Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 2RomeGEO2025 (Towards GEO 2025@Rome)
Reporting period: 2024-07-16 to 2025-07-15
GEO – the Group on Earth Observations was formally established in 2005 in Brussels at the Third Earth Observation Summit, where the first 10-year Implementation Plan was adopted. Since its inception and over the past 20 years GEO has evolved from coordinating data sharing to championing Earth Intelligence, ensuring that Earth observations are not only accessible, but also transformed into actionable knowledge.
The overall goal of the Project has been to support the organization of the “GEO Global Forum 2025: the Earth talks”, a cornerstone to shape the next 10 years of GEO action, through the achievement of three major objectives:
• The launch of a dynamic platform for advancing Earth Intelligence for all.
• The celebration of the GEO's 20th anniversary, marking two decades of multilateral collaboration, innovation, and impact.
• The adoption of the Post-2025 GEO Work Programme designed to deliver the ambitious goals of GEO’s Post-2025 Strategy.
The GEO Global Forum 2025 marked also a clear change on how to foresee the Ministerial participation: rather than a separate Ministerial Summit (customary for previous, similar GEO occasions) a Ministerial Segment has been included in the GEO Plenary.
The main motivation of the Project has been to bring back to Europe the GEO event at Ministerial level at the 20th Anniversary of GEO by making available a venue and the best conditions to promote exchange, discussions and, finally, commitments in support of GEO activities. From the Project’s perspective the ultimate metrics to assess success is therefore the number of participants and the number of Ministers and High-level representatives attending the Forum.
The GEO Global Forum 2025 took place from 5 to 9 May, organized by the Italian Space Agency, with the substantial support of the European Commission through the funding of this Project, under the auspices of the Italian Ministries of University and Research and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and brought together Ministers, Industry leaders, innovators and young people from around the world to agree on a common roadmap for implementing GEO's Post-2025 Strategy.
The Forum was articulated in a number of activities/events, as summarized in Fig. 1.
The detailed Programme can be found at https://earthobservations.org/about-us/events/geo-global-forum-2025(opens in new window)
The overall goal of the Project has been to support the organization of the “GEO Global Forum 2025: the Earth talks”, a cornerstone to shape the next 10 years of GEO action, through the achievement of three major objectives:
• The launch of a dynamic platform for advancing Earth Intelligence for all.
• The celebration of the GEO's 20th anniversary, marking two decades of multilateral collaboration, innovation, and impact.
• The adoption of the Post-2025 GEO Work Programme designed to deliver the ambitious goals of GEO’s Post-2025 Strategy.
The GEO Global Forum 2025 marked also a clear change on how to foresee the Ministerial participation: rather than a separate Ministerial Summit (customary for previous, similar GEO occasions) a Ministerial Segment has been included in the GEO Plenary.
The main motivation of the Project has been to bring back to Europe the GEO event at Ministerial level at the 20th Anniversary of GEO by making available a venue and the best conditions to promote exchange, discussions and, finally, commitments in support of GEO activities. From the Project’s perspective the ultimate metrics to assess success is therefore the number of participants and the number of Ministers and High-level representatives attending the Forum.
The GEO Global Forum 2025 took place from 5 to 9 May, organized by the Italian Space Agency, with the substantial support of the European Commission through the funding of this Project, under the auspices of the Italian Ministries of University and Research and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and brought together Ministers, Industry leaders, innovators and young people from around the world to agree on a common roadmap for implementing GEO's Post-2025 Strategy.
The Forum was articulated in a number of activities/events, as summarized in Fig. 1.
The detailed Programme can be found at https://earthobservations.org/about-us/events/geo-global-forum-2025(opens in new window)
The work has been structured and performed to properly cover all the organizational aspects of the event and to interact with the main actors involved (GEO Secretariat, Italian Ministries and European Commission) to ensure coherence and timeliness of the organizational activities with the development of the Forum content, namely the overall program and the detailed agendas of the different events.
The first group of the activities has been dedicated to support the participants in preparing their travel and facilitate their stay in Rome during the Forum.
The second group of activities was devoted to the selection of a venue able to meet the logistic requirements and to provide all the associated services. The Auditorium della Tecnica (Figure 2 and 3) - https://centrocongressi.confindustria.it/?lang=en - was selected, providing:
• Plenary auditorium with a capacity of about 700 delegates, equipped with status of the art audio and video system, including capability for simultaneous Translation
• Meeting rooms with individual capacity of up to 150 seats, to support Community Events and bilateral meetings
• Offices for GEO Secretariat, the four GEO Co-chairs and a VIP room to welcome Ministers and High-Level participants
• An Exhibition area of about 1500 sqm, and
• A press center.
