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The call for papers for this new peer-reviewed journal is published exclusively on line by DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

The aim of the Journal is to further the scientific endeavor underpinning the development, implementation and use of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs).
The Journal encourages articles from broad multi-disciplinary backgrounds including social and environmental sciences, and engineering, deploying also critical and interpretative methodologies. Articles in the following areas are particularly welcome: Spatial and Network Technologies, Distributed Spatial Databases and Metadata, Methods, Applications, and Socio-economic Impacts of SDIs.
The Journal is published free of charge and adheres to the Open Archives Initiative, which aims to facilitate the dissemination of electronic content.
(Credits JRC)

Innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can only grow if they have proper access to risk capital. This is not always the case in the EU. To tackle this problem the European Commission has unveiled today a set of measures to help small companies get easier access to external financing so that they can start-up and expand.

The Commission’s initiative includes measures to generate more risk capital investments, to develop bank finance for innovation and to make existing financing systems more SME friendly. The Commission has set the objective to work towards tripling the annual early-stage investment in the EU from €2 billion to €6 billion by 2013. The initiative foresees an increased EU financial contribution to early-stage investments in innovative firms, the promotion of an internal market for venture capital and encouraging traditional bank funding for innovation. The lack of an equity investment culture, informational problems and market fragmentation are among the main reasons for the market not satisfactorily playing its role in the EU. The Commission also invites the Member States to assume their responsibilities. For more information, see MEMO/06/259.
Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen said: “With today’s initiative we want to tackle a persistent problem which puts a brake on small enterprises to grow. People with smart business ideas, companies which would like to expand have persistent difficulties to get loans from their banks or equity capital from the market.” Niklas Zennstrom, CEO of Skype added: “One of the key challenges facing the European entrepreneur is how to stimulate and manage fast growth in a new company. To do this effectively, s/he needs to be able to take swift action on a variety of factors anywhere from sourcing financing, to the incorporation of the new company, to hiring employees. I am encouraged by the Commission’s efforts to begin to address the dual problems of local access to capital and the regulatory rigidities present in many national markets in Europe. The reduction of regulatory red tape, in particular, will help stimulate innovation and success in Europe’s SME sector.”
Financing innovative SMEs is considered by many finance providers as a risky activity due to high transaction costs and low returns, especially at the early-stage. As a result it is more difficult to access risk capital in Europe than in the United States.
The Commission is proposing the following measures:
1. More money for financing SMEs.
The new Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) will provide €1 billion through its financial instruments from 2007 to 2013, which are expected to leverage €30 billion of finance for SMEs.
Managed by the European Investment Fund and other international financial institutions1 some 400,000 SMEs will benefit from EU investment support.
FUNDING:
BEFORE: 2000-2006
AFTER: 2007-2013
Venture capital
€ 140 million
~€ 500 million
SME Loan guarantees
€ 340 million
~€ 500 million
Capacity building
€ 60 million
~€ 100 million
Total Commission
€ 540 million
€ 1.1 billion
As an example, in its early days, the internet communications company Skype received EU support. The success of Skype is a striking example of the importance of risk capital investment for innovation companies (for more success stories see MEMO/06/259.
2. Boosting risk capital funds.
The Commission will actively work together with the Member States towards removing obstacles for EU wide presence of venture capital funds, enhancing investors’ interest in seed investment. This will favour the emergence of more professional and more successful venture capital funds. The Commission is also reviewing state aid rules for risk capital funds in particular in favour of young innovative companies.
3. More bank finance for innovation.
The Commission will organise a Round Table between banks and SMEs on how to improve the chances for long-term banking relationships, use the new CIP financial instruments, promote micro credit and mezzanine financing (a combination of equity and debt), and evaluate the advantages of tax relief systems for young innovative companies.

