According to a press release by the University of Cyprus, the EU research project COncORDE (Development of Coordination Mechanisms during Different Kinds of Emergencies) aims to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) to help address some of these challenges. The aim is to develop a system with appropriate technological innovations, capable of strengthening the preparedness and interoperability of medical services during an emergency situation. 



The tool also will lead to improvements in emergency management and crisis management systemsand will assist decision-makers to extract reliable intelligence to guide their actions. The designed support system will have a number of useful features. It will be adaptable to different environments and different types of incidents. It will incorporate existing operational assets related to security, trust, and infrastructure in order to build a more robust Decision Support System. The systems will also be tested through pilot installations and by specially trained end-users. 



The World Health Organisation (WHO) has shown special interest in the project, due to its significance and has promised practical support throughout the duration of the project. 



The project partnership is multidisciplinary with participation of fourteen different organizations, from the UK, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Turkey, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and Belgium. The coordinator of the project is Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. 


The relevant KIOS research team is being led by Professors M. Polycarpou, C. Panayiotou and G. Ellinas. The team will be leading the design of the overall CONCORDE systems architecture and will be making significant contributions to the analysis of stakeholder requirements, as well as in the testing and pilot evaluation of the system. 



The project is co-funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-2013) – SECURITY.

Source: Financial Mirror