Sensing Green, a plan to create a 'smart forest'

LIFE+ Information and Communication

TECHNICAL APPLICATION FORMS

Part A – administrative information

Page 1 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392

LIFE+ 2012 FOR ADMINISTRATION USE ONLY


LIFE+ Information and Communication project application

Language of the proposal:

English (en)
Project title:

Sensing Green, Smart solutions enabling active participation and alertness in forests and fields
Project acronym:

Sensing Green (Life)

The project will be implemented in the following Member State(s):
Netherlands All regions
Belgium All regions

Expected start date: 01/07/2013 Expected end date: 30/06/2017

LIST OF BENEFICIARIES
Name of the coordinating beneficiary: Stichting Bamboostones

Name of the associated beneficiary: Coöperatieve Vereniging Folkwoods U.A.

Name of the associated beneficiary: Municipality Hamont-Achel

Name of the associated beneficiary: MAD emergent art center (Stichting Multi-Art-Disc)

Name of the associated beneficiary: Municipality Neerpelt

Name of the associated beneficiary: Park Strijp Beheer B.V.

Name of the associated beneficiary: Staatsbosbeheer

Name of the associated beneficiary: Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven

Name of the associated beneficiary: Stichting Vrijetijdshuis Brabant

LIST OF CO-FINANCIERS

Page 2 of 88


PROJECT BUDGET AND REQUESTED EU FUNDING
Total project budget: 1,330,000 Euro

Total eligible project budget: 1,330,000 Euro

EU financial contribution requested: 665,000 Euro (= 50.00% of total eligible budget)

PROJECT POLICY AREA
Awareness raising campaigns for the prevention of forest fires and/or training for forest fire agents

Page 3 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - A2

Coordinating Beneficiary Profile Information

Legal Name Stichting Bamboostones

Short Name BBS Legal Status
VAT No NL821709203B01 Public body
Legal Registration No 17271585 Private commercial
Registration Date 24/12/2009 Private non- commercial X
Legal address of the Coordinating Beneficiary
Street Name and No Hoefkestraat 58
Post Code 5611RN PO Box
Town / City Eindhoven
Member State Netherlands
Coordinating Beneficiary contact person information
Title Mr Function Chairman
Surname Mol
First Name CeesJan
E-mail address ceesjan@bamboostones.net

Department / Service Board

Street Name and No Hoefkestraat 58
Post Code 5611RN PO Box
Town / City Eindhoven
Telephone No 31647364256 Fax No
Website of the Coordinating Beneficiary
Website http://www.bamboostones.net

Brief description of the Coordinating Beneficiary's activities and experience in the area of the proposal

Experience with communicating about environmental challenges in a corporate context (i.e. Royal Philips
Electronics) since 1995. Contributed to introducing 'Sustainability' as innovation driver in the Research
department of Philips, starting in 2006. Realized an effort to crowd source research questions related to
Sustainability in 2009, in collaboration with Philips, IUCN and the United Nations University in Maastricht.
Continued to develop that website towards an open innovation crowd sourcing effort for sustainable
innovations. Currently engaged in forming an alliance between Cultural Festivals in Brabant (The
Netherlands) to enable their visitors to contribute their ideas and feedback to potential sustainable
innovations.

The drive of the beneficiary in short is to develop and introduce new communications tools for people to
collaboratively create sustainable innovations.

Page 4 of 88


Page 5 of 88


ASSOCIATED BENEFICIARY PROFILE

Associated Beneficiary profile information

Legal Name Coöperatieve Vereniging Folkwoods U.A.

Short Name FOL Legal Status
VAT No NL80.90.71.836.B.01 Public body
Street Name and No Dommelhoefstraat 80 PO Box null
Post Code 5613 EX Town / City Eindhoven
Legal address of the Associated Beneficiary
Website http://www.folkwoods.nl/

Brief description of the Associated Beneficiary's activities and experience in the area of the proposal

Folkwoods is a small (about 5000 visitors) outstanding festival with a big environmental responsibillity. We
have made Corporate Social Responsibility as the centre of our organisation. Not only on sustainable
solutions for the environment, but also about sustainable involvement of our volunteers, the public, our
suppliers, the artist and all others involved. Also it is one of the first festivals with glassfiber internet and
wifi, and was one of the pilots for the e-sphere app.
The festival is held for 13 years now, in a beautiful park in the north of Eindhoven.
One of the organisers, Tinus kanters, has over 35 years of expirience on festivals organisation. His
profession now is Event officer at the local government, implanting all kind of new insights and innovations
into the Event-scene, not only enviromental, but also about wireless noise-measurements,
camerasurveillance, all other kinds of sensors (wireless), location-measurements for mobile phones etc.

Page 6 of 88




Legal Name Municipality Hamont-Achel

Short Name HAA Legal Status
VAT No BE0216.772.630 Public body X
Legal Registration No null Private commercial
Registration Date null Private non- commercial
Street Name and No Stad 40 PO Box null
Post Code 3930 Town / City Hamont-Achel
Member State Belgium
Website http://http/www.hamont-achel.be


Hamont is like neighboring municipality Neerpelt a creative and innovative city. The board initiates,
encourages and supports quality projects. On some surfaces Hamont and Neerpelt already work very
closely, so there is a valuable collaborative culture in which four northern municipalities join forces to
cultural performances, with top regional appeal, to the North Limburg region to bring.

In the past, Hamont many challenges searched for: developing cultural program aha!, Laureate Flanders
Beautiful Country, city marketing, expansion Cinema Walburg, creation Michi Elshof Achel ... and there are
still many challenges ahead: Achelse safe, abbey Ursulines, project Groote Heide, clean tech industrial
zones ...

In terms of branding and communication Hamont has a lot of actions introduced in the last years. The
development of strong tourist image, logo which Achel Trappist an important place has been an epitome of
this is.

Page 7 of 88




Legal Name MAD emergent art center (Stichting Multi-Art-Disc)

Short Name MAD Legal Status
VAT No NL8040.82.856.B.01 Public body
Street Name and No Vestdijk 280 PO Box 6118
Post Code 5600HC Town / City Eindhoven
Website http://madlab.nl/


MAD is a laboratory, platform and provider of Emergent Art. Creative reseach is developed within the
sectors ICT, design, social innovation and applied technology.
Current programs are focussing on Internet of Things, Open Data and sustainability. MAD operates both in
laboratory as field settings to maintain a direct and practical approach.

Page 8 of 88




Legal Name Municipality Neerpelt

Short Name NEE Legal Status
VAT No BE0207.473.694 Public body X
Legal Registration No null Private commercial
Registration Date null Private non- commercial
Street Name and No Kerkplein 1 PO Box null
Post Code 3910 Town / City Neerpelt
Member State Belgium
Website http://www.neerpelt.be


Neerpelt is a creative and innovative city. On the one hand it works council at different levels along with
our committed citizens to supply on areas such as sports and culture even further upwards. Neerpelt drills a
sense of responsibility to its citizens and Neerpelt to feel involved in what is happening in his municipality,
as this will be the case for the 'Sensing Green'. In Neerpelt there are already several environmental
associations whose members feel involved in the forests and moors of Neerpelt. In nature education center
De Wulp this commitment to nature get shape.
The municipality has become a brand that through communication, 'merchandising' and various
promotional activities 'sold' is to the inhabitants. So we created more involvement of the inhabitants.
Neerpelt currently works in cooperation with the Nature and Forest Agency and other municipalities in
Limburg an inventory of all roads in nature so as to determine which vehicles can get depending on the
width of roads and surfaces. It also provides "MUG-points', numbered landmarks in places where no other
reference to the location can be found, such as street signs. Furthermore, the object is for each location in
the nature to 300m accessible.
Neerpelt regularly lists, in consultation with private owners, areas of high to very high ecological value.
From here, forest management plans which include restrictions imposed in relation to the accessibility of
the forest complex.

Page 9 of 88




Legal Name Park Strijp Beheer B.V.

