The COLLARIS Network is thrilled to announce that it will be continuing its work for at least another two years. The Network has received EU-funding (UCPM-2024-KAPP) again and can, thus, keep promoting the use of UAS such as drones in the field of civil protection and disaster management to save lives. The project has formally started in January 2025 and had its kick-off meeting together with other UCPM-funded projects in Brussels (and online) on March 13.
Building upon the results of the COLLARIS Network, the project aims to continue, expand and further develop the already established international network of crisis management and civil protection practitioners, research institutions and public administration. The members of the network collect and transfer knowledge, exchange experiences, skills, good practices and information on operational procedures for the optimal use of drones in crisis management and rescue missions.
Project Outputs That Help Drones Fly
The project's outputs include
- an Observatory of Best Practices which will provide an analysis of operational practices in various thematic lines (e.g., drones used in wildfires),
- support for the uptake of lessons learnt (e.g., through a structured overview of national drone regulations),
- an open-access online course that introduces the use of UAS in emergency management,
- two virtual simulation training scenarios for incident commanders,
- the curriculum for a course for Air Operations Coordinators.
Furthermore, several trials are planned to demonstrate, experiment with, assess and validate different solutions and organisational arrangements for a variety of drone applications. These activities will help to achieve the overall goal of the project – to overcome existing challenges and to help drones fly to save lives:
The COLLARIS Trials in the past two years as well as crisis operations like the flood in south-western Poland in September 2024 have proven the two assumptions underlying our Network. Drones, especially combined with AI solutions, are a game changer for crisis management activities, improving situational awareness and allowing us to react faster and better to emergencies. Unfortunately, it is equally clear that today only a fraction of the available drone technology is used within rescue and crisis management, due to persisting legal and procedural obstacles. The extended COLLARIS Network will facilitate the sharing of lessons learnt from the adoption of innovative solutions and their absorption into operational practices, and support the development of skills, knowledge and competences among users.
Direct Links with 13 EU Member States
While many crisis management and civil protection practitioners, research institutions and public administration representatives have already joined and worked together with our Network and we seek to expand it even further, COLLARIS2 now has direct links with 13 EU member states through its partners.
The core partners of COLLARIS2 come from 7 European countries and include:
- Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, CBK PAN (coordinator)
- Disaster Competence Network Austria (DCNA)
- Center for Security Studies (KEMEA)
- VALABRE
- University of Skövde
- Ministry of the Interior – Cyprus
- Nederlands Instituut Publieke Veiligheid (NIPV)
- University of Cyprus
The following organizations are part of COLLARIS2 as associated partners:
- Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
- Polish Air Navigation Services Agency
- Swedish Police Authority
- Civil Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Interior (Croatia)
- Kymenlaakso Rescue Department Finland
- Tiepoint (Norway)
- Danish Emergency Management Agency College
- Escola Nacional de Bombeiros – Portugal
- RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
- Södra Älvsborgs Räddningstjänstförbund
- Gothenburg Fire and Resue Services
- INERIS DEVELOPPEMENT
- Croce Rossa Italiana
- FairFleet
- International Emergency Drone Organization (IEDO)
- Fintraffic ANS
- District Firefighters' Association of Kufstein, Austria
The Network is excited for the work ahead and will continue to provide updates about its results and relevant events (e.g., the IT2EC conference in Oslo where a paper related to COLLARIS will be presented next week). Be sure to follow the Network’s LinkedIn page, and check out its UCPKN project space.
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