Skip to content

2019 ended very successfully for PARSEC, with two-weeks-long extension of the first Open Call, and 348 applications from 38 countries! If you have already applied, you would like to join or you are still considering how to benefit from PARSEC ecosystem, stay tuned for what is happening in 2020.

After the closing of the application period, more than three hundred applicants are currently taking part in peer-2-peer evaluation. On the 10th of February the evaluation will close, points will be counted, and 100 beneficiaries will be selected.

The selected beneficiaries will meet with PARSEC consortium on the 27th of March in Stuttgart, Germany, to start working on their ideas and on creation of cross-border and/or cross-sectoral consortia. During the three-day-long Bootcamp, beneficiaries will take part in workshops, lectures, coaching sessions, and most importantly, in matchmaking event.

Beneficiaries of Open Call 1 will be looking for partners to form cross-border and/or cross-sectoral consortia throughout the spring. Apart from Bootcamp, accessible only for beneficiaries, five matchmaking events will be organized. To facilitate the access to the events, two of them will be hosted online, while three others will be organized in different regions of Europe. Matchmaking events will invite SMEs, entrepreneurs, innovators, and researchers to cooperate in creating of new Earth Observation-based product or service. Events will be open for representatives from Food, Energy, Environment and Earth Observation sectors, interested in joining the consortia.

The consortia will present their ideas and compete for further funding during two-day-long Demo Day, which will take place on the 3rd and 4th of July in Brussels, Belgium. Interested investors will have a chance to meet innovative teams and to discuss their further development.

To learn more about what PARSEC is up to in 2020 follow us on social media and check our website to learn more about upcoming events (more details soon!). To make sure you don’t miss any date, sign up for PARSEC email updates (subscription available through the website).

e-shape fostering and bridging the European Earth Observation ecosystem

EARSC is one of the leading partners of the 54 members consortium of e-shape (EuroGEO Showcases: Applications Powered by Europe), a 48-month project, lead by ARMINES, and constituted by a pan-European team of academic, industrial, institutional and user communities. Driven by the need to develop operational EO services with and for the users, e-shape is federating communities to increase the knowledge and the awareness on European EO capabilities and new approaches.

e-shape currently includes 27 cloud-based pilot applications under 7 thematic areas to address societal challenges, foster entrepreneurship and support sustainable development, in alignment to the three main priorities of GEO, namely the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework.

e-shape allows Europe to position itself as a global force in Earth observation through leveraging Copernicus, opening new opportunities and expand its use, through the existing European capacities, as well as developing research to business activities.

One of the objectives of EARSC is to invest and promote the users’ uptake of pilots at national and international scale, across vertical markets (private and public) and among key users’ communities; as well as support their sustainability.

e-shape boosts a rich portfolio of innovative key pilots participating in the project.

The seven showcases are:

The food Security and Sustainable Agriculture showcase: largely contribute to SDG 2, it consists of four pilots, which all display Copernicus data sets combined with the necessary in-situ data, weather and soil data that can deliver improved information at global, national and local scale, exploiting the processing infrastructures offered by Copernicus DIAS.

The health Surveillance showcase: will contribute to SDG 3. The three pilots are dedicated to surveillance of pollutants in the environment and their impact on public health through in-situ and space-based environmental observations. They can improve the policy making process and support the assessment of the effectiveness of measures undertaken by nations to achieve the goals of international conventions such as the Minamata convention.

The Renewable Energy showcase:  through its 3 pilots, will engage collaborations between research centres, data providers and end users both in the private and public energy sector. It focuses on SDG 7 and will provide from different European EO sources, innovative and technology mature products and services for renewable energy development and management.

The myEcosystem showcase: will serve focal user groups such as research, environmental assessment, reporting and management by offering seamless access to consistently scaled environmental information on ecosystems from various sources. It will serve SDG 11, 14 and 15. It is formed by three highly complementary pilots, developed to maximize services to user groups both in their specific topical areas, but specifically through integrating and jointly using information from remote sensing (mySPACE), in-situ observation (mySITE) and high-level indicators verification and testing with an exemplary focus on biodiversity (myVARIABLE).

