To successfully respond to emergency situations and disasters, it is crucial that the emergency services are ready for action and well-organised. Their work is extremely demanding and often entails them putting themselves in danger. Advanced technology can play an important role in minimising the risks for emergency services and making their work even more effective and efficient. It is with this in mind that the BMBF funds research projects intended to develop innovative rescue and security systems. The goal is to come up with new security solutions that can be expected to bring significant practical benefits and potential for implementation due to the inclusion of the entire innovation and value chain.

Funding is provided for joint security research projects in the field of “Civil security – Increasing resilience in crises and disasters” that will improve emergency services’ and the public’s resilience through innovative solutions and strategies. The aim of these projects is to increase resilience and thus to improve capacity to prepare for crisis and disaster scenarios, to do everything possible to prevent them occurring, to recover quickly from any potential damage and to incorporate the lessons learned into future preparations.

Improved hygiene, prophylactic vaccinations and the excellent healthcare available in Germany seem to have reduced the threat of a number of infections. All the same, biological pathogens and hazardous substances remain a potential threat to civil society.  Research projects funded under the “Civil security – Protection against biological hazards and pandemics” call for proposals develop organisational and technical solutions that help prevent biological hazards and critical transregional infections such as pandemics and support end users’ responses to incidents.

Protecting the public from risk is one of a government’s core tasks. This is particularly true with regard to the risks involved in complex incidents, which are caused by such things as natural disasters, technical faults or human error. Civil protection in Germany works well and is carried out by a large number of full-time and volunteer helpers in public and private organisations. The “Civil security – Protection and rescue in complex deployment situations” call for proposals was intended to promote the development of innovative organisational and technical solutions and thus support public and private players’ precautions against and response to complex incidents.

This funding area is focused on scenarios in which incidents such as attacks, major accidents or natural disasters injure or endanger a large number of people. In addition to early detection of incidents and effective crisis prevention, the funding criteria concentrate primarily on crisis management through timely and efficient initiation of rescue and security measures along with effective emergency medical care at the incident site. The joint projects design comprehensive solutions for protecting and rescuing people using embedded technologies, action strategies and innovative forms of organisation.