TPM receives Horizon2020 grant for developing iTRACK system

Over the last 15 years over 3,000 humanitarian aid workers have been killed, injured or kidnapped in conflict areas across the globe. There is no integrated decision support system that provides real-time analyses from the data streams that are generated by information technologies. 

This lack prevents an understanding of potentially threatening situations, increases response times and creates insecure communications. This leads to inadequate protection of humanitarian aid workers and hampered efficiency and effectiveness. A novel and innovative approach to tracking and decision-making is needed. TPM and 11 other partners from Europe and the USA received a grant for developing such a system: iTRACK.

iTRACK

iTRACK is focused on improving protection and effectiveness of humanitarian missions with integrated intelligent socio-technical tracking solutions to support threat detection, navigation, logistics, and coordination in humanitarian disasters. Collective intelligence and intelligent systems are set to play an important role in boosting both protection and efficiency of the response by providing the means for responders on the ground to acquire valued information in real-time, to help them self-assess the situation, make informed decisions, communicate, and organise their response.

TPM

TPM researchers involved in this project are Bartel Van de Walle (project leader), Alexander Verbraeck and Heide Lukosch of the section Policy Analysis. Half a million euros of the grant is allocated to TPM, which will be used for designing and evaluating an augmented reality board game and a policy handbook.

Pilots

The iTRACK system will be deployed, implemented and tested in simulations with humanitarian practitioners. Pilot applications with the World Food Programme and iMMAP in the ongoing conflict disasters in the Middle East as well as policy briefs and training cases are designed to ensure its uptake.