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The 6th Space App Camp is coming closer: The European Space Agency (ESA) will again invite 20 developers to their ESA ESRIN location in Frascati – including travel expenses and accommodation.

Big data from space produced by the European Earth observation programme Copernicus and its fleet of Sentinel satellites provides crucial economic and ecological information to many industry sectors – from energy, transport, logistics and construction to aeronautics, healthcare and mobile communications. Additionally, an increasing number of mobile phone users challenge the mobile app business.

However, huge amounts of data from space offer countless opportunities in connection with mobile applications. In order to make Earth observation (EO) data accessible to a wide range of citizens, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space App Camp each year assembles programmers from across Europe to exchange ideas with like-minded people and tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges. There’s a special treat to boot, with ESA taking care of food & beverage, hotel and flight expenses.

Join the Space App Camp and write your own chapter of the success story!
Professional app developers from all over Europe are welcome to apply by 24 July 2017 at www.app-camp.eu

Since the inception of the initiative five years ago, around 400 developers from nearly 30 countries have applied to the Space App Camps, and more than 30 apps have been developed. A number of former participants are currently finalising their applications, have already transformed their ideas into operational services, or have founded a start-up in order to bring their apps to the market.

Geneva, Switzerland, and Washington, DC, USA – 14 June 2017. The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) through its Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) and Radiant.Earth, have agreed to explore new Earth observation data innovations supporting humanitarian disaster management, global health, climate change, sustainable water management and cultural heritage.

With Radiant.Earth’s capacity in combining the best in discovery and dissemination with the latest trends in image processing, and UNOSAT’s experience in satellite imagery analysis and capacity development, the two entities will collaborate to make data and solutions widely available to the global development community for overall support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The cooperation will focus on joint activities to raise awareness about the benefits of Earth observation at the local level, automate analysis, and provide capacity building activities on the use of Earth observation data for the global development community.

“UNOSAT expertise in rapid mapping combined with our shared mission to build the capacity of governments and non-profits in using satellite imagery for disaster situations makes this partnership quite powerful. Our alliance can help strengthen the resiliency in vulnerable regions to deal with climate change, displacements, food security, among many other global challenges,” says Anne Hale Miglarese, CEO of Radiant.Earth.

“This partnership fits us perfectly, as we can combine the operational nature of UNOSAT with the outreach and long-term impact Radiant.Earth is also looking for,” says Einar Bjorgo, UNOSATs manager. “Finally, we will have a platform and solutions in place for accessing the wealth of Earth observation data out there, and the ready-to-use products that will go along with them.”

About UNITAR-UNOSAT
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is a principal training arm of the United Nations, working in every region of the world. UNITAR empowers individuals,governments and organizations through knowledge and learning to effectively overcome contemporary global challenges.

UNITAR’s Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) is recognized as a Centre of Excellence within the United Nations for satellite image analysis and geospatial applications.Since 2000, UNOSAT has provided the United Nations family and Member States with access to satellite imagery and satellite-derived analysis through the development and provision of Earth Observation and GIS applications, as well as training and capacity development, for humanitarian relief and human security, human rights, crisis management and prevention, recovery and development, in alignment with its commitment towards supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

About Radiant.Earth
Radiant.Earth is a non-profit organization, committed to aggregating the world’s open Earth imagery and providing access and education on its use to the global development community. At the center of Radiant.Earth is an open technology platform that will help people discover and analyze the vast resources of Earth imagery, accelerating improved decision-making and fueling new solutions, discoveries and innovations. In support of this user-driven platform,

Radiant.Earth offers an integrated and robust community development program to guide people in the use of Earth imagery, geospatial data sets and tools. This includes insights into the commercial market and related policies.

Media Contacts

  • Einar Bjorgo, Manager, UNOSAT, UNITAR, Tel: +41 76 691 0106 | email: einar.bjorgo@unitar.org
  • Anthony Burn, Director, Community Engagement, Radiant.Earth, Tel: +1 202 731 7466 | email: anthony@radiant.earth

Source

14 June 2017, Rome – Scientists from the European Space Agency collaborate with FAO to control Desert Locusts

Information from satellites is being used in a new way to predict favourable conditions for Desert Locust swarms, as part of an early warning collaboration by scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Desert Locust experts at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The new technology will help to increase the warning time for locust outbreaks by up to two months.

