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Grace: Efficient and Focused Consultancy Services

Grace Ltd, an independent Athens-based Space consultancy firm offers a set of services focusing on the marketing of valuable solutions and the set-up of sustainable projects, including but not limited to Earth Observation (EO).

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The company operates in the zone of the Eastern Mediterranean covering the Balkan Peninsula as well, with Greece as the focal point.

Overview

Grace Ltd is a young Greek SME established in late 2008 in Athens. The mission of the company is to provide independent technology and consulting services, promoting and guiding the space industry development and directing its benefits to the society and the environment in Greece and the greater Eastern Mediterranean region. The company is a dynamic partner contributing to local capacity building.

In 2009 Grace joined EARSC, taking the benefit of privileged access to global information and valuable interaction concerning European policy, strategy and industry issues in Space matters.

Through the performance of targeted market studies, various partnerships and continuous interaction with local actors in its zone of activity, Grace consolidated its knowledge of the local and regional tissue in 2010 and extended its networking capabilities. In parallel, through the Programme of the European Commission for Young Entrepreneurs, the company acquired solid competence accompanied by experienced EO actors possessing worldwide operations and global view.

The company has chosen a cooperative approach permitting the access to a very large zone and today is an active partner of P.L.A.N. Inc www.planinc.com and Mea Intuis SARL www.earth-observation.com , which are two top-caliber consulting firms in the sector of Earth Observation with over 15 years of successful experience worldwide. In parallel the firm has established strong ties with a number of players of the European and not only Space market and industry, several high-level experts and consultants as well.

Today the company activities are concentrated in the business development and marketing of programmes, projects, products and services and in building up capacity. GRACE has the ability to rapidly assembly a team of commercial, industry or research actors and to successfully face any challenge concerning the implementation of sustainable EO ventures.

Regional Competence

Grace has made the strategic choice of targeting the international market since the beginning of its operations and to focus in a well defined zone as well, in the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia. In this much heterogeneous and sensitive region, very rich on history and culture, Earth Observation and other Space technologies could provide a substantial progress on the local and regional environment. The company has progressively acquired a thorough knowledge on the needs, perspectives, risks, opportunities and challenges of this zone.

Marketing and Capacity Building Competence

One of the essential skills the firm displays is related to marketing/business development activities. Grace has a dedicated team of experienced consultants with strong background and long track record in the matter. Promotion and international marketing of Space-related technology and capacity is the cornerstone of the company operations.

Grace consulting activities focus on capacity building and the master of required analysis, management, deployment and follow up. This competence also marks the firm’s philosophy and vision which is the achievement of long term progress through the use of Space assets, especially for monitoring and protecting the environment and the society.

Space and Earth Observation Expertise

The company disposes of an internal capacity and also of a large network of consultants and experts in the field of Space and in particular in the applications sector. This team, involved in various large-scale Programmes for the last 20 years is able to provide value and to offer independent advice and customized consulting services.

The thematic areas of expertise comprise a wide range of activities from policy deployment and Programmes development to commercial assistance and business development, and from infrastructure and organizational purposes to support on contracts, market studies, business plans or specific technical guidance.

Our consultants possess a deep knowledge of the Space sector and in particular of the Earth Observation market challenges, products, services and players and an outstanding experience as for the use of satellite infrastructure for a multitude of purposes.

Industry and Market View

Europe has certainly done steps forward in Space applications and Earth Observation, but still remain several drawbacks, inertia, overlap, confusion. Funds are not missing but often driven by research and technology push rather than users’ real needs. Costly Programmes haven’t convinced yet. Discussions and events about regional development are taking places all over Europe but not the results. Much money is used for developing methods, tools and process in small scale; why not allocate more for allowing end-users in need to use the technology in larger scale as well?

Our continent’s industry receives funding through a multitude of ways and this is certainly a necessary support and a demonstrated interest from the policy makers. But what is the true outcome and return on investment if this industry has difficulties to convince markets outside Europe and even provide sustainable solutions for the European end-users? In Earth Observation sector, for European products and services, the sales in Europe are 5 times more important than in all the rest of the world (from recent Eurospace Facts&Figures). Inefficient industrial and commercial strategies over the export markets combined with fierce international competition could bring additional trouble. This is Grace’s synthetic look at today’s European industry.

Being in between European zones under development and neighboring markets, the firm underlines the necessity for more competitiveness, efficient cooperation, sustainable development and tangible results in regions outside Europe.

Perspectives and Expectations

Grace has been created in an extremely harsh environment and has been directly affected by the financial crisis in the Euro zone and precisely the economic slump in Greece and the Balkan countries, the Arab unrest in North Africa as well. Despite those facts, the company maintained and diversified its activities, enlarged its partnerships base and focused on well understanding markets and customers.

“Gaining and efficiently exploiting access to European funding will be a key issue in order to implement capacity-building projects in our zone of activity” according to Mr. Dimitris Matsakis, Chairman of Grace. “The needs and intentions of end-users for building up things are often here, but national contribution is hard to find in a large number of countries, and the money usually goes to other priorities”.

Grace priorities are strengthening position in the overall area on the one hand and focusing on a set of identified and specific market needs on the other.

“We do not exclude to merge our activities and our competences with those of our partners, which would lead to establish a strong network capitalizing the expertise, skills and presence in 3 continents and more than 20 countries” adds Mr. Matsakis

Contact:
Grace Ltd, Athens – GREECE
For further information please contact Mr. Dimitris Matsakis, Chairman: dmatsakis (at) graceapplications.com or visit www.graceapplications.com

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