On 26 June 2014 NEREUS organized the workshop “Space – an enabling tool and facilitator for existing European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs)“. Bringing together more than 90 participants from European, National and Regional Institutions as well as numerous actors of the international space communty, NEREUS provided a platform of dialogue and exchange with and between relevant DGs from the European Commission and existing EIPs.
By the presentations of the 5 existing EIPs (Raw Materials, Water, Active and Healthy Ageing, Sustainable Agriculture, Smart Cities) and from the discussion with representatives of the European Space Agency, CNES and European Commission that followed, it clearly emerged that space can bring an added value in each existing EIPs contributing to tackle the societal challenges addressed by each EIPs. Indeed, recognizing that European space systems such as EGNOS/Galileo or Copernicus produce a wealth of space data that can be used to support activities in the different domains of the EIPs, the representatives of the existing EIPs called for more cooperation and connections between the space and no-space sectors, raising awareness on the manifold opportunities offered by space-based applications and services.
In the concluding remarks, Raffaele Liberali, Minister of Basilicata region and Christian Bruns, NEREUS Vice-President, while recognizing the importance of the existing EIPs in bridging the European institutions with the civil society, they insisted on the need for the space community to improve and to deepen the collaboration with the existing EIPs paving the way for possible future scenarios in which the different space actors can cooperate together.