The Water resources management showcase: reflects its multidisciplinary by presenting five pilot activities that focus on its different elements, going from inland waters to coastal areas and the ocean, providing a link to most of the European Directives and Policies and the SDG 6, 7, 13 and 14. These pilot activities will be coordinated by leading institutions and companies of their respective areas, based on work developed in the scope of previous projects and bringing onboard a significant user base to co-design, test and validate the provided services. The pilots will be integrated in NextGEOSS.

The Disasters Resilience showcase: deals with a portfolio of services focusing on natural and human induced disasters (geo-hazards, extreme weather, fires, floods, etc.) aiming at protecting citizens, economies and ecosystems. It is in line with the priorities and the goals set by the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and SDG2 and SDG11. The focus of the showcase, of which the pilots are formed, is to build an effective strategy for successful innovative products leading towards commercialization of EO services that is being composed of the active participation/involvement of both private and public sector (co-designers).

The Climate showcase: is contributing to SDG 13 and to the Paris Agreement. Through its pilots, it will exhibit services to public, private and academia users having a variety of cases from local city scale to global focus. The factor uniting most of these efforts will be seasonal forecast information from the Copernicus Climate Change Services C3S.

Acknowledgment.
The e-shape project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 820852

Discover more about each pilot here: https://e-shape.eu/index.php/showcases

For more information, you can follow e-shape and EARSC to stay up to date.

On Wednesday March 18, we welcome all students at the Eurosense & Esri BeLux headquarters in Wemmel (Belgium) to discover remote sensing and GIS in practice !

What can you expect ?

  • Meet GIS and remote sensing experts
  • Practical cases – success stories – demo’s
  • Information on internships and careers at Eurosense and Esri BeLux

The Students’ Day is a must for everyone who wants to learn the full potential of remote sensing and GIS in practice.

You come in contact with other students and you can ask your questions to Eurosense & Esri BeLux experts. You will also hear testimonials and see use cases and demos.

Participation is free but registration in advance is required, via the Esri BeLux website.

Why did you found ExoLabs and what is the goal of the company?

Our planet is everchanging. Timely information about these environmental changes are valuable but not always readily available. ExoLabs’ mission is to quantify global changes by providing novel and user-friendly Earth Observation products and services. We use machine learning algorithms in a scalable cloud computing environment to process Earth Observation data on local to global scales. Hereby, we specialized on combining data from multiple EO constellations to provide near-real time products in a high spatial and temporal resolution. We strive to be the leading company in Switzerland for high-quality products and services based on EO. In addition, we also develop in-house solutions for data processing and advanced analysis.

Can you tell us more about your products and services? What makes them unique?  

Being based in Switzerland, monitoring snow is an obvious choice to start with. Our snow products are highly advanced as they combine multiple innovations under one hood. We monitor global snow cover changes on a daily basis in near-real time. Our product is based on a novel snow classification algorithm and features seamless snow cover gap free of cloud gaps. For selected mountain ranges (Alps, Rockies, Himalaya) we additionally provide snow cover in a high 20 m pixel resolution. Everyone can check out these products on our mobile app “ExoSnow”. On top, we developed a novel snow depth algorithm, that provides snow depth estimates in a 20 m resolution on a daily basis. Our PARSEC video further details our approach, which combines a high temporal resolution AND a high spatial resolution AND a very high thematic quality in a fully operational process. Next to the app, we provide direct data access (e.g. APIs, WMTS) based on our customer’s needs. Further state-of-the-art developments include a land cover and land use classification system based on deep machine learning algorithms using multimodal data inputs in a cm-scale spatial resolution for the area of Switzerland. Crucial to the success of this federal project were innovative, ready-to-use solutions for processing multiple TBs of geodata, highlighting our capabilities to extract meaningful information from diverse and extensive datasets.

What challenges did you face when starting your company? What is the biggest challenge as a young European company in the EO sector today?

Initially, we had to acquire new projects with industry partners and federal institutions to earn a reputation and co-finance our product developments. This path is not finished yet. But now, we further focus on extending our network, winning over new customers, and exploring new market opportunities. Our biggest challenge might be to make potential customers aware of the added value we can provide for them. Starting a company is a daring adventure, which we really enjoy. We consider these challenges along this path as opportunities to grow.

