On 28-29 May 2013, PSCE organised already its 7th biannual conference since its transformation from the FP6 project to an independent association in 2009. Held in Brussels, the conference was built up on 5 thematic pillars, each of them addressing unique aspects of public safety communication sector. Spread across two full days, conference participants had a chance to get acquainted with the latest developments in the field of EU Civil Protection Mechanism, E-Call, Radio Spectrum Policy, Horizon 2020 and Crisis Modelling domain.
The conference commenced with the opening speech of Helmut SCHWABACH, PSCE President and expert in the field of Safety & Security at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. He began by welcoming and thanking over 50 guests with different background for engaging in the dialogue within the field of public safety communications. Furthermore he expressed a gratitude to continuous commitment of users, industry and research communities with special accent on the concept of best practices sharing.
The conference featured a diverse programme composed of targeted presentations as well as debates, in which the speakers answered interesting questions from the floor. The roundtable discussions and collaborative session between the committees offered interesting exchange of views with important conclusions.
Austrian security research programme KIRAS
Ralph HAMMER, Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, stressed that his country has a history in security research dating back before the first European Security Research Programme (ESRP) in FP7. The Austrian national security research programme KIRAS was launched as the first of its kind in Europe in 2005 and represents a showcase in successfully dealing with this complex societal challenge. The strategic setup of KIRAS including the activation of all relevant actors for security research enabled Austria together with other activist Member States to play a central role in shaping security research on the EU-level during FP7. It was acknowledged that now, at the dawning of Horizon 2020, Austria is looking forward to a new chapter in European security research in the societal challenge “Secure Societies”. The speaker gave a concise overview on the concept and the mechanics of the Austrian security research programme KIRAS, lessons learned from security research in FP7, and expectations for Horizon 2020.
The subject of Horizon 2020 was further addressed by Andrea NOWAK from Austrian Institute of Technology who oriented her speech on industrial drivers, challenges for a secure society and AIT’s R&D Topics. It was argued that 1) Growing complexity of ICT systems; 2) Industry trends towards open network architectures; 3) The shift in user behaviour; 4) Penetration of sensors – distributed intelligence and 5) Increasing network of systems, are perceived as 5 main industrial drivers. She also discussed future challenges for a secure society, namely security of citizens and critical infrastructures, cyber and boarder security as well as resilience against crises and disasters.
For more information about this conference, please contact secretariat(at)psc-europe.eu.
The Public Safety Communication Europe (PSCE)
The Forum for Public Safety Communication Europe is to foster, by consensus building, excellence in the development and use of public safety communications and information management systems as well as to improve the provision of public safety services and the safety of the citizens of Europe and the rest of the world. The PSCE provides a common platform for researchers, industry and users to meet and network, learn about technologies used for public safety and influence policy makers at European level.
Links:
- PSCE website
- AIT Safety & Security Department