S&R Newsletter #2

The SnR project is reaching an important milestone with the validation of end-user requirements. This will take the form of an internal workshop taking place on 14 April 2021 with SnR partners as well as targeted key experts from Europe and beyond. Open discussions and roundtables are planned to gather technical feedback that will feed into the project technical development.

SnR partner Konnektable (KT) CEO Dr. Angelos Liapis, has been invited from the Hellenic Army to apprise the department of defense regarding emerging military technologies and how they could be used to enhance national security in addition with emerging risk management tools. CONCORDE v0.2, the heart of SnR's platform was presented and attracted interest from the Hellenic Army which is looking forward to test the latest CONCORDE version and to the SnR project outcomes.

The SnR project has been featured in the French newspaper "Le Populaire". This article published on March 1st 2021 offers a comprehensive overview of the work carried out as part of the SnR project and its ambition to improve SAR operations by harnessing new technologies. The various technologies involved in the project are are individually described and reference is made to the partners and project communication channels.

SnR partner Escuela Española de Salvamento y Deteccion con Perros (ESDP) has started again to provide face to face trainings for dog handlers at the Spanish National School of Civil Protection after an interruption due to the pandemic. This training course, aimed at search and rescue dog handles with rescue dogs, took place from 8 to 13 March. Initial training, it is the first step in order to be able to access other specialization courses for K9 units.

In the course sessions, the opportunities that new technologies can offer to dog handles, taking as example the activities developed in the Search and Rescue project were underlined by the trainer.