Using data from satellites such as ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission (SMOS), a new tool has been developed to monitor the conditions that can lead to swarming locusts, such as soil moisture and green vegetation. Swarming occurs when a period of drought is followed by good rains and rapid vegetation growth.

“At FAO, we have a decades-long track record of forecasting plagues and working closely with countries at greatest risk to implement control measures. By bringing our expertise together with ESA’s satellite capabilities we can significantly improve timely and accurate forecasting. Longer warning periods give countries more time to act swiftly to control a potential outbreak and prevent massive food losses,” said Keith Cressman, FAO’s Senior Locust Forecasting Officer.

“Routine global observations by the Copernicus Sentinel satellites coupled with the free and open data policy are excellent prerequisites for a closer cooperation with international partners like FAO and other UN organizations,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes which is based in Italy. “We strongly support these organizations’ Research & Development activities, which helps to continuously innovate the use of the satellite observations.”

How it works

Soil moisture indicates how much water is available for vegetation growth and favourable locust breeding conditions, and can therefore predict the presence of locusts 2-3 months in advance. In the past, satellite-based locust forecasts were derived from information on green vegetation, meaning the favourable conditions for locust swarms were already present and only allowed for a warning period of one month.

The new tool was validated in Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Morocco. Using the example of Mauritania’s last outbreak in 2016, the team was able to identify a time lag of about 70 days from the initial signs of soil moisture to when the outbreak eventually occurred. The additional early warning will allow more time for national authorities to prepare for control measures when facing future outbreaks.

“We now have the possibility to see the risk of a locust outbreak one to two months in advance, which helps us to better establish preventive control,” said Ahmed Salem Benahi, Chief Information Officer for Mauritania’s National Centre for Locust Control.

Desert Locust swarms can destroy crops and affect food security and livelihoods.

Major threat to food security

Desert Locusts are grasshoppers that can form large swarms and pose a major threat to agricultural production, livelihoods and food security. They are found primarily in the Sahara, across the Arabian Peninsula and into India. The insect is usually harmless, but swarms can migrate across long distances and cause widespread crop damage. A one square kilometre-sized swarm contains about 40 million locusts, which eat the same amount of food in one day as about 35,000 people.

More than 8 million people were affected in West Africa during the 2003-2005 plague in which cereal crops were wiped out and up to 90 percent of legumes and pasture were destroyed. It took nearly $600 million and 13 million litres of pesticide to bring it under control.

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Sunyani, June 15, GNA – A second international Africa Global Earth Observation System of Systems (AfriGEOSS) symposium under the auspices of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) was opened on Tuesday in Sunyani.

Under the theme, “Delivering Earth Observations for Policy and Sustainable Societal Impact in Africa”, the three-day programme was attended by about 120 practitioners, experts and developers in earth observations technologies across Africa, Europe, the United States of America, Canada and other parts of the world.

It aimed at “providing the necessary framework for African countries, organisations and international partners to access and leverage ongoing local and international bilateral and multilateral EO-based initiatives across Africa, thereby creating synergies and minimising duplication for the benefit of the continent”.

It was designed to raise awareness on the value of the earth observation and to promote and build synergies with on-going and planned earth observations initiatives at national, regional and international levels.

Professor Harrison Kwame Dapaah, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of UENR was hopeful that the initiative of the group on earth observations to focus on strengthening the use of earth observations and delivering the global earth observing system of systems (GEOSS) to Africa would leverage the expected impact.

He said AfriGEOSS was a coordination initiative that had been recognised essentially to enhance Africa’s capacity for producing, managing and using earth observations.

Prof. Harrison expressed optimism that the symposium would develop, network and disseminate knowledge and information among participants and added that its outcome would translate into transformational and pragmatic solutions for the existing emerging problems on Africa and the entire world.

In a speech read for him, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, said Africa was probably the most naturally endowed continent yet the management of its resources for the collective prosperity of her people had not yielded the desired results.

He cited deforestation resulting from unsustainable lumbering, poor agricultural practices, indiscriminate mining of sand, precious minerals and pollution of water resources as some of the endemic environmental issues across the continent.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng noted both renewable and non-renewable natural resources abounded on the continent and the leadership therefore had enormous responsibility of ensuring sustainable exploitation of those resources.

