A pAN-EUROPEAN TEST-BED FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY BUILDING

What is tHE driver+ TEST-BED?

One of the DRIVER+ objectives is the development of a pan-European Test-bed for Crisis Management capability development. This Test-bed consists of physical, methodological and technical infrastructure elements to conduct Trials and evaluate solutions within an appropriate environment in a systematic way. In the context of the project, an “appropriate environment” is a testing environment where the trialling of solutions is carried out using a structured, all-encompassing and mutual learning approach.

The DRIVER+ Trials were developed and evaluated using the Trial Guidance Methodology which supports practitioners in finding innovation in Crisis Management trough trialling new solutions. To find out more about the Trial Guidance Methodology and to access the Trial Guidance Methodology Handbook click here.

Each of the Trials and the Final Demonstration were ‘driven’ by the Test-bed Technical Infrastructure, which is available as open source software to all professional Crisis Managers. To find out further details of this innovative software solution, please visit the Test-bed Technical Infrastructure site.

What are the DRIVER+ Trials?

Benefiting from the DRIVER Test-bed components, a series of four Trials and a Final Demonstration were oranised to operationalise and test Crisis Management solutions.  These trials and their scenarios were based on the updated Crisis Management gaps and practitioner needs, the main ones of which identified so far relate to: (1) Cross-Border Tasking and Resource Management, (2) High Level Coordination, (3) Volunteer Management and (4) Situation Assessment and Logistics.

Where did the Trials take place?

The Trials were conducted at different locations in Europe.

Trial Poland took place at the Main School of Fire Service (SGSP) from 22-24 May 2018 in Warsaw.

Trial France was held at the Entente pour la forêt Méditerranéenne from 23-25 October 2018 in Aix-en-Provence.

Trial Netherlands Trial took place from 21-23 May 2019 at the premises of the Safety Region Haaglanden (SRH) in The Hague.

Trial Austria was held at the Austrian Red Cross from 11-13 September 2019 in Eisenertz/Austria.

The Final Demonstration took place at the Main School of Fire Service (SGSP) from 26 – 28 November 2019 in Warsaw.

For more information about the Trials click here.

DRIVER+’S VISiON

Ultimately the vision of DRIVER+ is to create, a pan-European arena of virtually connected facilities and crisis labs (so called Centres of Expertise) where users, solution providers, researchers, policy makers and citizens jointly and iteratively can progress on new approaches or solutions to emerging issues. This network is intended to not only facilitate innovation in CM, but also to generate a European CM culture and more shared understanding of CM across Europe

Watch the DRIVER+ Trial videos to get a clearer picture of how the Test-bed supports the Trials