing: –Continuing environmental degradation –Environmental impacts on human health and quality of life, –Increase in disaster risk The problems to be addressed: –Environmental and risk management are not well organised disciplines –No clear methodology to handle inter-related risks and environmental impacts –Many service providers do not understand operational needs –Unclear organizational responsibility for information generation –Incompatible information systems –The access to relevant data is not easy –The current offering is incomplete and technology push could be beneficial

Disasters in the EU policy context European Research: Framework Programme for RTD EU SD Strategy & EU’s 6th Environmental Action Programme: Civil Protection Community Action Program, Water Framework Directive, Forest Focus, marine pollution, Seveso II Directive, etc… Development & humanitarian aid, solidarity & cohesion funds (DG REGIO), Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Related international initiatives: GMES, INSPIRE, etc. GEO/GEOSS (EC in working groups & co-chair).

Disaster Reduction in the EU DG ENV DG REG GMES INSPIRE GEO GEOSS UN ISDR UN OCHA DG INFSO DG RTD JRCEEADG ENV DG ENTR ESA DG ECHO DG RELEX International context EU Policy context EU RTD context FP R&D UN OCHA UN ISDR

Disaster Research in the EC DG Information Society & Media –ICT for the Environment (multi-risk ICT applications for disaster reduction & emergency management) DG Research - Global Change and Ecosystems (earthquakes, floods, forest fires, volcanoes, etc) DG Enterprise –Aeronautics & Space – GMES (mostly in support of an satellite Earth Observation capacity) –Preparatory Action for Security Research (PASR) DG Joint Research Centre –Institute for Environment & Sustainability (ie: hazard assessment, flood forecasting, fire index maps, ect.) –Institute for Protection & Security of the Citizen (ie: GDAS, NEDIES, MAHB, ect.) FP & DF

Disaster Reduction Research ICT FOR RISK MANAGEMENT  Information Society Technologies DG Information Society and Media

The IST Approach To contribute to the deployment of an eINFRASTRUCTURE for risk & emergency management in Europe To promote the development of cost-effective sustainable services –Technology integration – solution driven –Specific technological developments –Market & user needs driven Focus on generic solutions Re-usable software components Open source software Interoperability, scalability –Based on state-of-the-art scientific knowledge Criteria for R&D investment –will R&D open up new markets? –will the EU industry benefit?

ICT for Risk Management Strategic Approach 1 : To cover the whole risk management cycle: Risk assessment, preparedness, early warning, alert, response, recovery, lessons learnt etc. To cover all environmental and industrial hazards, including systemic risks / cascading risks To focus on system architecture rather than specific applications thereby decreasing development & maintenance costs, whilst improving reliability, scalability and interoperability

ICT for risk management Strategic Approach 2 : To support large scale pilot test with end-users To foster pre-standardisation activities as an integral part of research and technological development To promote “open source” as a mean to improve the uptake of research results To contribute to the relevant EU policies and actions: ie: INSPIRE, GMES, GEOSS

FP6 Ongoing Research Themes Risk information infrastructure and generic services Emergency management and rescue operations Humanitarian Demining In-situ monitoring and smart sensor networks RTD on public safety communication, alert systems and rapidly deployable emergency telecommunications systems. Specific support and coordination actions to achieve full interoperability Develop, validate and demonstrate a distributed tsunami early warning and alert system, relevant to Europe & Indian Ocean.

ICT For Environment and Sustainable Growth  An Introduction to FP7

FP7 Structure & Budget Trans-national cooperation: 32,365 m€ From collaborative projects and networks to the coordination of national programmes, to gain leadership in key scientific and technology areas Ideas: 7,460 m€ To reinforce scientific excellence through funding best “frontier research” by competing, individual teams People: 4,728 m€ To strengthen the career prospects, training and mobility of our researchers Capacities: 4,217 m€ Large-scale infrastructures, regional cooperation and innovating SMEs Joint Research Centre : 1,751 m€ (non-nuclear direct actions) Total EC: m € m€ ( )

The RTD Priorities of FP7 9,1 b€ Total: 32,365 b€ “Cooperation”

ICT in FP7 Overarching vision: “To enable Europe to master and shape the future developments of ICT so that the demands of its society and economy are met” –Competitive position of European ICT sector –ICT support to EU policies & EU Lisbon Strategy « Striking the right balance »: –Reinforce leadership and open new fields –Mainstream ICT and push the limits of technology –Basic and applied research

ICT meeting Societal Challenges Application Research: ICT meeting societal challenges « To ensure that all Europeans can reap the maximum benefit from ICT products and services of public interest … to strenghten the innovation role of public sector services, improving their efficiency and effectiveness. » for health for governments for inclusion for mobility for the Environment and Sustainable Growth

ICT for Env & Sust Growth ICT is needed to implement sustainable development… –Tools for implementing and assessing environmental policies: –Climate change –Nature & biodiversity –Environment, health and quality of life –Natural resources and waste –Tools for modern environmental administrations and civil protection agencies in Europe –Tools for informing the citizens on the state of the environment … while maximising competitiveness –Better management of industrial processes –Reduction of environmental costs linked to production –Compliance with environmental regulations at lowest costs 6th Environment Action Programme ( )

Specific Vision ICT for Environmental and Sustainable Growth: Towards a safer and healthier environment for all for: –ensuring environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and quality of life –reducing environmental risks and their impact on human health, mitigating natural and industrial disasters –Improving the sustainable use and management of natural resources, including energy efficiency and production through intelligent and secure ICT infrastructures. There is a need to develop shared information infrastructures for environmental management which will promote best practices and standards for data, model and systems integration, interoperability and exchange, monitoring and decision making in strategic planning and emergency situations.