Short Name PSB Legal Status
VAT No NL8104.71243.B01 Public body
Street Name and No Torenallee 20, SFJ, 6.075 PO Box 846
Post Code 5600 AV Town / City Eindhoven
Website http://strijp-s.nl/


Good access and clean, sustainable mobility are important principles for urban development and are a
creative challenge for the smartest region in the world. On the former industrial site of Philips in Eindhoven
Strijp S, near the center formed a new district. The ideal position to develop according to the new living,
working and driving. By making use of the latest smart ICT and the availability of sustainable modes,
connect this challenge on the strengths of the Brainport region and created a market for new mobility, with
a focus on electric vehicles. Local and regional transport providers can join on new technologies that are
being tested in a living lab.
Purpose of startup Mobility S is the realization of a living lab around smart infrastructure which seeks to
new transportation options are tested and on the other a communication platform for mobility will be
launched in order to contribute to better capacity utilization and the breakthrough of electric transport
direction scale market introduction.
The aim of the test is to acquire knowledge and experience in both new transportation options as new
forms of mobility planning. With this knowledge, companies and knowledge institutions business case
develop new techniques and introduce Strijp S and later scale up to another location in the region and
beyond. This helps the pilot both to achieve more efficient and effective mobility for sustainable economic
development.
Specifically, the transport of residents and workers at Strijp subject of development. With a large variety of
locations and residential locations is the potential audience at Strijp interesting to test alternative
transportation options.
The bring about a change in behavior for choosing transportation options to different locations and support
this by physical transport and an information / service platform for transport must ensure the different
guidelines than the unsustainable car.

Page 10 of 88




Legal Name Staatsbosbeheer

Short Name SBB Legal Status
VAT No NL8065.11.588.B.01 Public body X
Registration Date 09/06/2009 Private non- commercial
Street Name and No Spoorlaan 444 PO Box 330
Post Code 5000 AH Town / City Tilburg
Website http://www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/


With more than 250,000 ha around the country, Staatsbosbeheer - commissioned by the government -
manages a considerable share of all nature reserves in the Netherlands.
Working towards a sustainable living environment for man, plant and animal is central to Staatsbosbeheer’s
mission. As a social organisation.
Working for and on behalf of society, Staatsbosbeheer actively cooperates with Dutch citizens, and with the
organisations and institutions that
represent them.
Objectives
- Maintaining, restoring and developing woodland, natural heritage, landscape and cultural-historical values
at Staatsbosbeheer’s sites;
- Promoting outdoor-recreation at as many Staatsbosbeheer sites as possible; - Contributing to the
production of environmentally-friendly, renewable
raw materials such as timber.
The Netherlands is a delta area and is a haven for a large share of the European habitats. These are
protected in Natura 2000 areas.
In addition, Staatsbosbeheer is playing an important role in accomplishing the National Ecological Network,
which involves the formation
of a connected network of nature reserves. The aim of the National Ecological Network (NEN) is to make
nature more robust and less dependent on human intervention.

Page 11 of 88




Legal Name Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven

Short Name SRE Legal Status
VAT No 8017.03.712.B.01 Public body X
Registration Date 04/08/2010 Private non- commercial
Street Name and No Keizer Karel V Singel 8 PO Box 985
Post Code 5600 AZ Town / City Eindhoven
Website http://www.sre.nl


Relevant experience
The main experience of the SRE is to build new alliances between government - the market and the
research organisations like the Technical University of Eindhoven and TNO. The first program with the name
Horizon, was a big success; about 56 stakeholders of big companies were part of this program focused on
more collaboration between the partners of the triple helix and creating new jobs; realizing better
conditions for students to get top education and creating new jobs. This project was so successful that we
created a new project with the name Brain Port focused on creating a good home base for living and
working; creating a favourable business climate; a breeding ground for innovation and a good base for
better collaboration.
ELAt was the first EU project in bringing the triple helix of Eindhoven, Leuven and Aachen together. It was
focused on cross border cooperation, networking and matchmaking, connecting regional networks within
clusters and between clusters and open database in the field of life sciences and medical technology. Other
projects in other clusters; Connected Cities, Citizens first, BioNWE, C2CBIZZ all focused. Pure Hubs etc.
Open Innovation plays an important role in these projects. It Is the incentive for companies to collaborate,
becomes of the possibility to maximize the joint value for each partner, which could not have been realized
outside the constellation of the collaborations partnership.

Page 12 of 88




Legal Name Stichting Vrijetijdshuis Brabant

Short Name VTH Legal Status
VAT No NL820094195B01 Public body
Street Name and No Statenlaan 4 PO Box 1280
Post Code 5042 RX Town / City Tilburg
Website http://www.vrijetijdshuis.nl/


Vrijetijdshuis Brabant's main activities concern the gathering of knowledge about trends and figures in the
Dutch leisure market and marketing of the leisure facilities in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant. The
future role of our citizens in wildfire protection means we have to, on the one hand technically empower
them (Internet, App) and on the other hand invite them to eplore the forest more often (enhance
recreational facilities). Vrijetijdshuis Brabant can provide project management skills and experience in both
areas.

Page 13 of 88


Page 14 of 88


Page 15 of 88


Page 16 of 88


Page 17 of 88


Page 18 of 88


Page 19 of 88


Page 20 of 88


Page 21 of 88


OTHER PROPOSALS SUBMITTED FOR EUROPEAN UNION FUNDING

Please answer each of the following questions:

• Have you or any of your associated beneficiaries already benefited from previous LIFE cofinancing? (please cite
LIFE project reference number, title, year, amount of the co-financing, duration, name(s) of coordinating beneficiary
and/or partners involved):

PROJECT REFERENCE LIFE05 NAT/NL/000124
TITLE Dutch Coastal Dunes - Restoration of dune habitats along the Dutch coast
YEAR 2005
DURATION 01-OCT-2005 to 30-SEP -2011
EU CONTRIBUTION 1,887,750.00 €
COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Staatsbosbeheer
PARTNERS Wetterskip Fryslân, Netherlands Waddenvereniging, Netherlands Duinbehoud, Netherlands
Bureau Beheer Landbouwgronden, Netherlands

TITLE Verbrakking Westzaan - Restoration of brackish ecosystems in Westzaan polder
YEAR 2006
DURATION 01-SEP-2006 to 31-AUG -2010
EU CONTRIBUTION 953,747.00 €
COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Staatsbosbeheer
PARTNERS Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier, The Netherlands</style>

TITLE AMBITION - Bargerveen - From degraded to active raised bogs pSCI Bargerveen
YEAR 2003
DURATION 01-NOV-2003 to 01-NOV -2006
COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Staatsbosbeheer Regio Groningen - Drenthe</style>
PARTNERS Water board Velt and Vecht, Netherlands Deelgebiedscommissie Emmen,
Netherlands</style>

TITLE AMBITION - Amphibian Biotope Improvement in the Netherlands
YEAR 2004
DURATION 01-MAY-2004 to 31-DEC -2008
EU CONTRIBUTION 651,270.00 €
COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Staatsbosbeheer </style>
PARTNERS Vereniging Natuurmonumenten, The Netherlands Landschap Overijssel, The Netherlands
Landschapsbeheer Gelderland, The Netherlands Stichting Instandhouding Kleine Landschapselementen
in Limburg (IKL), The Netherlands RAVON, The Netherlands

TITLE Engbertsdijksvenen - From Degraded to Active Raised Bogs: pSCI Engbertsdijksvenen (NL)
YEAR 2005
DURATION 01-DEC-2005 to 01-APR -2008
COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Staatsbosbeheer </style>
PARTNERS None

TITLE Blues in the Marshes - Habitat restoration & development for Scarce and Dusky Large Blue
in N2K area Vlijmens Ven, Moerputten and Bossche Broek
YEAR 2012
DURATION 01-JUN-2012 to 31-DEC -2018

Page 22 of 88


COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Vereniging Natuurmonumenten
PARTNERS Staatsbosbeheer, The Netherlands Municipality of 's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Waterschap AA en Maas, The Netherlands De Vlinderstichting, The Netherlands Gemeente Heusden,
The Netherlands

TITLE SAMARES - Salt Marsh restoration Eastern Scheldt
YEAR 2006
DURATION 01-AUG-2006 to 31-DEC -2010
COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Rijkswaterstaat dienst Zeeland
PARTNERS Staatsbosbeheer, The Netherlands Province of Zeeland, The Netherlands

TITLE De Wieden and De Weerribben - Restoration and demonstration project pSCI "De Wieden and De
Weerribben"
YEAR 1999
DURATION 01-FEB-1999 to 31-DEC -2005
PARTNERS Staatsbosbeheer, NL

TITLE The Dutch Crane Resort - Improvement of hydrological conditions in peat bog area
Fochteloërveen
YEAR 2010
DURATION 01-JAN-2010 to 31-DEC -2014
PARTNERS Staatsbosbeheer (State Forestry Service), The Netherlands

TITLE Wetland succession - Wetlands: challenges and innovation in succession management
YEAR 2010
DURATION 01-AUG-2006 to 31-DEC -2011
PARTNERS Staatsbosbeheer, Netherlands

TITLE Peelvenen - "Let the raised bogs grow" Natura 2000 Deurnsche Peel/Mariapeel
YEAR 2012
DURATION 01-JUN-2012 to 31-JUL -2016
COORDINATING BENEFICIARY Dienst Landelijk Gebied
PARTNERS Staatsbosbeheer

• Have you or any of the associated beneficiaries submitted any actions related directly or indirectly to this project to
other European Union financial instruments? To whom? When and with what results?

