ECHO

Empowering and Connecting Diverse Communities for Multi-Hazard Resilience with Open Data, Open Models, and Open-Source Software

Financed by : European Comission

Program: HORIZON-CL3-2024-INFRA-01-02

Project Reference: 101225575

Role in the project: Partner

Duration: October 2025 to September 2028

 

Contact: Alejandro Palacios 

Implementation Centre: Centro de Emergencias Sanitarias 061

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of digital, smart and IoT technologies, along with the increasing dependence on them from services, infrastructures, and especially critical infrastructures (CIs), has created a demand for novel security solutions that enhance resilience and protect against climate-related hazards, natural disasters and cyberattacks. The EU-funded ECHO project will develop an innovative EU knowledge hub offering modular, interoperable and cost-efficient services that unite CI operators, local and regional authorities, and emergency service providers in a multi-level resilient ecosystem. Its tools will enable advanced threat monitoring and forecasting, scenario-based simulations, and risk and resilience plan evaluation while ensuring transparency, secure information sharing and data protection. Cross-border pilots will validate solutions, empowering stakeholders of all sizes to strengthen resilience.

Objective

As (peri-)urban areas become increasingly digital, interconnected, and complex, alongside growing threats such as climate change, natural disasters, or cyber-attacks, there is an urgent need to enhance the resilience and security of critical infrastructures (CIs) and the essential services they support. ECHO addresses these challenges by creating a multi-level Resilience Ecosystem that unites CI operators, Emergency Service Providers (ESPs), local/regional authorities (AUTs), and emergency service providers (EMPs) to co-create innovative tools, services, and strategies, for enhanced (urban) resilience planning and management.
ECHO develops an EU-sovereign Knowledge Hub and a suite of interoperable, modular, and cost-effective services, accessible via a centralized Platform. These include tools for threat forecasting, risk assessment, situational awareness, decision support, resilience plan evaluation, and scenario-based simulations, tailored to address diverse multi-hazard threats. Our Information Sharing Protocol ensures cost-effective resource pooling and collaboration, helping smaller municipalities overcome budget constraints. By using cutting-edge technologies such as Generative AI, we enable advanced modelling, forecasting, and decision-making while ensuring transparency and data security.
ECHO operates through 4 pilot sites in Slovenia, Italy, Spain, and the cross-border Italy-Slovenia region, addressing multiple hazards (floods, landslides, drought, earthquakes, wildfires, infrastructure failures, cyber-attacks) and engage diverse stakeholders (AUTs, ESPs, EMPs) to test and validate our solutions in relevant settings, ensuring scalability and adaptability across Europe.
Through comprehensive impact-generation activities, ECHO promotes best practices, empowering stakeholders of all sizes to strengthen the resilience of interconnected systems, enhancing the security and wellbeing of European citizens and communities.

Partners

    • ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS
    • ENGINEERING – INGEGNERIA INFORMATICA SPA
    • CS GROUP – France
    • GIOUMPITEK MELETI SCHEDIASMOS YLOPOIISI KAI POLISI ERGON PLIROFORIKIS ETAIREIA PERIORISMENIS EFTHYNIS
    • INSTITUT ZA KORPORATIVNE VARNOSTNE STUDIJE LJUBLJANA
    • RESILIENT WORLDS LTD
    • UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID
    • UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI UDINE
    • REGIONE AUTONOMA FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA
    • COMUNE DI GEMONA DEL FRIULI
    • FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA STRADE SPA
    • CAFC SPA
    • INSIEL – INFORMATICA PER IL SISTEMA DEGLI ENTI LOCALI S.P.A.
      • GASILSKA ZVEZA SLOVENIJE
      • OBCINA JESENICE
      • OBCINA KRANJSKA GORA
      • ELEKTRO GORENJSKA PODJETJE ZA DISTRIBUCIJO ELEKTRICNE ENERGIJE DD
      • TELEKOM SLOVENIJE DD
      • SERVICIO ANDALUZ DE SALUD
      • FUNDACION PARA LA INVESTIGACION DE MALAGA EN BIOMEDICINA Y SALUD
      • DIPUTACION PROVINCIAL DE MALAGA
      • AYUNTAMIENTO DE ESTEPONA
      • FUNDACION CENTRO ANDALUZ DE INVESTIGACIONES DEL AGUA
      • HIDRALIA GESTION INTEGRAL DE AGUAS DE ANDALUCIA SA
      • TIMELEX
      • INCITES CONSULTING SA
      • CARR COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED

LEARN MORE ABOUT ECHO!

Official website of the ECHO project