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Category: Programmes

ESA announces a new science strategy for the future direction of its Living Planet Programme, addressing the continuing need to further our understanding of the Earth System and the impact that human activity is having.

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The Changing Earth: New Scientific Challenges for ESA‘s Living Planet Programme focuses on the most fundamental challenge facing humanity at the beginning of the 21st century – that being global change. As we begin to understand more about the Earth as a system, it is very apparent that human activity is having a profound and negative impact on our environment. For example, our understanding of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and the strong link between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature both point to human activity leading to a warmer world, unlike anything seen over the last million years. A better knowledge of the Earth System and the impact that increasing human activity is having is of crucial importance in providing the basis for the management of our environment and our ability to derive sustainable benefit.
Since observing the Earth from space first became possible more than forty years ago, satellite missions have become central to monitoring and learning about how the Earth works. Looking to the future, the new strategy for ESA‘s Living Planet Programme aims to assess the most important Earth-science questions to be addressed in the years to come. It outlines the observational challenges that these raise, and the contribution that the Agency can make through the programme. Volker Liebig, ESA Director of Earth Observation stated, “These challenges will guide ESA’s efforts in providing essential Earth-observation information to all relevant user communities, in close cooperation with our international partners.”
Underpinning the new strategy is a set of ambitious objectives, which include:
* Launch a steady flow of missions addressing key issues in Earth science.
* Provide an infrastructure to allow satellite data to be quickly and efficiently exploited in areas of research and applications.
* Provide a unique contribution to global Earth Observation capabilities, complementing satellites operated by other agencies and in-situ observing systems.
* Provide an efficient and cost-effective process whereby science priorities can be rapidly translated into space missions, adequately resourced with associated ground support.
* Support the development of innovative approaches to instrumentation.
ESA has been dedicated to observing the Earth from space ever since the launch of its first meteorological mission, Meteosat, back in 1977. Following the success of this first mission, the subsequent series of Meteosat satellites developed by ESA and operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), together with ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat have been providing us with a wealth of invaluable data about the Earth, its climate and changing environment.
Since its conception in the 1990s, ESA‘s Living Planet Programme has grown to include the family of Earth Explorers, the well-established meteorological missions and the development of the space component for GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), which is a joint initiative between the European Commission and ESA.
When the Living Planet Programme was first established a new approach to satellite observations for Earth science was formed by focusing on the missions being defined, developed and operated in close cooperation with the science community. By involving the science community right from the beginning in the definition of new missions and introducing a peer-reviewed selection process, it is ensures that a resulting mission is developed efficiently and provides the exact data required by the user. So far, this approach has resulted in the selection six Earth Explorer missions with another six currently under assessment study. Two Earth Explorer satellites are scheduled for launch next year – GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) and SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity).
While the Earth Explorer series forms the science and research element of the Living Planet Programme the so-called Earth Watch element is designed to facilitate the delivery of Earth-observation data for use in operational services. Earth Watch includes the well-established meteorological missions with EUMETSAT and new missions focusing on the environment and civil security under GMES. Within this element of the programme, the MetOp mission, which was jointly established by ESA and EUMETSAT, will be Europe‘s first polar-orbiting weather satellite when it is launched in October.
Although the Earth Watch element of the programme is designed to provide data that underpins operational services, it will also contribute significantly to Earth science, in particular through the collection of longer time series of observations than those provided by research missions. In turn, the Earth Explorers will provide new understanding that paves the way for new operational services. This synergy is also highlighted in the Living Planet Programme‘s strategy for the coming years.
With the Living Planet Programme‘s new strategy in place, ESA will build on past success by continuing to play a central role in developing the global capacity to understand planet Earth, predict environmental changes and help mitigate the negative effects of global change on the population.

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.

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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:
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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)

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

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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)

Ensuring free public access to environmental data
INSPIRE – or Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community – is a Commission proposal aiming to create a system for access to and exchange of spatial information needed to monitor the state of the environment, in particular the quality of air, water, soil and the countryside.

