On 29 June 2021 a webinar “Earth Observations for citizens and the planet – V4 perspective on R&I contributions to the Copernicus programme” took place as an annual V4 Conference 2021 organised by the Polish Science Contact Agency of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PolSCA) together with Czech Liaison Office for Education and Research (CZELO), National Research, Development and Innovation Office Hungary (NRDIO) and Slovak Liaison Office for Research and Development (SLORD).
All speakers’ presentations and event-related documents (i.e. HE Cluster 4 WE and Copernicus reports) as well as the video recording of the event are available here.
The conference brought the attention of over 190 participants representing various academic and non-academic institutions as well as start-ups and companies operating in the field of Earth Observation across Visegrad countries and from all over Europe and beyond! Among attendees were also representatives of various stakeholders organisations in Space/EO sector at the local, national and pan-European level.
The webinar was a great chance to get first-hand information from various experts in this field, representing European Commission (DG DEFIS and DG RTD) as well as key EU stakeholders and representatives of V4-based R&I public institutions and private companies. Furthermore, it was an opportunity to engage in a discussion concerning networking, mobilising and reinforcing cooperation between European scientists and innovators, research organisations and various actors in the field of Earth Observations.
Through selected talks and interventions, all event attendees could get a glimpse of the current policy framework, priorities and future challenges regarding the EU flagship programme Copernicus. This was well supplemented by a thorough overview of numerous European Space Agency (ESA) activities and the mission of the newly launched Knowledge Centre for Earth Observation (KCEO) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Furthermore, viewpoints of key stakeholders were presented via interventions from the Association of European Space Research Establishments (ESRE) and SME4SPACE Association.
Particularly interesting were fine indications on how members of the R&I communities across the V4 countries, CEE region and all over the Europe can tap into and provide valuable contributions to the Copernicus programme. In parallel, the conference audience had a chance to witness a showcase of four examples of success stories from the region – so to say “V4 champions” to the Copernicus programme.
To read the whole summary, please check this website.