Page 23 of 88


No

• For those actions which fall within the eligibility criteria for financing through other European Union financial
instruments, please explain in full detail why you consider that those actions nevertheless do not fall within the
main scope of the instrument(s) in question and are therefore included in the current project.

inapplicable

Page 24 of 88


Page 25 of 88



Part B - technical summary and overall
context of the project

Page 26 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - B1

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT (Max. 3 pages; to be completed in English)

Project title:
Sensing Green, Smart solutions enabling active participation and alertness in forests and fields

Project objectives and key messages:
Policy change regarding wildfires is under way in The Netherlands. The new ambitions are to involve
people more in wildfire prevention, active preparations for their occurrence and to enable them to act
in an informed manner during an actual wildfire. Three target audiences are explicitly singled out:
people recreating, entrepreneurs and domain management.

This project aims at communicating the new national wildfire message in a way relevant to the region.
Content-wise the national workforce will provide the lead. When it comes to how the message is
communicated, this project aims to push innovation significantly forward. Sensing Green will involve
regional high tech companies in efforts to innovate a sensor network for their early detection. Sensing
Green intends to create new technologies and practices, including explorations towards a new form of
Public-Private-Partnership, that will prove to be useful elsewhere in Europe.

Objectives
1. Innovate technologies and practices for wildfire prevention, preparation and active response
2. By successfully turning Transnational Domain 'De Groote Heide' into a Green Living Lab that can be
improved on and replicated elsewhere
3. And raising wildfire risk awareness, state of preparation and action potential for people recreating,
entrepreneurs and domain managers

The ultimate ambition is to create an environment in which people participate actively in wildfire
prevention, aware of the actual risks they run and involved with preventive measures they themselves
can implement. When new technologies, like a sensor networked high risk zone and/or an
environment-specific app can play a role, they might also help increase people's invovlement with
wildfire prevention (and possibly other calamities) elsewhere in Europe as well.

Key messages
* Appreciate the nature and the diversity of 'De Groote Heide'
* Recognize threats to the area (wildfire being a prominent one)
* Contribute to diminishing the threats

Actions and means involved:
The starting points of the activities below is the belief that in a networked society people's personal
connections are the most powerful communication tools. Priority is therefore assigned to:
1. getting people to involve other people in order to build a more strongly connected 'De Groote Heide'
community
2. involving high tech companies, web developers and other entpreneurs in developing and
implementing a Green Living Lab, i.e. a smart environment with sensing capabilities
3. creating campaigns for habitat communication, communication about environmental risks (including
wildfires) and biodiversity

1. Getting people to involve other people
The networks that will be established among environmental parties, public organizations and (high
tech) industries, will be vital to motivating people to become part of the community website and to use
the app. It will therefore be stimulated by a number of communication efforts (Actions B3, C3 till C7
and F2). Progress will be measured to be able to monitor progress of community growth (Actions B2,
E1 to E3).

2. Building a Green Living Lab

Page 27 of 88


A network needs to be built, enabling a smart forrest with a sensing capability (Action B4). To this
effect high tech companies will be invited to play a role. New communication tools have to be created
(Action B1). Collaboration will be sought with a specialized provider. At the same time, a situation
should be created in which more app builders add their competency to the project.

3. Creating campaigns
'Positive campaigns' will communicate environment-specific messages about the habitat, its
biodiversity, local history, people's individual stories etc. etc. These will provide the primary reason for
people to engage with the campaign (on-line through the community website or on-site through the
app). 'Risk campaigns' will address what endangers the areas and how people can play a role in
reducing the related risks.

Expected results (outputs and quantified achievements):
<b>1. Communication material</b>

- 1 regional community website for 'De Groote Heide', integrated with an app for smartphones
- 1 app for smartphones, directed at the general (recreating) public, implemented in both iOS and
Android
- 1 app for professional users (domain managers and entrepreneurs), implemented in both iOS and
Android
- 3 annual campaigns communicated through the Life App, based on at least 3 content packages in
synchronization with the community website
- 1 training document for professionals communicating with people using the Life App
- 3 'Natuurpoorten', i.e. special entrance areas with billboard-type signs inviting people to use the Life
App
- 100 triggers in the Groote Heide informing people about special features

<b>2. Media and dissemination work</b>  - 20 general public articles in national or local press- 4
times TV coverage- 12 information sessions- 1 symposium
- 8 'how to...' guides ('how to build a living green lab', 'how to develop a green-industrial Public Private
Partnership', 'how to develop a content package', 'how to create an app for information and
communication about habitats', 'how to implement crisis functionality in an app', 'how to research
people's on-line participation' and several others)
<b>3. Minimal audience reached </b>  - 3.000.000 visitors to the area - 35.000 inhabitants in the
area- 100 emergency service personnel  <b>4. Measurable changes of attitude</b>  - 65% of the
targeted audiences will positively state they have an increased wildfire risk awareness- 80% of the
emergency service personnel, relevant municipality employees, domain managers and entrepreneurs
in the area will state they have an increased risk awareness- 40% of the general visitors to the area will
state they have an increased appreciation for 'De Groote Heide'

</style>

Can the project be considered to be a climate change adaptation project? Yes X No
Ultimately climate change is caused by people and their organizations failing to take responsibility for
their ecological footprint. This project aims to restore people's influence on their immediate
environment, so that their role in the maintaining the sustainability of their habitat resurfaces as
something they should actively be involved in.
Succeeding in restoring the relationship between urban and rural environments, between people's
passive and active role in their habitat, may in the long run help to raise climate change as a social
responsibility and provide people with the means to do something about it.
In the short term, by getting people locally and regionally more involved in wildfire prevention and
preparation for their occurance, people will be directly dealing with the local impact of climate change
in their own environment. Becoming more aware of the risks related to wildfire is one of the most
direct ways of raising their awareness of global climate change.

Page 28 of 88


SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT (Max. 3 pages; to be completed in national language)

Project title:

Project objectives and key messages:

Actions and means involved:

Expected results (outputs and quantified achievements):
Outputs

Can the project be considered to be a climate change adaptation project? Yes X No

Page 29 of 88


ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM TARGETED

Wildfire prevention

Wildfire prevention is becoming more and more difficult, as a number of prevention measures is
dropped due to budget declines. It is e.g. no longer possible to have helicopters perform preventive
inspections, as such inspections can no longer be afforded. This begs the question if it is possible to
introduce a more permanent smarter infrastructure that has the capability of sensing environmental
changes and trends. This question is addressed in this project in the objective to create a Green Living
Lab in which collaborations will be started with industrial partners to innovate such technologies with
the purpose of producing them in order to become available elsewhere.

In recent regional wildfire evaluation reports, the conclusion can also be read that prevention is
increasingly becoming dependent on people present in and around 'De Groote Heide' (and other
regional natural reserves). This implies that the approach authorities take towards them needs to
change. This change is also being realized on a national level in The Netherlands (in which a part of 'De
Groote Heide' is situated). After studying communication policies abroad, it has been concluded that
the previous 'reactive paradigm' appears to be outdated. The main driver for that 'reactive paradigm'
was the fear that arsenists could be provoked into setting fire. From studies abroad (notably US and
Australia) it can be concluded that not communicating can at best delay their activities. At the same
time it has become obvious that the 'reactive paradigm' introduces two risks: (1) people are
insufficiently aware of the risks related to wildfires and (2) people do not know what to do to help
prevent wildfires, how to prepare themselves for them or how to act in case of an actual wildfire. These
two risks can only be reduced by communicating continuously.