FP7 Specific Programme Cooperation Theme 3: ICT – Application Research: ICT meeting societal challenges : European citizens to reap maximum benefit from innovative, ICT-based public sector services “in support of the environment: risk and emergency management; smart sensor networks to improve hazard forecasting, natural resources management including systems for reduction of pollutants; increasing energy efficiency; managing human response to environmental stresses and to sustain biodiversity; alert systems and timely and reliable public safety communication; assistive technologies and support systems for operation under harsh, hazardous or risky conditions; eco- efficient and sustainable production of ICT: advanced data and information management for environmental monitoring and risk assessment, contributing to INSPIRE; GMES and GEOSS.”

Show Case Selected EU Projects related to ICT for Disaster Reduction

Post Disaster Lessons learnt Scenario update Socio-economic and environmental impact assessment Spatial re-planning Response Emergency telecommunication Command control coordination Situational awareness Dispatching of resources… Communication to the citizens The risk management cycle Prevention and Mitigation Hazard prediction and modeling Risk assessment and mapping Systemic risks Regional/city Planning E-Learning.. Preparedness Scenarios development Emergency Planning maps Training Recovery Early damage assessment transport &communication infrastructure Alert Real time monitoring & forecasting Early warning Scenario identification all media alarm DSS Secure &dependable telecom ORCHESTRA WIN OASIS MITRA OSIRIS CHORIST U2010 NARTUS PREVIEWWidensEuropcom Wisecom DEWS

Distant Early Warning System FP6 project: 18 partners, coord. Saab (SE) – not yet started, duration 3 years Objective: to improve existing tsunami early warning and alert capacities (Indian Ocean) by: reducing the time from detection and assessment to taking action, reducing the time from detection and assessment to taking action, enhancing the technical capacity for monitoring, improving cooperation across national borders and between competent authorities, improving cooperation across national borders and between competent authorities, furthering the capacity to provide more efficient and earlier warnings to the public at risk. furthering the capacity to provide more efficient and earlier warnings to the public at risk. DEWS will supplement the 5 year GITEWS project (by GFZ & financed by the German Gov. for 45 M€), which will install sensors in the Indian Ocean Region creating a regional seismological evaluation centre. DEWS will supplement the 5 year GITEWS project (by GFZ & financed by the German Gov. for 45 M€), which will install sensors in the Indian Ocean Region creating a regional seismological evaluation centre.

DEWS Components DEWS will develop an innovative platform and services between GDACS and GITEWS centres; and also the competent authorities and the public. DEWS components to be developed –integrators for sensors and sensor networks –Information logistics and dissemination modules –an early warning and warning distribution system –integrators for systems for local warning of the public –information and decision support products –a service bus. Three testbeds will be carried out using simulated inputs for the technology transfer and integrated testing of the platform. An Advisory Committee with participation from the member states and targeted countries will be established to ensure relevance of the project and transferability of results to other tsunami-prone areas.

DEWS Consortium Saab Ab (publ), Sweden. GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Germany. Atos Origin SA., Spain. DATAMAT S.p.A., Italy. Geological and Nuclear Sciences, New Zealand. Geological Survey & Mines Bureau, Sri Lanka Helsinki University of Technology Communications Laboratory, Finland. Seismological Bureau Thai Meteorological Dept, Thailand. Citizen Alert Services BV, Netherlands. National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Independent Administrative Institution, Japan. Swedish Rescue Services Agency, Sweden. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Thailand. United Nations Environment Programme, France. National Disaster Warning Center International Affairs, Thailand. National Coordinating Council for Disaster Management, Indonesia. Meteorological and Geophysical Agency BANA, Indonesia. Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A., Italy. Ministry of Disaster Management & Human Rights and Disaster Management Centre, Sri Lanka.

WIN Wide Area Network FP6 project: 15 partners, coord. Alcatel Space (FR) – ongoing until Aug Objective: To integrate existing reference results and initiatives to contribute to the design, development, & validation of a European risk management information infrastructure. ‘info-structure’ will be a major element of the future European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) & represents an important step in operational risk management in Europe url:

ORCHESTRA Open Architecture & Spatial Data Infrastructure for Risk Management FP6 project: 14 partners, coord. ATOS (ES) – ongoing until Aug Objective: to design & implement an open service oriented software architecture to improve the interoperability among actors involved in Multi- Risk Management, by: Designing an open service-oriented architecture Developing software infrastructure for enabling risk management services Developing useful services for different thematic applications (forest fires, floods, etc.); Setting software standards for risk management applications. url:

OASIS Open Advanced System for Crisis Management FP6 project: 13 partners, coord. EADS (FR) –ongoing until Aug 2008 Objective: to define & develop an IT framework based on an open and flexible architecture to serve as the basis of a EU Disaster & Emergency Management system to: facilitate cooperation between info systems used by civil protection organisations, in a local, regional, national or international environment. support the response operations in the case of large scale as well as local emergencies. url:

IST “ICT for the Environment” website: or Mailbox: IST Results: Future EU research (FP7): Information on EU environment research: GEOSS: GMES: INSPIRE: Experts welcome to help us evaluate project proposals: For more Info

Thank you for your attention !