Network approaches to crisis management
The EU has made crisis management one of its key security priorities, a theme tackled by the EU-funded project NITIMESR (A networked and IT-enabled firm’s perspective on crisis management). Bringing together researchers from more than ten European and non-European countries, the project worked to produce recommendations for stakeholders, including relevant policymakers, crisis managers and academics, to enhance crisis management. A key project output is the ‘Handbook on Networks in Innovation and Crisis management: Theory and Practice in a Dynamic and Disruptive Environment’. Available online, the Handbook presents research on how networks formed of companies, NGOs and other players emerge and evolve after a crisis, as well as how they coordinate efforts in managing a crisis. Another important project result is the collection of 12 e-learning modules in the form of short videos that can be disseminated to a wider audience, facilitating knowledge transfer. The dissemination process also included an education and training model on the topic of crisis management, along with workshops and local courses at partnering universities. Collaboration among a global network of academic institutions was built to enhance education in the field. One key topic explored included innovation in crisis management, such as the impact of incubators in fostering new ventures in the field and the road to improved product development. Another research topic considered the development of a human-centred approach to building better disaster response, creating required systems and understanding how NGOs implement disaster aid. The project team also underlined how innovation in collaboration, governance and IT could help crisis response. This touched on topics such as virtual and technical volunteer communities, collaborative mapping, human-centered systems design for disaster preparedness and response, inter-organizational collaboration in emergency services and use of social media by police. Lastly, NITIMESR modelled different approaches to understand and respond to critical issues in crisis management. It investigated network-governed structures in crisis response operations, use of computational networks and complex information systems, interdependency in cybersecurity and security threat analysis through machine learning to clarify threats. These research results contribute to strengthening European crisis management and response
Keywords
Networked crisis management, NITIMESR, disaster response, crisis information management, cybersecurity