What are your plans for the future? Do you want to stay in the snow and ice domain or are you planning to serve also other markets?

Over the next 2-3 years, we plan to increase sales, acquire new projects and expand our EO-product offerings. Further snow products will include snow properties, forecasts, and long-term trends. In previous projects, we already provided products on global crop monitoring as well as regional land cover and land use changes. In addition, we plan to diversify our product pallet on further environmental changes based on customer needs. Transferring our processing chain with the same product characteristics of high spatial and temporal resolution to other thematic EO-products, such as forests, can be readily done. If you are interested to learn more about our products, services and capabilities, you are very welcome to contact us.

Air pollution causes many premature deaths, and has a negative impact on the economy, and even on biological equilibrium. Thanks to the European Earth observation program Copernicus, we have access to up-to-date information on air quality, which powers a number of tools that make life easier, such as applications for planning physical activity in the city.

According to the World Health Organization, 9 per 10 inhabitants of the Earth breathe polluted air, which causes the deaths of as many as seven million people per year. The European Earth observation project has made it possible to develop the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), which monitors, reports and forecasts air quality. The service can help us minimize the impact of pollution and adapt to the changes that we are witnessing. For example, CAMS uses data generated by Sentinel-5P, the first satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA), dedicated to atmosphere monitoring.

Low air quality causes heart diseases, stroke, tumors and digestive conditions. It is the cause of many premature deaths. WHO estimates that air pollution by 2050 will be the biggest threat to the environment that we have ever experienced.

An application for people who exercise in the city

We all know that regular sports activity helps us improve our fitness and stay healthy for years, but for many people, not only those with heart or lung conditions, exercising in the city can be risky when there is a high level of pollution, as cities are where air quality is the worst.

Scientists at the University of Leicester are currently working on a mobile application that uses satellite data to map the level of air pollution in cities. The app not only alerts users to the conditions outside, but also suggests the best possible route for a long walk or run.

“Chronically ill patients, also those suffering from heart and lung conditions, are recommended physical activity, but doctors often have doubts and concerns about which exercises exactly they can recommend,” says Prof. Andre Ng, University of Leicester, UK. “The mobile application on which we are working will focus on the patient. The user will receive individual, accurate exercise recommendations based on their health condition and abilities, additionally taking into account up-to-date satellite data on air quality in a given location. This kind of model can encourage doctors to recommend physical activity more often, and at the same time motivate patients to exercise,” explains Prof. Andre Ng.

The application will use data from the Sentinel-5P satellite, which is equipped with a specialized sensor called Tropomi that detects chemical compounds such as nitrogen oxide, ozone, methane, or carbon monoxide.

Satellites for special missions

“Satellites are currently driving the growth of the space industry, representing two thirds of its total revenue,” says Przemysław Mujta, Technical Sales Manager at CloudFerro, a Polish company that delivers cloud solutions for the European CREODIAS and WEkEO platforms, which share satellite images as part of the Copernicus Earth observation project. “In addition to acquiring high-resolution data, Sentinel-5P can monitor an area as wide as 2,600 km, which enables precise mapping of the entire planet every 24 hours. 5P, which can detect volcanic ash, is also used to monitor active volcanoes,” explains Przemysław Mujta.

As low air quality is the cause of many premature deaths, using tools that can monitor air accurately is more important than ever before. Sentinel-5P will certainly contribute to popularizing the subject of atmosphere pollution, especially because air pollution data is increasingly the object of interest of not only professional researchers but also the public administration and local governments, as well as individuals. For example, it is used by urban planners, who manage urban traffic based on pollution level data to avoid exceeding a specific pollution emissions level. When pollution in the city becomes too high, the local government may decide to close educational facilities for the youngest children. Information on the level of air pollution is also useful to people who exercise outside, because it lets them avoid breathing in harmful substances when the level becomes too high.

According to Copernicus Market Report, the air quality monitoring services market will grow by 4.6 percent annually to reach EUR 430 billion by 2022. 

