Interview by Annalisa Donati, Coordinator of activities at EURISY

Interview with Maria Vittoria D’Inzeo and Anna Nikowska, Policy officers at the European Commission

The Pact for Skills has been launched by the Commission in November 2020. Can you introduce it in a nutshell?

There is a strong potential in boosting joint action to maximise the impact of skills investment. Skills policies and actions are shared between many players. Companies, workers, education and training providers, national, regional, and local authorities, chambers of commerce, and employment services are among the ones who contribute to making up and reskilling a reality. Concerted efforts can bring clarity to individuals and companies throughout the value chain, reduce costs and focus on priorities.

This is why the Commission is launching a Pact for Skills —…

Interview with Professor Gualtiero Fantoni, ASSETs+ Project Coordinator

Short description of ASSETs+ and goals of the Partnership

Industry 4.0, business digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence and
Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) are increasingly taking centre stage, not as buzzwords but as pillars for innovation in all business sectors at a global level. The Defence sector is no exception.

Accordingly, all players involved in this field are experiencing evolution in both business processes and human resources: the former concerning technological advancements; the latter regarding the skills needed to exploit such technologies properly.

Human resources need to possess or develop new knowledge, abilities, and competences to help companies complete the quantum leap expected from…

Short description of your organisation

Earth Blox is a commercial tool that provides access to the power of Earth Observation, removing the need for coding, high-performance computers and extensive local storage — giving you intelligence anywhere. It operates exclusively using Google Earth Engine datasets and processing. It saves time by eliminating repetitive manual tasks and increases confidence in user decision making by harnessing numerous Google Earth Engine data sources. Earth Blox is a Scottish startup led by Earth Observation experts with an academic background. Its scalability makes it ideal for teaching and research. …

This interview was organised by the EO4GEO partner NEREUS. Being a member of the UNIVERSEH Advisory Board, one of the NEREUS task is to better connect UNIVERSEH with EO4GEO.

What is your project mission and vision?

Following the 2017 Social Summit in Gothenburg, the European Union members expressed their willingness to strengthen strategic partnerships across the EU between higher education institutions and to encourage the emergence of “European Universities” consisting of bottom-up networks of universities across the EU. …

The EO4GEO Training Actions are separated into three domains — Integrated Applications, Smart Cities, and Climate Change — covering many topics to fit the needs of different stakeholders and audiences.

The Training Actions were developed and use Moodle, an open-source course management system and learning platform that supports cooperative teaching and learning methods. An own instance of Moodle was created and set up to fit the needs of the EO4GEO educators and the participants of the Training Actions.

Short description of your organisation

Predictia is a spin-off company from the University of Cantabria, with over 10 years of experience in applying Big Data and Machine Learning to the fields of climate & weather modelling, remote sensing and health data management. We develop solutions and services for both public institutions and private companies, providing accurate, timely and tailored predictions and analysis. Through participation in Horizon2020, Copernicus contracts and other international projects, we are able to maintain a strong core of research and innovation.

The Survey on the Total Employment in Europe in the EO Services Sector conducted by the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) has been published in March 2021 and it complements information from the 2020 Earth Observation Industry Survey published in July.

As EARSC highlighted in its last Earth Observation Industry Survey, the EO industry is continuing to grow about 10% per year. However, the impact of the pandemic crisis on the industry in 2020 will be analyzed in the next 2021 Earth Observation Industry Survey.

This Survey is the first report providing an estimate of the total number…