The European Commission is proposing the first ever legal framework on Artificial Intelligence

Civil Protection: New rules to strenghten disaster reponse

The EU approved the new space programme for the period 2021-2027

PSCE reacts to the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change

PSCE works on resilience

Join our webinar on Transboundary Resilience on 10th June 2021

BroadGNSS projects publicates its PIN and launches the OMC

"People with disabilities in Search and Rescue operations": a step towards inclusiveness

"Augmented Reality Workshop": Three European projects gather to discuss the use of AR for First Responders

Broadway: Busy months with the evaluation of the 3 prototypes

Legislative initiative tabled by the European Commission on 21 April 2021, aimed at addressing the risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and positioning the European Union (EU) in a leading role globally.

The proposal sets out the first ever legal framework on Artificial Intelligence in the European Union.  It establishes rules for the development, placement on the market and use of AI systems in the EU following a proportionate risk-based approach.  It proposes a single future-proof definition of AI.  It also prohibits certain AI practices perceived as harmful, while specific restrictions and safeguards are proposed in relation to certain uses of remote biometric identification systems.  The initiative lays down a risk methodology.

The proposed regulatory framework serves the following objectives:

Ensure that AI systems placed on the EU market and used are safe and respect existing law on fundamental rights and wider EU values;

Ensure legal certainty to facilitate investment and innovation in AI;

Enhance governance and effective enforcement of existing law on fundamental rights and safety requirements applicable to AI systems;

Facilitate the development of a single markets for lawful, safe and trustworthy AI applications and prevent market fragmentation.

This initiative was tabled by the European Commission on 21 April 2021, as part of a legislative package on Artificial Intelligence (AI) overviewed by the Communication on Fostering a European approach to Artificial Intelligence.

Last 10 May, the Council adopted new rules to strengthen the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, following the Parliament's endorsement on 27 April.  The EU will strengthen the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre – the EU's hub for crisis management – with enhanced operational, analytical, monitoring, information management and communication capabilities.

As for prevention and preparedness, the EU is set to define Union-wide resilience goals and scenario plans together with Member States as well as improving disaster loss data collection to support evidence-based scenario building.

Last 27 April, the EU approved the space programme with a total budget of €14.8 billion for the period 2021-2027.  The bulk of the €14.8 billion budget will be allocated to Galileo and EGNOS, the EU's global and regional satellite navigation systems, and to the EU's Earth observation programme Copernicus.

As of the 12 May, the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) is succeeded by the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA).  Based in Prague (Czech Republic), the EUSPA will take on more responsabilities, managing the exploitation of Galileo and EGNOS.

In the line with its long-standing commitment to provide critical insight into Public Safety and Disaster Response (PPDR) since 2009 and following its very recent support to the European Commission (EC)’s «Green Deal » as well as its decision to take action accordingly, Public Safety Communication Europe (PSCE) reacts today to the EC's « Forging a climate-resilient Europe – the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change ».

PSCE fully supports the general ambition of the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to climate change and builds its position mainly in relation to the «forging a climate-resilient union» section – its expertise area – and on these specific points: a) Knowledge on climate change and adaptation, b) Improvement of adaptation strategies and plans, c) Local, individual and just resilience fostering, d) Reduction of climate-related risk.

PSCE is currently commited in several activities to share knowledge on and strenghten the resilience, both in the frame of the projects it's involved in and internally.

On the one hand, PSCE is conducting interviews with end-users and community groups in the frame of its involvement in Search & Rescue project, Work Package 2 – Societal aspects of S&R, Task 2.3 – Role of civil society involvement in Crisis Management.  This is a way to collect different inputs from professional and volunteers on the field and then identify the best way to foster and enhance the resilience among the society.

On the other hand, next 10 June 2021, as you can see in the news here below, PSCE organises a public webinar on Transboundary Resilience, between practitioners, industry, policy and researchers to think about how to strenghten the transboundary resilience in the frame of transboundary crises.

The 21^st Century is the century of transboundary crises. The 2006 European blackout, the financial crisis of 2007-8, Ebola outbreaks, the wildfires of 2017 and 2018, and the COVID-19 pandemic are examples of transboundary crises, ‘characterized by the potential to cross geographic and functional boundaries, jumping from one system to another’. They have shaped, and will continue to shape, social life, and they are exacerbated by the planetary climate change crisis. Poverty and inequality, strained health services, struggling economies, disrupted mobilities, extreme weather events are felt across the boundaries of countries, organisations, and communities.

Transboundary crises are ‘the ultimate nightmare’ for crisis managers because they cut across multiple domains and have multiple manifestations, escalate rapidly, and are hard to predict in onset and evolution.

There are multiple actors with conflicting responsibilities, and there are no ready-made solutions. It is, therefore, important to strengthen transboundary resilience, but how?

Please join us at this webinar to know more and discuss!

Public Safety Communication Europe (PSCE), Coordinator of BroadGNSS project, that is financed by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) (ex GNSS Agency (GSA)), is delighted to announce you the publication of the Prior information notice (PIN) and the launch of the Open market consultation (OMC).

The BROADGNSS buyers' group (FR, FI, EE) invites potentially interested bidders to participate in the open market consultation for its upcoming pre-commercial procurement to improve the services that public safety and disaster relief organization offer to Europe's citizens.

The procurement aims to buy R&D (research and development) services to develop deployable applications for synchronisation and monitoring of critical mobile broadband communication infrastructure and information assets for PPDR based on EGNOS and Galileo based satellite positioning systems.

Online webinar : 2 June 2021;  Online questionnaire : 2 June – end June 2021;  Partnering event : 3 November 2021.

PSCE is delighted to confirm you the success of the workshop "People with Disabilities in Search & Rescue Operations" held on 30 March 2021 and organised on behalf of the EU-funded project Search & Rescue.

The webinar gathered more than 350 participants from 40 countries in Europe and worldwide.  The context was already set for this initiative as earlier this month, on 3rd March 2021, the European Commission had announced its Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030, to ensure their full participation in society, on an equal basis with others.

Please also see the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030, presented by the European Commission.

The RESPOND-A consortium has organised its first in a series of open workshops addressing new technologies for first responders.  The event, titled, "How can Augmented Reality (AR) enhance First Responders' Capabilities" took place online last 20 April 2021 between 10:00 and 12:00am CET, gathering around 140 participants from more than 40 countries across Europe and beyond.

The event introduced the RESPOND-A project to interested stakeholders and discuss the relevance of AR technologies in first responders operations/training as well as their integration within the RESPOND-A platform.  The EU-funded FASTER & INGENIOUS projects also shared their perspective and experience on working on AR as part of their projects.

The BroadWay has been busy during the last weeks to evaluate the prototypes developed by each of the consortia in competition (Airbus, Frequentis and Leonardo).  Besides the technology evaluation, many practitioners representing public safety and law enforcement were present during dedicated sessions along with EU agencies (Frontex, Europol, Eu-Lisa) and European Commission representatives to test a live Pan-European broadband mobile system among different countries.

Following the online demo, the partners of BroadWay will continue their evaluation during the month of June.  A final phase will then start a month later with a new competition among the providers.  Only 2 of them will go to the pilot phase which will last almost 1 year and should bring the technology installed, live and ready to go.