FORTE: Förderung der Resilienz und Optimierung der Reaktion auf Kaskaden-effekte in kritischen Infrastrukturen

Hanno Friedrich

The functionality of critical infrastructure is essential for the population, economy, and administration in Germany. However, increasing threats specifically targeting critical infrastructure pose significant risks. These infrastructures are highly interdependent, making disruptions in one sector—such as energy—potentially catastrophic for others, like food production or logistics. Despite existing emergency plans, a lack of systematic knowledge regarding sectoral dependencies and cascading effects hinders effective crisis management.

The FORTE project aims to enhance transparency regarding interdependencies and cascading effects in critical infrastructure sectors, focusing on Energy, IT and Telecommunications, Transport and Logistics, and Food Supply. By combining domain expertise with real-world applications, the project will develop models to assess known (e.g., gas shortages, supply chain disruptions) and novel (e.g., IT infrastructure failures) threat scenarios. The objective is to create decision-support tools that visualize interdependencies, enabling stakeholders in business, government, and administration to improve crisis preparedness and response.

Through scenario-based analysis, the project will identify and quantify cascading effects, assess mitigation strategies, and provide insights for decision-makers. A key outcome will be interactive demonstration tools for crisis training and stakeholder workshops, strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructure in Germany.

Funded by: BMFTR