EXPANDEO 2025 – Press Release

Brussels, 13 June 2025

EXPANDEO 2025 Wrap-Up: Building Resilience: Policy, Innovation, and Partnerships for a Sustainable Tomorrow

Key stakeholders and attendees from over 63 countries gathered for two days of dynamic discussion at EXPANDEO 2025. This year’s edition, held in Brussels and online on the 11th and 12th of June 2025, marked the 6th edition of the event and continued to serve as a key platform for representatives from the European Earth Observation industry, user communities, and institutional actors. This year welcomed 505 online and 160 in-person attendees and hosted 45 distinguished speakers, participating in 10 sessions reflecting the continued growth and vitality of the EO community.

The event, opened by EARSC Secretary General, Emmanuel Pajot, focused on the theme “Building Resilience: Policy, Innovation, and Partnerships for a Sustainable Tomorrow” underscoring EO’s growing role in European competitiveness, defence, sustainability, and global cooperation. 

The opening keynote from Apostolia Karamali (Member of the Cabinet of Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius, European Commission) explored Europe’s shifting geopolitical landscape and the increasing importance of space autonomy, stressing that Europe must act decisively to strengthen its EO, defence, and space capabilities to secure both peace and prosperity. She also underlined that as the European Green Deal moves into its critical implementation phase, Earth Observation will play a central role in supporting monitoring, compliance, and policy delivery across climate, biodiversity, and sustainability objectives.

The high-level policy panel gathered representatives from DG DEFIS, ESA, and EUSPA to outline Europe’s EO priorities. Mauro Facchini (DG DEFIS) discussed the upcoming EU Space Act and Multi-Annual Financial Framework, with strong emphasis on expanding Copernicus capabilities, securing national and commercial synergies, and fostering competitiveness. Rune Floberghagen (ESA) stressed the need to foster private sector participation and innovation to drive Europe’s leadership in EO. Eduard Escalona (EUSPA) highlighted the growing importance of end-user engagement and market uptake for operational EO services.

The panel on nature restoration featured experts from the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Brussels Environment, and the  European Environment Agency. They discussed EO’s contribution to implementing the EU Nature Restoration Regulation. The panelists delved into the value of EO in helping monitor urban green spaces, forest health, wetlands, peatlands, and other aspects of biodiversity. The panel stressed the importance of harmonised monitoring methodologies and ensuring that smaller regions and municipalities have access to data and expertise.

The following session focused on EO’s role in Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for voluntary carbon markets. Experts from Verra, South Pole, and BeZero Carbon examined how EO enables scalable, cost-effective carbon accounting. Discussions addressed standardisation, the integration of EO in certification protocols, and the importance of blending field validation with satellite data to maintain market integrity.

For the first time at EXPANDEO, the event explored the civil security and defence dimension of EO. The defence session focused on the rapidly evolving role of EO in military operations. Drawing lessons from the war in Ukraine, speakers highlighted how satellite imagery is increasingly used tactically on the battlefield. Speakers from Belgian Defence Geospatial Centre, the European Defence Agency, and EEAS emphasized that the priority is no longer acquiring more data, but building capacity to fully exploit existing systems. Investing in skills development, including training for imagery analysts, AI specialists, and geospatial experts, was identified as a critical need. 

The civil security session highlighted EO’s growing role in disaster preparedness and crisis response. Speakers from DG ECHO, the Italian Permanent Representation to the European Union, and SatCen shared how EO supports national and EU-level efforts in civil protection, early warning, and rapid response. Fast access to reliable EO data, multi-level cooperation, and integration with ground systems were identified as critical enablers for improving European resilience.

During the last panel of Day 1, speakers from CloudFerro, Sinergise, Ubicube, and VITO invited European companies and service providers to develop new capabilities based on the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE). They discussed how CDSE allows for more accessible processing, visualisation, and commercial use of EO data. The ecosystem’s openness to third-party providers and new AI-based services continues to drive innovation and scalability across multiple EO sectors.

EXPANDEO 2025 concluded its first day with a live pitching session featuring three innovative startups competing for the Start-up of the Year Award. Finalists, including CDXi Solutions, Lyrasense, and Marble Imaging, each presented their solutions and the EXPANDEO online and in person audience elected Marble Imaging as the 2025 Start-Up of the Year. For the Product Award, ICEYE’s Flood Insight product claimed 1st place, Space4Good’s Forester 2nd place, and the 3rd place was awarded to Geocledian with their EUDR Check API. For the Company Award,  EOMAP earned 3rd place, EUSI took 2nd place, and constellr, secured 1st place, recognising their excellence and contribution to the industry’s advancement and innovation.

On the morning of the second day, EARSC members gathered for the Annual General Meeting of the Association, discussing the key achievements of the past year and the foreseen activities for the following one.

The second day opened with a keynote from Philippe Tulkens, Head of Unit on Climate and Planetary Boundaries, at DG RTD, European Commission. He highlighted the need to defend environmental priorities in a period of growing political and financial pressure. Earth Observation was presented as a critical tool to bridge the dual challenges of competitiveness and sustainability, empowering evidence-based policy, particularly in support of the European Green Deal and the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. Mr. Tulkens underlined Horizon Europe’s continued role in funding EO innovation, while stressing the importance of integrating public and private actors, supporting regions, and unlocking synergies between national and EU-level funding to make climate resilience both actionable and affordable.

The second day continued with a panel discussion on Africa-EU partnerships, that outlined growing collaboration under the new Space Partnership Programme. DG INTPA, ESA, AfSA, and African private sector representatives (RPAG) stressed the need for joint capacity building, private sector engagement, and sustainable financing to foster EO market growth in Africa, while supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Before the lunch break, representatives from Eurostat, UNECE, the International Association for Official Statistics, the Central Statistics Office Ireland, and the SDG-EYES project discussed how EO supports SDG monitoring, with a focus on land use, environmental indicators, and localised applications. Harmonising EO and statistical processes, building capacity, and improving interoperability remain key challenges for mainstreaming EO in official statistics.

In the afternoon, speakers from TerraNIS, Geosystems Hellas, Veneto Region, and the  Region of Crete, demonstrated how EO tools developed within projects such as OCEANIDS and VALORADA, support regional authorities in managing coastal erosion, heat islands, droughts, and other climate risks. Emphasis was placed on capacity building, user-friendly tools, and integration of EO into regional planning.

The PCP WISE session closed this year’s event and presented the pre-commercial procurement project focusing on water management resilience. Speakers from G.A.C., STOWA, and Covers Procurement Services outlined opportunities for suppliers and buyers to co-develop soil moisture and vegetation monitoring solutions, with tenders scheduled for later this year.

Looking Ahead to EXPANDEO 2026

In his closing remarks, EARSC Secretary General thanked all participants, speakers, and sponsors for their continued commitment. As the Green Deal, defence priorities, and digital competitiveness converge, EO remains central to Europe’s strategic ambitions. The community now looks ahead to EXPANDEO 2026 for the next stage of collaboration and growth.

A heartfelt thank you to our sponsors: AIRBUS, ALSOSpace, Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, European Space Imaging, Geosystems Hellas, PCP Wise Project, OCEANIDS Project, SDGsEYES Project, VALORADA Project, and our media partner GroundStation.Space.