It is clear that the new policy of 'continuous communication' needs to be translated to local
circumstances. First of all, the responsible parties should be involved and should all agree that the
safety of people in and around the area and the protection of the habitat are shared responsibilities.
Based upon this understanding, a shared message can be created regarding the drought of the area
and its related risks of wildfire. Jointly communicating this message, combining all possible channels,
will strongly impact people's risk awareness. This then needs to be followed up with more tailored
information providing them with possible actions to take.

The planned combination of community website and situational smartphone app allows for 4 different
uses. Firstly, the community website can be a vital channel in communicating the synchronized
message. Getting people to use that community website also for sharing their pictures, stories,
contributions to bringing 'De Groote Heide' to life, will increase the exposure of that message. People
will be stimulated to use the app to locally use the available content about the domain and create
more.

The second use starts to actively involve people in wildfire prevention. Having raised the risk
awareness, people (or perhaps a selection of them, sought out by habitat managers) can be asked to
get involved with certain functions of the app. 'Traffic light coding' (with the colors green, orange and
red) is already being used by the professional habitat managers themselves to indicate risk. The app
can be enhanced to allow others to also use these signals, after an appropriate instruction. This allows
for a more real-time assessment of the development of the area and the risk of wildfire.

The third use can be in the actual calamity reporting. When people see a smoke column, a specific
menu can allow them to help create a quick diagnostic of the situation. The current preliminary and yet
not fully tested idea is that pushing a single button will allow the application to alert a number of
organizations at once. After having pressed the button, a phone conversation will be initiated. In that
conversation a professional will be able to help determine if there is an instant threat to the person
alerting. He or she can then proceed to collect relevant data. He or she can also instruct the person
alerting what to do after terminating the conversation. If there is no aparent immediate danger,
perhaps the app can provide the possibility of creating a snapshot of the smoke column and uploading
that to a website. Then a submenu might help the person leave the area; this submenu could be based
on specific local evacuation instructions.

In the brainstorms held already the idea was brought forward that perhaps the app could also have
another function. Perhaps technology would allow for the emergency professional who received the
alert to activate the app on other smartphones in the area. These people could either receive an alert,
motivating them to evacuate the area. Or it could enlist their participation in estimating the danger.
Perhaps by asking them to also use the app to upload a picture of the smoke column the see. Or
through visually indicating the height of the column from their point of view. This potential use of the
app needs to be investigated further, obviously foremost from the point of view of safety, yet it could

Page 30 of 88


also provide valuable instant information about the speed and direction of the fire. In combination with
the sensor network available in the area, this could prove to be very valuable information.

The fourth way of using the community website and the app plus the input from the sensors used in
the Green Living Lab, is on a shared Graphical Interface. It is technologically possible to combine the
input from the app in the hands of people with the input from the sensors in the field on the same
Grahical Interface. Once this feature is realized, it is technologically also possible to start to run
scenarios on that interface: 'This area is red, it has a high risk. What if a fire breaks out, with a strong
wind in that direction? What if it is a sunny day and there are many people in the area? What if there
are a few? What do the current evacuation plans mean for the traffic density? Will bottlenecks occur?
Where? Why are they bottlenecks? Can we modify them in order to prepare the infastructure better?'.
Such virtual drills (fourth use) can then be conducted, allowing people to get a better understanding of
the real risk and a drive to take better precautions.

Based on the conversations a.o. with the National Wildfire Program Manager it has become clear that
such functionality is desired and would also internationally be well appreciated.

PREPARATORY WORK UNDERTAKEN ALREADY (SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS PROJECT)

Established broad foundation on redefining the connection between rural and urban areas
across the Groote Heide
* regional parties interested in rural development (Streekontwikkeling Boven-Dommel)
* local and regional authorities in Belgium and The Netherlands (municipalities of Hamont-Achel,
Neerpelt, Heeze-Leende, Valkenswaard, Eindhoven, Cranendonck) and the Province of Noord-Brabant
(NL)
* the Dutch Forestry Commission
* a party interested in urban development (Park Strijpbeheer)
* parties from the cultural sector, interested in giving people more valuable experiences of their
surroundings (MAD, Folkwoods Festival)
* a party interested in recreational development (Vrijetijdshuis Brabant)
* several technology parties: OpenRemote (an open source effort for automating smart environments),
NXP Semiconductors, University of Technology in Eindhoven

Explored user scenarios, specifically from the point of view of wildfire prevention
* reviewed and analyzed wildfire evaluation reports
* conducted creative sessions with Dutch Forestry Commission
* explored readiness regarding area evacuation in case of wildfire with various national stakeholders
(including the National Wildfire Program Manager and the Provincial Civil Servant for policy on this
matter)

Created proposals for synchronizing the project
* explored the possibility of 'De Groote Heide' becoming pilot for national wildfire related programmes
* consulted external experts (Iadea Creative Solutions and Sweep Communications) on desgning a way
to get all project members to sing from the same hymn sheet at the start of the project

PARTNERSHIP TECHNICAL CAPACITY (INCLUDING EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE SUPPORT)

Environmental experience:

There is a diversity in the degree to which partners have experience with environmental experience.
First and foremost the National Forestry Commission (SBB) is the national authority on all matters
relating forests. Folkwoods Festival (FOL) is organized specifically for 'folkies', people with a lifestyle
oriented towards the 'mystical' and 'earthly'. Its name already indicates that it is organized in a forest
and welcomes some of the nation's best 'tree doctors' every year.

The two Belgian municipalities (Hamont-Achel and Neerpelt, HAA and NEE) also have extensive
experience, especially in addressing their part of the environmental care related to 'De Groote Heide'.

Page 31 of 88


The director of MAD Emergent Art Center (MAD) participating in the project leads the fraction of the
'Green Left' (Groen Links) party in one of the municipalities close to the area.

Park Strijpbeheer (PSB) is a development organziation tasked with redeveloping an urban area close to
the city center of Eindhoven. One of their highest priorities is 'green' / sustainable solutions, which is
the reason they are participating in Sensing Green. Their current degree of environmental experience
is not the greatest of all partners.Vrijetijdshuis Brabant (VTH) is also a partner with no direct
environmental experience; they are the marketing organization of all leisure related activities in the
province Noord-Brabant. They do have an information section on their website dedicated to
sustainability and sustainable actions (http://www.kennispleinvrijetijd.nl/tag/duurzaamheid/), but due to
their nature have no direct environmental experience.

Stichting Bamboostones (BBS) does not have environmental experience itself; its representative does
have vast experience in environmental communication especially in relation to sustainable innovations.
Samenwerkingverband Regio Eindhoven (SRE) has a specific department related to environmental care
(http://www.sremilieudienst.nl/). This employs roughly 150 employees and helps municipalities in the
region the quality of the physical environment.

Communication / training experience:

All partners have significant communication and training expertise. A number of competencies are
detailed below: awareness raising communication on regional and national level, stakeholder
mobilization campaigns and transition communication.

Awareness raising communication
A number of partners have extensive experience with general public awareness raising campagins. The
Dutch Forestry Commission (Staatsbosbeheer; SBB) has the competence because of its responsibility.
MAD Emergent Art Center (MAD) has the competence, because it regularly organizes art and
technology related events (the most recent one being the first National Congress on Open Data
(http://www.openeindhoven.nl/nationaal-congres-open-data/). Folkwoods Festival (FOL) is the leading
festival for folk music in The Netherlands; it mobilizes all folk fans annually. The two municipalities in
the project, Hamont-Achel en Neerpelt, obviously have this competence down to the level of individual
citizens. Bamboostones Foundations (BBS) has specific background in communicating about
environmental issues, as the lead partner was already responsible for Environmental Communications
in the Semiconductors Division of Philips in 1996 and continued to be involved with environmental
communication and sustainability until his departure from Philips in 2008.