By Daniel A Ashietey, GNA. Source

A new global data community aimed at expanding the climate risk adaption strategies for the insurance and investment markets is to protect against economic losses incurred through damages to infrastructure during natural disasters.

The Oasis HUB has been supported by funds totalling €11m from the EU’s Horizon 2020 platform and the public-private innovation partnership Climate-KIC. The hub will act as a data platform to open-up the risk modelling market, enabling insurers, financiers, academics, businesses and policy makers to respond to natural hazards and protect finances tied into infrastructure assets.

Oasis HUB’s chairman Dickie Whitaker said: “Traditionally, the wealth of data models produced within academia and the modelling community have not been made widely available to the organisations needing them most. Also, prohibitively high costs have prevented ‘black box’ data from the catastrophe modelling market incumbents from being employed on a wide scale.

“Now, with Oasis Hub as a gateway, scientific theory and data can be made focused and actionable, to meet the huge market demand for climate risk adaption strategies.”

Total economic losses associated with property and infrastructure damages derived from natural disasters have cost, on average, €160bn annually over the last decade, 70% of which are uninsured.

The hub aims to provide the insurance industry with a clearer understanding of these risks to mobilise capital through the rapid integration of transparent and affordable data.

Commenting on the launch, the European Commission’s head of unit – climate action, Andrea Tilche, said: “The Oasis project is a good example of how knowledge and information on climate change may be translated into innovative services, providing effective means to make societies more resilient to climate-related risks.

“The project also promises to show how an approach based on open science and innovation can deliver results that would be hardly achievable without the free sharing of knowledge among different communities.”

Source

by Jeff Foust — June 14, 2017 at SpaceNews

Do three events constitute a trend?

For many in the Earth-observation industry, the answer seems to be yes.

Three deals in less than three months appeared to herald a new wave of consolidation among both established companies and startups. It started in early February when Google announced it was selling its Terra Bella satellite imaging company — originally known as Skybox Imaging — to Planet for an undisclosed sum.

Three weeks later, Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) announced it was acquiring DigitalGlobe, itself the product of the merger of other remote sensing companies, for $2.4 billion. Two months later, in a far smaller deal, EagleView Technologies announced it was buying OmniEarth, a company that originally planned its own satellite constellation and later focused on analyzing satellite imagery.

Those events have created the perception that the sector is consolidating: companies are merging with or acquiring one another to shore up their positions in the market. In the eyes of many industry observers, there are more remote sensing companies than the market can support, making a shakeout inevitable.
Analysts weigh in

Dylan Taylor, a SpaceNews contributor and investor whose portfolio includes OmniEarth and Planet, sees consolidation going on in three dimensions. There is horizontal consolidation, as companies merge with their competitors; vertical, where companies merge with others to build up a more complete set of both imagery and analysis capabilities; and financial, where private equity companies “roll up” several companies to later sell or take public through an initial public offering (IPO) of stock.

“I see horizontal integration being the biggest driver near-term,” Taylor said, citing as a prime example Planet’s acquisition of Terra Bella. In such deals, he said, “Earth-observation firms look to achieve scale and position themselves to be more competitive and ultimately more attractive to a financial consolidation or IPO.”

Not everyone, though, is convinced that the Earth observation sector is consolidating. “It’s very convenient to think there’s a trend, but these deals have all been very company-specific,” said Chris Quilty, president of Quilty Analytics and a long-time financial analyst focusing on the space industry.

One example is the Planet-Terra Bella deal. While that deal is seen as key evidence of an industry consolidation, Quilty believes it should interpreted instead as part of a broader recent effort by Google to divest itself of projects that it no longer considers part of its core business. “Google was just trying to unload the company,” Quilty said.

Google, which paid an estimated $500 million to acquire Skybox Imaging in 2014, does not appear to have gotten much in return for selling it to Planet. Neither Google nor Planet provided specific terms of the acquisition when it was announced. Planet did note in April, when the deal closed, that Google had become a shareholder in Planet, but did not disclose the size of its stake. Google did not consider the sale material enough to mention it in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent 10-Q quarterly statement in early May.

