The ESENet (Emergency Services Europe Network) Coordination Action aimed at establishing a network of stakeholders in the Emergency Management domain that identified, discussed and agreed on needs, requirements, new technologies and best practices in responding to everyday as well as to major emergencies.

ESENet objectives included:

  • The identification of gaps in the emergency service provision chain and the collection of user requirements;
  • The selection of available and/or promising technologies for tackling the identified challenges, also identifying areas where further research is needed;
  • The analysis of organizational gaps, with suggestions and best practices at EU level about procedures, framework agreements and reorganizing suggested tasks;
  • The identification of available standards or areas where standards will be needed.

Although ESENet services are tailored to meet the specific needs of the public authority user community, they are also available to the Commission, and in a controlled manner, to other research projects. In this way, ESENet was designed to ensure that relevant topics for the citizen’s safety and security could be brought to the attention of these agencies.

ESENet also ensured that emergency services did not have to carry out a literature search every time they want to find out if there are any operational practices or discussion which may help them address a particular problem. ESENet already did this for them and is able to present them with information or direct them to where it can be found.