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EARSC Directors had the opportunity to discuss the status and evolution of GMES with Vice-President Verheugen (Commissioner for Enterise and Industry).

On June,12, 2008 the EARSC Directors Paul Kamoun, Nick Faller, Andre Jadot and Marcello Ricottilli accompanied by Franz Jaskolla had the opportunity to discuss the status and evolution of GMES with Vice-President Verheugen (Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry) who was accompanied by Francisco Gaztelu (Member of the Cabinet) and Apostolia Karamali (DG ENTR, GMES Bureau). Vice-president Verheugen expressed his interest to hear the views of EARSC as industry representative of a sector with high growth potential – he also expressed his full commitment to GMES as programme to develop the geo-information service industry and ensured that he is always open to talk with us.

The following topics were discussed:

Budget situation – Mr. Verheugen explained that budgets outside of research will be made available only after 2013. However, he stressed that a significant increase of operational budget through Preparatory Actions is under preparation with the EP and Member States. Our offer to support the identification / selection of a PA in 2009 with focus on land was received positively.

Governance – our concerns for the up to now missing governance structures and the resulting slowing down of already existing opportunities were accepted and reference was made to the coming Communication on GMES. EARSC was invited to provide a statement on the basis of the current status of the governance paper.

“Unfair” competition – Mr. Verheugen was interested to learn about our concerns regarding unfair competition to industry from research or public entities offering operational services in competitive tenders and benefiting from advantageous cost structures e.g. no overhead. He promised to take care of it.

SME’s and FP funding – on the basis of presented examples (e.g. financial auditing processes, delay in grant payment), he explained that it is a task of DG ENTR to create a sensible environment for the industry and in particular SME’s. He also declared that he advises his staff in DG ENTR to interpret the existing funding guidelines constructively.

Participation of EARSC in programme preparation activities – Mr. Gaztelu in harmonization with the Space and Aeronautics Unit of DG ENTR shall propose for which of the particular Committees to prepare future programmes EARSC shall be nominated as service industry representation. Mr. Verheugen mentioned the GAC and the ‘Implementation Groups’ as possible organizations in which EARSC could be present.

Stakeholders – Mr. Verheugen mentioned the positive role that the ‘Committee of the Regions’ could play as a stakeholder in the GMES-program and as a link towards the Member States and the Regions. EARSC should get in contact with this Committee.

Our last Annual General Meeting ending June has been marked by reporting the extensive upgrading of our organisational and working practices to support and respond to the increased expectations of our membership.

Extracted from Chairman´s report

… The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies is continuing its build up of presence in the European landscape of remote sensing and geo-information thanks to the work of its Working Groups and of the Board of Directors. This build up accompanies in particular the growth of concerns related to environmental and climatic issues in society. The challenge to stay in close connection with those topics, growing in number as well as in impact, is more and more complex.

EARSC is thus adapting in its structure and strategy to remain the number one representative of the European geo-information industry able to bring to the table all together the European industry experience, insight and recommendations. In this endeavor EARSC increases its links with European institutions, especially the European Commission and the European Space Agency, through well targeted actions toward future programs of importance for the industry. Among such key programs addressed in 2007 and 2008 are the expected GMES Downstream Services Call of the 7th Framework Programme and the ESA Earth Observation Work Plan for the coming Ministerial Conference of November 2008, in particular for what concerns market development and climatic change. All these topics carry a great potential of involvement of our members so our Board stays continuously tuned to the related developments.

Reports are available only for Members by contacting EARSC Secretariat

Content for publication is welcomed and can be submitted at any time for consideration. Let us help you bring your article to the world.

EOmag is released every three months, with focus articles on members, news in depth features, achievements, progress reports on programmes, communication and partnership with organisations and events.

The distribution of the Newsletter is based on our stakeholders database (Industry and relevant Institutions worldwide interested in geo-information domain).

The Newsletter is an excellent platform for companies and organizations to communicate on actions and programmes related to geo-information.

Articles:
We would be happy to publish all relevant articles for companies/institutions (max 1000-word articles, preferably with illustrations) for the next issues of the Newsletter

Events:
In order to improve the information offered about the activities of our stakeholders, we are collecting basic data concerning all the already scheduled events. For the purpose, we kindly ask companies and institutions to
provide the following information about each event:

Start Date
End Date
Title
Web
Place – City and Country

Please send this information to EARSC secretariat always stating [Events] as the beginning of your message description at the subject box, in order to help managing and archiving. Since it is intended to keep this list as much updated as possible, please remind to inform Secretariat every time a new event is scheduled.

