Public services involved in crisis management and disaster response across the EU use organizational procedures regulated by national legislation or internal rules. On the other hand, although cross-border incidents require international cooperation, the lack of standardized protocols can jeopardize the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations and sub-optimize the use of the resources.

Developing a “common language” and standardizing procedures across the Union is essential for facilitating cross-border collaboration in crises and disasters, ensuring the safety and security of the citizens, protecting essential services, securing critical assets, and saving and rescuing lives. On the other hand, standardization processes can greatly benefit from the feedback of first responders and other stakeholders involved in managing crises by producing a practical and operationally realistic outcome to address (among others) inter-operability-related issues in multistakeholder environments.

The session of SafeThessaloniki on Crisis and Disaster management pre-standardization shall present state-of-the-art relevant EU research by showcasing examples from ongoing research endeavors. Furthermore, capability gaps and opportunities that research can address will be explored in the context of a structured panel discussion between the research and operational community.