The Institute of Fire and Rescue Technology, or IFR, is a permanent player in the field of non-police emergency response research. As the staff department of the Dortmund Fire Department, the IFR ensures that the research objectives are implemented properly and professionally. Furthermore, it establishes direct practical relevance by proactively involving the individual departments and the fire brigade first responders working there in the research projects. In collaborative projects, the IFR and the Fire Dortmund Fire Department usually play the role of a potential end user; consequently, the IFR's contribution focuses on the development of requirements catalogues and practical evaluations – or, beyond that, the implementation of the results in its own structures. In terms of subject matter, the IFR focuses on topics that are of particular interest for the provision of public services within the city area and the Dortmund region and, beyond that, the Ruhr metropolitan region. The possible local impacts of anthropogenic or large-scale natural disasters are seen as a particular challenge in this context. Examples include industrial accidents or extreme weather events as a result of global climate change. In order to be able to manage these potential danger situations safely and efficiently, the locally responsible authorities and organisations with security tasks (BOS) – in this case, the fire departments in particular – need technologies that enable them to respond promptly and as needed. At present, many technologies are not yet available in the quality required for such a demanding application, even if their development is already well advanced in other areas and potential practical applications have been identified. Two current examples are autonomous robotic systems and so-called artificial intelligence. A reliable, regular and legally secure use of these future-oriented technologies to fulfil the sovereign tasks of the BOS is currently not yet possible or only possible to a limited, and thus less relevant, extent. Consequently, the IFR's main field of activity lies in research projects for the development and qualification of technological and/or organisational solutions to increase the performance and resilience of actors in non-police emergency response, in particular fire brigades, rescue services and civil protection and disaster management.
At the local level, daily contact with colleagues in the emergency services allows for hands-on research. This is complemented by an in-depth exchange with existing and potential partners at a national and European level as well as visits to the relevant conferences and trade fairs. Last but not least, the scientists' own experiences from real-life assignments provide a basis for their work. In order to bridge the gap between scientific expertise and practical application, the IFR mainly employs personnel who have a BOS background (authorities and organisations with security tasks), such as fire brigade, aid organisations, THW, etc., in addition to their respective scientific orientation. In this way, highly qualified jobs are created in Dortmund that are refinanced through the grants. The IFR's research projects are part of research funding programmes of the European Union (funding lines: Horizon 2020), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF – funding programme "Research for Civil Security"), the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI – funding line 2 "Applied Research and Experimental Development") and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIDE – funding programme "5G.NRW – 5G Research & Development").
