(124b) Digitizing Emergency Response: Risks and Opportunities of Emerging Technology for Incident and Emergency Responders

In this session we will explore the traditional challenges of emergency response and crisis management and ask whether technological solutions provide the answers. We will introduce and explore a Digital Emergency Response Ecosystem as a case study showing how technology can offer significant benefits to responders. Benefits including enhanced situational awareness, real-time communications, streamlined reporting, and improved coordination between organizations and other responders, such as clean up providers. However, we’ll also heed caution, discussing the complexities of crisis and emergency situations, the intricacies of human decision making, and why AI and other digital solutions are not a cure-all for our challenges and could in fact create barriers to effective decision making under pressure.