VASCO · a Virtual Studio for Security Concepts and Operations

The concentration of government buildings within urban environments has become a source of serious security vulnerability. Administrators and security experts face a variety of evolving threats that are hard to anticipate. To secure a government building against multiple threats while maintaining a minimal level of transparency and accessibility requires an integral security approach. It demands interdisciplinary collaboration between different experts from different domains. Currently, there is no efficient method or tool that allows the experts of different stripes to efficiently design, evaluate and implement appropriate security concepts. Existing ones do not allow for the effective creation, analysis, assessment, and sharing of security concepts that will help government administrators provide a secure environment for personnel and citizens.The VASCO project addresses two important objectives. First, it will design, implement and evaluate an innovative IT tool that will enable security professionals and administrators to jointly formulate, test, and adjust security concepts and measures in a virtual environment. This provides a cost-effective and risk-free environment in which to devise an evidence-based, all-risk approach for the protection of government buildings. Second, it will produce a knowledge and best practice database, which captures dynamic and visual reference scenarios created with the VASCO system.To accomplish these aims, the project will adopt an iterative methodology that enables the constant involvement of its world-class security and crisis management experts, assisted by a solid and open user group, during the whole project. It makes use of the latest advances in interactive visualisation, simulation, crisis management, and artificial intelligence to provide end-users with a new tool that significantly improves the way in which they collaborate to secure critical government assets both at home and abroad.