The aim of the HyResponder project is to develop and implement a sustainable trainer the trainer programme in hydrogen safety for responders throughout Europe, supporting the commercialisation of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies by informing responders involved in the permitting process, improving resilience and preparedness, and ensuring appropriate accident management and recovery. The specific objectives of the project include the development of clear and updated operational, virtual reality, and educational training for trainers of responders to reflect the state-of-the-art in hydrogen safety. The European Emergency Response Guide for responders will be revised to reflect advancements. The materials will incorporate identified intervention strategies and tactics for liquefied hydrogen applications. A Pan-European Network of responder trainers will be established and trainers from at least 10 European countries will attend a bespoke course in hydrogen safety pertinent to responders. Using feedback from the network on national specificities, educational training materials will be adapted where required to reflect regional peculiarities. The materials for responders will be translated and made available in 8 languages via an e-Platform. The translated materials will be utilised by the newly trained trainers to deliver workshops in 10 countries across Europe enhancing the reach and impact of the programme. National Training Clusters will be developed to consolidate links between the hydrogen safety and responder communities and to support the delivery of workshops at a national level. Through the establishment of an International e-forum for responders, and the integration of the translated materials in the e-Platform, it is anticipated that a sustainable pan-European training programme in hydrogen safety for responders will be developed, which will be recognised as the standard in hydrogen safety training across Europe.

The aim of the HyTunnel-CS project is to perform pre-normative research for safety of hydrogen driven vehicles and transport through tunnels and similar confined spaces (FCH-04-1-2018). The main ambition is to facilitate hydrogen vehicles entering underground traffic systems at risk below or the same as for fossil fuel transport. The specific objectives are: critical analysis of effectiveness of conventional safety measures for hydrogen incidents; generation of unique experimental data using the best European hydrogen safety research facilities and three real tunnels; understanding of relevant physics to underpin the advancement of hydrogen safety engineering; innovative explosion and fire prevention and mitigation strategies; new validated CFD and FE models for consequences analysis; new engineering correlations for novel quantitative risk assessment methodology tailored for tunnels and underground parking; harmonised recommendations for intervention strategies and tactics for first responders; recommendations for inherently safer use of hydrogen vehicles in underground transportation systems; recommendations for RCS. The objectives will be achieved by conducting inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral research by a carefully built consortium of academia, emergency services, research and standard development organisations, who have extensive experience from work on hydrogen safety and safety in tunnels and other confined spaces. The complementarities and synergies of theoretical, numerical and experimental research will be used to close knowledge gaps and resolve technological bottlenecks in safe use of hydrogen in confined spaces. The project outcomes will be reflected in appropriate recommendations, models and correlations could be directly implemented in relevant RCS (UN GTR#13, ISO/TC 197, CEN/CLC/TC 6, etc.). HyTunnel-CS will reduce over-conservatism, increase efficiency of installed safety equipment and systems to save costs of underground traffic systems.

ASGARD has a singular goal, contribute to Law Enforcement Agencies Technological Autonomy and effective use of technology. Technologies will be transferred to end users under an open source scheme focusing on Forensics, Intelligence and Foresight (Intelligence led prevention and anticipation). ASGARD will drive progress in the processing of seized data, availability of massive amounts of data and big data solutions in an ever more connected world. New areas of research will also be addressed. The consortium is configured with LEA end users and practitioners “pulling” from the Research and Development community who will “push” transfer of knowledge and innovation. A Community of LEA users is the end point of ASGARD with the technology as a focal point for cooperation (a restricted open source community). In addition to traditional Use Cases and trials, in keeping with open source concepts and continuous integration approaches, ASGARD will use Hackathons to demonstrate its results. Vendor lock-in is addressed whilst also recognising their role and existing investment by LEAs. The project will follow a cyclical approach for early results. Data Set, Data Analytics (multimodal/ multimedia), Data Mining and Visual Analytics are included in the work plan. Technologies will be built under the maxim of “It works” over “It’s the best”. Rapid adoption/flexible deployment strategies are included. The project includes a licensing and IPR approach coherent with LEA realities and Ethical needs. ASGARD includes a comprehensive approach to Privacy, Ethics, Societal Impact respecting fundamental rights. ASGARD leverages existing trust relationship between LEAs and the research and development industry, and experiential knowledge in FCT research. ASGARD will allow its community of users leverage the benefits of agile methodologies, technology trends and open source approaches that are currently exploited by the general ICT sector and Organised Crime and Terrorist organisations.