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The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) is pleased to have been accepted as Participating Organization for joining the Group on Earth Observations (GEO)

“This is a critical step forward in GEO’s efforts to collaborate with the private sector in a mutually beneficial way. EARSC has invested time and energy in ensuring good communication of issues related to Earth observation products and services with the GEO community and it is most fitting that EARSC should be a major partner in this important development” – Robert Samors, Senior External Relations Manager at the GEO Secretariat.

EARSC is a partner of EU framework programs such ConnectinGEO and GEOCradle which support the activities of GEO. In the capacity of a Participating Organization to GEO, this is the next step for EARSC to support the GEO objectives to engage more with the private sector.

As a GEO Participating Organization, EARSC will share opinions on industry views at the European level, exchange documents of common interest and cooperate on projects or promotional activities where relevant. Work is underway to identify concrete GEO/EARSC collaborations and opportunities for periodic exchanges will be organized.

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GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and organizations that envisions “a future wherein decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations and information. GEO is comprised of 100 Member states, including the European Commission, and 95 Participating Organizations. GEO strives to improve the world’s observation systems and provide policy makers and scientists with accurate and useful data that can be used to make informed decisions. GEO’s primary focus is to develop a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to enhance the ability of end-users to discover and access Earth observation data and convert it to useable and useful information. www.earthobservations.org

EARSC represents the Earth Observation geo-information services companies in Europe. Today EARSC has 75 members coming from more than 22 countries in Europe. Our members include both commercial operators of EO satellites, IT, downstream and value-adding companies. The sector plays a key role in providing value-added geo- spatial information to its customers in Europe and the world. In 2014, the revenue of the European EO services sector is estimated to be around €900m for approximatively 450 companies and giving work to over 6500 highly skilled employees. www.earsc.org

EARSC is now a GEO Participating Organization! PressRelease.pages.pdf

After 8 consequently years the Geospatial World Forum has gained a repute of being a not-to-be-missed conference for the professionals engaged in geospatial sector and its application domain. In this context, GWF offers a great opportunity to communicate on the results of the Copernicus Sentinels’ Products Economic Value study to a broad audience.

In the frame of the study Assessing the detailed economic benefits derived from Copernicus Earth Observation data within selected value chains, undertaken by EARSC under an assignment from ESA, we provide a bottom up assessment of economic value coming from the use of satellite data. The key difference from previous analyses is to work through the full value chain where the benefits of using EO data can be felt. The level of economic benefit from one service can be very high and touch the everyday lives of all of us. This workshop gives EARSC the possibility to communicate on the findings oof this study.

Workshop Agenda

09:00-09:10 Welcoming remarks
09:10-09:30 The socio-economic benefits of Copernicus, Thibaud Delourme, DG-GROW
09:30-09:50 Presentation of the Copernicus economic value study, Alessandra Tassa, ESA
09:50-10:10 Introduction on the CEVS methodology, Geoff Sawyer, EARSC/ Marc de Vries, The GreenLand
10:10-10:45 Winter navigation in Finland, Jarkko Toivola, FTA
10:45-11:30 Networking Tea/Coffee Break
11:30-12:05 Forest management in Sweden, Erik Willen, FRI
12:05-12:40 Infrastructure monitoring in NL, TBC
12:40-12:50 Conclusions
12:50-13:00 Global discussion
13:00-14:00 Networking Lunch

Registration

EARSC has published the initial results from its survey into Public Service Bodies using EO data and services.

The Survey into Public Service Bodies using EO data and services has been carried out by EARSC in 2015. Its main purpose is to construct a complete and accurate picture of the public organisations in Europe that use EO data and services, documenting key aspects such as their involvement in and awareness of Copernicus and their engagement with external EO providers. This, in turn, will help to provide inputs to the European Commission in view of the upcoming Mid Term Review of Copernicus, whilst also contributing towards better shaping of EARSC’s strategy vis-à-vis the engagement of public organisations using EO data and services.

