- Finnova participates these days in Benaguasil in a working meeting of the SETOFF project, co-funded by the EU in the framework of Erasmus+, which aims to improve the preparedness and job security of civil protection and security personnel in the private sector in the event of future crises and emergencies.
- A delegation of 15 people from Greece, North Macedonia, Belgium and Spain, representing the 8 entities that make up the SETOFF project consortium, spend two days analysing the progress and next steps of this European project.
- The challenge of floods and desertification requires better governance of water treatment plants to regenerate water for reforestation.
Finnova attends today and tomorrow in the Valencian town of Benaguasil the second working meeting of the European project SETOFF, which aims to improve the preparedness and job security of civil protection and security personnel in the private sector against future crises and emergencies. The event, which brought together 15 representatives of the 8 partners of the European project, was inaugurated by Jose Joaquin Segarra Castillo, mayor of Benaguasil, together with the councillor for European projects, Stephane Soriano, local partner of the project.
Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, attended today this meeting held at the Benaguasil Town Hall, together with the project partners: universities and training organisations with expertise in civil protection issues, municipalities and non-profit research organisations, as well as technical consultancy service companies from Greece, Belgium, Spain and the Republic of North Macedonia. During the working day, the progress and next steps to be taken for the achievement of the project were discussed. “The SETOFF project, of which we are partners, is an interesting program that has many synergies with other projects we are working on such as Cilifo, Firepoctep or FIPAS, all of them focused on the prevention of natural risks,” said Revuelta. “Climate change is a huge challenge for the EU and for the planet as a whole. Fires and floods are multiplying and are devastating millions of hectares. An example of this is what happened in 2022 on the Iberian Peninsula, where more than 400,000 hectares have burned causing soil loss, drought and flooding. The Iberian Peninsula is a global laboratory for innovations in fire and flood prevention and control. In Spain and Portugal, unfortunately, there have long been fires and floods, and this has led to the existence of a technological ecosystem and we have a long experience to share with other countries in the world facing these challenges. Public administrations and companies should take advantage of European Next Generation, Interreg, LIFE and Horizon funds to implement and promote practical innovations in forest management, firefighting in the EU, recovery of burnt areas. At the level of climate change, we must explore the energy recovery of agricultural and forestry residues. The challenge of floods and desertification requires better governance in water treatment plants to regenerate water for reforestation, for example by using carbon sinks and improving the circular economy in water treatment plants, by implementing facilities that can digest organic waste to generate biogas and bio-fertiliser to recover contaminated soils and abandoned fields”, explained Finnova’s CEO.
Innovative and efficient practices of UE catastrophe management
Experts in the field discuss during these two days the general evolution of the project, which develop an innovative training plan based on a proven and successfully applied simulation model, combined with the latest scientific knowledge and a thorough analysis of the real needs and cognitive profile of the target groups. This plan can be applied at different stages of training both in civil protection and in private and personal sector safety and security: e-learning educational platform, e-training modules, online technologies to bring distance training closer to face-to-face training, skills retention service, etc. The project is also implemented in the field of civil protection.
By the same token, it gives visibility to innovative and effective EU disaster management practices, as well as provide an innovative, flexible and affordable high quality training curriculum for private sector security and safety and civil protection personnel and enhance collaboration between partners and the exchange of best practices and resources.
Finally, the results obtained are evaluated, and the procedures for implementing and training the trainers’ simulation workshops and establishing the processes of strategies and dissemination of communication skills are established.
About SETOFF
The project SETOFF (smart education and training program for central and local government officials: embracing vulnerability as our greatest strength and innovative tools for risk management) aims to improve the preparedness and occupational safety of civil protection and private sector security and safety personnel for future crises and emergencies by developing an innovative online training curriculum based on a proven and successfully implemented simulation model combined with the latest scientific knowledge. and comprehensive needs analysis.
The SET-OFF consortium consists of 8 partners from 4 countries: universities and training organisations with expertise in civil protection issues, municipalities and non-profit research organisations, as well as technical consultancy service companies from Greece, Macedonia, Belgium and Spain. In addition, eleven Associated Partners recognise the need and potential of this project to enable structured knowledge exchange and facilitate collaboration between practitioners, civil society and stakeholders in the field of disaster management through the proposed online platform and express their interest in supporting and their intention to actively participate in SETOFF.
About Finnova
Finnova is the European foundation for innovation financing. Its objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through its knowledge and experience in European funding instruments, addressing societal challenges such as youth employment, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, sustainable tourism and the fight against climate change.