EO is in the News! Promoting Global News This week‘s EOcafe will take us into the world of media and communications! In the early days of satellite Earth Observation, it seemed that the main use of the images coming from Landsat and SPOT was to show the readers of main-stream media (MSM) views of the

Every year during our anniversary cocktail EARSC gives out EARSC Awards to companies in the Earth Observation sector in 4 different categories. The first and longest running award is the Company Award where we recognize the company considered in that year to have made a significant contribution to the development of the EO Services sector in Europe (applications open in

By Sandra Cabrera Alvarado & Geoff Sawyer The European Commission has set out an ambitious goal with its 6 priorities in its own 5-year plan (2019 – 2024). The Green Deal has the objective that Europe becomes the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 by making its economy sustainable. How can the EO industry play a

Playing games is an extremely old pastime but digital gaming – which is what is generally understood by the term – is new. Whilst gaming is big business, the imaginary world of games may not seem the obvious place to take real images of the Earth. But for a few companies, it is and there is some very interesting business going on to bring these two worlds together.

GeoVille GmbH is private sector enterprise and a leader in satellite based environmental monitoring dedicated to providing value-added services related to Earth observation data and Geographic Information Systems. In order to strengthen their team they are looking for two positions: a motivated Project Manager (m/f/d) and Senior Expert for Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Services (m/f/d).

Each year, EARSC publishes a report looking at the companies in the EO services sector including the number of employees working within the sector. This represents only a part of the total employment as there is a strong resource in public sector agencies. Hence, we were challenged to put a figure to the total employment in all categories of employer both public and private, commercial and academic. Thus, the EARSC EO sector employment survey is the first report providing an estimate of the total number of Earth Observation (EO) employees throughout Europe, including both the public and private sector. Building upon two previous EARSC surveys, this study provides a more detailed picture of the employment in the Earth Observation field.

At EARSC we would like to celebrate the International Women's Day on the 8th of March promoting our female colleagues in the Earth Observation industry and our female EARSC members.

In the EOCafe, “where the EO Community meet”, our subject for discussion had a more applications driven focus. This time it was dedicated to the use of EO information for the raw materials sector. “Raw materials” includes mining but also other means of extraction and even recycling as a means for production. Although, for the EO community, it could be obvious that EO data/information is useful for mining companies in several of its stages of operations, (from the exploration phase, environmental assessment & permits, to design, operations, mine closure and aftercare), for the mining sector there is still a long way to go for this relationship to succeed.

The EU has defined 6 priorities for the period 2019 to 2024 to which has been added the Recovery Plan from the COVID-19 crisis. These are driving the budget debate which should end shortly with adoption of the 2021 to 2028 budget in the European Parliament. In the EOcafe, we have previously addressed the budget and the space programme but now, under the current discussions, how are these priorities helping to shape the future of space in Europe?

EARSC is running the “partnership” competition recognising and rewarding outstanding collaboration in public-private partnerships for the Copernicus user-uptake. Specifically, Copernicus networks organizations and Companies (in partnership) will be encouraged to submit a proposal for cooperation or present an already established collaboration achievement “from Research to Market”. The winner partnership will be recognized and promoted by EARSC in their network.

Policy blog by Sandra Cabrera ALVARADO and Aaron SCORSA In 2021 something good has to happen, right? If everything goes smoothly, we can dare to look forward to the new Regulation establishing the EU Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA).[1] In 2018, the European Commission took this initiative by

Earth Observation & the Raw Materials Sector Challenges and Solutions Thursday 18th February 2021, 16:00-16:45 CET Mining takes place across the globe, often in very remote locations, dispersed amongst countries of differing degrees of wealth. Companies operating those mines are facing multiple challenges throughout all lifecycle stages from the exploration phase, environmental assessment & permitting

EARSC EO product award for 2021 will recognise a product which will support overall sustainable development projects or the implementation of the SDGs at national, regional and/or local levels, with EO services helping on the monitoring and reporting against the goals, targets or the global indicator framework.

In 2015, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include a broad range of sustainable development issues; ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests.

Every year during our anniversary cocktail EARSC gives out EARSC Awards to companies in the Earth Observation sector in 4 different categories. The first and longest running award is the Company Award where we recognize the company considered in that year to have made a significant contribution to the development of the EO Services sector

The first EOcafe of the year 2021 provoked a great deal of interest with over 200 joining us in the virtual cafe to hear about the new European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). It is fair to affirm that the (European) space community is eagerly awaiting the entrance of this new player and its influence in the future of the EU space programme activities, especially for Copernicus. Once the new European Space Legislation is adopted, the current European GNSS Agency (GSA) will be transformed into the EUSPA with its responsibilities extended beyond the current role of market development of EGNOS and Galileo.

AI4EO is an initiative by the European Space Agency’s Φ -lab, to better connect the artificial intelligence (AI) and Earth observation (EO) domains. The Φ-lab’s mission is to accelerate the future of earth observation, by helping Europe’s earth observation and space researchers and companies adopt disruptive technologies and methods.