SUNRISE project is focusing on resilience of critical infrastructure (CI) during single adverse events, such as pandemics. Since the project started in the aftermath of COVID pandemic, the initial approach was to address challenges related to this pandemic and derived risks (e.g. from non-pharmaceutical interventions such as lockdown), as well as multi-hazard situations that include other types of pandemics, climate-related crisis, scarcity of supplies or massive cyber attacks against key targets in critical infrastructures.
Pandemics create sudden spikes in demand and sudden drops in workforce availability, which were considered in the project within "temporary condition model". COVID also exposed global dependencies in supply chains, while remote work surged and raised cyber-risk, as attack surface increased and many anomaly detection patterns were not valid anymore. Confusion and miscommunication amplified disruptions in collaborations.
SUNRISE approach therefore relies on three main pillars: 1) collaboration among stakeholders both at cross-border and cross-sectorial levels, given the strong interdependency among CIs; 2) the development of strategy implementation plan for CI resilience in pandemic conditions and 3) the development of technology to protect human, physical and digital resources. The project also addressed interplay of strategic processes (e.g. decisions by the national and regional authorities) and operational technologies.