The plan is ambitious but clear: to establish in Bulgaria an International Search & Rescue Innovation Center for the Rescuer of the Future — a smart, creative and technology-driven environment where new rescue concepts can be developed, tested and transformed into practical methodologies.
The Center is envisioned as a 10-year platform for innovation, bringing together rescuers, engineers, researchers, aviation professionals, technology companies, investors and creative industries.
Its first objective is to develop and demonstrate new approaches to aerial and extreme-environment rescue. Through 2026, the focus is on research, prototyping, field testing and risk assessment. In 2027, these results will provide the foundation for developing and documenting a new generation of rescue methodology.
FROM EXPERIMENT TO METHODOLOGY
Many of the most difficult rescue challenges remain unresolved. In extreme environments and high-rise incidents, conventional capabilities can reach their limits — sometimes with tragic consequences.
The response cannot be simply to repeat established methods.
It is to question them, test alternatives and develop new capabilities.
This is the principle behind Ivan Kristoff’s work: transforming decades of experience in vertical access, aerial operations and extreme rescue into a new generation of integrated solutions involving aviation, drones, robotics, AI, advanced communications, simulation and human expertise.
The objective is not technology for its own sake.
It is technology that can give rescuers greater reach, better information and new options when conventional methods are no longer sufficient.
FROM M.A.R.S. TO THE RESCUER OF THE FUTURE
The concept builds on a series of initiatives developed by Ivan Kristoff over many years.
Among them is M.A.R.S. — Mid-Air Rescue System, originally presented as a concept for advanced aerial and high-rise rescue operations. The current vision expands this approach beyond a single system or specialist unit toward an integrated ecosystem for research, training, experimentation and rescue technology.
The proposed Institute of Vertical Operations and the future International Search & Rescue Innovation Center are intended to become components of this broader ecosystem.
A prototype and experimental base is envisioned near the Rila Mountains, providing an environment for testing concepts in terrain where vertical access, aviation and remote technologies can be combined. This development would form part of the pathway toward a larger innovation center in Sofia at the foot of Vitosha Mountain.
A PLATFORM WITH INTERNATIONAL REACH
The ambition extends beyond Bulgaria.
The project is designed to become a platform through which Bulgarian innovation can connect with international rescue, aviation and technology communities.
Demonstrations, specialist workshops, innovation forums and technology exhibitions will provide opportunities to present new concepts to manufacturers, operators, researchers and potential partners.
International engagement, including activities in Dubai and the wider UAE, is particularly relevant because of the region’s investment in advanced technology, aviation, science and innovation.
The objective is not simply to showcase a Bulgarian project abroad.
It is to create international partnerships capable of turning experimental ideas into deployable technologies and methodologies.
BUILDING THE RESCUER OF THE FUTURE
The ultimate vision is larger than a building.
It is an ecosystem.
A place where a rescue problem can move through a complete cycle:
IDEA → RESEARCH → PROTOTYPE → SIMULATION → FIELD TEST → RISK ASSESSMENT → METHODOLOGY → TRAINING
This is where the Rescuer of the Future takes shape — combining human experience with the capabilities of emerging technology.
Bulgaria provides the starting point.
The ambition is international.
The goal is to create a new generation of rescue capability — developed through experimentation, validated through testing and shared with the world.
