During the past five and a half years the DAREnet project facilitated fruitful exchanges and supported the identification of innovation opportunities with the aim to contribute to a more disaster-resilient Danube Region.

This resulted in the compilation of a comprehensive state-of-the-art report, titled:  

“Towards a macro-regional disaster management framework in the Danube Region”

The report was developed in close collaboration with the EUSDR PA5 Disaster Management Working Group and provides insights into a multitude of activities and projects that were implemented in the past years. The report brings forward eleven policy recommendations that aim to support building and strengthening macro-regional approaches to disaster management in the Danube Region.

The project is particularly proud that the report was thoroughly discussed and endorsed by key policy representatives from DG HOME, DG ECHO, DG REGIO, EUSDR PA5, ICPDR and EUSBSR during the final project event in Bratislava.

We look forward to further expanding and consolidating our network to strengthen the cooperation within the Danube region and beyond.

DAREnet would like to thank all partners and colleagues for their collaboration and support.

The report is available for download here.

The event was jointly organised from 30 November – 2 December 2022 in Aschheim, Germany by the EU-funded #H2020 practitioners’ Network projects #DAREnet and #MEDEA, in collaboration with #IFAFRI – International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation.

A total of more than 60 experts, first responders and policymakers from disaster, and crisis management, form both sides of the Atlantic, including, among others, the European Commission, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the Hellenic Center for Security Studies (KEMEA) joined the event physically or online.

The event provided a unique opportunity for knowledge exchange, network building and idea generation among the participants. This was done through:

  1. Presentations of innovative solutions by 10 leading companies
  2. Keynote speeches and panel discussions from esteemed guests, such as Albrecht Broemme (THW), Daniel Cotter (DHS), Michelle Royal (FirstLink), Genny Dimitrakopoulou (KEMEA), and Philippe Quevauviller (DG HOME)
  3. Networking sessions and on-site visits

We would like to extend a warm ‘thank you’ to everyone for sharing their experience and insights which made the event a huge success for everyone involved.

EUSDR PA5 jointly with the DAREnet project, launched the Danube Flood Resilience Exchange of Experts Programme (EoE) earlier this year.

Within this framework has the “Exchange of Experts” focusing on the topic of “Exercise evaluation” just been opened for registration!

This particular exchange is related to the design and conduct of participant-driven exercises and is linked to PROFOUND exercise, covering the following activities:

To apply for the exchange, the participants need to be able to contribute to the evaluation, this means that the participants need to:

If you are interested to participate, please fill in the registration form until Friday 06.08.2022 EOB or get in touch with the organisers of the programme at eoe@darenetproject.eu in case of further questions.

We are pleased to announce that DAREnet will be organizing a Exchange of Experts (EoE) session @INTERSCHUTZ dedicated to the subject of Volunteer Management. The session will bring together subject-matter experts from particitioner organisations with aim to facilitate knowledge exchange about good practices related to the following subjects:

  1. Forms and Terms of Volunteer Management
  2. Digital Volunteering
  3. Solutions for the Involvement of Spontaneous/ Unaffiliated Volunteers

The draft agenda can accessed here.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the INTERSCHUTZ 2022 in Hannover and would kindly ask you to register yourself to the event at the following link.

The winners of the first Danube Flood Resilience Innovation Competition (DFRIC) were announced during the 3rd Annual Practitioner Forum, which was held from 15-18 March in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The DFRIC was aimed at identifying innovative approaches and ideas related to challenges in the field of “equipment and technologies” and its related subtopics. In this year’s competition a total of 14 submissions were received (8 projects & 6 project ideas). The entries were provided by academia (7), practitioners (6) and industry (1) stakeholders from eight countries of Danube region.

The following entities received the highest ratings of our independent jury in the category “Project”

  1. University of Kaiserslautern, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management (Germany) “Students improving professional training in flood risk management”
  2. RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management (Germany) “Deep Learning-based Decision Support System”
  3. National Association of Volunteers in the Republic of Bulgaria (Bulgaria) “Cross-border cooperation in flood preparedness and response”

The following entities received the highest ratings of our independent jury in the category “Project idea”

  1. International Security and Emergency Management Institute (Slovakia) “MobileApp combining multiple approaches and options”                  
  2. Civil Protection Association In Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Hungarian Civil Protection Association (Hungary) “Development of an Integrated procedure for removal and opening of flow-retardant, flow-restricting, shut-off, alluvial and ice plugs, barriers based on rapid survey and analysis.”        
  3. Faculty of Security Studies, University of Belgrade (Serbia) “Establishing a Risk knowledge platform to support the early warning national systems in the Danube region”            

The DAREnet consortium congratulates all winners of the DFRIC and is looking forward to supporting these initiatives in jointly developing their innovative ideas further.

