European scientific and security research project, led by e-Geos (Italy) on crisis management and on the development of a secure common information space.

1. SECTOR – Secure European Common Information Space for the Interoperability of First Responders and Police
Authorities. SECTOR is an innovative research project aimed at improving the crisis management schemes in multi-
actor emergency responses.
SECTOR is focused on establishing the foundations of future Common CCM Information Spaces by expanding the
European scientific knowledge base on (cross-border) multi-agency CCM processes and the complications these imply
when aiming at setting-up and design cross-border supporting information Systems.
Lessons learned
SECTOR is about learning
from past events and
actions to be better
prepared for future crisis
situation.
Crisis management
More efficient actions,
better management
during crisis situations or
disasters through
interoperability.
Common information
space
The Common Information
Space will enable the
interoperability of all
involved agencies.

2. Email: info@saadian.com
Tel: 01 676 1130
Website: www.saadian.com
Twitter: @SaadianTech
14 Clanwilliam Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
The management of crisis is one of the great challenges of the 21st century. The ever growing human, economic and environmental
losses due to natural and man-made disasters determines the need for a systematic approach to the management of crisis. A multi-
disciplinary understanding and disaster risk management is required.
In such situations, Collaborative Crisis Management (CCM) is usually coordinated by local authorities or dedicated civil protection
organisations, supported by a variety of different national and international crisis management organisations, all acting relatively
autonomously. The process is typically coordinated through periodic physical meetings of the involved organisations, in which
information is shared about the situation, priorities are set and responsibilities allocated. The follow-up and execution of tasks is often
managed by each individual organisation, typically supported by a range of information management tools that are not interoperable,
depending on the level of information available on the local or national crisis management systems.
The primary goals of the SECTOR project are mainly focused on
are information exchange, cooperation, coordination and
learning through past experiences.
The SECTOR Common Information Space concept is aimed at
supporting the Collaborative Crisis Management Processes,
helping different first responder organisations (incl. Fire
brigades, ambulance, civil protection agencies etc.) and police
authorities, within and across borders to share information and
resources, while respecting both the autonomy of these
agencies, local predefined procedures and the local legal
requirements.
As such the SECTOR concept does not have the ambition to
superimpose a novel hierarchical system over existing local,
national or international systems, but instead aim to develop a
flexible Common Information Space concept that provides
users with “peer-to-peer” type functionalities to dynamically
set-up cross-agency collaborative platforms and information
spaces, for information and resource sharing across agencies
and across borders, as required in a specific crisis situation.
PROJECT GOALS
THE PROJECT
LEARNING
During the project, data from past disasters will be gathered
and analysed (qualitative and quantitative approach) to gain a
better understanding of the factors which influence success or
failure. After analysis it will be possible to understand why
some actions are more efficient and other less and to adopt
those good practices in SECTOR. The information gathered will
be structurally compiled into an inventory of past events. As an
added value to the SECTOR project, the proposed structure will
be available in the final Common Information Space as a “past
events database”, which will allow users to access event
information.
SECTOR is positioned to focus on the cooperation between
organisation for the provision of better information exchange and
therefore – more efficient actions, better management during
crisis situations or disasters. During large scale catastrophes,
being well informed for decision making and the speed of
response are key attributes for a successful response and that
could mean lives will be saved. A large number of units from
different organisations and even countries could be involved in
the rescue actions and they require an efficient means to
communicate and coordinate the proposed actions. It is a matter
of finding the best match between what should be done to
reduce the crisis and what can be done, and to coordinate the
activities.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
COMMON INFORMATION SPACE (CIS)
The CIS concept will be built on a thorough inventory of previous
European crisis events and CCM cases, that are especially
focused on cross-agency and cross-border CCM in order to
exploit common synergies with a view to help reduce the “time-
to-resolution” impact in the future. As such the CIS concept will
be targeting four key functionalities:
1. Providing a dynamic continuously updated overview on the
crisis and its evolution.
2. Providing reliable information about the means (plans,
processes, resources …) that are available to resolve the
crisis.
3. Ensuring communication interoperability: increasing
interaction capability between the information systems of
the implied partners.
4. Allowing the coordination of the activities of the actors that
intervene in the crisis resolution: supporting the
orchestration of the dynamic Collaborative Process followed
for managing the crisis.
www.fp7-sector.eu
Twitter: @sectorfp7
www.fp7-sector.eu
Twitter: @sectorfp7
Start date: 1st July 2014
End date: 30th June 2017
Project reference: 607821
Project cost: €4,411,169
Project funding: €3,156,201
Consortium: 16 partners from 8 countries
Project Coordinator:
Michela Corvino
e-geos
michela.corvino@e-geos.it