4. Member States have to act, too.

While the Commission is playing its part for the EU level, it is mainly the responsibility of Member States to ensure that the regulatory and fiscal environment encourages entrepreneurs to develop good ideas into new services and products and for the financial markets to finance these. Therefore, the Commission invites Member States to:
* Implement investment readiness programmes;
* Promote cooperation among fragmented local support organizations;
* Use good practices in implementing risk capital policies at all levels;
* Aspire to stability and long-term view in public policies on risk capital;
* Study the advantages of introducing a Young Innovative Company Scheme;
* Consider the advantages of expanding the market for hybrid instruments in SME finance;
* Efficiently use the JEREMIE process to obtain a set of financial products specifically engineered for SMEs;
* Consider the possibilities for a more neutral taxation of the different forms of enterprise financing.
More information: Website:
***
1 Such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) or KfW Bankengruppe
(Credits EC-Europa.eu)

Fostering the competitiveness of Europe‘s ICT industry: Commission launches Task Force

The information and communication technology (ICT) sector is a key contributor to growth in the EU. The new Task Force – launched by the European Commission – will tackle barriers to competition and the competitiveness of the ICT sector. The meeting kicks off a 5-month debate on challenges to ICT producers and users, in particular on the challenges and opportunities created by the convergence of digital networks, content and devices. It will identify major obstacles for competitiveness of Europe’s ICT industry and for the completion of the internal market for this sector. The Task Force will recommend possible policy responses. It will deliver its report to the Commission by the end of the year. The ICT Task Force is composed of high-level representatives of the ICT industry and of civil society. This is one of several Commission initiatives that aim to help create a more favourable environment for business in the EU.
Vice-President Günter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industrial policy, said: “This Task Force should provide us with new ideas and coherent recommendations to promote the competitiveness of the Europe’s ICT industry. This is an important element of our new industrial policy.”
Viviane Reding, the Information Society and Media Commissioner, stressed: “The ICT industry is crucial to Europe‘s economic recovery, and a strategic, market-oriented co-operation of the EU institutions with the private sector is the key to its successful development. With the ICT Task Force, we want to ensure that Europe’s ICT industry keeps its leading role in the world. Jointly, we will focus our work on facilitating cross-border competition in Europe, on removing barriers for a true internal market for online content services, and on combining more effectively public and private research efforts to spur ICT investment.”
The ICT Task Force will address the following topics:
ICT uptake
This working group will identify potential reasons for the divergence with leading regions. Topics to be covered will include the adaptability of enterprises to changing technologies, the impact of the ICT uptake on the workforce, the adequacy of ICT education for Europe’s workforce, and the importance of standards and ICT interoperability.
IPR for competitiveness and innovation
This working group will assess the contributions that Intellectual Property makes to Europe’s economies; to study the link between IP, R&D and innovation; to explore the scope, causes and impact of piracy; the importance of standards and ICT interoperability
Innovation in R&D, manufacturing and services
This working group will consider three distinct elements of innovation: R&D, manufacturing and services (i.e. turning the result of R&D into value-added products and services). More specifically, in the R&D space, the group will consider issues such as how to prioritize R&D in line with Lisbon and i2010 targets.
SMEs and entrepreneurship
This working group will seek to identify the optimal business environment for ICT/SME success. Issues to be addressed will include entrepreneurial capacity, e-skills, access to finances, start-up and innovation support, the role of patents, the vertical and horizontal clustering within industries and between larger and smaller companies, cooperation with academia and necessary improvements to the regulatory environment, all as they relate to SMEs.
Skills and employability
This working group will focus on three closely inter-related issues in this context:
(1) how best to interest future generations in the process of technology innovation;
(2) how to apply ICTs to transform the way these generations learn and work (i.e. how they obtain, manage and share knowledge); and
(3) how to create an environment that attracts and retains the highly-skilled.
Achieving a truly single market
This working group will consider how to promote ICT innovation in Europe’s internal market. Recommendations will be made with the aim of making the European market more attractive for competitors, for enhancing effective competition and for developing further incentives to encourage ICT companies.
Background
The ICT sector contributes 5.3% of EU‘s GDP and 3.6% of its jobs. It also accounts for 20% of economy-wide labour productivity growth. Despite the burst of the Internet bubble in 2001, the ICT sector continues to achieve above-average growth and is still the EU’s most innovative and research-intensive sector, accounting for 25% of the total EU research effort in the business sector.
The setting up of the Task Force was announced in the Communication on Industrial Policy from October 2005 (see IP/05/1225), which aims to address the competitiveness of the EU manufacturing sector and to create a more favourable business environment.
The recommendations by the ICT Task Force areas will reinforce the activities undertaken under the umbrella of the i2010 initiative – a European Information Society for Growth and Employment, launched by the Commission in July 2005 (see IP/05/643).
The Task Force is co-chaired by Heinz Zourek, the Director-General for DG Enterprise & Industry, and Fabio Colasanti, the Director-General for DG Information Society & Media.
Task Force membership reflects a balance between industry and civil society. The Commission in addition invites all interested parties to take part in the debate via online contributions.
More info:

INVESaT is a European initiative which aims to bridge the gap between innovative small and medium sized enterprises and financial investors in the emerging markets of satellite Earth observation, navigation, timing, geo-positioning and telecommunications applications.


