GEO-CRADLE

Coordinating and integRating state-of-the-art Earth Observation Activities in the regions of North Africa, Middle East, and Balkans and Developing Links with GEO related initiatives towards GEOSS

The continuous provision of accurate and timely information through coordinated and sustained Earth Observation (EO) activities is considered a key enabler for informed decision making in response to challenges such as adaptation to climate change, improved food security & water extremes management, better access to raw materials and energy and many more. In this context, large international initiatives such as GEO and Copernicus are promoting the integration and coordination of Earth Observation capacities at regional, national and international levels.  

Despite the important progress made over the past years in the Balkans and in North Africa, in both regions, but even more so in the Middle East, there still exist critical gaps in the uptake of Earth Observation activities. This includes a disparate level of development with regards to cooperation between the various EO stakeholders, ineffective exploitation of available resources and expertise, limited public awareness on the benefits of EO services and low involvement of the industrial sector.

GEO-CRADLE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, and will be running from 2016 to 2018 with the aim to tackle these challenges and promote the uptake and exploitation of Earth Observation activities in North Africa, Middle East and the Balkans. To this end, the project has brought together 25 partners from 3 continents, to work in a highly-complementary team that combines a strong background in EO coordination activities with proven scientific excellence in four key thematic areas (adaptation to climate change, improved food security & water extremes management, access to raw materials, and access to energy).

The project strives to:

  • enhance the current knowledge of existing EO capacities in the region (through an ongoing survey),
  • facilitate the cooperation between EO stakeholders (through a networking platform and several events),
  • identify the gaps and the maturity level (through analysis) and boost the maturity of the different countries in the region,
  • enable the exchange of EO data (by setting up a Regional Data Hub),
  • showcase concrete ways of tackling regional challenges related to adaptation of climate change, improved food security & water extremes management, better access to raw materials and energy (through feasibility studies),
  • propose a roadmap for the implementation of GEO, GEOSS and Copernicus in the three regions.

 

Project partners:

1 NATIONAL OBSERVATORY OF ATHENS, NOA – Greece

2 BALKAN ENVIRONMENT CENTER, IBEC – Greece

3 CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE ARAB REGION AND EUROPE, CEDARE – Egypt

4 CENTRE D’ETUDES ET DE RECHERCHES DETELECOMMUNICATIONS,CERT – Tunisia

5 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY, TAU – Israel

6 CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, CUT – Cyprus

7 TURKIYE BILIMSEL VE TEKNOLOJIK ARASTIRMA KURUMU, UZAY – Turkey

8 SPACE RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE, SRTI – Bulgaria

9 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOR OPTOELECTRONICS, INOE – Romania

10 Ss. CYRIL AND METHODIUS UNIVERSITY IN SKOPJE, USCM – Former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia

11 INSTITUTI PER RUAJTJEN E NATYRES SHQIPTARE SHOQATA, INCA -Albania

12 INSTITUT ZA FIZIKU, IPB – Serbia

13 Centro Internazionale in Monitoraggio Ambientale – Fondazione CIMA, CIMA – Italy

14 IDRYMA IATROVIOLOGIKON EREUNON AKADEMIAS ATHINON, AOA – Greece

15 INOSENS DOO NOVI SAD, INS – Serbia

16 EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF REMOTE SENSING COMPANIES, EARSC -Belgium

17 EURISY, EURISY – France

18 EuroGeoSurveys – EGS, EGS – Belgium

19 SCHWEIZERISCHES FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT FUER HOCHGEBIRGSKLIMA UND MEDIZIN IN DAVOS, PMOD/ WRC – Switzerland

 

The project has duration 30 months (February 2016 – July 2018), total budget 3.030.800,00€ and it is 100% funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 690133.

 

Project Website: http://geocradle.eu

 

                                                                                           

The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 690133