  • Survey into Public Service Bodies using EO data and services – Initial Report (April 2016)

Source

Come see us at booth No.24 at ESA Living Planet and at the at European Space Solutions event (booth to be assigned) and learn more about EARSC activities, its members, the marketplace alliance and our brokerage service EOpages

The booth will serve as a meeting place for the European companies. Members could bring promotion material to be delivered or can meet and talk to colleagues and partners about current products and services.

Be presenter at the EARSC Booth!

EARSC members can also utilize the booth to prepare dedicated sessions. Please let us know your interest so we should be able to announce those presentations in advance by keeping potential customers & partners informed about company’s activities before, during and after the trade shows.

We look forward to seeing you at our Stands. Be with us at this remarkable experience!!!

European Network of Earth Observation Networks: Connecting Earth Observation in Europe


ENEON is a common network of Earth observation networks to provide integrated and harmonized perspective of observations, forecasting and projecting, helping to reduce redundancies and detect gaps in the European EO arena.

What is ENEON?

ENEON is the European Network of Earth Observation Networks funded by the European Union under the H2020 ConnectinGEO project, including space-based, airborne and in-situ observations networks. ENEON intends to increase the connection between the existing European EO networks and the S&T communities involved in defining the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as S&T communities engaged in assessments, forecasting, and projecting future developments. ENEON contributes to the development of GEOSS and Copernicus by extending them to all relevant European EO networks, keeping connection to other global initiatives.

Purposes

  • incorporate to ENEON all EO networks members currently active in Europe
  • consider in ENEON as much thematic areas as possible
  • spatial harmonization of EO in-situ data
  • connect ENEON with gap analysis studies, in particular ConnectinGEO methodology
  • harmonization among EVs
  • spatio-temporal continuity of the observations
  • harmonization among standards (sensorML, etc)

Open to

  • the GEOSS S&T Stakeholder Network and GEOSS CoPs
  • Copernicus services, Sentinel missions and in-situ support data representatives
  • European networks representatives for space-based, airborne and in-situ observations
  • representatives of the SMEs and industry sector
  • European and national funding agencies and in particular the ones participating in the ERA-NET GEO

Outputs

  • ENEON stimulate a more harmonized and coherent coverage of the European EO networks
  • ENEON reemphasizing the political strategic targets
  • ENEON create opportunities for SMEs to develop products based on the current networks
  • ENEON open avenue for industry to participate in investments to address the identified high-priority gaps
  • ENEON feed a consultation process complemented by a systematic analysis of the available data and metadata

Become a member

EARSC secretary general latest blogs

Visiting Eumetsat

On Tuesday, Monica and I paid a visit to Eumetsat at their invitation. It was a good opportunity to exchange on latest activities, to understand the Eumetsat plans and position regarding Sentinel data and to brief them on and discuss our plans for the Marketplace Alliance.

We learned that Eumetsat now has committed observation missions right through to 2040. This includes Jason which is now a confirmed mission to which Eumetsat contributes. Companies may have access to Eumetsat products through Eumetcast.

Eumetsat is looking at the evolution of many of its operations and plans a series of pathfinder projects. These are not yet public and will be decided by their council next June. They will include looking at data access technology, cloud services and exploitation platforms for higher level information services.

Eumetsat was very interested to learn about the EARSC initiative to create a Marketplace and expressed strong interest as a potential data supplier. The technical solution is also of interest relating to the pathfinder studies to be confirmed in June. We agreed to exchange further over the coming months and EARSC looks to include Eumetsat views in our study on the Marketplace as part of the stakeholder analysis.

As we prepare to support companies to exploit the anticipated opening of Copernicus and Sentinel data and information, Eumetsat has an important role to play as operators of 3 of the Sentinel missions. We anticipate developing closer links and to see how the meteorological data can become part of the Marketplace which we plan to see developed.

Polish Space Sector Forum

Last week, I was invited to present at the Polish Space Sector Forum in Warsaw. The invitation had been initiated by one of the EARSC members (Geosystems Poland) and I was very happy to accept and to present our ideas linked to the creation of the Marketplace Alliance. It was well attended with some 150 people present and most if not all the member companies of the Polish Space Industry Association exhibited.