Stakeholder mobilization campaigns
Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven (SRE) was one of the first collaborative efforts in the northern
part of the region. It excells in identifying opportunities where joint action can make a difference; that
is the core of its mission. Mobilizing stakeholders in such exercises is one of their key strengths. The
same goes for Vrijetijdshuis Brabant (VTH) as the provincial marketing organization for the leisure
economy. Their role is to advance the collective interests of that sector through collaboration. Park
Strijpbeheer (PSB) is a relatively new organization; it was founded as a Public-Private Partnership put in
place to develop the Strijp-S area previously held by Philips and sold to PSB for a symbolic amount. PSB
is similar to SRE and VTH in the sense that they need to involve many stakeholders in the development
of the Strijp-S area; PSB is different in the sense that it is a new type of organization (Public-Private
Partnership) bringing to the table also a new model for stakeholders to engage.

Transition communication
In this project a serious complication is introduced by the fact that a paradigm shift in communications
of wildfires and the related risks will take place. Paradigm shifts of any kind require people to change
their habits; a process that is not self-apparent and usually quite difficult for many people.

Bamboostones Foundation (BBS) has a professional communication competence in this area. In 1992-
1994 this competence started to be developed in the transition the Royal Netherlands Army was
making from a Cold War-paradigm to one of Peacekeeping Operations. From 1995 onwards this
competence was enhanced by hands-on responsibilities in the globalization of the Semiconductors
division of Royal Philips Electronics and the digitization of all internal communications using web
technology. From 2001 onwards there were three other major shifts in Philips from which even more
was learned:

Page 32 of 88


1) from a linear research process with the customer at the tail to a circular one with the (strategic)
customer at the forefront
2) from a 'closed research' paradigm to one of 'open innovation'
3) from an innovation approach in which sustainability is but a single aspect of the innovation to an
approach fully focused on 'sustainable innovation'

In this context especially 3) is important. A tremendous useful learning experience was supporting the
Senior Sustainability Officer of Philips Corporate Technology with introducing Sustainability as an
innovation driver in the Research & Development Community in Philips. This not only strenghtened the
overall competence in transition communication; it also strengthened it especially with an eye on
sustainable innovation.

Sensing Green involves technology companies in creating and supplying technology for a Green Living
Lab enabling a paradigm shift. It also involves people directly in becoming aware of environmental
risks, predominantly those related to wildfires. These two communities will help habitat managers
make their shift in communication paradigm.

Page 33 of 88


EU ADDED VALUE OF THE PROJECT AND ITS ACTIONS

Indirectly supporting the Habitats directive

Direct support of an information and communications effort to the habitat directive is difficult to
realize. Implementing the directive requires too advanced an expertise; people without an adequate
background are unlikely to be able to contribute to e.g. the realization of an ecological or hydrological
system analyses. Once sucn an analysis is complete however, it contains valuable information about
the habitat people are visiting. With perhaps one or two steps translating that valuable expert
information into plain language, the 'life app' we envision could provide a communication channel.
Technologically it is easy to create links between areas in the habitat to certain measures being taken;
Quick Response-codes (QR codes) could physically prompt people to read more about that area or
about measures being taken to safeguard its ecological or hydrological wellbeing.

Is there no way the app could play a more significant role? There is, potentially. It would be possible to
create a professional version of the app. One that allows experts from nature administrators to log
their surveillance results. If it would be possible to create area-specific indicators for negative or
positive developments, using simple traffic ligt codes (red, orange, green), it would be possible to
visualize the overall development of the habitat. If people inspecting the area would often encounter
others equally interested in the preservation of the habitat, perhaps after a simple training such people
could also play a role.

Ultimately the habitat directive is intended to safeguard the future of Europe's nature. Whereas
previously this responsibility was assigned to specialized organizations, increasingly shifts in national
budgets will ask for a different approach. This project hopes to play a role in the exploration of such an
approach. By provding a communication channel for the agencies involved, reducing the distance
between the previous assigned responsibility and one shared with a larger public. If it would be
possible to enhance that communication channel with crowd-sourcing functionality to visualize the
development of a habitat, more people could actively engage with their responsibility.

This project aims to piot habitat-supporting functionalities, hopefully in a way that what can be learned
could be shared among nature administrators across Europe.

Information = participation Today's world is a connected world, a digital world, for which the vision
is that "(...) technology must support people in their everyday life and only in that way will it become
useful. It must be easy for citizens of Europe to access technology and services. Ideally the technology
becomes invisible" (from the Digital Agenda Assembly 2012, June 21-22). This project wants to make
that ambition a reality, not in a connected urban environment, but in a natuarl context. As part of an
enhanced experience of their natural surroundings, actively engaging people in its support and
maintenance.
A central building block supporting this project is the conviction that in a Europe shaped by its Digital
Agenda, information is no longer something disseminated among or broadcasted to people. The notion
of 'information' as a page of text that goes from sender to receiver can now be seen as particular to
the 'print era' and the early 'digital period' (that started with the notion of 'hypertext'). Now the vision
of the 'Internet of Things' is propelling developments. This means a world in whicn people can 'click'
around as easily as they do on their notebooks and smartphones. In Brainport these ideas are being
explored around a notions as ''Clickable Festival', Clickable City' and 'Clickable World'.

This project is therefore an innovative project, aiming to develop technologies for this new paradigm of
'clickable reality'.

More awareness. More agents!

Central to this approach was the conclusion in the evaluation of the Strabrechtse Heide wildfire that
accidental bypassers are crucial in the reporting of fire sources and the prevention of their escalation.
The strategy followed in this project, is to operate in a non-dissemination centric but participation-
stimulating approach to information and communication, aiming to increase the number of agents
involved in wildfire prevention.

This is done by stimulating people to use an app, helping them to better understand specifics about
their natural surroundings (e.g. birds, plants, the eco-system). Getting people to care more, is intended
to increase the number of people interested in the active participation in management and
maintenance of that area. The idea is: more awareness (through action by the user) equals more
engagement equals higher levels of partication.

Page 34 of 88


These increased levels of participation will be capitalized on by collaborating with the Security Region,
helping them to add to their ranks of the Voluntary Fire Brigade. The people found through the
implementation of this strategy will be subsequently trained by the Fire Brigade to use the app for
forward prevention.

This project will therefore raise awareness and provide special training to (more and new) agents
involved in wildfire prevention.

Laboratory for new technologies

The northern part of the Groote Heide overlaps with the area called Brainport; next to the Mainport of
Rotterdam and the airport of Amsterdam, an area with a unique expertise: high tech. In order to
improve the chances that visitors to the area will be able to successfully use the Life App, investments
will be made to upgrade the wireless connectivity capability. This upgraded capability will also be used
to work with the high tech industry in Brainport to put in place a 'Living Lab': a experimental set up to
pilot new technologies. Conversations are ongoing with e.g. NXP Semiconductors, who is working on
sensors measuring e.g. CO2 level and temperature. Such sensors might, in addition to people
signaling, play a role in more rapidly receiving fire alerts. At the University of Technology in Eindhoven
is conducting research into sensor networks for urbanized areas. Both organizations might be
interested in researching the overlapping functionalities and fundamental issues.

The parties working together will be able to find out in what way a living lab can be established in
nature. Conducting tests with high tech companies in order to develop technology that may come to
play a role in reducing the risk of wildfires will definitely add value to Europe, in terms of impact on
nature, technology and economy.

EFFORTS FOR REDUCING THE PROJECT'S "CARBON FOOTPRINT"

Carbon footprint shall be reduced during the project implementation in the following ways:
1. We will try to work 'paperless' as much as possible, by managing project papers and updatese
through Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/)
2. Public transportation shall be used, whenever possible
3. Research will be conducted on-line and through observations conducted by the participating project
members (i.e. will not require additional paper surveys)
3. Technology partners that join the project will be required to detail how the industrialization of their
pilot results will address reducing the carbon footprint
4. In the public reporting and communication the broader context of Sustainability and the need for
sustainable innovations will be highlighted. The Innovation Framework for Sustainable Development,
created by the Research department of Royal Philips Electronics
(http://www.slideshare.net/Bamboostones/innovation-framework-for-sustainable-development-dec-09-
update) will be used to that purpose.