Optional Information:
Theme
Description
Language
E-mail contact

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us

Many thanks in advance
EARSC secretariat

« an overview of market development and emerging applications »


Satellite observations have provided us with effective ways of monitoring our planet, helping us improve the exploitation and management of Earth’s resources.
Google Earth and other similar tools have demonstrated that Earth observation — EO — is not a specialist area but something that can add value to many aspects of our lives, both at work and at home. This brochure aims to illustrate that and to reveal new opportunities for business, industry and government to add value to their operations.

eoVox Booklet: Business in Earth Observation Business in Earth Observation eoVOX080508.pdf


EARSC´s MISSION is to foster the development of the European geo-information service industry.
Our VISION is a sustainable market for geo-information services, using remote sensing data, which is openly accessible. To achieve this we will focus on: – Customer awareness and acceptance of Earth observation and remote sensing – Improving Market access

EARSC´s MISSION is to foster the development of the European geo-information service industry.


EARSC´s MISSION is to foster the development of the European geo-information service industry.
Our VISION is a sustainable market for geo-information services, using remote sensing data, which is openly accessible. To achieve this we will focus on: – Customer awareness and acceptance of Earth observation and remote sensing – Improving Market access

EARSC Board is glad to welcome two new Members in our Association: INNOVA Consorzio per l’Informatica e la Telematica (IT) and Institut de Geomática (SP)

On EARSC behalf, we are certain that new members will contribute actively to the aims of EARSC enthusiastically involved in coordinating and strengthening the Earth-observation chain and promoting the European Earth observation industry in programmes such as GMES and GEOSS.

EARSC Membership is nowadays increasing which encourage us in the Board of Directors to continue to do our best to fulfill the tasks that you as members could expect of the association. On EARSC behalf, Welcome!

INNOVA Consorzio per l’Informatica e la Telematica
INNOVA has highly specialized know-how in Synthetic Aperture Radar technology, Infomobility systems, High Performance Computing, GRID and Geographical Information Systems. We are currently involved in several European projects that utilize satellite data such as COSMO-SkyMed, R.O.S.A., InterRisk and PRIMI. We firmly believe we can be a very strong partner in any of the above fields.
More information about the new INNOVA

Institut de Geomàtica
The IG was founded in 1997 as a public consortium, with own legal entity, composed of the Generalitat de Catalunya (local government of Catalonia) and the UPC.
Its mission is the development of geomatics through applied research and education in support of society, institutional and industry needs both at national and international levels. The IG is currently structured in two research departments and one educational area. The two research departments are focussed in Remote Sensing and in Geodesy and Navigation, respectively. Its members have a two decade experience in Earth Observation data/image processing/applications as well as in sensor data fusion.

The activities of the Remote Sensing unit are mainly in the area of SAR: image processing, Interferometric and differential SAR applications (DInSAR). Its aim is the development of tools for analysis and computation for land subsidence using DInSAR techniques and the subsequent generation of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs).

The second sector of activity is the thematic application of digital photogrammetry to areas as the water quality, forest and precision farming. Last activity area are the airborne SAR and LIDAR technologies. This unit also developes terrestrial active remote sensing activities as LIDAR in combination with ground-based SAR.

The areas deployed at the Geodesy and Navigation department are mainly sensor orientation by hybridation of INS and GNSS technologies applied to Photogrammetry and Earth Observation imaginery/data capture systems.

Educational area provides the knowledge transfer and trining based on the in-house knowledge in Earth Observation fields as LIDAR, SAR, information systems and LBSs.
Nowadays, the education area of the IG is carrying out (with UPC) the elaboration of the first Master in Geomatics in Catalonia in the scope of the European Higher Education Space. This formation programme is a challenge that involves other European universities, research centres and industrial and institutional stakeholders in various fields of Geomatics and remote sensing.
The IG is offering a modular executive training program in airborne photogrammetry and remote sensing as well as other activities as organization of workshops and conference to disseminate knowledge and innovation in remote sensing and in Geodesy&Navigation technologies/topics

More information about the Institut de Geomatica

EARSC Membership
EARSC membership represents the entire spectrum of the Earth Observation industry including all sector chain: providers, stakeholders and users. For our members, the annual membership dues are a cost-effective way to stay informed, promote their company, political and institutional representation, networking opportunities with industry players and help support the future of Earth Observation. Industry together could transform activities into meaningful action on behalf of our sector.
EARSC membership is composed by full members and observer members:
CORPORATE Any commercial European company or partnership offering and undertaking consulting and contracting services or supplying equipment in the field of remote sensing which is based in a European Country which contributes to the European Space Agency or which is a member of the European Community shall be eligible for membership.
OBSERVERS Companies from countries associated to European programs but not eligible for full membership. Any active representative organization, institution or association party in the field of Earth observation and not engaged in commercial or profit-making activities such as Public/Governmental Bodies, International Organisation, International Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Private Non Profit Organisation/Foundation, Network/Association/Aggregation of Intermediaries(profit or non profit), Business Association, Universities, other?) with interest in Earth Observation.