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The European Parliament is aiming to ensure free public access to this information as the legislation returns at second reading.
INSPIRE aims to involve citizens more in environmental policy, give a larger role to local and regional authorities in the field and to enable better targeting and efficiency of environmental action at a cross-border level.
At its first reading Parliament aimed to reduce the obstacles in the way of public authorities seeking to share data and to reinforce the subsidiarity principle in the operation of INSPIRE, ensuring Member States and their local and regional authorities all play their proper part. Parliament also decided that intellectual property rights should not prevent the supply of data, although there was room for special access conditions. Altogether, some 49 amendments were adopted at first reading.
When it agreed its Common Position, the Council took account of just ten or so of these amendments, rejecting all of the most significant. The Environment Committee is therefore proposing that Parliament should reinstate them, including the removal of intellectual property rights from the list of exceptions to the general rule of access to data.
Free access, according to the committee, should without payment for members of the public – not only for those searching the data, but also for those consulting the data itself. MEPsare willing to take account of the costs of providing information to other public authorities, but in any case a fee should be limited to the costs actually incurred in processing the request.
The plenary session followed the advice of the Environment Committee and reinstated the main first reading amendments, the issue is therefore likely to go to conciliation. Parliament and Council will have to agree on a joint text before the measure can be finally adopted.
At the July plenary session, Parliament is scheduled to consider a third reading of legislation dealing with the similar issue of access to environmental data, specifically the application of the Aarhus convention to the EU institutions.
(Credits Eurogi)

INNOVA‘s mission is transferring technologies from the world of research to industry.

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INNOVA helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to acquire new technologies and research institutes to develop systems and application in response to industrial demand.
In the business-research duo, INNOVA acts as a bridge, fostering collaboration and the transfer of technology and knowledge.
(Credits Innova)

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.

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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)

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

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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:

Increasingly, space applications are seen as crucial tools for tackling the world’s social, technical and environmental problems. On 19-20 April 2006, the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) Conference in Graz, Austria, addressed the question of how a market for GMES services can be created. The role of European regions and public entities, crucial users of GMES services, was highlighted.

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“The command and appropriate use of information has important geo-strategic implications,“ said Heinz Zourek, Director-General of the Commission’s Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General, “and Europe needs to have available a capacity which allows it independently to evaluate its policy responses in a reliable and timely manner. A comprehensive Earth observing system, using space-borne and in situ techniques on land, in the air and at sea, through well-defined operational services, is key to ensuring the implementation and monitoring of environmental and security policies in the context of sustainable development.”
According to Zourek, GMES will answer essential questions, such as:
* How efficient is EU land use?
* How attractive is our living environment, for both residents and investors?
* How secure are our resources, i.e. crops, fish stocks, water and energy?
* What is the risk of natural or human-made disasters and are we prepared?
* What are the real impacts of our political decisions, in agriculture, infrastructures and spatial planning?
* What our alternatives?
A wide-ranging agenda
The Graz GMES conference, attended by over 200 participants, tackled a number of pressing issues still to be resolved before GMES gets off the ground. Sessions covered important topics, including:
* The European and International Context of GMES;
* The current and future GMES market;
* Creating a market in Europe;
* Public and private demand;
* The role of the regions;
* The characteristics of the security market;
* GMES value for money;
* The role of governance in organising user needs.
One clear message was the confirmation of GMES as the most important space application programme of the coming years. Continuity was assured concerning its high place on the political agenda of the Austrian Presidency up to at least the German Presidency in 2007.
The role of the European Commission in federating users was also confirmed. User communities must be organised, as are the weather service user communities today, starting with the three ‘fast track’ services – emergency response, land monitoring and marine services – but including others in the longer term.
Crucially, EU funding under the upcoming Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) is considered insufficient. Funding under other user Directorate-General budgets will also have to be explored. A specific funding line for the GMES space infrastructure is also now requested by some conference participants and the national capacities of Member States must be factored in.
Investment remains key
Attending the conference were officials from both public (EUMETSAT, OECD, GEOSS) and private organisations. The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies was well represented. With 70 members, most of whom are SMEs, it makes up a full 50% of the Earth Observation (EO) community.
Most agreed that investment in GMES is not just about money, but must include ideas and education. While big players in the USA such as Google and Microsoft have added to the broad awareness of the possibilities of EO, the question remains as to how much the average European knows about the GMES initiative.
A final thematic session focused on the draft report of the GMES Advisory Council Working Group on future structure and governance, highlighting GMES’ political dimension.
Moving forward now
“We are all convinced that GMES is indispensable for both the pursuance of European competitiveness in fulfilment of the Lisbon goals and to accomplish our policies with regard to a responsible management of the planets limited resources,” said Zourek.
“Pooling our resources would make the service providing industry much more robust with advantages for both the users, who benefit from increased continuity, standardised formats and lower prices, and for industry itself, becoming stronger thanks to the growing world market for information products.”
Speaking at a major press conference that followed the event, European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen placed GMES users at the forefront. “Space manufacturers have done a great job developing the technologies required for GMES,” he said. “The focus now moves to users. What are their real needs? Can we meet them with GMES services? And, in the long-term, will services be sustained by operating budgets, rather than the research budgets now being used?”
More info at
(Credits Europa)