About INVESaT- Strategic Background
In the ICT sector, whether in the USA, Japan, or Europe, innovative services are already in use, based on large scale space-based investments. They involve earth observation, telecommunication, navigation, timing and positioning satellites. In combination with the advent of powerful handheld terminals and the demand for ubiquitous services, it is expected that info-mobility applications will reveal new sources of business in the years ahead, using in particular the GMES, EGNOS and future GALILEO systems to position any feature or user anywhere in the world within a few meters of accuracy.
Hence, satellite based capabilities must be seen as new and unique opportunities for Europe to enhance economic development in the knowledge economy.
This growth potential has already been grasped by many incubating structures in Europe. Yet, the actual business growth rate appears below expectations for many European players when they look at what occurred in the USA after the launch of the GPS positioning system.
Europe must therefore overcome intrinsic barriers to seize these new business opportunities faster and with more economic impacts.
The INVESaT strategy:
* Constitution of a dedicated network of key representatives from the space sector and finance communities
* Providing SMEs and entrepreneurs with the knowledge required for the development of successful business models in the field of space applications
* Overcoming barriers for capital investment to invest into innovative services from space
* Catalysing innovation financing through entrepreneurs’ fora
* Coaching of entrepreneurs no real cases in the network of space related incubators
(Credits INVESAT)

British satellite manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has just completed a landmark commercial satellite contract with BLMIT – marking the first attempt to commercialise the data services from Earth observation (EO) satellites.

At a ceremony held in Beijing, the Beijing Landview Mapping Information Technology Co., Ltd (BLMIT) signed the formal in-orbit acceptance of the high resolution EO microsatellite (Beijing-1) system built in cooperation with BLMIT, marked the commencement of the satellite‘s operational commercial service for customers.
Professor Li Wei-jian, Project Manager commented, “This pioneering project it is the first time the Chinese government has provided operational Earth observation from space through a commercial contract and we are very pleased with the results.”
The 166 kg Beijing-1 is the most capable low cost Earth Observation (EO) satellite to date, carrying two payloads that provide high-resolution (4-metre) panchromatic images alongside medium-resolution (32-metre) multi-spectral images with an ultra-wide 600km imaging swath. Beijing-1 may join the internationally coordinated Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), led by SSTL, which includes satellites from Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey and UK. With 5 satellites working together, the DMC is able to gather images of a given location daily, thus mitigating cloud cover and monitoring dynamic or rapidly changing phenomena in a way single satellites cannot.
Madam Wu Shuang (CEO of BLMIT) added, “We are very pleased with the successful cooperation with SSTL on this innovative project. Beijing-1 uses state-of-the-art small satellite technologies delivered at low cost and within just two years from contract signature. We are now ready to commence a new era of commercial EO services for our customers.”
Beijing-1 will provide the Chinese government and commercial users with information on agriculture, water resources, environment and disaster monitoring throughout China. The satellite will be used extensively for monitoring urban development and pollution, especially in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and to generate digital maps of China using the high-resolution panchromatic imager. The satellite is capable of continuously imaging Chinese territory even at the longest landmass track (3000 km) and transmit images to the groundstation in Beijing in real-time at high speed (40Mbps) with on-board programmable compression. Image data gathered outside the reach of the groundstation is stored on-board in a hard disc mass storage device for retrieval at night or later on demand.
BLMIT, a private company established to manage the commercial data distribution and services of Beijing-1, is undertaking a project to obtain cloud-free images to map the whole China within 6 months.
SSTL Group CEO, Sir Martin Sweeting said, “We are very pleased that our Chinese customer is so satisfied with the in-orbit performance of our latest operational high resolution EO microsatellite. This has reconfirmed SSTL‘s capability to deliver a fully operational EO system at low cost and to a tight schedule. We have also found working with our customers in BLMIT very positive.”
The Beijing-1 microsatellite, launched in October 2005 with a life expectancy of over five years, cost approximately GBP10M manufactured and delivered into a 686km low Earth orbit by SSTL. BLMIT and SSTL have since been working together to evaluate its performance in orbit and also exploring its full operational potential, offered by the 14 different operational modes and re-configurable on-board hardware and the software to respond to the requirements of end-users in the most timely and cost-effective way.
About Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited is an enterprise company formed in 1985 by the University of Surrey to commercialise the results of its innovative small satellite engineering research. SSTL was the first professional organisation to offer low-cost small satellites with rapid response employing advanced terrestrial technologies. Over two decades, we have built a profitable business around our unique approach to space.
Today, SSTL employs over 200 staff and has been involved in 26 small satellite missions, making it the most successful and experienced small satellite supplier in the world.
(Credits SSTL)