Page 35 of 88


STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED AND TARGET AUDIENCES OF THE PROJECT OTHER THAN PROJECT
PARTICIPANTS

Stakeholders:

A great number of stakeholders is involved. In general terms, these are the ones of primary interest:
* local authorities (besides the partner municipalities all other municipalities in the region)
* regional authorities (partner organization SRE is an important player in the region; there are however
also a number of other regional political and entrepreneurial parties)
* provincial authorities (notably the Province of Noord-Brabant itself; which is already part of the
current bigger project coalition)
* the broader area knows a Regional Safety Authority in The Netherlands and has a counterpart in
Belgium; these are highly important
* the provincial Wildfire Task Force
* the National Wildfire Working Group (www.infopuntnatuurbranden.nl)
* Association of Recreation Entrepreneurs in The Netherlands (http://www.recron.nl/)
* the Royal Dutch Touring Club ANWB (http://www.anwb.nl/)
* Local History Circles of which there are several
* Scientific Research organizations, of which the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of
the Eindhoven University of Technology has already indacted an interest in collaborating to uncover
new research questions

Target audiences:

In support of the changes in the nationally predominant communications paradigm from 'reactive' to
'continuous', there are three important target audiences to be addressed:
1) people recreating in the area
2) entrepreneurs
3) managers of the habitat

Sensing Green adds a few specifications to those general audiences:
1) people living in or close to 'De Groote Heide', varying in degrees of actively recreating in nature
2) entrepreneurs or B2B professionals operating in (recreational or service) businesses or high tech
industies in or close to the area
3) people responsible for preventing or addressing calamities in 'De Groote Heide' (habitat managers,
regional safety bodies, emergency staff and organizations)

Currently it is foreseen that these audiences will be addressed first and foremost through network
contacts. Attempts will be made to connect these audiences in several and ultimately in one
community (C2 and C3). Classical media theory suggests that finding the 'opinion leaders' among
these audiences might be helpful. This would definitely be important when considering the media
coverage this project intends to generate. Innovation Communication (Rogers, 1995) suggests a more
important role in a networked approach is provided by 'change agents'. Networked oriented theories,
around which any approach to 'community' is likely to evolve, suggest 'brokerage' (and 'closure') are
important notions (Burton, 2005). Brokerage being the ability to provide one network with access to
another network, resulting in positive benefits of the connection. Closure being the phenomenon of
stimulating focus and concentration of the network itself. When aiming to bring together not clearly
related audiences in a shared perception of interests and risks in 'De Groote Heide', both concepts
need to be addressed, researched and taken into account.

Apart from different types of information (distribution) and communication theories, it is believed that
there is currently a new need for theory development. Public-Private Parnterships are seen as
potentially new solutions to situations requiring additional (financial) resources due to governmental
means being reduced. 'De Groote Heide' also faces such a situation, notably in the National Forestry
Commission seeing its budgets diminish. Yet wildfire has clearly emerged as a regional threat, due to
recent major incidents.

The National Wildfire Workfing Group characterizes its current efforts in bringing these new types of

Page 36 of 88


solutions forward as 'pioneering projects'. It is believed such a pioneering approach on a national scale
in The Netherlands and on a particularly innovative dimension in Sensing Green for 'De Groote Heide',
new theoretical orientations to thinking about target audiences may require a more fluid approach to
the social dimension (as e.g. advocated by Latour, 2005).

Burton, Ronald S. (2005). Brokerage and Closure; an Introduction to Social Capital; Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Latour, Bruno (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory'. Oxford:
Oxford University Press Rogers, Everett M. (1995) Diffusion of Innovations, New York: The Free Press

Page 37 of 88


EXPECTED CONSTRAINTS AND RISKS RELATED TO THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND HOW THEY WILL
BE DEALT WITH (CONTINGENCY PLANNING)

There are two risks currently recognized in Sensing Green.

1) The ambitions are too high

The paradigm shift in the communications approach is happening at a moment that governmental
budgets are clearly in decline. A transition is demanded in the way local, regional, provincial authorities
address the situation and the ambitions of the new policy to actually try to involve people in
preventing, preparing for and addressing wildfires clearly is more ambituous than ever.

Sensing Green adds to those ambitions by aiming to develop networks into communities and to re-
establish their connection to 'De Groote Heide'. This has two components:
(1) communicating clearly to the regional inhabitants the need to get involved with sustainable efforts
in general and specifically to play a role in securing 'De Groote Heide' and diminshing its threats.
(2) by involving regional high tech industries and businesses it is possible to add the argument of
creating and or securing future jobs; there is a clear sustainable economic ambition behind the drive to
establish a successful Green Living Lab

It may be that this level of ambition, combining the national ones with the ones specific to 'De Groote
Heide' may prove to be too high.

How will this risk be dealt with? A cornerstone of the policy advocating the paradigm shift is the
translation of the continuous communication approach to region-specific circumstances. If this proves
to be impossible in the case of 'De Groote Heide', this will have national implications. Downscaling the
ambitions will be coordinated also with National Wildfire Working Group.

There are other downscaling options that may be applied to the ambitions:
* simplifying the Green Living Lab infrastructure (alhtough, since this is rented, it is probably wiser not
to simplify it but to find a way to increase the energy invested in establishing parnterships for its
deployment and research capacity)
* implementing a version of the app that can work with 'wifi hotspots' rather than with a permanent
wifi connection (this is technologically feasible)
* when it appears that the adoption of smartphones among the target audiences is overestimated, it
could be possible to organize specific sessions in which members of the target audience are provided
with a smartphone to test their response (this can be organized with a provider who could be
interested in associating their name with Sensing Green)
* when it appears that the campaigns are insufficiently successful in stimulating the audience
members, collaboration might be sought with the entrepreneurs of recreational facilities (e.g. by also
starting to provide discounts for the people using the smartphones). Maintaining a list of 'conversion
factors' (i.e. ways in which audience members are stimulated to use the app more frequently and more
intensively) is a reoccuring action. This will make it possible to learn faster about such possible actions
and to document the lessons learned.

In short: it is foreseen that it may be necessary to downscale the ambitions. At the same time a
number of possible countermeasures are already envisaged.

2) Sensing Green is successful but leads to the wrong results

Is it possible that successfully involving people in wildfire prevention and preparation may actually
incite malecious vandals into starting fires? From the reports available at national level it is clear that
the visits abroad and the literature studies do not suggest this is the case, although it is also clear that
the previous 'reactive' paradigm was based firmly on that belief.

There is no countermeasure imaginable to address this complication would it arise. It would mean that
implementing the new 'continuous communication' paradigm may have different effects in The
Netherlands and Belgrium (possibly because of the longer period the 'reactive' paradigm was in effect).
It wll be up to the relevant authorities to address this complication if it occurs.

It may also be that establishing the Green Living Lab has unintended side effects. Although research
has not indicated or proven it, there are thoughts that radio-frequency (RF) networks have biological
impact. There is as yet no scientific foundation to assume this to be the case, but in any case the

Page 38 of 88


communications of the project should take such a potential public perception into account. It is
assumed that park rangers and people getting involved in Sensing Green will notice indicators and
strange occurances and will report these. The Eindhoven University of Technology has already been
contacted and has volunteered their knowledge in return for new fundamental research questions. In
the conversations so far this complication has not arisen. When Sensing Green starts, it will be
determined if this is simply a potential misperception among the public (in which case the Eindhoven
University of Technology will help provide clarifying data) or if it is more opportune to make this a
dedicated part of the research.

Earlier in the process it was also suggested that introducing technology into a wildlife area by itself
could increase chances of wildfires occurring. Here too early discussions with potential technology
partner NXP Semiconductors suggest that this is a misperception and a technological impossibility.
Sensors currently targeting this type of deployment make use of 'energy scavenging'. This means that
the sensors themselves have no power source and extract the necessary energy from their
surroundings. Such sensors spontaneously igniting is virtually impossible.

Assuming that the Green Living Lab is a success, in terms of innovative technology being advanced in
its development and new revenue streams flowing to the domain and habitat managers, there will be a
need to prepare for scaling up the size of this field lab in order to attract more partners. To that effect
the Open Data capability of MAD Emergent Art Lab (MAD) is of primary iimportance. At the same time,
if the Living Lab becomes successful, it may be the case that hackers are attracted. To date it has
proven to be impossible to stop hackers from attacking when they set their sights on a target. Plus:
financing protection is virtually impossible.

