On 19 February 2026, the PREPSHIELD consortium successfully conducted its second pilot Tabletop Exercise (TTE) in Piemonte, Italy. The exercise brought together representatives from public authorities, healthcare institutions, emergency services, civil society organisations, and community actors to test and explore new approaches to inclusive crisis preparedness and management.
Testing PREPSHIELD tools and methodologies
The pilot exercise was designed to strategically test and validate several key outcomes and methods developed within the PREPSHIELD project. By assuming an already established Prepared State, the exercise allowed participants to focus directly on decision-making processes, communication strategies, and response coordination during a simulated crisis scenario.
Throughout the exercise, participants had the opportunity to interact with different tools and approaches developed within the project, including:
-
Best practices for inclusive crisis communication and management, developed by Università del Piemonte Orientale (UPO).
-
The PREPSHIELD online platform, developed by SSG, which currently enables one-way communication from the platform to the public application and supports data visualisation and information sharing.
-
The public-facing mobile application, developed by ICCS, which allows participants to distribute surveys and quizzes to simulate citizen engagement.
-
The Storybook, developed by TH Köln, which served as the narrative framework guiding the scenario and structuring the different phases of the exercise.
In addition, the exercise provided an opportunity to test the Tabletop Exercise methodology itself, including facilitation techniques, participant engagement, information flows, and structured reflection mechanisms.
A collaborative learning environment
One of the key objectives of the pilot was to explore how different actors collaborate in crisis situations. The exercise encouraged interaction between stakeholders from various sectors, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities of multi-stakeholder coordination in emergency contexts.
The simulation also helped identify barriers and enablers for effective and inclusive communication, particularly when engaging with diverse communities and vulnerable groups during health crises.
Looking ahead
The Piemonte pilot provided a safe and structured environment for experimentation, reflection, and learning. The insights collected during the exercise will contribute to further improving PREPSHIELD’s tools, best practices, and methodologies.
The project’s next Tabletop Exercise will take place on 22 April 2026 in Bucharest, Romania, where the PREPSHIELD approach will be tested at the national level with a broader range of stakeholders. This upcoming exercise will build on the lessons learned in Piemonte and further strengthen the project’s contribution to inclusive and effective crisis preparedness across Europe.
📸 Photos from the event below
German 
English 
Italian 
Romanian