Copernicus Outreach

The results reported clearly demonstrate the very high value generated by using satellite (SAR) data to support ships serving communities in the Baltic. A new methodology has been tested which allows economic value to be demonstrated for specific Sentinel products.

In studies looking at public sector investments (eg in Copernicus), socio-economic studies analyse the economic benefits which will be generated. For EO programmes, this approach is very top down looking at broad brush benefits. In a study funded by ESA, EARSC has been developing an alternative approach which is very focused and bottom-up. The methodology has now been tested on 3 separate cases and more examples are in prospect.

The new method is based upon the value being created through the use of a single data product. The impact of this use is then traced and analysed through a value chain which ends with individual citizens. The approach shows the economic value being created for society in general and how citizens benefit without even being aware.

The first case looked at the use of SAR imagery to help guide ice-breakers serving factories and local consumers in the Baltic countries of Finland and Sweden. The Finnish economy depends strongly on the work of the icebreakers which in turn depend on the SAR imagery for their operations. In effect, Finland is an island as over 90% of its imports and exports travel by sea. Furthermore, all of its ports are frozen over in winter and ice-breaking becomes a service of strategic importance for the country.

Finland and Sweden co-operate very closely to keep sea-lanes open (the Motorways of the Sea) and in our analysis we find that the SAR imagery supplied by Radarsat and Sentinel 1 is used to improve the service which is offered. This reduces the cost of operations of the icebreakers and yields many benefits for the Finnish and Swedish economies. The ships save fuel and time, the ports can operate more efficiently as can the factories which they serve. Finally the local citizens live and work in a better environment which can be reliably served by the ships.

Subsequent cases look at the use of satellite optical imagery to support the management of Swedish forests and SAR interferometric measurements to reduce the risk of gas explosions in the Netherlands.

Focused on bringing the benefits of space to regions and their citizens, NEREUS[1]  currently unites 25 European regions and 41 Associate Members with the common mission to spread the use and understanding of space technologies across Europe. Copernicus is a key area for the network. Pooling a considerable wealth of capabilities and expertise, NEREUS not only offers its members a dynamic platform but is a committed advocate for the regional dimension of Europe’s space programs.

The intervention is going to present first snapshots of the dialogue with local and regional authorities (LRAs) within the joint NEREUS/ESA initiative “Improving Copernicus take-up among Local and Regional Authorities via dedicated thematic workshops”. Being part of a long term collaborative effort of both organisations, the project builds on the former NEREUS/ESA-cooperation “The Growing Use of GMES Across Europe’s Regions“, a collection of 67 regional Copernicus-Uses.

Bearing in mind regions’ significant role for the up-take of the Copernicus program, namely as a key end-user of its data but also as a fruitful geographical scale to stimulate the development of the downstream sector, particularly the connectivity of space across other sectors, the project’s target group are local and regional authorities (LRAs).

Although Sentinel imagery provide a wide array of significant information for territorial management and implementation of environmental legislation (in particular EU-directives), few administrations are aware nor make effective use of these potentials. This is the starting point of the project whose objectives are in the first place to gain more information about the regional deployment situation (state of play and what do we lack in Europe for a systematic up-take and broader use?). A series of three thematic workshops give the floor to representatives of local and regional administrations to address their experiences (examples of uses, success stories, best practices, and regional decision making processes), their regional needs but also roadblocks to up-take. With regional needs being a central focal point, the debate touches upon issues ranging from the demand/supply side to data access, provision but also data processing.  Further to this, shall the project contribute to stimulating exchange on knowledge, best practices as well as existing services among LRAs with similar areas of interest and promoting awareness among LRAs of the benefits of the Copernicus program.

With respect to the strategic goals of the initiative particular emphasis is put on the aspect of interregional collaborations but also on a pan-European approach with a great geographical and structural coverage of different regions (e.g. islands, mountainous areas, large cities etc.) which offers a rich base to identify and cluster common regional concerns /interest. The project is deeply embedded in different regional communities and a variety of regional networks and organisations. 

The workshop topics have been selected by LRAs across Europe out of 12 topics:

“The use of sentinel data for supporting land and marine spatial planning and management – specificities of small oceanic islands” (Azores in cooperation with the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen)

"A Trip from Mountains to Valley: Copernicus satellites as "sentinels" of environmental and economic changes" (Lombardy in cooperation with Midi/Pyrenées)

“Natural Resource Management using Copernicus‘ Services and Data“ (Bavaria in cooperation with Wallonia)

Following a comprehensive analysis of the workshops and a processing of the collected material the final conclusions will be presented and debated during a festive final event to a political audience in Brussels.

