Support to GEO annual event 2025

Expected Impacts:

• lasting cooperations of public organisations and the private sector established in the EU and Horizon Europe associated countries with partners from around the globe for implementing the GEO strategy: ”Earth Intelligence for all”;
• higher visibility and better exploitation of EU investments into EO, including Copernicus and Horizon funded research infrastructures like ICOS, ACTRIS, or EuroARGO;
• enhanced dissemination, communication and valorisation of EU research policies and investments in open data and knowledge practices (including e.g. Copernicus and the European Open Science Cloud), data policies, and related research activities.

The action is expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• successful conduction of the GEO annual event with a good participation of high level representatives from GEO Member States;
• endorsement of a new implementation plan for GEO and commitments from GEO members, including its participating organisations, to support the implementation of the new GEO strategy in support of MEAs and endeavours like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and Early Warnings for All;
• increased equity and inclusivity within the GEO with a greater diversity of voices and greater attention to engagement and capacity development, amplifying the voices of indigenous peoples, youth, women and other groups whose potential to contribute to GEO;
• more effective links and exchanges between research, the private sector and policy makers, to support the development and deployment of sustained and innovative solutions for GEO initiatives;

Scope:

The European GEO caucus was invited by GEO to host the next GEO week in April 2025. This will be 20 years after the third Earth Observation Summit (EOS-III), which was convened in February 2005 in Brussels, establishing the GEO.

The EU, co-chair to GEO represented by the Commission, DG RTD, has supported the GEO initiative with its R&I framework programmes from the start by providing funding to the GEO secretariat and mainly through research activities supporting GEO flagships, initiatives, and pilot initiatives, as well as the European regional initiative EuroGEO.

This grant will be awarded without a call for proposals according to Article 195(e) of the Financial Regulation and Article 24(3)(b) of the Horizon Europe Regulation.

The EU Member State hosting the GEO week 2025 will be decided by the GEO Executive Committee meeting in April 2024. The legal entity responsible for implementing will be nominated by that Member State and will have the role of the host and local organizer of the event, which will be planned and conducted in close collaboration with the GEO secretariat and the Commission (as well as relevant GEO goverance bodies and other stakeholders).

The beneficiary should also provide a European stand in the exhibition which will be prepared in cooperation with the EuroGEO secretariat (i.e. the EuroGEOsec project funded under call HORIZON-CL6-2023-GOVERNANCE-01-10).

The action includes communication activities to promote the event and its visibility in media, including social media. Also, a final report after the event should be provided in a format which is fit for wide dissemination, which highlights the outcomes of the event. All communication activities and the visual identity of the event need to indicate the co-sponsoring of the event by the EU.

The general conditions, including admissibility conditions, eligibility conditions, award criteria, evaluation and award procedure, legal and financial set-up for grants, financial and operational capacity and exclusion, and procedure are provided in parts A to G of the General Annexes.

Specific conditions:

The starting date of the grant awarded under this action may be as of the submission date of the proposal. Applicants must justify the need for a retroactive starting date in their application. Costs incurred from the starting date of the action may be considered eligible.

Subcontracting is not restricted to a limited part of this action.

The evaluation committee will be composed fully by representatives of EU institutions.

Funding Rate: max. 100%