Press Release: IDEEO workshop on Earth Observation & International Market Development Opportunities & Challenges conclusion

Submitted by Natassa Antoniou on 08 March 2019

The IDEEO workshop on Earth Observation & International Market Development Opportunities & Challenges was held in Brussels on the 7th of March 2019. The Scotland House at round point 6 proved to a be a charming location for this informative day. EARSC’s Secretary General Geoff Sawyer opened the workshop and introduced the host of the workshop; Rory Donnelly.

The event organised by EARSC focused on the challenge of expanding the European earth observation market outside the EU, and had a particular focus on the tools available also for individual companies in the industry to do so. The event’s 50 attendee registration limit was reached which resulted in a diverse group ranging from the veterans with international experience to those thinking of getting their feet wet outside the EU.

The first key note speaker was Astrid-Christina Koch representing DG GROW. Astrid gave an in-depth overview of all the activities of the European Commission that support internationalisation of the Earth Observation industry.

Following Astrid, four speakers representing each a country identified as potential expansion destination spoke about the available contact points, services and opportunities in the representing country. First up was Andreia Siqueira speaking for Geoscience Australia, followed by Daniela González representing Chilean Natural Resource Information Centre (CIREN). The next country specific speaker was Fabrizio Mura of the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation informing the audience of the most common pitfalls, but also the solutions of expanding your business towards Japan.

Before the last external country spokesperson gave her presentation, Javier Echarri from the EBN innovation network talked about the advantages of using business incubators and international communities in the expansion of your markets. Linnet Solway from Eurochile first gave a very nice presentation about the general market in Chile and closed off with the portal they created for companies to get into contact with and find partners to setup projects in Chile, the Eurochile Business Centre. The most interesting fact is that along with local companies in partnerships, EU countries are eligible for funding through government programs in Chile.

Right before the lunch, Phil Monbet of the co-organising cluster Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique explained the rationale and objectives of the IDEEO project in more detail and his cluster’s role within IDEEO project.

After the lunch 5 EARSC member companies talked about their experiences and the challenges they needed to overcome whilst expanding towards countries outside Europe. These presentations were followed by a lively panel discussion covering the broader topic of Earth Observation industry internationalisation.

The companies presenting were; - Marc Tondriaux from Terranis, - Fabio Volpe from e-GEOS, - Massimo Zotti from Planetek, - Agnieska Lukaszczyk from Planet, & - Celestino Gomez from GMV.

We can conclude that the workshop was a success and given the feedback it was a good experience for those who wanted to gain more insights into expanding their business outside the EU. This workshop was also the last of the first phase of the IDEEO project.

About IDEEO: IDEEO is a project co-funded by COSME Programme of the European Union. It has the objective of creating a new European partnership, which will promote internationally the use of European Earth Observation capability in different sectors such as, maritime and agriculture. The consortium partners are:· European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (ERASC), in Belgium that coordinates the project;· Pole Mer Bretagne Atlantique from France;· Cluster Lucano di Bioeconomia

Attachment Size
Press Release IDEEO Workshop.pdf 130.12 KB
Share this Article