The brand new TeamUP project, a Horizon Europe project, was inaugurated on 24-26 January 2024 through the Kick-off Meeting of its consortium in Athens, Greece. Hosted by I-Sense Group, the project Coordinator, the Kick-off Meeting provided an opportunity for all contributing partners to interact in a fruitful discussion on the different task areas and roles and share knowledge for the successful development of the project.
The TeamUP project is addressing concerns about CBRN-E incidents targeting civilians by proposing a framework to enhance capabilities and response measures in Europe. Currently, First Responders face challenges due to a lack of training, equipment and resources for dealing with CBRN-E hazards. The goal of TeamUP is to develop an innovative toolkit for detection, identification and monitoring of hazardous material, coordinated operations and efficient and safe Search and Rescue (SaR) supported by Augmented Reality (AR), and technologies for monitoring of the health status of First Responders. In addition, TeamUP will integrate tools for triage and decontamination along with modules for collaborative and digitized Planning, Response and Training for First Responders and citizens. The TeamUP technologies will be tested and validated during a series of Tabletop, Small-Scale Exercises as well as Small Scale and Full-Scale Trials with the active involvement of 8 end user-organizations, and a very competitive technical team, experienced in EU impactful funded projects, aspiring to create a ready to market solution. This collective effort will also contribute to the standardization of decontamination procedures and metrics, across the European Union.
During the Kick-off Meeting of the project, Dr. Angelos Amditis, the I-SENSE Group Director and Research and Development Director of ICCS/NTUA gave an opening speech, while Dr. Eleftherios Ouzounoglou, the Project Manager and CMSS Technical Management Advisory of I-Sense, presented the project and moderated the discussions. Lazaros Karagiannidis, the CMSS Division Leader of I-Sense, presented the I-Sense team involved in the project and Katerina Valouma, the day-to-day project manager, presented an overview of the project and of ICCS tasks within the project. Marilena Xarcha, I-Sense’s Project Administrative Management Subteam Leader, presented the financial planning. Katerina Argyri and Dimitris Kosyvas represented the I-Sense Development team involved in the project, and Nantia Skepetari, participated as the Communication and Dissemination Manager of the project from the ICCS side responsible for promoting the project through ICCS channels.
Following a thorough presentation on the project’s structure, and technical and end-user requirements, the project partners focused on the planned exercises, outlining the actions of each Work Package and establishing legal and ethical requirements. Moreover, a Workshop was conducted to discuss details of the first exercise in Dortmund, Germany, scheduled for April 2024 and hosted by the Fire Department of Dortmund. This constructive meeting also included a Liaison and Clustering discussion with 2021-DRS-01-05 topic projects (OneLab, Mobilize,) organised with the support of CERIS.
The TeamUP project, spanning 36 months from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2026, is comprised of 22 partners and 1 associated partner. It brings together 7 renowned academic and research institutes (ICCS, CERTH, UCLouvain, FHG, CEA, H-BRS, AIT), 5 dynamic SMEs (EXUS, T4i, STWS, BIOX-associated partner, VANOS), 2 of the most well-established CBRN-E Training Centres in Europe (VESTA, FDDO-also the fire department of the city of Dortmund), 1 non-governmental organization (JOIN), 1 technological platform (TPEB), 1 national standardization agency (CSA), 1 SME expert in Ethical and Legal aspects (DBC), 1 Fire and Rescue Service (SDMIS), 1 Central Directorate of Public Security (police agency) and police academy (ENSP), 1 Ambulance Service (JOAFG), 1 Ministry of Defense (HMOD) and 1 private security company (M2C).
