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SPARROW
Project overview
Resilience Guard is a core contributor to SPARROW, a project that aims to transform crisis preparedness in European cities through the creation of dynamic digital twins and predictive risk assessment technologies. By orchestrating vast multi-source datasets, past event learnings, and expert insights, SPARROW enables cities to assess vulnerabilities and test crisis responses in realistic digital breakdown scenarios. These simulations feed into novel decision-support systems designed to support civil protection, critical infrastructure operators, and regional authorities during high-impact emergencies, including digital failures caused by extreme climate events.
Resilience Guard leads the development of a real-time vulnerability assessment engine, delivering a cutting-edge system that evaluates interdependent asset states dynamically as scenarios unfold. This integrated tool forms part of a broader suite of SPARROW technologies aimed at enhancing urban resilience through collaborative preparedness, advanced communication tools, and a data-driven framework for Civil Protection across Europe.
Resilience Guard is a core contributor to SPARROW, a project that aims to transform crisis preparedness in European cities through the creation of dynamic digital twins and predictive risk assessment technologies. By orchestrating vast multi-source datasets, past event learnings, and expert insights, SPARROW enables cities to assess vulnerabilities and test crisis responses in realistic digital breakdown scenarios. These simulations feed into novel decision-support systems designed to support civil protection, critical infrastructure operators, and regional authorities during high-impact emergencies, including digital failures caused by extreme climate events.
Resilience Guard leads the development of a real-time vulnerability assessment engine, delivering a cutting-edge system that evaluates interdependent asset states dynamically as scenarios unfold. This integrated tool forms part of a broader suite of SPARROW technologies aimed at enhancing urban resilience through collaborative preparedness, advanced communication tools, and a data-driven framework for Civil Protection across Europe.
Funding
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement 101168499.
Project description
SPARROW (Solid Preparedness And Resilience for Robust Operations during disaster Wilderness) is a 36-month innovation project focused on enhancing the digital resilience of European cities through advanced simulation technologies, dynamic risk assessments, and the inclusive co-creation of crisis response frameworks. By fusing structured data from multiple sources, scenario-based modelling, and real-time updates from simulated digital breakdowns, SPARROW delivers a next-generation platform for anticipating, mitigating, and managing risks related to critical infrastructure disruptions.
SPARROW’s technological backbone is enriched by a range of cutting-edge innovations: A deployable emergency communication suite comprising mobile 5G-in-a-box systems, peer-to-peer mobile networks, situational awareness apps, and autonomous drones to restore and extend connectivity during crises. An integrated simulation environment that supports operational preparedness through interactive scenario building, infrastructure behavior modelling, traffic rerouting strategies, and dynamic resource management tools. A City Digital Twin (CITWIN) platform that visually unifies simulation results, real-time city data, and system recommendations into a strategic interface for authorities and first responders. Central to this is the Vulnerability Assessment Synoptic Engine (VASE)—a real-time risk analysis tool that integrates cascading effects modelling, interdependency analysis, and evolving threat data to assess vulnerabilities across critical assets and infrastructure.
SPARROW goes beyond the technical, embedding co-creation and societal resilience into its core. Citizens, local authorities, crisis professionals, and social science experts collaborate in defining requirements, co-designing tools, and validating solutions to ensure usability, inclusivity, and trust.
The project is piloted in three diverse European cities—Larnaca (Cyprus), Pilsen (Czech Republic), and Trikala (Greece)—each representing unique stress scenarios such as climate-induced communication failures, traffic control system breakdowns, and emergency management during large-scale public events. These pilots validate SPARROW’s adaptability, scalability, and impact under real-world conditions.
Ultimately, SPARROW aims to strengthen Europe’s preparedness and response capabilities, ensuring that cities can maintain critical operations, protect citizens, and recover rapidly—even in the face of complex, cascading digital disruptions.
Project goals
O1: Improve resilience against digital breakdown crises by co-creating preparedness and response frameworks with key stakeholders (e.g., civil protection units, crisis managers, regional authorities, citizens).
O2: Develop novel emergency communication and collaborative preparedness technologies through citizen and expert co-design processes.
O3: Enhance crisis communication, training, and prevention planning for both public and private sector entities.
O4: Validate SPARROW methodologies through a series of tests, table-top simulations, and field exercises.
O5: Assess adoption feasibility and develop pathways for broader EU uptake of SPARROW technologies in official crisis preparedness strategies.