  1. About our company
    FUJITSU CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED is a Japanese private company that provides services in public cloud and other digital business solutions (i.e. machine learning).
  2. About our products 
    Satellite images are a prime example of big data. However, it is extremely difficult to extract data from satellite images. Therefore, we have started providing "Starflake".

night lighting visualization in central Tokyo

It is a service that analyzes images taken by Earth observation satellites and processes the sizes and changes of various objects on the earth's surface into table data. We deliver three key services 1) "Starflake nightview" to provide urban nighttime lighting, 2) "Starflake forest" to provide forest and vegetation index, and 3) "Starflake water" to provide water quantity. Our clients can get table data simply by selecting the area, period, and service they need.

3. Potential Users

  • Real estate agencies can analyze the feature of the area and use it to assess land prices and assets.
  • Retail companies can analyze local economic vitality and reflect it in their strategies and store plans
  • Institutional investors can leverage “Starflake” for novel investment opportunities and data-driven portfolio management.

For any interest in collaborations, feel free to reach out to us to the contact below.

Contact Us: datadesign@list.fjct.fujitsu.com

Ryo Kaneoka – Planner, Data Design Department, Business Design Division

Image result for sensar

Can you tell us a bit about Sensar ?

In the 21st century data will be the new oil, driving data-driven decisions, self-learning machines and a safe society. The current boom in the big data and satellite industries has the potential to revolutionize the way engineers do their daily work and at Sensar we work exactly on this interface. We believe in grounded decisions; no more surprises. We want to enable engineering experts to use satellite data in analyzing and managing their processes by making this data easily accessible, easy to use and attractively priced.

We are a team of 6, working from our offices in Delft and Mendoza (Argentina), with specializations as remote sensing, software engineering, cloud computing, civil engineering and mathematics. Sensar was established in 2017.


What services and products do you offer ?

In our cloud-based platform we use the InSAR technique to produce deformation monitoring products for civil engineers, allowing them to always have access to the most recent information on their assets. We show our clients how much their assets and infrastructure are moving with millimeter precision and help them managing the related risks with our industry-specific products.


What advice would you give someone that wish to start an eo company ?

Make sure that you start with identifying the end-user problems first. EO techniques have a lot of potential, but generally the gap between the technology and the end-users is large. Therefore, EO techniques often tend to be a solution looking for a problem.

EARSC has recently made a donation in your name to Kiva.org. Why was it important for you to help this organisation ?

Kiva.org is a platform that stimulates entrepreneurship and local economic development, by enabling direct microfinancing to small enterprises all over the world. Furthermore, they allow selecting on woman-owned enterprises. We can monitor from space, but we can only make a real impact on the ground. That is what Kiva.org enables.

Image result for mercator ocean"
  1. Short description about the organisation

Mercator Ocean International, based in Toulouse, France, is a global ocean information service operator able to generate digital representations of the world’s oceans. It is one of the world's leading centres for analyzing and forecasting the ocean and delivering operational ocean information worldwide. It is a service provider of ocean data and information in real and delayed time. The digital systems and the global models (of all the oceans on Earth) developed and operated by Mercator Ocean are able to describe the physical and biogeochemical state of the ocean at any time, above and beneath the surface, on the scale of the globe or of a region of the globe: temperature, salinity, currents, sea surface height, ice thickness, chlorophyll, nutrients, etc.

Mercator Ocean International is a non-profit organization with a business neutral objective to empower and feed the EO industry with free of charge environmental and ocean data and supports the EO industry business growth and service development. Mercator Ocean acts as a broker between marine knowledge and ocean data on the one side, and the EO industry on the other side, bringing ocean data and expertise for the benefit of the EO industry and its blue growth.

This general interest mission of the company is funded by its shareholders and by the European Union. Mercator Ocean International is owned and governed by organizations involved in the development of operational oceanography in Europe and ready to support the general interest mission of the company, and entrusted by the European Union for implementing the Copernicus Marine Service. 

