Applications are now being accepted for the NextGen First Responder Technologies solicitation, an opportunity for a maximum conditional grant of up to $1 million, jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the Israeli Ministry of Public Security.
The NextGen First Responder Technologies program is looking for innovations in fields such as protective clothing, wearable technology, and situational awareness.
(Learn how S&T is using science and technology advances to address evolving threats. This video highlights our efforts to improve cybersecurity, first response, aviation security, resiliency, and situational awareness. Courtesy of DHS S&T and YouTube)
Submission details and a full list of capability gaps are available on the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation website.
The capability gaps applications are being accepted for are as follows:
United States-Israel First Responders Capability Gaps
- The ability to know the location of responders and their proximity to risks and hazards in real time.
- The ability to detect, monitor, and analyze passive and active threats and hazards at incident scene in real time.
- The ability to rapidly identify hazardous agents and contaminants .
- The ability to incorporate information from multiple and non-traditional sources (e.g., crowdsourcing and social media) into incident command and operations.
- The ability to communicate with responders in any environmental conditions (including through barriers, inside buildings, and underground .
- Communications systems that are hands-free, ergonomically-optimized, and can be integrated into personal protective equipment.
- The ability to remotely monitor the tactical actions and progress of all responders involved in the incident in real time.
- The ability to identify trends, patterns, and important content from large volumes of information from multiple sources (including non-traditional sources) to support incident decision making.
- The ability to identify, assess, and validate emergency-response related software applications.
- Protective clothing and equipment for all responders that protects against multiple hazards.
- The ability to identify what resources are available to support a response (including resources not traditionally involved in response), what their capabilities are, and where they are, in real time.
- The ability to monitor the status of resources and their functionality in current conditions, in real time.
- The ability to remotely scan an incident scene for signs of life and decomposition to identify and locate casualties and fatalities.
- Readily accessible, high-fidelity simulations tools to support training and exercises in incident management and response.
- The ability to monitor and analyze the resilience of the civilian population and influence it by using various methods such as social media, publications, direct instructions, etc.
- Technological means and devices for handling long term emergencies in urban arenas, including natural and man-made disasters, etc.
- The ability to detect and deal, in real time, with peoples stress conditions (first responders and civilians).
- The ability to manage, control and contain large scale riots and public disorder events.
- The ability to neutralize people suspected of being aggressive, violent, harmful and dangerous to the safety and the security of innocent citizens and Responders, by using Non-Lethal weapons.
- Remote detection capabilities of any kind of weapons (knife, gun, explosive device, etc), on a person’s body, personal belongings or baggage.
- The ability to remotely detect and contain miniature hostile drones.
The deadline for executive summaries is February 15, 2017 and final proposals are due by April 5, 2017. Decisions are expected to be issued in June 2017.
“We’re extremely proud to partner with Israel to ensure that our valued first responder community has the best tools to perform their duties efficiently and safely,” said Deputy Under Secretary for Science and Technology Dr. Robert Griffin, a former first responder.
“This is the second time we have partnered with Israel in this manner, with last year’s partnership yielding interest from dozens of companies and 12 proposals for development. I am pleased to renew this partnership and our commitment to its mission.”
The BIRD Foundation is a unique U.S.-Israeli partnership, originally outlined in 2008 as a part of a broader agreement between the two nations, and is designed to promote and jointly fund the development of advanced technologies to improve and enhance the preparedness of first responders and their capabilities in the field.
For submission information, please contact:
In Israel: Ms. Einat Spivak, einat@birdf.com, Tel: 972-3-698-8301
In the United States: Ms. Andrea Yonah, andreay@birdf.com, Tel: 609-356-0305