Our input
Resilience Guard GmbH leads the development of the Vulnerability Assessment Synoptic Engine (VASE), one of the core innovations of the SPARROW project. VASE is a dynamic, real-time assessment platform that integrates critical infrastructure interdependencies, cascading threat scenarios, and advanced simulation models to evaluate vulnerability during digital breakdowns.
Unlike conventional static tools, VASE uses discrete-event simulation to incorporate multiple sources of uncertainty, updating asset states as crisis scenarios evolve. It enables emergency responders and planners to simulate mitigation actions and receive automated recommendations in response to unfolding threats. The tool supports both qualitative (color-coded) and quantitative outputs, facilitating evidence-based decision-making across operational, planning, and policy levels.
VASE also interfaces with SPARROW’s broader system, including digital twin visualizations, emergency communication modules, and citizen engagement tools. It represents a step-change in how critical infrastructure resilience is modeled, assessed, and reinforced.
Find out more
More detailed information and updates regarding the SPARROW project are available on the project’s official website: https://sparrowproject.eu/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement 101168499.
Project description
SPARROW (Solid Preparedness And Resilience for Robust Operations during disaster Wilderness) is a 36-month innovation project focused on enhancing the digital resilience of European cities through advanced simulation technologies, dynamic risk assessments, and the inclusive co-creation of crisis response frameworks. By fusing structured data from multiple sources, scenario-based modelling, and real-time updates from simulated digital breakdowns, SPARROW delivers a next-generation platform for anticipating, mitigating, and managing risks related to critical infrastructure disruptions.
SPARROW’s technological backbone is enriched by a range of cutting-edge innovations: A deployable emergency communication suite comprising mobile 5G-in-a-box systems, peer-to-peer mobile networks, situational awareness apps, and autonomous drones to restore and extend connectivity during crises. An integrated simulation environment that supports operational preparedness through interactive scenario building, infrastructure behavior modelling, traffic rerouting strategies, and dynamic resource management tools. A City Digital Twin (CITWIN) platform that visually unifies simulation results, real-time city data, and system recommendations into a strategic interface for authorities and first responders. Central to this is the Vulnerability Assessment Synoptic Engine (VASE)—a real-time risk analysis tool that integrates cascading effects modelling, interdependency analysis, and evolving threat data to assess vulnerabilities across critical assets and infrastructure.
SPARROW goes beyond the technical, embedding co-creation and societal resilience into its core. Citizens, local authorities, crisis professionals, and social science experts collaborate in defining requirements, co-designing tools, and validating solutions to ensure usability, inclusivity, and trust.
The project is piloted in three diverse European cities—Larnaca (Cyprus), Pilsen (Czech Republic), and Trikala (Greece)—each representing unique stress scenarios such as climate-induced communication failures, traffic control system breakdowns, and emergency management during large-scale public events. These pilots validate SPARROW’s adaptability, scalability, and impact under real-world conditions.
Ultimately, SPARROW aims to strengthen Europe’s preparedness and response capabilities, ensuring that cities can maintain critical operations, protect citizens, and recover rapidly—even in the face of complex, cascading digital disruptions.
Project goals
O1: Improve resilience against digital breakdown crises by co-creating preparedness and response frameworks with key stakeholders (e.g., civil protection units, crisis managers, regional authorities, citizens).
O2: Develop novel emergency communication and collaborative preparedness technologies through citizen and expert co-design processes.
O3: Enhance crisis communication, training, and prevention planning for both public and private sector entities.
O4: Validate SPARROW methodologies through a series of tests, table-top simulations, and field exercises.
O5: Assess adoption feasibility and develop pathways for broader EU uptake of SPARROW technologies in official crisis preparedness strategies.
Our input
Resilience Guard GmbH leads the development of the Vulnerability Assessment Synoptic Engine (VASE), one of the core innovations of the SPARROW project. VASE is a dynamic, real-time assessment platform that integrates critical infrastructure interdependencies, cascading threat scenarios, and advanced simulation models to evaluate vulnerability during digital breakdowns.
Unlike conventional static tools, VASE uses discrete-event simulation to incorporate multiple sources of uncertainty, updating asset states as crisis scenarios evolve. It enables emergency responders and planners to simulate mitigation actions and receive automated recommendations in response to unfolding threats. The tool supports both qualitative (color-coded) and quantitative outputs, facilitating evidence-based decision-making across operational, planning, and policy levels.
VASE also interfaces with SPARROW’s broader system, including digital twin visualizations, emergency communication modules, and citizen engagement tools. It represents a step-change in how critical infrastructure resilience is modeled, assessed, and reinforced.
Find out more
More detailed information and updates regarding the SPARROW project are available on the project’s official website: https://sparrowproject.eu/
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