2. Can you tell us about the growing potential of the Maritime sector?

In the last ten years, following new environmental directives or the impact of climate change for example, the maritime sector has been encouraged to rethink its global strategy, with new production processes and new environmental strategies. This creates new potentials which are tackled by the marine industry. Mercator Ocean International was entrusted by the European Union in 2014 for implementing the marine component of the EU’s Copernicus programme: the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service. The European EO industry interest in the Copernicus services mainly relies in the Land Service with 57% (see below, extracted from “A survey into the State&Health of the European EO industry, EARSC, 2017). However, the second one is the Copernicus Marine Service with 13% and it has been a continuous objective for all Mercator Ocean experts to incessantly foster a virtuous growth of the maritime sector and operational oceanography for a sustainable ocean, bringing science and technology solutions to society and economy challenges.  According to the Copernicus Market report (February 2019, https://www.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/PwC_Copernicus_Market_Report_2019.pdf, Page7), the ocean monitoring sector shall experience the largest growth rate (+23%) of all sectors up to 2020

Figure1: European EO industry interest in Copernicus services. Credits: A survey into the State&Health of the European EO industry, EARSC, 2017.

The Copernicus Marine Service is delivering free ocean data and information to public and private companies -start-ups, SMEs and large companies (i.e. the EO industry and intermediate users)- which are in turn developing applications, adding value to the Copernicus Marine products and developing services for their own end users, hence developing the blue economy and creating jobs. The Copernicus Marine Service is supporting the marine industry in 10 various sectors: POLAR ENVIRONMENT MONITORING, MARINE CONSERVATION & POLICIES, SCIENCE & CLIMATE, NATURAL RESOURCES & ENERGY, WATER QUALITY, COASTAL MONITORING, SOCIETY & EDUCATION, MARINE FOOD, MARINE NAVIGATION, SAFETY & DISASTER (http://marine.copernicus.eu/markets/).

For example, the MARINE FOOD sector is rethinking the aquaculture of tomorrow. Aquaculture plays a critical role in terms of food, nutrition and employment for millions of people. The sector supports about 10 percent of the world’s population. Aquaculture grows faster than other major food production sectors. In this specific sector, ocean data and information is needed to develop application and services in order to find new sites for production, to adapt its strategy to climate change, to monitor water quality and to transform the aquaculture sector into an environmentally sustainable business.

Another example is the NATURAL RESOURCES & ENERGY sector, which is switching to renewable energy to lower our carbon footprint. A carbon-neutral system means significantly increasing the uptake of renewable energy, with 80-100% of the future electricity supply set to come from clean energy sources. The ocean is a rich resource of clean, predictable energy, and it is needed with the acceleration of the energy transition. Tidal energy, wave energy devices, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and salinity gradient technologies can deliver non-stop power and can be ramped up or down as needed. In this specific sector, ocean data and information is needed to develop application and services in order to find new sites for production, to test ocean energy prototypes and to secure operations at sea.

Finally, the MARINE NAVIGATION accounts for more than 80% of international freight transport. Ship weather routing is widely used but a more accurate and timely routing using the ocean current forecast and wave data makes it possible to optimize routes and save fuel consumption.

3. What services do you offer?

Mercator Ocean International offers free access to a portfolio of ocean data and information describing the physical and biogeochemical features of European seas and the global ocean. These data describes the ocean circulation (major currents, waves, sea level, etc.), its physical (temperature, salinity, density, etc.) and biogeochemical characteristics (chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, primary production, etc.) and the state of frozen bodies of sea water at high latitudes (sea ice cover and movements in the Arctic and Antarctica). This European service is recognized today by thousands of users worldwide as a unique source of timely, reliable and state-of-the-art information on the physical and biogeochemical state of the world ocean. A machine to machine service is also available for operational users.  

This ocean data service will be upgraded soon with cloud processing capability thanks to the WEkEO DIAS platform.Indeed, Mercator Ocean International, together with EUMETSAT and ECMWF and the support of the industry, is also developing the Copernicus WEkEO DIAS platform (wekeo.eu), offering environmental data and gathering the whole Copernicus portfolio in a single place, also providing with virtual processing environments and skilled user support.

