DHS Hosts Industry Stakeholder Summit to Address First Responders’ Tech Requirements

The Department of Homeland Security hosted an industry stakeholder summit in August to identify capability gaps and discuss the development of new technology platforms for first responders.

DHS’ science and technology directorate collaborated with the International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation to conduct the inaugural event, the department said Tuesday.

More than 250 industry, academic, government stakeholders attended the North American IFAFRI summit to discuss the technology requirements of at least 7.5M first responders worldwide. 

Those requirements include the capability to locate responders and determine their proximity to hazards and risks; detection of contaminants and hazardous agents; ability to integrate data from multiple sources into incident command operations; and real-time analysis and monitoring of active and passive threats at incident scenes.

Speakers at the summit include Andre Hentz, acting deputy undersecretary at DHS S&T directorate; Colin Murray, S&T’s senior adviser from the Canadian Exchange; and Aymeric Dupont, counselor from the delegation of the European Union to the U.S.