Innovation in the face of Europe’s forest fires
In recent decades, forest fires have emerged as one of the major challenges faced by humanity. And in some European countries, mainly due to climate change, forest fires have become much more than a challenge, they have become an increasingly frequent threat.
As stated in the “ Advance report on Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2022“, issued by the European Commission: “2022 was the second worst year in Europe in terms of burnt areas and number of fires, since 2006. The burnt area in the European Union (EU) was the second highest ever, only behind the year of 2017.”
Out of the total extension of land in the EU that has been burnt in 2022, 44% lie in the so-called protected areas within the Natura2000 network. This huge area amounts to 365,308 hectares, as per the same report.
To fight against such threats that endanger forests, animal, and human life on earth, innovation is one of the possible answers.
As per information available on the European Patent Office (EPO) website, experts from both the EPO and the national patent offices from the European countries most affected by fires, ie, Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, and Italy, joined their efforts and created a series of search queries on patents filed in the fields of fire-fighting innovation.
These search queries intend to support inventors, scientists and engineers providing them with relevant information on patent applications filed in fire-fighting related areas.
The four fields selected
Facing the scenario reported from 2022 in the above-mentioned report, factoring in the number of fires and in the burnt area in Europe, and taking innovation as a possible way to reduce the risks and the consequences related to fires, the following fields have been considered in said search queries, according to the EPO:
