Finished projects (2025-2026)
LOCALIENCE – Developing resilience against extreme weather threats at local level in Central Europe
The overall aim of LOCALIENCE is to develop disaster response capacities of municipalities, especially through developing knowledge and methods of rapid response to extreme weather events caused by climate change, as well as the effective management of the effects of such events, and to disseminate solutions supporting local level climate resilience and biodiversity restoration to Central European settlements.
LOCALIENCE connects transnational partners facing similar extreme weather threats, benefitting from a vast Central European pool of professional institutions and their experience, exploring solutions aimed at multiple aspects of the same challenge but offering sound learning and transfer potential, transnational peer-review and co-creation, as well as long-term networking, data sharing and service integration prospects in a compact geographical area.
The specific objectives of LOCALIENCE (as well as its main activities) are:
- Providing jointly developed tools for policy development, action planning and monitoring, to improve local, regional and national levels of disaster management, to increase resilience against extreme weather events caused by climate change.
- Strengthening public and civil stakeholder preparedness, proactivity and engagement via training, knowledge sharing and awareness raising.
- Developing and testing small-scale, local solutions ( particularly relevant to the country's weather conditions and disaster management system) to increase local level resilience and preparedness concerning extreme weather threats caused by climate change, building on intensified stakeholder interaction and IT solutions.
The project is financed from the European Union Programme - Interreg Central Europe 2021-2027.
Project duration: April 2023 – March 2026
CoSky – Polish-Norwegian bilateral initiative for increased efficiency of use of drones in civil protection
In October 2024, the Polish - Norwegian bilateral initiative CoSky was launched under the Program "Internal Affairs", implemented within the framework of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism and the EEA Grants 2014 - 2021. The program is managed by the Polish Ministry of the Internal Affairs and Administration. Led by the Crisis Information Centre of the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CIK CBK PAN) in collaboration with Norway's Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) and the company Tiepoint, this initiative sought to enhance the efficiency of drone use in civil protection in Poland and Norway.
The initiative focused on facilitating the operational use of drones by exchanging experiences and best practices in two key areas:
- Coordination of complex air operations (involving both drones and manned aviation),
- Generating and sharing maps based on drone data.
In Poland the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency and the Crisis Information Centre CBK PAN in cooperation with the State Fire Service have undertaken a series of activities to develop and validate an innovative model enabling safe and effectively coordinated flights by both types of aviation during crisis operation. This model introduces the roles of Air Operations Coordinator and Flight Manager who are supported by the dedicated “Search & Help” IT system enabling efficient communication with UAV pilots. During the project, operational tests of the S&H system were conducted, comparing it with Norwegian solutions such as NINOX and HemsWX. A key element was the analysis of experiences from Polish and Norwegian rescue operations, including the floods in Poland in September 2024.
The project also addressed the topic of rapid UAV mapping, analysing experiences from events such as the Gjerdrum landslide in 2020, where drones provided the first 3D map just 18 hours after the disaster. The project issued recommendations for integrating drone data with GIS and crisis management systems. Additionally, an e-learning course on UAV mapping for crisis management was created, available in Polish, Norwegian, and English.
The final outcome of the project was a three-year roadmap outlining the development directions for air traffic management (ATM) and UAV mapping in Poland. This document includes perspectives for further bilateral cooperation with Norway and recommendations for implementing new technologies and practices within the framework of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).
The results of CoSky were presented on February 18, 2025, during the final conference at the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw. The event gathered over 80 representatives from public administration, emergency services, and experts from Poland and Norway. Discussions focused on the future of drone use in civil protection, including further development of flight coordination systems and UAV mapping.
The project recieved funding from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the "International Co-Financed Projects" programme for 2024, in the amount of 125,829.00 PLN.
Project duration: October 2024 – February 2025