In view of the project’s closure at the end of June, a Final Conference was organised and held on May 17th and 18th, in hybrid mode: in presence in Brussels and remotely, attended by approximately 100 experts in the field of EO*GI. Download the presentations and watch the sessions here: http://www.eo4geo.eu/final-conference/
Among the invited lectures, particularly relevant were those by representatives of the European Institutions, including the Directorates General ‘Defence Industry and Space’, ‘Climate Action’, ‘Competition’, ‘Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion’, the European Space Agency and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme, who illustrated the articulated European policy context related to advanced digital competencies. Moreover, NEREUS Board Member Francisco Wallenstein presented the challenges and opportunities for The Azores region on the use of Copernicus and its uptake.
The current gap between demand and supply of these skills was confirmed, emphasising how the results of the EO4GEO project, including the Space/Geoinformation Sector Skills Strategy, the Body of Knowledge for EO*GI and the numerous Tools, constitute a solid basis on which to build stable and lasting paths to bridge the gap, which is, moreover, dynamically changing over time.
Finally, after the conference, the EO4GEO Alliance was presented, a virtual network gradually being joined by the 25 project partners and its 50 associated partners, which takes up the project’s legacy with the aim of becoming the reference organisation in Europe for bridging the gap between demand and supply of EO*GI expertise, promoting the full adoption of Copernicus services by end users.