To counter this risk it will be important to strengthen the Sensing Green project with the perception of
a 'Robin Hood'-flavour. The more Sensing Green is seen as a bottom up effort, the more it is perceived
as an important step towards sustainable innovations and finding new ways to finance nature and
domain management, the more unlikely it is hackers will target the project. In such cases, they are
likely to be seen as the 'Bad Guy' which is not what motivates them to hacking in the first place.

Based on impressions and perception encountered in the starting of Sensing Green, summarizing it can
be stated that these are uninteded results people think the project might have:
* people could be incited to start a fire
* wifi (or other RF technology) may impact nature
* technology deployed may cause fires to start
* hackers may take over the web environment

In exploring these risks in the process of creating this proposal, these risks so far have seem to be
based on (flawed) perceptions and have not stood up to closer scrutiny. When the project starts, these
risks will be more factually investigated. It will then be determined which countermeasures will be take
to address potential public misperceptions and which real risks will need to become part of the
research efforts.

Page 39 of 88


CONTINUATION / VALORISATION OF THE PROJECT RESULTS AFTER THE END OF THE PROJECT

Which actions will have to be carried out or continued after the end of the project?

When at the end of the project it can be concluded that involving people in preventing wildfires,
preparing for them and dealing with them once they actually occur is beneficial on several levels, this
conclusion has to be shared widely. Certain actions have already been foreseen to contribute to a
wider dissemination (notably F3). Continued coordination at the national levels in both Belgium and
The Netherlands will also contribute to realizing this goal.

Early in the 21st century the establishment of 'Home of the Future'-type laboratories (like HomeLab
and others in Philips Research) was rapidly followed by the establishment of a network of such
industrial laboratories. Currently Living Labs have established a similar network
(see http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/). When the project starts, it needs to be determined what the
benefits and costs are related to joining that network. Later on it will have to be determined if the
sought after Public-Private-Partnership resulting from Sensing Green is an effort that can guarantee its
own continuity in the market.

In order to keep the created community alive, people will have to be able to continue creating
campaigns, to suggest new functionialities for (new) apps and to increase their participation in the
Green Living Lab. This firstly means that support needs to be financed to keep the servers running, the
infrastructure accessible and the Open Data 'format' accessible.

If the Green Living Lab becomes successful (in advancing the development of new technologies), it
needs to be given thought if it makes sense to turn to temporary infrastructure into a permanent one.
In order to answer that question, it should be clear that introducing technology into the domain will not
have negative side effects. Plus: it needs to be clear that there is a business and high tech interest that
will guarantee returns on that investment.

It may be that the train-the-trainer approach to domain managers and emergency personnel is prone
to become less effective the longer it runs. It would be wise to review the effectiveness of the training
as it actually takes place on the workfloor by the time the project ends. If indeed the app is so easy to
use that it is more or less self-explanatory, it is possible there will be no reason to introduce another
approach to training.

How will this be achieved, what resources will be necessary to carry out these actions?

Basically this project has 3 ambitions:
1) combating wildfires differently, by engaging people in their prevention, preparation for them and in
the actual fighting against them when they've occurred by increasing people's involvement with the
biodiversity in 'De Groote Heide' and by enhancing the surveillance capability of a nature domain
through a sensor network
2) partnering with high tech industrial parnters and other businesses in order to establish a Green
Living Lab successfully exploring and realizing new technologies required for the above (i.e. wifi or
other RF networks, sensors and sensor networks and apps)
3) in pursuing point 1) by realizing point 2) creating a new business model for a viable and sustainable
Public-Private-Partnership (PPP)

As stated before, it may be that these ambitions are too high. Some things have not been foreseen
explicitly in the actions. 'How to continue the infrastructure?' is such a question not yet addressed.
Given the innovative nature of Sensing Green, it is currently unclear what the specification of the
required network should be. Given that Life+ is required to find out what the possible and most useful
user scenarios would be, it is also unwise to speculate on the infrastructure. It is however believed that
there are developments under way that will help address this challenge.

Park Strijpbeheer (PSB) is involved in explorations of the campus its developing into a wirelessly
connected domain. The municipality of Eindhoven, where a number of the partners are located, is also
exploring a city-wide wifi with local wifi hotspots (currently conceived of as 'City Information Points').

Page 40 of 88


The assumption is made that through contacts of the partners either these initiatives or other
initiatives will present potential partners capable of helping establish what the network should
technologically look like. It is also believed that companies offering solutions to these or other
initiatives will be the companies infrastructure can be rented from. Renting furthermore allows for
rapid modifications in the network, a requirement of the Green Living Lab.

In the negotiations for renting (parts of) the network, cooperation is likely to be sought with such
projects as described above. Cooperation will firstly help to connect the urban to the rural areas in the
region and will help e.g. Park Strijpbeheer (PSB) to bring sustainability (practically presented e.g. as a
trip with an electric car to a wifi hotspot in 'De Groote Heide') into people's everyday life. Bringing
nature into the foreground of people's perceptions will help them be more aware of what they
themselves can do to reduce their carbon footprint. Secondly such economy of scale may help
negotiate provisions for the municipalities involved to be able to buy those parts of the (rented)
network infrastructure required to keep the Green Living Lab running. This is not an entirely
unimportant way to increase the continuation of Sensing Green post-Life+

For other aspects relating to the challenge of continuation actions have been foreseen. Communicating
with Industrial and Business Parnters (C3) is a specific action that will help explore what those B2B
partners might find valuable in the concept of the Green Living Lab. Once they've been engaged with,
it has to be discovered what will trigger them to continue the collaboration.

The Symposium (F3) will also present an opportunity to present, hopefully with a number of the
Industrial and Business Partners, the engagement opportunities already uncovered.

Maximum chances of both finalizing formally the research conducted to uncover new foundations for a
successful Public-Private-Partnership and creating a new foundation for a continuation of Sensing
Green will also be provided by the Action F4: Establishing Continuity (after Life+). This is planned
specifically towards the end of the of the project and is planned to make it possible for industrial and
business partners to reserve budget for an implementation of a new PPP in 2017, based on the results
of action F4.

Page 41 of 88



Part C – detailed technical description of the
proposed actions

Page 42 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - C0

LIST OF ALL PROPOSED ACTIONS

A. Project management and monitoring of project progress (obligatory)
A1 Project Management

A2 Monitoring

B. Preparatory actions (if needed)
B1 New Communication Tools

B2 Programming the Research

B3 Planning the Communications

B4 Establishing Green Living Lab

C. Communication actions / awareness raising campaigns
C1 Sychronizing the Start

C2 Communicating with Environmental and Public Partners

C3 Communicating with Industrial and Business Partners

C4 Conducting a Trial Campaign

C5 First Campaign (2014-2015)

C6 Second Campaign (2015-2016)

C7 Third Campaign (2016-2017)

D. Training activities
D1 Training

E. Monitoring of the project impact on the target audiences and on the environmental problem
targeted (obligatory)
E1 Initial Research

E2 Intermediate Research

E3 Concluding Research

F. Communication and dissemination of the project and its results (obligatory)
F1 Communication Panels

F2 Online Campaign

F3 Symposium

Page 43 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - C0

F4 Establishing continuity (after Life+)

Page 44 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - C1a

DETAILS OF PROPOSED ACTIONS
A. Project management and monitoring of project progress
ACTION A.1: Project Management
Description and methods employed (what, how, where and when):
Bamboostones will be responsible for the project coordination and management. A parttime project
coordinator will be hired for the project supervision, i.e. administrative and financial management,
reporting issues, meeting secretariat, scientific supervision of all the actions, communication with
partners, stakeholders and the European Commission, etc. The coordinator will work in close partnership with
all the associated beneficiaries to fulfill these tasks, under the supervision of the project steering committee.

According to the Common Provisions, the coordinating and associated beneficiaries shall conclude
agreements describing their technical and financial participation to the project. The ownership of results and
documents will be detailed in this agreement, specifying that the coordinating and associated beneficiaries
shall be the owners of documents. The coordinating beneficiary and associated beneficiaries will acknowledge
the support given by the Community in all documents and media produced in the framework of the project,
using specific logos. A steering committee will be created to assist the coordinating beneficiaries in
management tasks and to guide project implementation. All the participating organsations, i.e. the
coordinating and associated beneficiaries will be represented with one person in the project steering
committee. The project steering committee will be gathered annually to evaluate project progress based on
initial objectives and decide strategic issues for the future.