More information on membership at EARSC

Content for publication is welcomed and can be submitted at any time for consideration. Let us help you bring your article to the world.

EOmag is released every three months, with focus articles on members, news in depth features, achievements, progress reports on programmes, communication and partnership with organisations and events.

The distribution of the Newsletter is based on our stakeholders database (Industry and relevant Institutions worldwide interested in geo-information domain).

The Newsletter is an excellent platform for companies and organizations to communicate on actions and programmes related to geo-information.

Articles:
We would be happy to publish all relevant articles for companies/institutions (max 1000-word articles, preferably with illustrations) for the next issues of the Newsletter

Events:
In order to improve the information offered about the activities of our stakeholders, we are collecting basic data concerning all the already scheduled events. For the purpose, we kindly ask companies and institutions to
provide the following information about each event:

Start Date
End Date
Title
Web
Place – City and Country

Please send this information to EARSC secretariat always stating [Events] as the beginning of your message description at the subject box, in order to help managing and archiving. Since it is intended to keep this list as much updated as possible, please remind to inform Secretariat every time a new event is scheduled.

Optional Information:
Theme
Description
Language
E-mail contact

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us

Many thanks in advance
EARSC secretariat

The workshop organised by EARSC, in collaboration with the EC-GMES Bureau and ESA and held on March 19 in Brussels, was successful in that it lived up to the main objective identifying the positioning of the different players and their respective functions and raising the question to stakeholders “Is GMES an opportunity for the service industry?”

One of the workshop’s main strengths, warmly acknowledged by speakers and attendees alike, proved to be its relevance to the representatives from the EO industry community and institutions who were all there to discuss the future opportunities for the Service Industry whether through the Core or the Downstream services.


GMES has been hailed since 1998 and the Baveno Declaration as one of the flagships of Europe not only as a giant step forward in the monitoring of the environment but also as a key political framework and a possible boost to Europe in terms of scientific and technology advances as well as in terms of employment along the lines of the Lisbon Agenda.
Ten years later this initiative is becoming concrete with the study of the overall GMES architecture, the analysis of needs in terms of information access, the set up of the sentinels space segment, the finalisation of the INSPIRE directive and the initiation of the Fast Track Services.
The so-called upstream GMES service sector is engaged in a serious preparation for producing the core service elements and for implementing operational services, without having a clear view of their role in the delivery phase. The situation is also confused concerning the downstream service sector. In particular the road ahead for SMEs is not clear and the dialogue with the GMES decision makers is somewhat limited.
The question legitimately raised by Industry is thus: Is GMES an opportunity for the service industry?
The EARSC Workshop organised around these topics with participations from small and large industries as well as from European and national institutions and users will be an occasion to shed light on these issues and to draw with all parties involved a possible roadmap to make GMES an opportunity for the service industry. Among others, the workshop will face issues related to applications industry access to information about GMES data and service availability and schedule, and ongoing and future support to application development and deployment by the public sector and large corporations. The service industry sector is indeed a key for the success of the GMES Programme as a whole not only inside Europe itself but also to allow the benefits of the European GMES to be shared worldwide.

PROGRAMME
MORNING
08h15 – 09h15: Registration
09h15 – 09h30: Welcome Paul KAMOUN, Chairman EARSC
High level introduction on GMES: Potential impact on the Commission’s growth and jobs strategy. Heinz ZOUREK, Director General EU-DG-ENT

|09h30 – 09h50: Position speech from EU: Overall presentation of GMES: state-of-play of Commission’s actions. Valère MOUTARLIER, EU-GMES BUREAU

