In the scope of project FASTER, the two Portuguese partners of the project (Municipality of Grândola and INOV – Investigation, Technology and Innovation) organized on the 27.th of May an evaluation workshop for tools and solution that are being developed within the project. 

Several representatives of first responder’s organizations physically attended the workshop, like the Setúbal Civil Protection Service, a FASTER stakeholder, the Lisbon Battalion of Professional Firefighters (RSB), Grândola Firefighters, local health authority, Setúbal Red Cross former President, also a FASTER stakeholder, Municipal Forest Fires Defence Service and several other local authorities and entities. A great number of attenders also followed the workshop remotely, among others, from Portuguese civil protection entities, firefighters and authorities.

The workshop took place in Grândola and prior to the demonstration the participants were updated with the latest news and information about current state of the project. After this first moment, the demonstration started following an emergency scenario on an industrial area. Tools like the Global Common Operational Picture (G-COP), 2D mapping, AI scene analysis tool, portable weather station, UAV communication relay tool, smart textiles and an autonomous vehicle based on a Polaris platform, were demonstrated. A moment of questions and comments followed, with the intervention of many of the participants (physically and remotely) with questions based on their experience and practical suggestions for improving the tools presented. All tools were evaluated in a very positive way.

In the following weeks, the organization will receive more precise feedback and evaluations about the tools and will try to organize dedicated workshops in Setúbal, for the Municipal Civil Protection Service, and in Lisbon for the RSB.This event was a success, both in terms of the project tools evaluation and for the project dissemination.