Proposals involving earth observation are encouraged to primarily make use of Copernicus data, services and technologies.

Proposals are encouraged also to coordinate with ESA relevant activities, especially those undertaken under the Science for Society element of the FutureEO programme (https://eo4society.esa.int). Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impact of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2021-2024:

“Losses from natural, accidental and human-made disasters are reduced through enhanced disaster risk reduction based on preventive actions, better societal preparedness and resilience and improved disaster risk management in a systemic way.”

More specifically, proposals should contribute to the achievement of one or more of the following impacts:

• Enhanced exploitation of the latest scientific results (e.g., from research programmes and institutions) and integrated technologies (e.g. Earth observation, in situ data collection, advanced modelling, AI) into enhanced understanding of high-impact hazards and complex compound and cascade events and improved prevention, preparedness to mitigation, response, and recovery tools;
• Enhanced understanding and improved knowledge and situational awareness of disaster-related risks by citizens, empowered to act and involved in relevant research initiatives (including citizen volunteers) and consider innovative solutions, thus raising the resilience of European society;
• More efficient cross-sectoral, cross-disciplines (including SSH), cross-border coordination of the disaster risk management cycle and governance (from scientific research to prevention, preparedness to mitigation, response, and recovery, including knowledge transfer and awareness of innovative solutions) from international to local levels;
• Enhanced collaboration, interactions and cross-discipline dialogue and networking between the scientific community, research institutions and programmes (e.g., HE, ESA scientific activities, national science programmes, FutureEarth RIS-KAN) and first and second responders through dedicated networking and collaboration actions fostering a faster transfer of results from science into practice;
• Support of harmonised and/or standardised and interoperability of guidelines / protocols / tools / technologies in the area of crisis management, natural disasters and CBRN-E;
• Strengthened capacities of first responders in all operational phases related to any kind of natural and human-made disasters so that they can better prepare their operations, have access to enhanced situational awareness, have means to respond to events in a faster, safer and more efficient way, and may more effectively proceed with victim identification, triage and care;
• Improved impact forecasting capability and scenario building for enhanced stress testing of critical entities and adaption of protection and resilience-enhancing activity accordingly;
• Improve the capacity of institutions and professionals to respond to natural hazards, whose frequency and severity for human activities have increased and are partly resulting from climate change;
• Improved ability to rescue and manage the first phases of emergencies that take into account extreme climatic events and/or geological hazards that may threaten urban areas (e.g. interface fires, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruption etc.).

All proposals of projects under this Destination should aim to be complementary and avoid overlaps with relevant actions funded by other EU instruments, including the European Defence Fund and its precursors (the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) and the Preparatory Action on Defence research (PADR)), based on the information publicly available^[1] and while maintaining a focus on civilian applications only.

Investments in this Destination contribute substantially to the European Union’s objectives in terms of climate change adaptation and resilience to climate change. The funded projects are aimed at developing new technologies and solutions that can be used to understand the long-term effects of climate change, as well as to improve capacities of first responders and institutions for climate mitigation and prevention of natural disasters. Improved understanding of hazards and strengthened knowledge of the risks that these entail for human communities and their activities are cornerstones for more a resilient economy and society.

Where possible and relevant, synergy-building and clustering initiatives with successful proposals in the same area should be considered, including the organisation of international conferences in close coordination with the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS) activities and/or other international events.

[1] See for instance:

- relevant work programmes of the EDF (https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/european-defence-fund-edf_en) and of the DEP (https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/work-programmes-digital)

And information on ongoing projects of:

- the EDF (https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/programmes/edf)

- the DEP (https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/programmes/digital);

Visit the following links for more information on past projects of the:

- EDF (https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/projects-results;programCode=EDF)

- EDIDP (https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/european-defence-industrial-development-programme-edidp_en)

- PADR (https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/preparatory-action-defence-research-padr_en).

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