The third group of activities has covered all the communication aspects, ranging from the definition and implementation of the visual identity of the Forum to the production of videos.
The first group of the activities has been dedicated to support the participants in preparing their travel and facilitate their stay in Rome during the Forum.
The second group of activities was devoted to the selection of a venue able to meet the logistic requirements and to provide all the associated services. The Auditorium della Tecnica (Figure 2 and 3) - https://centrocongressi.confindustria.it/?lang=en - was selected, providing:
• Plenary auditorium with a capacity of about 700 delegates, equipped with status of the art audio and video system, including capability for simultaneous Translation
• Meeting rooms with individual capacity of up to 150 seats, to support Community Events and bilateral meetings
• Offices for GEO Secretariat, the four GEO Co-chairs and a VIP room to welcome Ministers and High-Level participants
• An Exhibition area of about 1500 sqm, and
• A press center.
The third group of activities has covered all the communication aspects, ranging from the definition and implementation of the visual identity of the Forum to the production of videos.
The main outcomes are summarized below and, together with congratulations received by many participants, they confirm the success of the event.
• About 730 attendees from 72 countries;
• One of the highest ministerial attendances at the GEO Ministerial meetings (see Fig.4)
• 10 Ministers/Vice-Ministers/Ambassadors or other ministerial-level representatives from 8 countries
• 4 Director-Generals of regional intergovernmental organizations (three from EC and one from SPC)
• 1 Secretary-General from UN organisation (Convention on Wetlands)
• 19 Community Events (Titles and description at https://earthobservations.org/about-us/events/geo-global-forum-2025(opens in new window)
• The ODOK (Open Data Open Knowledge) Workshop
• 25 Exhibitors (see list in Fig. 5)
• 2 Technical Visits, one at the ESA-ESRIN Premises in Frascati, one at the integration hall of the Thales Alenia Spazio Italia
• 4 videos produced (promotional video, 20 years of GEO, Use of GEOGLAM data in Malawi, Global Forum Highlights.
Concerning the GEO 20 Plenary meeting that took place on 7th and 8th May, a detailed report can be found at https://earthobservations.org/storage/events/GEO-Global-Forum/geo-20/Draft%20Report%20of%20GEO-20.pdf(opens in new window)
It is worth to highlight the structure of the Plenary, which includes a Ministerial segment and two sessions of great value and importance dedicated to key actors whose contribution is key to ensure the achievement of GEO objectives:
SESSION 6 - KEEPING OUR PROMISES TO YOUNG PEOPLE and
SESSION 7 - 7 STRENGTHENING PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT TO DELIVER ON GEO’S VISION
• About 730 attendees from 72 countries;
• One of the highest ministerial attendances at the GEO Ministerial meetings (see Fig.4)
• 10 Ministers/Vice-Ministers/Ambassadors or other ministerial-level representatives from 8 countries
• 4 Director-Generals of regional intergovernmental organizations (three from EC and one from SPC)
• 1 Secretary-General from UN organisation (Convention on Wetlands)
• 19 Community Events (Titles and description at https://earthobservations.org/about-us/events/geo-global-forum-2025(opens in new window)
• The ODOK (Open Data Open Knowledge) Workshop
• 25 Exhibitors (see list in Fig. 5)
• 2 Technical Visits, one at the ESA-ESRIN Premises in Frascati, one at the integration hall of the Thales Alenia Spazio Italia
• 4 videos produced (promotional video, 20 years of GEO, Use of GEOGLAM data in Malawi, Global Forum Highlights.
Concerning the GEO 20 Plenary meeting that took place on 7th and 8th May, a detailed report can be found at https://earthobservations.org/storage/events/GEO-Global-Forum/geo-20/Draft%20Report%20of%20GEO-20.pdf(opens in new window)
It is worth to highlight the structure of the Plenary, which includes a Ministerial segment and two sessions of great value and importance dedicated to key actors whose contribution is key to ensure the achievement of GEO objectives:
SESSION 6 - KEEPING OUR PROMISES TO YOUNG PEOPLE and
SESSION 7 - 7 STRENGTHENING PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT TO DELIVER ON GEO’S VISION