#HUMTECH: Assessing the Technological Turn in Humanitarian Action
On the 15 February 2017 the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) at RSIS hosted a workshop on “Assessing the Technological Turn in Humanitarian Action” with the aim to bring together experts and practitioners that are concerned with the question of how technological innovations can assist and have impacted humanitarian action and disaster risk management in the Asia-Pacific region.
The workshop featured 9 speakers from Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, the UK, the US, Spain and Switzerland and a total of 30 participants from multilateral organizations, government institutions and academia. Technologies that were discussed included disaster robotics for search & rescue operations, drones for mapping and the transportation of medical payload, big data and its use for development, renewable energy and humanitarian assistance, and remote sensing for early warning systems regarding floods and tsunamis.
The workshop was the first event on humanitarian technology organized by NTS Centre’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme (HADR) and was deemed a success as it enabled a vivid exchange of knowledge, ideas and opinions among leading actors of the region involved in humanitarian technology.
