FIRE-IN is organised into 3 cycles, each of them developing as follow:
Thematic workshops for practitioners to identify their needs, then harmonized in Common Capability Challenges (CCCs) and Future CCCs – WP1
Screening of existing solutions – WP2
Request for ideas (RfI) to innovation providers to fill the gaps – WP3
WP4 is supporting the whole process with the eFIRE-IN platform and continuous interactions with networks, RTO organisations, projects and initiatives.
The 1st cycle has raised a large and almost exhaustive set of CCCs. In the same manner, it has produced an extensive list of existing solutions, which made it difficult to disseminate to practitioners. A “Traffic Light System” has been developed to assess the level of coverage of CCCs while delays in the delivery of the eFIRE-IN platform hampered the first RfI procedure.
Subsequently, the 2nd cycle focused on consolidating and prioritizing the CCCs. It also explored ways to disseminate the most promising existing innovations able to address the key CCCs outlined examining for publications, lessons learnt and technologies the operational priority, the solution maturity, standardisation, interoperability and current use. This time, the eFIRE-IN platform could successfully support the RfI procedure and more than 50 innovative solutions were collected.
The 3rd cycle started at the same time the COVID crisis was spreading in Europe in 2020. As a result, it was not possible to run physical workshops.
The project was readapted to fit with the main needs of the practitioners during the crisis and to make the best use of communication and dissemination online tools available.
So, the eFIRE-IN platform has served as a repository of best practises face to COVID 19 for F&R services in Europe (gathering 79 materials) and a successful webinar on Just-in-Time Training was organised jointly with four other EU Network of Practitioners projects (300 attendants).
During the last year and half of the project, as much as possible FIRE-IN has engaged with practitioners and continued interactions with other existing networks in civil protection.
The workshops organised in FIRE-IN, the annual conference in Marseille during the French Firefighters Congress on September 2021, the world exhibition Interschutz 2022 in Hanover on June 2022, our National Hubs, our participation in many conferences as auditors or speakers, were key opportunities for interactions as we met tens of practitioners. Our “Dossiers” to facilitate the access to knowledge for end users on the ePlatform or social media, have demonstrated that the chosen path of simplifying access to technical solutions for end-users, with associated translation, is the right one.
In order to be able to propose an SRSA that provides recommendations for the future, we have always questioned the practitioners in order to be able to give the experiences and difficulties observed in the operational field and to understand the demands of the technology providers. The Closing event in Nîmes on October 2022, allowed us, thanks to the participation of experts in the field of standardization and representatives of the technology providers, to better approach our drafting of the SRSA.
We were also able to understand why innovation has difficulty being accepted and bought by F&R services in Europe.