I was struck by the dynamism of the sector and their ambition to play a role in the downstream business. This contrasted with the main presentations which were all about creating a “space programme” and developing a Polish satellite. If the efforts are successful, I hope that there is enough room to support downstream efforts as well and this is not crowded out by the space manufacturing interests.

Many of the companies spoke with me about the Marketplace Alliance and how it is clearly industry led. There is a strong feeling of companies facing competition from institutes and other public bodies and that the academic view is given too much weight. There was much appreciation of our message about clarifying the roles of the public and private sectors and that this could be conveyed to the Polish decision makers. I was happy to oblige during my presentation and welcomed the opportunity to hear first-hand from the decision makers regarding their ambitions for the space sector; just a plea to remember to take adequate care of the downstream services part!

The African private sector involved in remote sensing (RS) and geospatial technologies to address scientific, practical and policy aspects has immensely grown over the past 20 years. However, there is no comprehensive information to fully understand how companies operate and what challenges they face. It is therefore difficult to harness their expertise and to assess state and health of the sector.

Yet, in the context of the Europe (EU)-Africa cooperation in Space, the 4th Africa-EU Summit has approved the implementation of GMES & Africa in 2014. At the 6th EU-Africa Space Troika meeting the GMES & Africa Road Map was adopted and it was agreed to convene stakeholders for launching the implementation process in several crucial thematic areas under the Pan African Programme. In particular, the final communiqué calls upon the application of approaches developed in the European EO Programme, Copernicus (space infrastructure and information services), for the implementation of GMES & Africa, notably by adopting a free and open data policy, by focusing on operational services and by involving the private sector in the services development.

AARSE in cooperation with EARSC are embarking on an inventory of the African private EO and Geospatial industry. Our survey targets all companies registered in Africa which are engaged in business related to the supply of geospatial products and services concerning or using EO data. These may be satellite operators, EO service providers or internal service departments inside companies engaged in different business e.g., oil & gas, land use, environmental assessment, etc.

We would like to capture as many African companies as possible and look forward to the kind participation of your company in our survey. So far we have enlisted several companies registered in Africa and we are certain there are many more not known to us. We leave no stone unturned however, until those whom we are not aware off, come forward to participate in this continental effort.

We have already sent invitations to more than 150 companies registered in Africa to participate in our survey. We call upon all African private EO and Geospatial companies not contacted so far, to immediately send us the name of their organization, contact person and email if interested to participate.

Tsehaie Woldai: (Tsehaie.woldai@africanremotesensing.org)
Elisabeth Zeil-Fahlbusch: (elisabeth.zeil-fahlbusch@africanremotesensing.org)

EARSC organized with EEA an Information session on the upcoming calls for tender for Copernicus full operation, land service, pan-European and local components.

Information session on upcoming calls for tender for Copernicus full operation, land service, pan-European and local components.

  • Pan-European component: production of High Resolution Layers (HRL’s) for the 2015 reference year, including re-analysis of time series for the HRL imperviousness.
  • Llocal component with the production of Riparian Zones (extension of existing products) and a second series of Natura2000 sites mapping.

EEA provided information on the upcoming CfT with some additional opportunity for service industry feedback.

Presentations
common_framework_for_earth_observation_data_draft_120215.pdf

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Innovation procurement can deliver solutions to challenges of public interest and EO services providers can play a major role in this; therefore EARSC and BHO legal are organizing a workshop next 3rd of December in Brussels on the subject of PCP (Pre-Commercial Procurement) to guide companies on how to approach the H2020 call EO-2-2016.

The PCP approach puts funds in the hands of procurement bodies which wish to find innovative solutions to problems which they face. It is an approach which started in the US and which is now being taken up by Europe with some enthusiasm. We consider that it is an excellent opportunity to get public players using EO.

EARSC & BHO Legal PCP-PPI Workshop_Summary.pdf

EARSC BHO Legal_Workshop PCP and PPI_Conclusions .pdf

More informaiton on presentations, please contact EARSC secretariat