Final Call for Abstracts OceanSAR 2006, the Third Workshop on Coastal and Marine Applications of SAR, will be held in St. John‘s
(Newfoundland, Canada) on October 23-25.

This is the final call for
abstracts for this workshop; the abstract deadline is June 30, 2006.
Abstracts can be submitted online at www.oceansar2006.com.
The participants of the previous workshops identified the need for a set of robust tools that can be made available for systematic marine monitoring and operational applications. OceanSAR 2006 will build on these prior recommendations and offer a venue both for scientists to present the findings of their current research and for operational maritime end-users to present their information needs. The Canadian Space Agency (ASC), the Canadian Ice Service (CIS), C-CORE and MDA are organizing the event.
For more information visit www.oceansar2006.com or contact Desmond Power

MetOp-A has successfully completed the first phase of testing at the Baikonur Space Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, confirming the launch date of the first European polar-orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology for 17 July 2006.

With an array of sophisticated instrumentation, MetOp-A – jointly established by ESA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) – promises to provide data of unprecedented accuracy and resolution on a host of different variables such as temperature and humidity, wind speed and direction, ozone and other trace gases.
Since the arrival of the MetOp-A satellite at its launch site in Baikonur on 18 April 2006, the Service Module, Payload Module and Solar Array, which were shipped as individual items, have been integrated and tested. Following a review of the satellite status and results of the testing to date, together with the outputs of EUMETSAT’s review of the readiness of the ground segment, launcher and overall system, EUMETSAT and ESA authorised EADS Astrium on 17 June to commence the MetOp-A satellite fuelling activities, marking a milestone in the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) programme.
Following the completion of the MetOp-A fuelling, the satellite will be integrated with the so-called Fregat upper stage before being encapsulated in the fairing. The resulting upper composite will then be integrated with the Soyuz launcher and the complete system will be rolled out to the launch pad three days prior to the launch.
The MetOp programme, which consists of three satellites to be flown sequentially to ensure the delivery of continuous data until at least 2020, forms the space segment of the EPS programme and represents the European contribution to a new cooperative venture with the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Until MetOp-A launches, meteorological data from polar-orbiting satellites has had to be procured from NOAA weather satellites. After the launch, responsibilities for meteorological satellite services will be shared between Europe and the United States.
Consequently, through the Initial Joint Polar Satellite System (IJPS), which is a cooperative venture between EUMETSAT and NOAA, MetOp-A has been designed to work in conjunction with the NOAA satellite system, whereby MetOp-A replaces the NOAA ‘morning orbit’ service whilst a NOAA satellite occupies the ‘afternoon shift’.
This means that the two satellites fly in complementary orbits, thus offering maximum coverage. This global observing system is able to provide invaluable meteorological data from polar orbit to users within 2 hours and 15 minutes of the measurements being taken.
MetOp-A is equipped with a set of new-generation European instruments that offer advanced remote sensing capabilities to both meteorologists and climatologists along with a set of ‘heritage’ instruments provided by NOAA and the French Space Agency (CNES).
In addition to its meteorological observations and climate monitoring objectives, MetOp-A will contribute to other missions, such as research and rescue and the monitoring of charged particles present in the orbital environment near Earth.
The MetOp-A satellite was developed by a consortium of European companies led by the main contractor EADS-Astrium, France.
(Text and Image credits ESA)

Parliamentarians from 10 European countries met earlier this week in Brussels at the 8th European Interparliamentary Space Conference to discuss European space policy. Organised by the 2006 Belgian Presidency, the conference was held at the Belgian Senate in Brussels.