Quilty is also skeptical that MDA’s planned acquisition of DigitalGlobe, set to close later this year, is also a sign of consolidation. “The synergies are a little lacking,” he said, particularly of the potential to combine DigitalGlobe’s high-resolution optical images with radar imagery from MDA’s Radarsat 2. “The synergy of optical and radar is not proven.”

He sees the deal as part of a larger effort by MDA to expand its American footprint, one that includes its earlier acquisition of Space Systems Loral and plans to trade its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. That effort is intended to help it win business from the U.S. government that, as a solely Canadian company, it would not be eligible for.

Earth observation’s evolving world

If the Earth-observation sector isn’t consolidating, though, it is evolving. When companies like Planet and Skybox started several years ago, the focus was primarily on collecting imagery and selling it to any and all takers. It was a business model that worked well in the past, particularly when government agencies were the primary customers for such images.

However, that business model is changing. Earth-observation firms realize than many commercial customers have neither the ability nor the interest to develop their own imagery analysis pipelines. Instead, they want the intelligence derived from those images.

Astro Digital sees that transition. The California company announced in March that it had raised a $16.65 million Series A round, which it will use to build an initial constellation of medium-resolution satellites. The company, though, has already developed its own software platform that processes imagery from U.S. Landsat and E.U. Sentinel satellites — and, eventually, its own — to extract information for use in various markets, such as agriculture. That information is then integrated into other software through a protocol known as an application program interface (API).

The company sees that as the wave of the future. “We don’t believe that anyone is going to be buying imagery anymore,” said Bronwyn Agrios, co-founder and head of product at the company, in a recent interview. “We believe that the future is a subscription to an API that will have information show up right in your applications.”

Quilty sees a similar transition in the industry. “Companies are trying to move closer to the customer and deeper into the analytics game,” he said.

Other companies are trying to do that as well. Orbital Insight announced May 2 it raised a $50 million Series C round to accelerate its growth. The company does not own satellites but rather purchases imagery from several companies, analyzing it to provide information ranging from global crude oil reserves to traffic patterns in shopping center parking lots.

The EagleView acquisition of OmniEarth is a similar case. OmniEarth originally planned its own satellite constellation, but switched its focus to analysis of satellite images from other providers. EagleView plans to apply that technology to its own data analytics business, which has focused on construction markets.
Threat meets opportunity

Such companies are thus an opportunity and a threat to Earth-observation satellite developers. They are an opportunity in that they are customers of satellite images in bulk. But, they also pose a threat as they provide the analysis that customers want, undercutting satellite companies’ plans to move up the value chain.

Moreover, since companies like EagleView and Orbital Insight can buy from a wide range of satellite companies, or even aerial or other non-satellite imagery, they can offer a kind of “one-stop shopping” for customers that individual imagery providers cannot.

This leaves Earth-observation companies trying to figure out who their customers, and their competitors, really are. “One of the great challenges for this industry is both discovering where the technology and data are most needed, and finding partners to monetize those opportunities,” Quilty said.

So even if there isn’t consolidation in the Earth observation sector now, the effort to find customers and partners may trigger a wave of such deals in the future.

Source
This article originally appeared in the May 22, 2017 issue of SpaceNews magazine

MINNEAPOLIS, June 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — ‘Geosys Labs’ participants will have access to company’s tools and expertise at no cost.

Geosys, a leading provider of agronomic decision support tools, today launched Geosys™ Labs, a new program that will make its global database of satellite imagery and weather data available to initiatives dedicated to addressing the growing challenges facing the agriculture industry.

Geosys is requesting applications via its website from companies, NGOs and universities interested in establishing a partnership for a proof of concept project. As part of these partnerships, Geosys will provide free access to its remote sensing technologies and agronomic expertise. While there is no specific limitation on the number of projects, qualifying partners must address one of the following objectives:

  • Improve the measurement of sustainable practices in agriculture
  • Provide affordable risk management solutions for smallholder farms
  • Increase transparency within the agriculture supply chain
  • Revolutionize the future of agriculture and farming technologies

“Businesses across the ag supply chain face many challenges today, including changing weather patterns and the need to increase production of high quality food with limited resources,” said Damien Lepoutre, founder and president of Geosys. “To mark our 30th anniversary this year, we will support organizations and individuals working to solve these critical challenges by providing access to our data and experts who can help uncover opportunities to improve the future of agriculture.”