Understanding biodiversity is among the most challenging intellectual and scientific puzzles facing mankind today. Nearly every economic sector around the planet has an impact on biodiversity or its conservation status. This is why the EU funds research in this domain and will continue to do so with the launch in 2007 of the EU’s next Seventh Framework Research Programme (FP7).

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Biodiversity rests on a vastly complex nexus of social, economic, cultural, and ecological dimensions that embrace huge scales in terms of space and time. The threat to biodiversity’s richness is global but many of its pressures and drivers are local, which means that potential solutions often require detailed local or regional knowledge.
This scientific and intellectual challenge is borne out by the wide range of research projects in the Commission’s last two Framework Programmes. Together FP5 and FP6 have devoted € 170 million to research regarding biodiversity and ecosystems.
Five major FP6 projects will be showcased during the upcoming 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in March in Curitiba, Brazil. The projects on display will offer a cross-cut of EU-supported research results that support implementation of the CBD’s work programmes and action plans to combat the ongoing loss of biodiversity.
Diversity of biodiversity projects
The EU contribution for the major FP6 projects, which have a lifetime up to 5 years, is often more than € 10 million per project. One example is ALARM, which is assessing the large-scale environmental risks for biodiversity posed by climate change, biological invasions, pollinator loss, environmental chemicals and socio-economic pressure. Another is HERMES whose researchers are studying the biodiversity, structure, function and dynamics of ecosystems along Europe’s deep-ocean margin. The MARBEF network links 82 European marine institutes together and disseminates information among them regarding marine biodiversity and ecosystem function. ALTER-Net is building a long-term biodiversity, ecosystem and awareness research network from case studies across seven countries, while EDIT is integrating European taxonomic efforts to create a top-class European virtual centre of excellence in this field.
MARINE GENOMICS offers new investigative methods regarding the biology of marine organisms and a web-based interface to bio-informatics data management and data analysis tools. The EVOLTREE network ties together 14 countries, 32 partners, 37 laboratories and 204 researchers working in forest genomics, genetics and terrestrial ecosystems. One of its aims is to create a European platform in population genomics of forest trees.
FP5 and FP6 also supported many smaller Specific Targeted Projects and Co-ordination Activities in biodiversity. Information about most of these projects dealing with terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity can be found on the websites of BIOTA and FP5 marine projects.
Conclusion
It is imperative that the international community pull together in halting the globe’s declining biodiversity. The continuing loss will make it impossible to achieve sustainable growth, and will seriously compromise our ability to attain the UN’s Millennium Development Goals regarding poverty, hunger, human health and water quantity and quality. To remain competitive each economy must take care of its natural environment. Indeed, nine out of ten European citizens say we have a duty to protect nature even if this means limiting human progress. By firmly carrying biodiversity research into FP7, Europe can remain competitive in key sectors such as bio-computing, complexity theory and dynamics of emergent systems. Research will also maintain Europe’s capacity to buffer our life-support systems from unwanted change, thus safeguarding our economic and social futures.
(Credits Europa)