The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently hosted the first North American International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation (IFAFRI) Industry Stakeholder Summit.
IFAFRI’s goal is to advance the development of innovative yet affordable technology for the more than 7.5 million first responders working in IFAFRI member nations.
The summit’s objectives were to address shared global high priority capability gaps, to hear from developers about potential solutions to IFAFRI capability gaps, and to understand the first responder market.
“We need to tailor our response and provide practitioners with the support they need in their daily work, and I believe research will contribute to the identification of stress and the desired solutions,” Aymeric Dupont, counselor of the European Union delegation to the United States, said. “To do so, we need to involve actors such as authorities, academia, first responders and industry. And the forum plays a central role in ensuring that these events are targeted.”
More than 250 representatives attended the summit. They included members of S&T’s First Responder Resource Group, and members of the first responder community, government, media, academia, and industry.
Information from the summit will be used to identify existing technologies that could assist first responders.