Building upon the results of the COLLARIS Network, this project aims to continue, expand and further develop the already established international network of crisis management and civil protection practitioners, research institutions and public administration interested in collecting and transferring knowledge, exchanging experiences, skills, good practices and information on operational procedures for the optimal use of drones in crisis management and rescue missions.

During the COLLARIS1 project (2023-2024) the following observations were formulated and their validity was clearly endorsed by representatives of the civil protection user community:

• Drones, especially combined with AI solutions, are a game changer for crisis management activities, improving situational awareness and allowing us to react faster and better to emergencies.
• Today only a fraction of available capabilities of drone technology are used operationally for rescue and crisis management. This gap will grow as many more solutions will become available in the coming 3-5 years.
• Legal and organisational obstacles represent today the main impediment for wider implementation of drone solutions addressing rescue and crisis management needs.
• In particular, implementation of air traffic management solutions enabling safe drone flights will significantly increase the use of drones for rescue and crisis management.
• The majority of civil protection stakeholders has insufficient organisational arrangements and know-how for widespread and fully efficient use of drones in their operations.

To effectively stimulate a wider and more complex use of UAV/UAS, the project will:

1. Facilitate sharing of lessons learnt from the adoption of innovative solutions and their absorption into operational practices.
2. Support the development of skills, knowledge and competences among people implementing them.
3. Deliver knowledge and recommendations supporting the development and implementation of systemic solutions which represent enablers for effective use of UAV/UAS, in particular related to air traffic management

COLLARIS project website

COLLARIS Network is coordinated by Crisis Information Centre CBK PAN (PL), with Disaster Competence Network Austria (AT), Center for Security Studies – KEMEA  (GR), VALABRE (FR), Högskolan i Skövde (SE), Ministry of the Interior – Cyprus (CY), Nederlands Instituut Publieke Veiligheid – NIPV (NL) and University of Cyprus (CY) as consortium partners.

COLLARIS Network associated partners are:

• Høgskulen på Vestlandet (HVL)
• Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PL)
• Polismyndigheten (SE)
• Civil Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Interior (CR)
• Kymenlaakso Rescue Department Finland (FI)
• Tiepoint (NO)
• Danish Emergency Management Agency College (DK)
• Escola Nacional de Bombeiros (PT)
• RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (SE)
• Södra Älvsborgs Räddningstjänstförbund (SE)
• Gothenburg Fire and Resue Services (SE)
• INERIS DEVELOPPEMENT
• Associazione della Croce Rossa Italiana (IT)
• FairFleet (DE)
• IEDO
• Fintraffic ANS (FI)
• District Firefighters’ Association of Kufstein (AT)
• Civil Olympic Village Protection Emergency Rescue Team (C.O.V.E.R.T.)

Project funded by the European Union through the UCPM Knowledge Network programme.

The project “COLLARIS Network: COLLaborative network on unmanned AeRIal Systems 2” is co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the program “Co-financed International Projects” for the years 2025–2026, in the amount of PLN 81,020.00. The total value of the project is PLN 900,256.00.