Pacific event : Building solutions for disaster management and emergency response with European partners

In March 2022, Australia has already battled wildfires and floods which have devastated the pacific region, one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The European Union has been positioned as a reliable partner on the global scenario offering Earth Observation and space services to Australia, in the framework of a fruitful collaboration between Australian and European institutions for the benefit of governments, industry, researchers and communities. In order to strengthen existing links and expand their scope, the European Union is welcoming increased cooperation to address the challenges posed by natural disasters and emergencies, taking advantage of EO, GNSS and SSA technologies, as well as stimulating industrial opportunities and innovation.

To that end, the EU Global Action on Space is organising an event in Australia on May 23 and 24 to introduce EU Space capabilities and promote the use of various tools available in the EU Space Programme to support the critical objectives in the Australian public and private sector.

On the first day, experts from the European Commission, the European Union Space Programme Agency (EUSPA) and local institutions will present the added value that the flagship components of the EU Space Programme for disaster management and emergency response for the Pacific region, discussing relevant topics such as the use of high-accuracy Galileo positioning services and their compatibility with E6 band end-user communities, or the approaches to address space weather events including the need for international cooperation. Members of the European private space sector will also present concrete success stories related to the exploitation of synergies between the components of the EU Space Programme. Concrete opportunities for Business coaching and match-making between European and Australian private space companies in the framework of the Global Action will also be explored.

On the second day, the EU Global Action on Space will hold a workshop at the Locate22 Australia Conference on “EU-Australia geospatial (temporal) technologies for disaster management and emergency response”. Experts from the European Commission, the EU Delegation to Australia, as well as local policymakers and stakeholders will present more technical perspectives related to geospatial technologies and promote both Australian and European perspectives. The workshop will illustrate concrete case studies of the use of Copernicus services for emergency response coordination as well as perspectives from EO and GNSS end-users in the field of disaster management.

To find more information about the space industry in the Pacific, you can read our market report here.

Title image - Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery