What can AI do for security regions?
Being without power for more than three days. No longer being able to withdraw money in supermarkets. Dealing with large groups of refugees arriving at the same time due to the geopolitical situation. Somewhere in the Netherlands, experts are thinking about what should happen in such situations. That "somewhere" is one of our security regions. A lot of work is done there every day. But as a citizen, you only notice this when society shakes to its foundations.
Of course, everyone would rather prevent that. Anything that can support a safety region is therefore not an unnecessary luxury.
In that context, we will look at AI in this blog post. Because security regions always run on data, the big question is: 'What if you combine this data-driven approach with the AI technology we now have?'
What safety regions do (and why it is so crucial)
A security region is the first tangible place where a regional crisis lands. Will wildfires break out? Are important utilities failing? Then social disruption is often the result. Safety regions draw up scenarios for this, so that the fire brigade can turn out and ambulances can continue to run. Also (and especially) during a crisis.
You rarely see the people behind it. During the corona crisis, they came into the picture for a while, often with the mayor as the face of the region. But their work remains largely invisible. That perhaps makes it even more important to be aware of its great importance.
From reacting to predicting: what AI adds
Security regions are data-driven through and through. They continuously receive reports and collect knowledge about patterns. An example: wildfires occur more often in the summer than in other seasons. You can register that data and combine it with a lot of other information.
If you add all the data together, you can use a model in such a way that it looks ahead. For example, fire trucks can be parked in the places where most wildfires start. Especially when there is no problem yet. This way you anticipate instead of waiting. What makes this possible? Computational capacity plus machine learning. This combination ensures that you can be on site before an incident occurs.
And that's just the predictive side. If you look at granting permits or managing crises, a lot revolves around devising scenarios. That is also possible with AI. You play scenarios against each other without having to get a room full of colleagues together every time. This ensures more efficiency and quality.
Starting with AI as a safety region: how do you do that?
The most successful AI initiatives do not start in an ivory tower. But where then?
In our experience, a bottom-up strategy works best. You will go on the shop floor and interview teams to actively collect information. This approach leads to initiatives that arise from daily practice (and not from the theory you have about it).
Our advice: talk to your people, ask about their challenges and map out how you can roll out a compliant AI solution for them.
Could you use some help with this? At Wortell, we work together with various security regions, so we know the working method and course of events through and through. In addition to in-depth technical expertise, we have a great deal of knowledge of the complex regulations that you have to comply with as a safety region. We can therefore help you to set up AI initiatives within that context.