Mercator Ocean International also provides with a reactive and skilled user support. It also organizes scientific meetings for the European and international oceanography community to exchange and share best practices. Moreover, it organizes training workshops in different European countries as well as thematic workshops (for the aquaculture sector for example) where face to face meeting with potential or effective users allow helping them gear up their expertise and develop their applications.

Mercator Ocean International also commits to reaching out to the general public and raising awareness about the ocean challenges and its many pollution risks. Information and tools accessible to the general public are developed and promoted. Finally, Mercator Ocean conducts scientific studies and develops tools in order to model the ocean numerically and assess the impact of ocean observations on such models. Its scientists are developing the state-of-the-art algorithms for a more accurate ocean forecast capacity.

4. How does Mercator Ocean International support small remote sensing companies?

Thanks to its very reactive and skilled user support, along with its business neutral positioning, Mercator Ocean is able to help and support SMEs to develop their applications. Moreover, the ocean data distributed by the Copernicus Marine Service is free of charge, allowing public and private companies – start-ups, SMEs and large companies (i.e. intermediate users) – to develop their applications, adding value to the Copernicus Marine products and developing services for their own end users. Intermediate users represent key assets for the development of the blue economy by revitalizing specialized downstream sectors (environment, transport, research, defense, etc.).

The Copernicus Marine Service supports its intermediate users by promoting their business in many ways, for example in the Use Case web portal section where intermediate users showcase applications they have developed using the Copernicus Marine service products. Publishing such a use case on our web portal help intermediate users to raise awareness of their work as these success stories are widely circulated to local and regional authorities, representatives in the European Parliament, industry chief executives and participants at dedicated events.

We also fund Use Case Demos through the User Uptake Program where key players develop services using Copernicus Marine data and information which serve as exemplary cases to inspire new users.

Moreover, the Copernicus Marine Service is user-driven and we are gathering feedbacks from our intermediate users in many ways (surveys, workshops …) in order to transform our portfolio into fit-for-purpose data for each sector. The Champion User Advisory Group, composed of intermediate users from various sectors, is advising us to improve the Copernicus Marine product and service.

5. What is new at Mercator Ocean International that companies should know about?

Mercator Ocean is constantly evolving and commits to improving its services in the future and fostering a virtuous growth of the maritime sector and operational oceanography.

It has enlarged its shareholding two years ago to new members encompassing European leaders in oceanography such as Puertos del Estado in Spain, CMCC in Italy, NERSC in Norway, and Met Office in the UK to form a multi-national governance with the French founding shareholders – CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Météo-France and SHOM. This process is ongoing and other organisations are invited to join.  

We are also pleased to announce a new Copernicus Marine catalogue release on December 3rd, 2019 that includes much awaited global wave reanalysis product. This is one of the most awaited products by our users, especially from the natural resources & energy and marine navigation sectors. Such product allows assessing the world ocean wave behavior over the last 25 years and pinpoint areas where renewable wave energy farms could be implemented or areas where ship structure and hull endure the worst fatigue for them to be designed accordingly. 

Mercator Ocean International has raised its profile with international organisations and programs to better contribute to a successful operational oceanography in Europe and influence structuring initiatives.  A new publication called ‘Blue Book’ will be released in November 19 2019 to explain to the general public how ocean data supports the blue economy and societal challenges.

Mercator Ocean also reinforced its partnership strategy with leading trade associations such as EARSC and EATIP for example, in order to better reach out to the EO industry and aquaculture communities respectively and gather their important feedbacks for the future evolution of the service.

6. You offer training session, what can people learn during these sessions and for whom are they?

We organize regional training workshops in different European countries. We also organize thematic workshops (for the aquaculture sector for example). During those workshops, we meet face to face with potential or effective users and help them gear up their marine expertise and develop their applications. We present our offer in details, showcasing some specific relevant products, displaying our web portal and its functionalities. We also organize hands-on sessions using tools such as Jupyter Notebook, so that participants can manipulate data, visualize it and get familiar with data format and data parameters contained in each data files. The objective is for each participant to gain an understanding on the wealth of ocean data available to them, identify opportunities offered by our portfolio and acquire additional skills.

