Day Two at iSAR 2026: From Data to Decision

Day two of iSAR 2026 is done. And it closed the way SAR should work. Everyone talking to everyone.

Our co-founders Tanguy Le Coq and Arthur Barbier had the privilege of facilitating the colloquium.

The theme. From Data to Decision. AI and Digital Innovation for Search and Rescue.

Twenty people around one table. France, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, and NGOs. Land, maritime and aeronautical rescue in the same room.

We opened with one question. When an operation crosses a border, how does the data actually move?

The answer came back in three words. A phone call.

From there the room did the work.

On data. What blocks sharing is rarely technical. Language, inaccurate contact and SRR records, official and unofficial centres side by side, and neighbours who have never spoken to each other.

On AI. Nobody wants a system that decides. Everybody already uses one that assists. And nobody has written the ethical rules yet. Law has them. Medicine has them. SAR does not.

On drones. Plenty of services own one. Far fewer know what it actually detects.

Two days, and one conclusion we keep coming back to. Technology buys time. People save lives.

Thank you to Global SAR Resources and to Major Murali Bhaskaran RMAF (Rtd) for the organisation, and for the support you have given us over several years. This opportunity matters to us.

A real pleasure to meet our partners and friends Matthew Mitchell, CEM, Matthew Schanck, MSc FInSTR FMSAR MNI, Jamie Stirling, Orlando "Max" Avis, Phil Bostock, Caroline Jupe, Steve Wills, International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF), International Association of Search and Rescue Coordinators, Maritime Search and Rescue Council, SOS MEDITERRANEE France, Tony Chedrawy, Commodore Anil Jai Singh, and Sangeeta Saxena in person, and to make many new connections this week.

Good things are coming for the SAR world. We stay confident about where the system is heading, because of the men and women we met here, who work for others every single day.

Until the next one.

#ISAR2026