Each year this Conference brings together members of the European Interparliamentary Space Conference (EISC), the EU and ESA Member States. Representatives of the Space organisations in Russia, China and the Ukraine also attended the three-day Conference which started on Monday 12 June.
This year’s Conference organised presentations and discussions on:
- current European space projects – Galileo and GMES
- European space policy and international cooperation
- space applications
-human spaceflight
- space and education
The Conference was chaired by Belgian Senator, François Roelants du Viviers, the 2006 EISC Chairman. On 13 June the ESA Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain and Paul Weissenberg, representing the EC Vice-President and Enterprise Commissioner Verheugen, addressed the EISC respectively on ESA’s and EC’s views on European space policy.
All the topics under discussion at the Conference are of particular interest for Europe at this time as a number of important decisions regarding Europe’s future in space are now under discussion:
* the European Union is in the process of finalising the Financial Perspective 2007-2013, in which space has been assigned €1.43 billion under the 7th Framework Programme for Research & Technology
* ESA and the European Commission, together with the ESA and EU Member States, are preparing the European Space Policy, which should be endorsed by the Space Council in the first half of 2007
* European space industry is undergoing a restructuring process leading to a reduction in the number of main of players
The EISC, founded in 1999 by parliamentary groups from France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom, shares information about space activities to increase understanding of national policies and priorities in space, as well as space awareness among decision-makers, and to review the challenges space offers Europe in a worldwide context.
EISC gives political and institutional managers an opportunity to assess, together, the impact of space technologies on the daily lives of Europe’s citizens and the future of industrial expertise in space programmes.
The Conference issues recommendations and adopts resolutions. Its members favour close cooperation through joint activities between the EC and ESA, national space agencies, scientists and industry to increase Europe’s space know-how.
(Credits ESA)

The official programme of events celebrating EUMETSAT’s 20th anniversary kicks off today July 3rd at the 59th Council Meeting, which takes place at the organisation’s Darmstadt headquarters.

Representatives from the German federal and country governments, the World Meteorological Organization, the European Commission, the European Space Agency and the international meteorological community will deliver speeches commemorating this special event to the audience of Council delegates and VIP guests.
In the two decades since its foundation on 19 June 1986 the organisation has become one of the world’s pre-eminent meteorological and environmental satellite organisations, serving the interests of Europe’s National Meteorological Services as well as an ever-growing community of international users. For more information about how EUMETSAT has developed over the years please visit the anniversary website [External link]here.
‘The success of EUMETSAT is very much the success story of meteorology itself,’ says Dr. Lars P. Prahm, Director-General. ‘Powerful super-computers, increasingly sophisticated Numerical Weather Prediction models and the highly reliable, superb quality satellite data and images provided by EUMETSAT’s fleet of satellites have resulted in radically improved weather forecasts as well as a better understanding of climate and the environment.
‘Our latest generation of Meteosat satellites, the second of which was launched last December, has greatly enhanced our support to Europe’s National Meteorological Services and their capability to accurately predict very fast-moving localised fronts of severe weather, helping with disaster prevention and mitigation and thereby saving many more lives and property.’
EUMETSAT is securing its service for the future with the forthcoming launch on 17 July of MetOp-2, the inaugural satellite of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS), Europe’s first polar-orbiting meteorological satellite service. Planned programmes such as the Jason-2 Ocean Surface Topography mission and the Meteosat Third Generation, as well as the Post-EPS programmes, will further assure EUMETSAT’s service for the long-term.
The organisation is also poised to significantly extend its objective to become the operational satellite agency of choice for European Earth Observation programmes for atmosphere and oceans such as the strategically important Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative led by the European Commission and the European Space Agency.
EUMETSAT
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites is an intergovernmental organisation that establishes and maintains operational meteorological satellites for 19 European States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom). EUMETSAT has signed 11 Cooperating State Agreements. Those with Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have entered into force whereas the agreement with Serbia and Montenegro is to be ratified in the near future.
EUMETSAT is currently operating Meteosat-6, -7 and -8 over Europe and Africa, and Meteosat-5 over the Indian Ocean.
The data, product and services from EUMETSAT’s satellites make a significant contribution to weather forecasting and to the monitoring of the global climate.
(Credits Eumetsat)