09h50 – 10h10: Opportunities, potential services in GMES at large. Han WENSINK, Vice-Chairman EARSC
10h10-10h30: Economic Models and Expected Socio-Economic Benefits. Michael OBERSTEINER, INT. INSTITUT APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS, IIASA
10h30 – 10h50: Coffee Break
10h50-11h10 Lessons from the GSE for future GMES Services by Stephen COULSON, ESA
11h10 – 12h15: Core Services (CS): Opportunities and Threats
-Land – GEOLAND: Alexander KAPTEIN, INFOTERRA + Rob BECK, NEO
-Marine – MERSEA: Fabienne JACQ, CLS + Charlotte O´KELLY, TECHWORKS
-Emergency – PREVIEW: Gil DENIS, INFOTERRA + Nuno ALMEIDA, CRITICAL SOFTWARE
-Atmosphere – GEMS: Nöel PARMENTIER, BELGIUM INSTITUTE SPACE AERONOMIE + Hein ZELLE, ARGOSS
-Security – LIMES: Marco MANCA, TELESPAZIO + Emilio SIMEONE, FLYBY
12h15- 13h15 ROUND TABLE AND DISCUSSION: Are the GMES Core Services opening opportunities for the service industry? (1st PART)
Moderator: Colin HICKS, EURISY
Rapporteur: Stigbjorn OLOVSSON, EARSC Director
Introduction Remarks: Alain PODAIRE, GMES BUREAU
PARTICIPANTS: Phil CURTIS (VEGA), Marcello MARANESI (TELESPAZIO), Pat NORRIS (LOGICA), Miguel BELLÓ (DEIMOS), Rainer HORN (SpaceTec Capital Partners AG)
13h15 – 14h15: Buffet Lunch
AFTERNOON
14h15 – 14h40 Cross-cutting issues
-Data access: Erik WILLÈN, METRIA
-Security of information, data management. Role of the different actors: Fulvio SANSONE, ORACLE
14h40 – 15h00 Downstream Services: Opportunities and Treats: Christian HOFFMANN, GEOVILLE
15h00-15h45 Expectations in Downstream Services from federation of Users
-Land: GMES FTS/CLC2006 a blueprint for fair procurement, Chris STEENMANS, EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY
-Marine: Effective linking of the Marine Core Services to end-user applications, Ralph RAYNER, ASSOCIATION MARINE SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIES
-Emergency: Findings on Eurisy WK on Local and Regional Risk Management, Nicolas DOSSELAERE, EUROSENSE and MEDAD, best practice case for downstream services on emergency by Bernard ALLENBACH , SERTIT
15h45-16h45 ROUND TABLE AND DISCUSSION: Are the GMES downstream services opportunities for the service industry? (2nd PART)
Moderator: Colin HICKS, EURISY
Rapporteur: Marcello RICOTTILLI, EARSC Director
Introduction Remarks: Alain PODAIRE, GMES BUREAU
PARTICIPANTS: Ren CAPES (NPA), Paul DE FRAIPONT (SERTIT), Jaume FONS-ESTEVE (GNU), Serge GALANT (TECHNOFI), Rupert HAYDN (GAF), John STYLES (ASSIMILA), Steve COULSON (ESA)
16h45 –17h00 Wrap-Up and Recommendations for the way ahead

FINAL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS MARCH 19TH 2008
FINAL PROGRAMME MARCH 19TH 2008
RECOMMENDATIONS MARCH 19TH 2008

Stakeholder´s active involvement was helpful to discuss, with small and large industries as well as European and national institutions and users, the perspectives within GMES for the downstream services sector.

EARSC Board is glad to welcome FLYBY s.r.l. as new Member in our Association

On EARSC behalf, we are certain that FLYBY will contribute actively to the aims of EARSC enthusiastically involved in coordinating and strengthening the Earth-observation chain and promoting the European Earth observation industry in programmes such as GMES and GEOSS.

EARSC Membership is nowadays increasing which encourage us in the Board of Directors to continue to do our best to fulfill the tasks that you as members could expect of the association. On EARSC behalf, Welcome!

FLYBY

Flyby was funded in 2001 with the main aim of assimilating the results obtained within the remote sensing scientific community, improve their theoretical models and transform them into applications for the public and into commercial products. Optical EO satellite data has been a valuable source since the beginning and allowed for the delivery of several products based on following information:

- on ground solar Energy for photovoltaic plants – on ground UV radiation intensity – on ground cloud index – sea water transparency and temperature – sea concentration of various substances – detection and classification of sea oil spills – sea floor bathymetry – forest fires detection

Flyby collaborates with important public bodies and private companies, both involved either at the level of users in European funded project or as partners in commercial projects.

More information about the new member at FLYBY

EARSC Membership

EARSC membership represents the entire spectrum of the Earth Observation industry including all sector chain: providers, stakeholders and users. For our members, the annual membership dues are a cost-effective way to stay informed, promote their company, political and institutional representation, networking opportunities with industry players and help support the future of Earth Observation. Industry together could transform activities into meaningful action on behalf of our sector.

EARSC membership is composed by

CORPORATE MEMBERS: Any commercial European company or partnership offering and undertaking consulting and contracting services or supplying equipment in the field of remote sensing which is based in a European Country which contributes to the European Space Agency or which is a member of the European Community shall be eligible for membership.

OBSERVER MEMBERS: Companies from countries associated to European programs but not eligible for full membership. Any active representative organization, institution or association party in the field of Earth observation and not engaged in commercial or profit-making activities such as Public/Governmental Bodies, International Organisation, International Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Private Non Profit Organisation/Foundation, Network/Association/Aggregation of Intermediaries(profit or non profit), Business Association, Universities, other?) with interest in Earth Observation.

More information on membership