Broadband  |  2023-12-15

2023 PSCE Winter Conference Successfully Highlights Critical Communications for Large Scale Events

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

A special collaborative session on Mission Critical Apps invited participants to explore in groups the existing issues, needs, and enablers that would provide an interoperable Mission Critical Communication system.

The 2023 PSCE Winter Conference took place this year on 5th and 6th December in The Hague, in the premises of the Dutch Police Training Centre. Before the event kicked off, the week started with a workshop dedicated to Law Enforcement

Agencies (LEAs) organized by the EITHOS project and concluded with a two-days meeting for BroadEU.Net programme, which was also presented during the PSCE Conference.

In 2024, Europe will host many international high-level events such as the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games and the European Football Championship, posing the question of how national and European agencies as well as first responders are currently preparing themselves to be as prepared as much as possible to all risks and challenges that could threaten the safety and security of all citizens.

Day I of the Conference delved into different national and international examples of resilient communication systems with high-level presentations from the French Ministry of Interior, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Dutch Police and Brazilian Federal Police who presented on the management of the Rio Olympics.

Day II provided a closer insight to the ground operational challenges in managing emergency and security during large-scale events with interventions from the French National Railway, the French Red Cross, FirstNet Authority, the Austrian Institute of Technology and Europol.

The audience also had the opportunity to learn about some innovative solutions in the field of PPDR through the projects 5G-Epicentre and Shield4Crowd.

The event concluded with a special collaborative session on Mission Critical Apps which invited participants to discuss in groups about the current challenges, needs and enablers that will be able to ensure a transition towards an interoperable Mission Critical Communication system.

Over 80 participants within and outside PSCE from industry, research and first responders’ agencies joined the event, highlighting the need and interest in continuing the discussions about the current backstops as well as the way forward in developing solution to better support crisis management, public safety communications, and the protection of public spaces during and beyond large-scale events.