Facilitating EU pre-Standardization process Through stReamlining and vAlidating inTeroperability in systems and procEdures involved in the crisis manaGement cYcle

Project Information

STRATEGY

Grant agreement ID: 883520

DOI

10.3030/883520

Project closed

EC signature date 29 April 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens

Total cost

€ 6 833 075,00

EU contribution

€ 5 997 293,25

Coordinated by

SATWAYS-OLOKLIROMENES LYSEIS ASFALEIAS KAI AMYNAS-IDIOTIKI EPICHEIRISI PAROCHIS YPIRESION ASFALEIAS (IEPYA)-ETAIREIA PERIORISMENIS EFTHYNIS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - STRATEGY (Facilitating EU pre-Standardization process Through stReamlining and vAlidating inTeroperability in systems and procEdures involved in the crisis manaGement cYcle)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Upon its completion, the project has successfully met all critical milestones stipulated in the Grant Agreement, fulfilling the initially established objectives. Subsequent sections detail the progress made during the evaluated period in relation to STRATEGY's originally outlined goals.
• To set up common grounds for crisis management and civil protection standardization activities towards response, effectiveness, efficiency and cooperation
• To increase interoperability of equipment (tools, services and applications) and procedures through validated and positively-assessed practices by means of standards within or outside current standardization processes through pre-normative research and demonstrations.
• To mitigate the risk through pre-standardization to promote innovation capitalization towards the reduction of human life loss, environmental, economic and material damage from natural and man-made disasters.
• To help the EU establish standards in the security sector through a structured pre-standardisation approach

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

STRATEGY has successfully concluded its implementation, laying a robust foundation for enhancing stakeholder interoperability in civil protection crises through its (pre-)standardization activities. Building on work from the first reporting period, the consortium has diligently completed its 11 CEN Workshop Agreements (CWAs) and 2 Technical Specification (TS) documents, incorporating evaluations from planned tabletop and full-scale exercises (TTXs).
Specifically, during the second reporting period, Work Package 2 (WP2) adeptly orchestrated a series of TTXs to assess the preliminary concepts of the CWAs. Utilizing stream-specific use cases (outlined in D2.1-D2.8) the consortium's operational organizations contributed to crafting realistic scenarios for objective evaluation of each CWA within its scope. Detailed descriptions of these scenarios and organizational aspects are individually documented for each stream in D2.10-D2.17. Valuable feedback was garnered from the operational community and integrated into the finalization of the respective CWAs/TSs, with results channeled back to WP4 and WP5 for task completion.The technical integrity of the ΤΤΧs, including development requirements for showcasing potential interoperability gains from the project's CWAs/TSs, was assured by WP3. Employing the common information space and the XGM methodology ( D3.1 & D3.11) all exercises were seamlessly planned and executed. WP4 successfully orchestrated a comprehensive 5-day event involving a diverse array of operational organizations and civil protection experts. Participants engaged in training sessions and a FSX, evaluating the project's (pre-)standardization deliverables in a structured manner. This feedback was channeled to WP5 for the finalization of the respective CWAs/TSs.
WP5 has adeptly finalized all planned CEN Workshop Agreements and Technical Specifications, addressing the standardization gaps identified in the prior reporting period. A total of 11 CWAs have been ratified by respective CEN workshops and accepted for publication by CEN/CENELEC. Additionally, 2 Technical Specification documents have been developed. To facilitate interaction with CEN TC 391 and ISO TC 292 (WG3 Emergency Management), STRATEGY established a liaison, ensuring essential bilateral communication and synergistic outcomes with existing work among relevant CEN/CENELEC and ISO technical committees (TCs). The liaison tasks have been realized through the Liaison Officer who interacted successfully with all the relevant parties (EC, CEN/CENELEC and ISO TCs; STRATEGY WPs, Project Coordinator and Management team; CEN WSs; other R&I related projects and stakeholders). Moreover, 2 New Work Item Proposals (NWIPs) have been introduced within the STRATEGY context.
WP6 has concentrated on refining and executing the exploitation strategy initially outlined during the first reporting period. This involved assessing the commercialization potential of the project's outcomes at three tiers: consortium-level exploitation during the project, individual partner exploitation during and post-project, and third-party exploitation post-project. Additionally, a comprehensive innovation and knowledge management plan has been formulated. WP6 also provided recommendations for future adoption of STRATEGY's knowledge activities and a roadmap for future interoperability standards in crisis management systems.
WP7 has been actively engaged in dissemination and communication activities as delineated in the finalized plan (submitted at M18). Priority was accorded to participation in pertinent workshops and conferences, as well as the publication of relevant articles. The project's digital presence was robustly maintained through regular updates on the website, social media, and blogs. New audiovisual content was also generated to maximize impact. Synergistic collaborations with thematically aligned EU projects, such as PRECINCT (GA 101021668) and VALKYRIES (GA 101102676), were established to amplify the impact of STRATEGY through joint activities.
WP8 has instituted a robust progress monitoring mechanism, complemented by well-defined management structures at both WP and project levels. Specific collaborative schemes, fortified by technical means, were established, including internal communication and reporting channels to optimize coordination and ensure high-quality project implementation. Through inter-WP collaboration, the consortium achieved a unified scientific and technical direction, meeting all project objectives on time and within budget, with only minor, justifiable deviations that had no impact on the project timeline.
Lastly, WP9 has successfully adhered to the ethical requirements as stipulated in WP9.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Αcross its 8 thematical streams (cf. Definitions and abbreviations and Introduction), STRATEGY has achieved the delivery of 11 CEN Workshop Agreements as well as 2 Technical Specification documents. These are listed below for ease of reference:

1. Stream 1. Search & Rescue
1.1 Requirements for acquiring digital information from victims during Search and Rescue operations.
Stream 2. Critical Infrastructure
2.1 Emergency management – Incident situational reporting for Critical Infrastructures.
2.2 Critical Infrastructure/ Semantic layer definition and suitability of EDXL-CAP+EDXL-SitRep
Stream 3. Response Planning
3.1 Structuring an emergency response plan for crisis management stakeholders
Stream 4. Command & Control
4.1 Collaborative emergency response – Common addressing format and emergency identification protocol
4.2 Management of forest fire incidents – SITAC-based symbology
Stream 5. Early Warning
5.1 Guidelines for effective social media messages in crisis and disaster management
5.2 Exchanging of building and infrastructure damage information with Common Alerting Protocol
Stream 7. Training
7.1 Specifications for Digital Scenarios for Search and Rescue Exercises
7.2 Evaluation of exercises - Implementation guidelines
Stream 8. Terminology
8.1 Guidelines for the mapping of terminology and icons
Technical Specifications:
Stream 6. CBRN-E
6.1 Societal and citizen security — Electronic Chain of Custody for CBRNE events — Part 1: Overview and concepts (Technical Specification)
6.2 Societal and citizen security — Electronic Chain of Custody for CBRNE events — Part 2: Data management and audit (Technical Specification)

STRATEGY targets