The second DFRIC will tackle issues related to “standards & procedures” and will be announced shortly. Stay tuned!

The 3rd Annual Practitioner Forum was successfully conducted from 15-18 March 2022 in Plovdiv (Bulgaria). The event, which was jointly organised by the DAREnet and DiMaND projects and kindly hosted by National Association of Volunteers in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAVRB) brought together more than 70 key disaster management stakeholders from the Danube River Region, as well as more than 10 remote participants.

With the aim to take further steps towards a macro-regional level disaster management cooperation framework did the event offer a unique opportunity for the organisers and participants to discuss and plan activities that will significantly strengthen the cooperation among key stakeholders.

Through a mix of structured exchanges, a discussion-based exercise and the visit of local capacities and technologies were the participants enabled to become actively engage while sharing their knowledge and experiences with each other.

The event provided an important milestone to further advance the strategic collaboration between DAREnet and the EU Strategy for the Danube Region’s Environmental Risk Priority Area Disaster Management Working Group. The outcomes will offer clear guidance for final phase of the project implementation which is aimed at ensuring the sustainability of key project results.

Under the umbrella of the DAREnet project, co-organised by the Croatian Ministry of Interior, Civil Protection Directorate and RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation, on the 28th of September 2021, the Workshop entitled: „Strengthening Resilience and Capacities of Flood Protection and Response Stakeholders – Good Practices and Development“ was organised. Topics were divided in three groups: Civil protection training, procedures and methods; Information sharing/digitalization; Water governance. Panel discussions on the first day of the event were followed on the 2nd day (29 September 2021) by the field (demonstration) exercise with operational forces involved in flood response (State Civil Protection Intervention Unit, Croatian Red Cross, Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, local Voluntary Firefighters and local Emergency Service). Exercise scenario was the rupture of the embankment caused by a large water wave, and the aim was to demonstrate standard operating procedures, verify mutual cooperation and coordination of stakeholders, as well as the exchange of relevant information. Alongside with demonstration exercise, exhibition of flood defence equipment was held. 

The event was an opportunity to gather and exchange the knowledge and best practices of prone flood regions Danube and Sava River Basins as one of DAREnet’s project efforts. Beside DAREnet consortium partners in this hybrid format event, there was around 50 participants from State Administrations, Operational Civil Protection Forces, Institutes and Associations of Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia.

On Friday the 17th of September was the Danube Flood Resilience Innovation Competition formally launched. This year’s competition addresses the subject of equipment and technology. Submissions can cover a wide range, from innovative technologies and equipment to the further development of existing solutions for specific areas of application not yet covered.

The three best ideas will be invited to the next DAREnet Annual Practitioner Forum (February 2022) to present themselves to a broad audience. This event is a unique opportunity for practitioners to meet, exchange and network with academia, industry, policy makers and funding authorities.

The first winner will receive support for the (further) development of the solution/idea through a tailor-made proposal/concept development workshop.

Submit your ideas at www.darenetproject.eu/innovationcompetition.

The Danube Flood Resilience Innovation Event was held successfully from 16-17 September 2021 in Budapest and Balatonföldvár, Hungary. The event was attended by approx. 40 participants from the DAREnet consortium and members of the EUSDR PA5 Disaster Management Working Group. For the first time since the start of the pandemic were the invited stakeholders from across the region able to meet each other physically, while others joined virtually. While ensuring appropriate COVID-19 related hygienic measures did the meeting allow for fruitful discussions regarding current needs, future plans and cooperation opportunities in the field flood resilience innovation in the Danube River Region. The meeting was comprised of plenary and break-out sessions, as well as the participation at the annual Firefighter Expo.

Building on joint activities of the past while paving the way for future did the event enable a closer and stronger collaboration between the two stakeholder networks. This will from now provide the framework for the planning of joint activities until the end of the DAREnet project and beyond.

Key representatives of the DAREnet project coordination team and representatives of the Budapest Firefighter Association met to discuss the ideas and possibilities to hold physical event that will strengthen the collaboration between the partners of the DAREnet project and the EUSDR PA5 DMWG members. Taking into account potential travel restrictions related to the on-going pandemic has it been decided to jointly plan for a hybrid meeting towards mid/end of September 2021 in Hungary.