- March 6, 2009
- Posted by: EARSC
- Category: EARSC News
A study on the competitiveness of the GMES Downstream Sector is available on the Europa website
The final report of the “Study on the Competitiveness of the GMES Downstream Sector” produced within the Framework Contract of Sectoral Competitiveness Studies (funded by the EC DG Enterprise and Industry) is available on the Europa website.
During the study, an analysis has been made of the performance of the European EO downstream sector, in terms of revenues, employment and productivity. Subsequently, the structure of the sector has been analysed. Furthermore, the competitiveness of the sector has been studied, taking into account aspects like production processes, imports and exports, profitability, and market structure.
These issues have been related to a number of regulatory and framework conditions in order to determine the impact of these conditions on the competitiveness of the sector.
Lastly, the EO downstream services sector has been compared with its US equivalent. Based on the analyses, a set of recommendations has been formulated.
The full document as weel as an executive summary can be downloaded from the Europa website.
Key documents on GMES at the European Commission GMES website
Study on the Competitiveness of the GMES Downstream Sector
Other Documents by linking at European Commission GMES website
–COM748 – Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, Council, EESC and CoR: GMES: We care for a safer planet
–SEC2808 – Impact Assessment
–SEC2809 – Summary of the Impact Assessment
-Citizen Summary
–COM 565 Final – Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: GMES: From concept to reality
–COM 65 Final – Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: Establishing a GMES capacity by 2008 – (Action plan 2004-2008)
–COM 609 Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Outline GMES EC Action Plan (Initial period: 2001-2003)
–DIRECTIVE 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007, establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE)
–COM 46 Final – Communication from the Commission: Towards a Shared Environmental Information System
Studies
-Study on the Competitiveness of the GMES Downstream Sector
-Executive Summary
-more reference documents to be found here
Overview on What is GMES ?
GMES will be the European programme implementing an Earth observation service system with satellites, sensors on the ground, floating in the water or flying through the air to monitor our planet’s environment and to support the security of every citizen.
The information provided by GMES will help us understand better how and in what way our planet may be changing, why this is happening, and how this might influence our daily lives. In this way, GMES will improve people’s safety in many ways, such as by providing information on natural disasters such as forest fires or floods, thus helping prevent the loss of lives and large-scale damage to property. GMES also presents a clear potential for commercial applications in many different sectors by providing Earth observation data for free to anybody who might have a use for them. GMES will help us improve the management of our natural resources, monitor the quality of our waters and air, plan our cities and prevent urban sprawl, ease the flow of transportation, optimise our agricultural activities and promote renewable energy. Clearly, GMES has the potential to significantly improve the living conditions of our generation and the generation of our children.
Besides affecting our daily lives, GMES will provide vital information to decision-makers and business operators that rely on strategic information with regard to environmental, for instance, climate change and adaptation, or security issues.
The infrastructure needed to collect the observations used by GMES services is owned and operated either by international, European or national entities with their respective political and financial responsibilities. GMES aims at ensuring seamless data flow for sustainable services through effective coordination of all these capacities.
GMES is an initiative driven by the needs of its users, and the information it provides is freely and openly accessed. Significant impact on the economy is expected through the creation of large downstream value-adding service markets, which will grow and flourish provided that a long-term commitment to the GMES programme is secured.
What is the difference between Galileo and GMES ?
GALILEO and GMES are complementary systems making use of satellite technologies. GALILEO is essentially a satellite navigation system providing a positioning and timing services worldwide. GMES is an ‘Earth observation’ system providing information on the state and evolution of our environment and improving the security of our citizens.
There are other Earth-observation systems. What is the added value of GMES ?
Earth observation services already exist in Europe, but they are dispersed at national or regional level. With the exception of meteorological services, they cannot guarantee the long-term service availability and sustainability of timely and reliable information that GMES will provide. Further, in order to respond to ever growing challenges of global safety and to develop strategic policy options, such as climate change, Europe needs a well-coordinated, fully reliable Earth observation system of its own. GMES is that system.
What is at stake with GMES ?
Initially developed as a scientific project ten years ago, GMES needs to evolve into a fully mature operational service system.
This requires: a sustainable programme including long-term funding commitment; a robust governance structure; and tailor-made legislative and regulatory framework notably designing a data policy that stimulates jobs and growth.
Deciding not to implement a sustainable GMES programme would undoubtedly cause a significant loss of opportunity for Europe, in terms of the money already invested so far, the loss of market opportunities and stimulus for innovation as well as a loss of worldwide influence through a strong knowledge base in such strategic areas as climate change and global stability.