Our ambition is to provide high quality training to those who need to incorporate ocean data to their business, research or projects. Our target audiences are intermediate users from each sector (listed above) from public and private companies -start-ups, SMEs and large companies - which develop applications with the Copernicus Marine products for their own end users. Our target also includes consultant & researchers, MSc and PhD Students in environmental sciences.

As we start the new decade, a number of topics are stimulating the discussions in the space community and in Brussels. One of the first events of each year is the space policy conference in Brussels; this years’ is the 12th. One word is dominating the sessions’: defence. I noted last year that this topic was rapidly rising up the European Union agenda. This year it is not just spoken but is also written into titles of sessions and the topics from many speakers. It is of course reflected in the new Commission organisation which for the very first time has a Directorate-General (equivalent to a ministry) with space in the title and with defence as well.

The new DG-DEFIS, for Defence Industry and Space, is just taking shape. The director-general is Timo Pesonen (Finnish) working under the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton. Changes to the organigramme have been announced and the set-up starts to take shape. The change has certainly led to a hiatus, to a period with a lot of uncertainty. This should all be dissipated as the new structure finds its feet.

The other major topic of the conference reflects a priority for the new Commission, the Green Deal. Space and Earth Observation will be a significant contributor to implementing the Green Deal and we shall devote a lot of effort to ensure that the contribution that EO services can make is recognised and integrated wherever needed. We are working on a new position paper looking at the next phase of Copernicus and I am sure this will feature quite strongly even if, at the moment, space does not feature strongly in the Green Deal documents.

Just before the Christmas, the ESA ministerial held in Seville, led to a record budget for ESA voted by its member states. The support for ESA investment into the Copernicus programme through the development of new Sentinel satellites was over-subscribed indicating very good support from Member States for Copernicus as well as the overall space programme. Hence it was a surprise when the EU council voted to reduce the budget for the space programme under the next Financial Framework.

For those less familiar with the set-up in Europe, the ESA budget will pay for the technology development of new satellites and sensors, whilst the EU budget pays for the operational spacecraft, part of the ground segment, data from the contributing missions and the services. Everyone has been taken by surprise by the unexpected decision to cut the EU budget by 20% but we shall follow the evolution very closely and intervene where we can put the arguments why this budget should be restored to its full level.

EARSC has also started the year well. The Board of Directors met on 22nd/23rd which included meetings with 3 important guests. Carlo Des Dorides who heads up the GSA (Global GNSS satellite systems Agency) which will become the EU Space Programmes Agency on 1st January 2021, spoke about how the agency will evolve to embrace some responsibility for the market develop for Copernicus and the positive relationship he sees with EARSC in the future. Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observations at ESA spoke about his plans following the very successful ESA Ministerial, whilst Philippe Brunet, Principal advisor at DG International Development explained his new role and what it could mean.

I write this before the Chinese new year and so it leaves me open to wish everyone a Happy, healthy and successful 2020 and I hope to see many of you in various events throughout the year (you can follow on this blog and our website).

1. About our company

FUJITSU CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED is a Japanese private company that provides services in public cloud and other digital business solutions (i.e. machine learning). 

2. About our products

Satellite images are a prime example of big data. However, it is extremely difficult to extract data from satellite images. Therefore, we have started providing "Starflake".

It is a service that analyzes images taken by Earth observation satellites and processes the sizes and changes of various objects on the earth's surface into table data.

We deliver three key services 1) "Starflake nightview" to provide urban nighttime lighting, 2) "Starflake forest" to provide forest and vegetation index, and 3) "Starflake water" to provide water quantity. Our clients can get table data simply by selecting the area, period, and service they need.

3. Potential Users

  • Real estate agencies can analyze the feature of the area and use it to assess land prices and assets.
  • Retail companies can analyze local economic vitality and reflect it in their strategies and store plans
  • Institutional investors can leverage “Starflake” for novel investment opportunities and data-driven portfolio management.

For any interest in collaborations, feel free to reach out to us to the contact below.

Contact Us: datadesign@list.fjct.fujitsu.com


Ryo Kaneoka – Planner, Data Design Department, Business Design Division