[1] Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies

International cooperation is of significant importance to the Copernicus programme. The programme's data policy provides full, open and free-of-charge access to Copernicus data and information, in line with the international data sharing principles of the Group for Earth Observation (GEO). Copernicus is also the European contribution to the GEO's Global Earth observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

Copernicus is expected to support the EU’s role as a global actor, contribute to solutions to common global challengesand is likely to constitute a growing element in the EU’s bilateral relations with international partners.In light of Copernicus’ data policy and the fact that the programme has moved into an operational phase, access to Copernicus data and information is creating increasing interest from various international partners and in this context the EU should seek reciprocity in the data exchanges for the benefit of the Copernicus programme.

Space infrastructure and data from international partner countries can be beneficial for the Copernicus programme in a variety of areas: support for data exchange both ways; co-operation on data processing, integration of third-party data (including in-situ data) into the Copernicus data system, data assimilation into models and products of the Copernicus services.

Providing Copernicus data and information as development and capacity building tools for addressing societal challenges worldwide is an important means to promote the EU as a global actor and to support development policy. These could include the promotion of values as have been developed for Europe through projects focused on environmental protection, climate change, sustainable development, education, access to knowledge/data for support of the infrastructure of developing countries and humanitarian actions

The presentation outlines two ESA initiatives which aim at the increase of awareness amongst young entrepreneurs of the potential benefits from using Earth observation data (in particular Copernicus data) for commercial and societal purposes.

The first initiative relates to the Copernicus Master Prize competition, which was organized for the first time in 2011. This earth monitoring event is oriented specifically towards students, researchers, entrepreneurs, start-up’s and SME’s. Since 2014 the competition is open to international submissions worldwide. The Master prize is divided into a number of “challenges” which are sponsored by one of the Master Prize partners. The partners select the application fields for which they invite proposals, ranging from agriculture and environment protection to marine management and tourism & leisure, to name just a few. The participants submit their commercial or societal ideas for applications which are making use of earth observation data.  The overall winner of the annual “Master” is selected amongst the winners of the challenges. The 2016 competition will run from April to July and will culminate with the formal award ceremony in Berlin in November 2016. Apart from cash prizes the winners will be offered to be incubated in one of the ESA Business Incubation Centers.

The second ESA idea helped to create the ESA app camps which are held in ESQA-ESRIN since 2012. For these events a group of 20 European app developers are selected and invited to ESRIN for one week, all expenses paid, tasked to develop a prototype of a smartphone app covering areas such as land monitoring, games, sports& leisure, agriculture etc. In 2015 a total of 120 applications have been received. A similar and additional ESA app camp has been held twice in Barcelona, at the occasion of the World mobile Congress, in cooperation with SAP. As in the Master Prize, the app camp winners will benefit from incubation in one of the ESA BIC’s.

The Sentinels, backbone of the Copernicus Space Component, are becoming reality. First satellites are providing data on sustainable operational mode. There are first long term observational experiences with Sentinel 1 data, this year is also the first, when the Sentinel 2 data will be available. Sentinel 3 is also coming. So this is the right time to identify, where to use this data, when it is suitable and mainly, where it is sustainable. It is the right time to find the frontier, where utilization of Sentinel´s data is beneficial – in which fields and in which conditions. In relation to this is also the time to identify and step by step minimize the obstacles hindering the penetration of data use, especially in governmental sector.

Beside the growing family of Sentinels, the core services are phasing into operation as well. Some of core services needs more care to be implemented at national level – the entities and structures taking care about it, or authorized to activate it has to be defined.

We see huge potential for commercial downstream sector and academia as well! It is expected, the downstream services made by commercial companies will bring majority of benefits from Copernicus data.

Key role for reaching the benefits plays the environment for utilization of data for all types of users. And this is the primary point we are focused on at the time being. For systematical development of this area, for reaching our visions and maximization of the benefits from Copernicus information in the Czech Republic, the ministries responsible for Copernicus in collaboration with interested and relevant subjects will formulate the Implementation plan which will helps us to turn our visions and goals into reality.

The goal of this presentation is not only to introduce the Implementation plan, but to show the respective sectors, are currently using Earth observation data and where we see the great potential for the future.