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
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.
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).
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.
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.
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 dataand
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).
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.
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collaborations, feel free to reach out to us to the contact below.