new EO applications to support International Policies

 

→ engaging, expanding and building up on existing and new user communities, collecting user requirements for development of innovative and advanced EO products, tools and services

 

• Convene thematic workshops with EO experts and user communities to review how state of the art EO applications can respond to the priority needs of user communities, and develop agenda for new R&D activities (e.g. MWBS, MUAS, WorldCover series)
• Cooperate with international conventions, UN Agencies and international organisations to leverage the uptake and facilitate the sustainable use of EO in key policy sectors (e.g. Multilateral Environmental Agreements, SDGs, EU directives)
• Build strategic partnerships (via MOI, MOU, white papers) with key authoritative user organisations to contribute on the international responses to global societal challenges
• Develop open source algorithms and tools to stimulate growth of EO application developers and facilitate uptake of EO applications by user communities
• Identify opportunities for strategic collaboration in EO exploitation with key international and private sector  stakeholders
• Support and stimulate innovative capability development among relevant suppliers including IT/geomatics/analytics providers, specialist EO service providers, software developers, commercial EO satellite operators and start-ups
• Build awareness and acceptance of EO based information across international, regional, national and private sector stakeholders to foster the longer term adoption of commercial EO based products and services
• Perform stakeholder requirement consolidation – gathering information requirements; defining and agreeing specific activities to be executed in partnership that promote the use of EO information in operations
• Identify and address structural impediments to uptake of EO based products and services both with respect to EO supply and demand side uptake

This involvement of champion users is aimed primarily at developing EO-based products and services responding to their evolving needs, primarily in support to International Policy directives.

The definition, implementation, integration, validation and qualification of these products and services is to be carried out in close collaboration with these end-user organisations, and in agreement with their standards and practices. This development can also be carried out in an agile rapid process leveraging on state-of-the-art technology solutions.

Part of the programme also aims at discovering potential new users and engaging an active collaboration with them to highlight the capabilities of EO-based solutions within their own working framework.

This process is sometimes identified with the term “User Engagement Path” and deals mostly with public sector entities, e.g. national ministries, non-governmental organisations, international scientific programmes and international conventions. This is to ensure that the final products and services derived from the application projects respond to the specific needs of the corresponding user communities as well as allowing users to have direct contact with the products and/or services developed, so that they can appreciate the benefits and advantages of EO technology.