After a series of successful webinars, focused on the use of experience from various areas in the medical sector, the Diversification Services team prepared a third thematic webinar called ICT in Emergency Situations. The ICT in Emergency Situations webinar conducted in English on 7th May provided the views of information and communication technology (ICT) professionals on the possibilities of using these technologies to better manage and solve the current pandemic and other emergency situations. The discussion was joined by R. Hilbert (YMS, a.s.), M. Bakoň (insar.sk s.r.o.), W. Carbone (IBM International Services Centre s.r.o.), and J. Gago (Hack Virus initiative) and hosted by SARIO’s Diversification Team Leader Michal Brichta.In the first part of the discussion, the four speakers introduced their topic-related activities to the audience. Matúš Bakoň spoke about the possibilities of using satellite applications in the prevention of emergency events with a particular focus on natural disasters. The next speaker, Radovan Hilbert presented a project assessing the impact of Covid-19 pandemic (or other emergencies) on individual parts of Slovakia using various data obtained from publicly available information systems. Juraj Gago introduced digitalnedoma.sk platform which was developed during the Hack Virus second hackathon and is aimed at interconnecting businesses in order to help them during the times of the pandemic. Last but not least, William Carbone shared his views and experience regarding ICT as a facilitator of the vital information flow between people and between key stakeholders in emergency situations.The second part of the webinar was dedicated to discussing key aspects of successfully using ICT to deal with emergencies. The participants agreed that crises can be better managed with sufficient prevention, which, in addition to time, also contributes to reducing the total cost of mitigating the impacts. Then, by using extensive sources of data (including new sources such as satellite images) helping us better understand the problem, we can efficiently create possible scenarios for solutions and automatic responses. And most importantly, interconnectivity and cooperation of stakeholders are essential as it brings up different perspectives, technologies, and sources of data offering comprehensive and agile solutions when combined.SARIO is planning further webinars on multiple interesting topics in the upcoming weeks. For more information please refer to our SARIO website, social media profiles, and other communication channels of our agency.
