Barcelona, 6 November 2025 — For the second year in a row, the EXTRACT Project took part in the Smart City Expo World Congress, the world’s largest and most influential event for urban innovation. This year, EXTRACT co-organized a side event together with CREXDATA and Protecció Civil (the Catalan civil protection agency) to explore how AI, digital twins, and predictive tools are transforming emergency response and crisis management.
From left to right. Julia Azpiroz, moderator of the session; Xavier Llort, from Hyds; Rafael Prades, from Protecció Civil; Eduardo Quiñones, from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center
The Tech x Cities stage hosted the panel session “From Crisis to Action: How AI and Data Technologies Are Closing the Reaction Gap at ‘Moment Zero’”. The discussion examined the roles of different actors in crisis and disaster management, from the developers of cutting-edge technology to the first responders who rely on it when every second counts.
To bring multiple perspectives together, the panel featured Eduardo Quiñones, Principal Investigator of the EXTRACT Project; Xavier Llort from Hyds, partner of CREXDATA; and Rafael Prades from Protecció Civil. Their complementary insights offered a holistic view of how technology supports every phase of crisis response, from prevention and early detection to real-time decision-making and post-crisis recovery.
Eduardo Quiñones, Principal Investigator of the EXTRACT Project
Eduardo Quiñones opened the discussion by describing how research on complex data analytics is needed to extract valuable knowledge.
From IoT devices that collect real-time data, to Edge and Cloud Computing that process and store information, High-Performance Computing for complex AI model training, and 5G/6G connectivity for rapid, reliable communication.
He illustrated how these technologies converge in the EXTRACT PER Use Case, which guide citizens in complex urban environments through a safe route in the city of Venice. Dr. Quiñones emphasized that many citizens lack the tools or information to choose the fastest evacuation routes, and that AI-driven systems can bridge this gap by transforming raw data into actionable, life-saving knowledge.
Building on this, Xavier Llort highlighted how AI-driven insights can be transformed into real-time decisions that empower first responders. He showcased CREXDATA’s Emergency Use Case, demonstrating how intelligent data systems enable quick, informed action during critical moments.Finally, Rafael Prades provided an operational perspective, presenting the mission of Protecció Civil in Catalonia and explaining how their teams coordinate before, during, and after crises. He underscored the importance of collaboration with researchers to ensure that technological tools truly meet responders’ needs, not only in the heat of the emergency but also in prevention, preparedness, and recovery phases.
From left to right. Julia Azpiroz, Eduardo Quiñones, Xavier Llort, Rafael Prades.
The discussion, moderated by Julia Azpiroz, Urbanist at Pla Estratègic Metropolità of Barcelona, delved deeper into the citizen’s role in crisis management: Do citizens trust technology? How can uncertainty be reduced? And what happens when technology fails?
The panellists agreed on the vital need to build citizen trust in technology and in public authorities’ recommendations, while also fostering the ability to act autonomously when systems malfunction.
In closing, questions from the audience highlighted a shared takeaway: in an era where climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent and severe, the integration of AI and data technologies into crisis management is a necessity. Only through collaboration between researchers, institutions, and citizens we can build resilient societies that safeguard what matters most — people’s lives and safety.