Since 1987, Geosys has managed global satellite imagery from a growing virtual constellation of public and private satellites to help improve decision making practices for customers that represent the entire ecosystem of the agriculture supply chain.

“Geosys Labs is an extension of our traditional business capabilities,” said Vincent Lelandais, customer solutions lead, Geosys. “Our objective is to assist efforts that will better our world and the agriculture ecosystem by providing data and imagery to power future solutions.”

Starting today, Geosys invites individuals and organizations interested in exploring a partnership with Geosys Labs to fill out an application at geosys.com/labs or contact Labs@geosys.com. Visit the website for complete details and partnership rules.

About GEOSYS
Geosys is the first global digital agriculture company founded by agronomists. With 30 years of industry experience and business in more than 50 countries, Geosys’ digital agricultural solutions use the latest research in agronomics, information technologies and satellite imagery to provide clients with data, analysis and insights they need to make more informed decisions. Geosys services range from worldwide risk management and supply monitoring of agricultural commodities to input sales and precision farming support. It also develops highly customized business solutions for large multinational agricultural companies. Acquired by Land O’Lakes, Inc. in 2013, Geosys is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with offices in France, Switzerland, Australia, and Brazil. For more information on Geosys, please visit geosys.com.

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Friedrichshafen, 14 June 2017 – Designed to operate for five years, Airbus’s Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite TerraSAR-X has achieved ten years of flawless operations in orbit providing high-resolution radar images in all weather conditions 24 hours a day.

Satellite image of Las Vegas, USA by TerraSAR-X © DLR e.V. 2016, Distribution Airbus DS Geo GmbH

Developed and constructed by Airbus Defence and Space teams from Friedrichshafen for the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the satellite orbits at a height of 514 km and provides radar imagery to a wide variety of scientific and commercial users.

“TerraSAR-X has not only achieved double its service life, having orbited the Earth 55,459 times and travelled 2.4 billion kilometres, all while boasting 99.9 percent availability, it has also delivered an outstanding performance”, said Eckard Settelmeyer, Head of Earth Observation, Navigation and Science at Airbus in Germany. “TerraSAR-X is in such a good condition that a current assessment indicates it can be operated for a few more years in space until a follow-on system is in place.”

“TerraSAR-X features a unique geometric accuracy,” said François Lombard, Head of the Intelligence Business Cluster at Airbus Defence and Space. “With six imaging modes, it offers flexible coverage and resolutions ranging from 0.25m to 40m, and answers the needs of a wide range of domains, like engineering companies to ensure the safe operation of large construction projects, oil and gas enterprises to monitor their production, or Intelligence and Security agencies for targeted surveillance and detailed change detection.”

Since the launch of its almost identical twin TanDEM-X in 2010, both satellites have been flying in formation with the distance between them only a few hundred metres. They have acquired a huge amount of data which provides the basis for the new standard of global elevation models, WorldDEM, covering the entire Earth’s.

TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X offer high acquisition frequency, regardless of area of interest or weather conditions, which is crucial for natural or man-made disasters, where reactive mapping is needed to support rescue planning.

Following the launch of the PAZ satellite at the end of this year on the same orbit, the three satellites will be operated in a constellation to deliver even more optimized revisit time, increased coverage and improved services.

Airbus Defence and Space is working on the next generation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites as a follow-on mission to TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X from 2022.

Visit the TerraSAR-X image gallery

June 12, 2017. With the Sentinel-2B satellite close to beginning its working life in orbit, this latest Copernicus satellite has linked up to Alphasat by laser, across almost 36 000 km of space, to deliver images of Earth just moments after they were captured.

The test, which was done as part of Sentinel-2B’s commissioning, included capturing a strip of images from Europe to North Africa and downlinking the data in just six minutes.

This achievement is not only thanks to cutting-edge laser technology, but also the power of ESA’s partnerships with space industries and the European Union. Following its launch on 7 March, Sentinel-2B is set to be commissioned on 15 June. It joins its twin, Sentinel-2A, which is already supplying a wealth of high-resolution images for the European Union’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme.

