The CRITECH Action provides scientific and technical support to EU policies addressing global security and crisis management, especially those concerned with improving the EU’s prevention, preparedness and response capabilities to threats varying from natural disasters as well as CBRN and public health threats to socio-political threats and conflict.

The CRITECH Action contributes to these EU policies and scientific challenges by means of focusing on the development and testing of ICT focused solutions to enhance situation awareness, early warning and decision-making in crisis management. This includes experimenting with multiple-source information retrieval and analysis techniques, real-time data stream prioritisation/visualisation, numerical modelling systems, and large visualisation/display systems.

CRITECH works closely with services in the European Commission, EU agencies (FRONTEX, ECDC), EU institutions (European External Action Service), EU MSs, international (e.g. United Nations, Global Health Security Action Group) and regional (e.g. African Union) organisations, as well research and governmental bodies in the US (e.g. NOAA, Darthmouth Flood Observatory).

Examples of CRITECH’s activities include:

• Global alerting systems for humanitarian natural disasters: earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and floods.

• Tsunami wave height/travel time, run-up and inundation modelling; tsunami alerting devices.

• ICT solutions to support common risk analysis, situation awareness and collaborative decision-making.

• Quantitative assessment of (re)emerging public health threats.

• Building and implementing capacities in CBRN risk mitigation and response at the international level.

• European Crisis Management Laboratory.