CBRNe threats are cross-border by nature. Border security forces are working daily to prevent trafficking of materials and precursors from prohibited pesticides to protected species, enforce pandemic travel restrictions and detect radioactive contraband. However, relevant standards, products, services and stakeholders are not always clear initially and practitioners have no hands-on tools to check the CBRNe landscape and easily learn about developments and changes.

It is against this backdrop that PEERS started on November 1st, 2022. The project has a great ambition to advance and strengthen the European Union’s operational safety and security policies through a co-creation approach involving committed practitioners and policymakers working for the Disaster Resilient Societies. To achieve so, PEERS is working hard to develop a market-oriented ecosystem that includes a knowledge dashboard platform tailored to profiles, virtual reality gamification, an integration capability to existing community-building platforms, a practitioner-driven Better Practice Guide initiative, an eLearning tool and furthering user training skills based on situational awareness.

By applying a listen, learn and act approach, such an ecosystem will enable policymakers and practitioners to have a say in the standardisation process, from research to the adoption of standards and/or harmonised methods and tools to be primarily used during the preparedness and response stages of any emergency according to their needs. This way standards will stem from consolidated results of practical and contemporary experience, science, and technology, thus contributing to reach the optimum community benefits.