The Sentinel-2 mission not only provides information to improve agricultural practices and map changes in land cover, but it also helps to monitor the world’s forests, detects pollution in lakes and coastal waters, and contributes to disaster mapping. Many of these applications rely on imaging the same area in quick succession.

The two Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites circle on opposite sides of Earth. With each providing 290 km-wide swath, together they can image the globe every five days and image Europe every two to three days.

Sometimes, however, information is needed quicker, or indeed continuously, and this is where the satellites’ lasers come in, complementing the standard ground station network. Orbiting from pole to pole almost 800 km up, the Sentinel-2 satellites transmit data to Earth routinely, but only when they pass over their ground stations in Europe.

However, geostationary satellites, hovering 36 000 km above Earth, have their ground stations in permanent view so they can immediately stream large volumes of to Earth.

The Sentinel-2 satellites are equipped with terminals to transmit data by laser to satellites in geostationary orbit such as Alphasat and the European Data Relay System (EDRS). These satellites then transmit the Sentinel-2 data to the ground. The Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites also carry the same equipment.

Eric Monjoux, head of ESA’s Copernicus Ground Segment, said, “EDRS has already increased delivery of Sentinel-1 data enormously and we can soon expect to see the same benefits for Sentinel-2 data.”

As well as being a remarkable technological achievement, this novel system is also thanks to the public–private partnership between ESA and industry. This latest test paves the way for even greater opportunities for the European Union, EDRS’ anchor customer, to have access to large volumes of data extremely quickly for services that improve daily lives and protect the environment.

ESA’s Sentinel-2 system manager, Omar Sy, said, “The laser link is a bit like an optical fibre in the sky that can connect the Sentinel-2 satellites back to Europe via geostationary satellites.

“The test, which is thanks to cooperation between teams at ESA, the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Tesat, Airbus and Inmarsat, has shown that everything is working well. “This means that once all the commissioning is over, Sentinel-2B will be able to downlink huge amounts of data in a matter of moments via the EDRS ‘SpaceDataHighway’, which is the world’s first optical satellite communication network in geostationary orbit.”

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Brussels, 9 June 2017. The ‘Copernicus Goes Local – Implementing the Space Strategy for Europe’ event gathered more than 300 Earth Observation actors and industry representatives from across Europe at the European Parliament in Brussels. EARSC Secretariat and several members attended this launch ceremony.

First row from left to the right: Emanuele Barreca, EC officer; Gedas Vaitukus, Lithuanian Copernicus Relays representative; Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at the European Space Agency; Philippe Brunet, Director of EC’s Directorate for Space Policy, Copernicus and Defence; Constanze Krehl, MEP; Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs; Monika Hohlmeier, MEP and Chair of the Sky and Space Intergroup; Markku Markkula, President of the Committee of the Regions; Peter Zeil, Copernicus Academy representative; Julien Turpin, EC officer and Stefano La Terra Bella, EC officer. (© European Commission)

“Copernicus is a user-driven programme and we need the Copernicus Relays and Copernicus Academy to help us reach its full potential! […] We [EU] also want to go a step further by creating the conditions for a new downstream ecosystem to develop. The Copernicus Relays and the Copernicus Academy will be the backbone of our strategy”.

This is how Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs welcomed to the new members of the “Copernicus family” at the official launch ceremony of the Copernicus Relays and Copernicus Academy, that took place on Tuesday 6 June.

The European Parliament (EP) in Brussels, the chamber at which all the EU citizens are represented and which houses the more than 750 offices of elected members, was the venue hosting the first milestone for the European Space Strategy and the latest for the Copernicus Programme. The Copernicus Relays and Academy networks, created by the European Commission at the beginning of the year, are a ground-breaking tool for the strong uptake of the Copernicus Programme across Europe, and have aroused vast interest from entities in all participating countries – and beyond. The importance of involving industry and notably SMEs was stressed by several speakers.

The Copernicus Relays are the regional voices of Copernicus in the individual Member States, thus creating a bridge between the EC and the end-users of Copernicus. The Academy aims to educate and release an increasing amount of Copernicus-savvy people into the workforce bringing together the educational and research sectors across the EU.

Read more about the event