An expert group will be founded. Representatives of Taskforce Natuurbranden, ministerie V&J, Anwb, Recron,
provincie Noord Branbant en landelijk project Natuurbranden will be invited for this expert group. The expert
groop will be annually consulted. Members of the expert group will also be invited to build the network,
participate in the online campaign and the annual campaigns 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Constraints and assumptions:
Language : For a good communication between the beneficiaries, all the LIFE+ team staff will be
communicate in Dutch language.

Location of the partners: The LIFE Regular meetings will be organised to insure the good implementation of
the project. Steering committee meetings will be organised every year. Coordination meetings
gathering project staff (LIFE+ team) will be organised at least every two months to coordinate the actions
and monitor project progress. Additional ad hoc meetings will be also organised. Each membre of the Life +
team needs computers and appropriate softwares to carry out the communication campaigns.

Beneficiary responsible for implementation:
BBS

Expected results (quantitative information when possible):
Good coordination and governance of the project, successful implementation of the project actions in line with
the deadlines.

Indicators of progress:
See the tables hereafter presenting deadlines for de production of deliverables, project milestones and
activity reports.

Page 45 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - C1a

A. Project management and monitoring of project progress
ACTION A.2: Monitoring
At the beginning of the project implementation a general project plan shall be prepared which shall be then
worked out into 4 yearly and 16 quarterly project plans.

A standard method of managing a project cycle shall be used. To be specific, preparing interim progress
reports which will be submitted to the project steering group. Monitoring of the project progress shall be
attended to mainly via regular (quarterly) meetings of the project management where individual members
shall present information on the implementation of activities they are responsible for. Concomitantly,
fulfilment of the project plan shall be monitored continuously at these meetings.

We expect no substantial problems.

BBS

A total of 16 reports on the fulfilment of the component quarterly plans.

Minutes from meetings of the project steering committee and texts of reports on the fulfilment of quarterly
plans. Minutes from meetings of the project management.

Page 46 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - C1b

B. Preparatory actions
ACTION B.1: New Communication Tools
Sensing Green requires the development of a new type of community site. One that integrates normal
websites, with a mobile site and apps (for both Apple iPhones and iPads and Android smartphones and
tablets). For the development of such set of tools an external company will be engaged.

Depending on the platform and services already available from the external company, specific functionality
needs to be developed for the user scenarios that the project members will decide are the determining user
scenarios. In principle these functionalities address what in the project proposal is described as the
smartphone screens for people creating and sharing content (1st use), actively involving (certain) people in
assessing wildfire risks on the ground (2nd use), calamity reporting (3rd use) and virtual drills and
preparations (4th use).

From the intensive scouting of local, regional, national and international contacts, it has become clear that
such functionalities are not yet available.

Deployment of web technology will be constrained to include a website and a mobile site. The only apps
developed will be for smartphones and tables for Apple and Android systems. This means that no apps will be
created for Windows Mobile and Blackberry smartphones. These will have to work with the mobile website.

The assumption is that 95 % of the smartphone and tablet users use iOS and Android operation systems on
their devices.

BBS

* Overview of potential user scenarios
* List of requirements for website(s) and apps
* List of functions for website(s) and apps
* Test report

Milestones being met.

Page 47 of 88


ACTION B.2: Programming the Research
In the first two quarters of the project (with possibly an overflow into the 1st quarter of 2014) a plan will be
made on how to conduct the research. This plan will address the online statistics that will be collected, it will
deal with surveys that will be distributed (preferably via digital means) and it will find a way to use what
participants can observe in the process.

A number of topics to be research are in all likeliness already known. These include parameters like 'current
risk assessment of wildfire', 'perception of wildfire risk', 'state of preparedness for wildfires occuring', 'trust in
emergency authorities', 'informedness of safety measures in case of wildfire and/or other calamities'. Also
non-risk related parameters, more telling about people's connections to the area, will also be included:
'appreciation for 'De Groote Heide', 'appreciation of nature in general', 'knowledge about the habitat and birds
directives' etc. etc. Also indications of people 'media consumption' will be reseearched ("Do you have a
smartphone?", "Do you use it often?", "Do you know of 'De Groote Heide' website?") etc. etc.

The research plan will be constrained to researching quantifiable results pursued. Possibilities to include
necessary adaptations as they emerge from the new innovations engaged with in this process will be
addressed by the 3 research programmes that will be conducted.

The assumption is that it will be possible to adapt the on-line research tools and the instructions to the
participating observants to include additional or modified research topics. Plus: any unexpected results in
which the created plan cannot foresee can be collected in an additional research report.

BBS

1 research plan


Page 48 of 88


ACTION B.3: Planning the Communications
At the beginning of the project a communications plan will be created. This will address what needs to be
done regarding the awareness raising, the mobilization of the stakeholders and the transition communication
from the point of view of realizing the objectives. This first version of this plan will be created in December
2013 and may be updated after or during the trial campaign.

On an annual basis this original plan will subsequently be reviewed in the 4th quarter of every year.

There are no specific constraints to creating the communications plan.

The assumption is made that one review at the end of every year, in anticipation of the next year, will provide
sufficient room for modifying the original plan to meet changed circumstances and reality.

BBS

* 1 communication plan
* 3 annual updates (2014, 2015 and 2016)


Page 49 of 88


ACTION B.4: Establishing Green Living Lab
To be able to construct the Green Living Lab, a Generic Architecture needs to be created. With this we mean
an overview ('architecture') of the different layers that will make up the infrastructure: the wireless protocols,
the hardware in the infrastructure, the sensors (their types and protocols) etc. The word 'generic' is used here
in order to convey that the created architecture should also be replicable elsewhere.

Next to the generic architecture, in order to involve other parties, an interface needs to be described in order
to give them access to the infrastructure and allows them to communicate with other hardware and software.
This in general is called an Application Programmable Interface; we are calling it the Sensing Green Interface
Specification.

Based on the Generic Architecture and the Interface Specification, the actual infrastructure needs to be
constructed. As it will be unclear to what extent that infrastructure has to be permanent - this is one of the
topics that needs to be researched - the required wifi transmitters, access points, extenders and associated
sensors will be rented.

We foresee that the Green Living Lab will continue to evolve. Hopefully more industrial partners will join. For
this reason the realization period overlaps almost completely with the project period.

A constraint is that the challenge to mobilize industrial partners might become even bigger, because of the
fact that it will only be possible to engage with industrial partners after the summer holiday of 2013 which
may prove to be too late to make it into the budget cycle of the high tech companies in the region.

A first assumption is that it will be possible to conduct the trial campaign with a partial off-line infrastructure
(meaning: no live internet connection required; e.g. by installing certain wifi hotspots at which people can
download and install the apps).

A second assumption is that the results of partnerships for the evolving Sensing Green Smart Infrastructure
will progressively help convince other industrial and technological partners to join.

BBS

* A partnership with a number of industrial and technological partners

* Milestones being met
* The sophistication of the created Sensing Green Smart Infrastructure
* The number of industrial and technological partners

Page 50 of 88

LIFE12 INF/NL/000392 - C1c

C. Communication actions / awareness raising campaigns
ACTION C.1: Sychronizing the Start
Based on experiences it has been decided that all parties will be involved in an orchestrated way to ensure
that everyone is clear about what the total project will entail, has similar, interwoven and complementary
starting points and has his or her focus on their responsibilities.

An external party will be engaged at the beginning of the project. This party, coming out of the Design
department of Royal Philips Electronics, is currently already part of the bigger Sensing Green group and has a
lot of experience with long term projects involving multiple parties.

There is no particular constraint related to this action point.
The assumption is that a synchronized start, getting all parties to share their specific interests in this project
with eath other at the moment of beginning, will significantly reduce complexity and chances of dishord later
during the project.

BBS

* 3 attended workshops by almost all project members

* milestones being met

Page 51 of 88

Sensing Green, a plan to create a 'smart forest'

Sensing Green, a plan to create a 'smart forest'

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Sensing Green, a plan to create a 'smart forest'

Similar to Sensing Green, a plan to create a 'smart forest' (20)

More from Venturespring

More from Venturespring (20)

Sensing Green, a plan to create a 'smart forest'