Final Report Summary - GRAAL (GMES for Regions: Awareness and Access Link)
Executive Summary:
In the context of the GMES Initial Operations (GIO) phase, the GRAAL support action was developed in order to foster the uptake of Copernicus at local and regional level. The GRAAL project has reached the end of its two-year lifecycle and successfully met several objectives whilst failing to fully achieve some others. However, despite not fully meeting all of its objectives, the GRAAL project has successfully developed and implemented crucial tools and products, ensuring that the initial objectives assigned to GRAAL can be achieved in the follow-up of the GMES4Regions initiative.
The FP7 topic under which the GRAAL project was funded gave room for two projects. The other project funded under this topic was DORIS_Net. During the negotiation phase, both projects had to adapt their work plans to ensure, firstly, that there would be no overlapping activities and, secondly, that they would only communicate under a single banner, namely GMES4Regions.
Though several actions were undertaken within the sole scope of the GRAAL project, most activities were implemented with the objective to support the development of the GMES4Regions initiative, hence in coordination with DORIS_Net.
Overall, the GRAAL project has been the driving force behind the GMES4Regions initiative and, ultimately, the large majority of the outputs of the GRAAL project have served the implementation of the GMES4Regions initiative.
The contributions of the GRAAL project, through the GMES4Regions initiative, can be listed as follows:
• Development of the GMES4Regions.eu portal
• Production of awareness raising products
• Development of the Copernicus Academy
• Analysis of the needs of Local and Regional Authorities
• Contributions to the entrepreneurial dimension of Copernicus
Disregarding the outcomes of the project achieved after two years of activity, the benefits of the GRAAL project were intended to continue beyond the project’s lifespan. Most of the tools and products developed and implemented in the context of the project therefore proved to be beneficial to Copernicus long after the project ended. In that respect, not only GRAAL has produced a useful platform (the GMES4Regions.eu portal), but also studies (LRA or SME related) as well as products such as Window on GMES or the MultiMedia Presentation that will remain LRA-relevant for a long time.
Because of this, the EC representative indicated during both the last Coordination Meeting as well as the Second Common Advisory Board that the GMES4Regions initiative will be funded through other funding mechanisms after the end of the GRAAL project. Such a statement is not only indisputable evidence that the concept behind GRAAL interests the EC, it is also, and more obviously, a key measure of success.
Project Context and Objectives:
The overall objective of the GRAAL project was two-fold; as per the topic under which it is funded:
• Foster the development of downstream services
• ...and links with regions.
The GRAAL standpoint on this overall objective was based on the following points:
Firstly, the regional sphere, although important for the future development of Copernicus, is not the most important level to address in order to ensure that the downstream market reaches its full potential over the next few years. Indeed, depending upon the classification used, it is generally accepted that there are approximately 300 “regions” in the EU. According to the NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) classification, valid from 1 January 2012 until 31 December 2014, there are 97 regions at NUTS 1, 270 local government entities (e.g. regions, provinces, counties, great urban areas etc.) at NUTS 2 level and 1294 regions at NUTS 3 level. If Copernicus is to reach its full downstream deployment potential, local public authorities below the NUTS 3 level must be addressed as much as possible. In France only, there are 36,683 cities, towns or villages (LAU – Local Administrative Unit). Many of them are potential users of Copernicus downstream services. So, the objective of GRAAL was not only to engage regions, but also to develop tools addressing the link between Copernicus and LRAs.
Secondly, fostering downstream services cannot be achieved simply by communication and awareness raising activities. Those who are developing the services or operating them are essential players who need to be taken into consideration. In that respect, the SME component of the GMES4Regions initiative as well as the Copernicus Academy are two cornerstones reflecting the GRAAL’s understanding of the question “How can the development of Copernicus downstream services be fostered?” The development of downstream services often starts as Research and Development activities, undertaken within universities or research centres. In other words, the emergence of a large offer of downstream services largely depends upon upstream research activities. SME, Academia and Research Centres are very much intertwined. In regard to this, the objectives of GRAAL were as follows:
- Develop the Copernicus Academy in order to:
o Facilitate the transition from Research to market
o Foster the exchange of information between leading research activities
- Facilitate the emergence of newcomers in the Copernicus community through the development of deliverables focusing on European funding opportunities and a global analysis of the various barriers to entry faced by companies willing to develop a business.
However, fostering downstream services implies becoming able, at some point, to efficiently link Supply with Demand. The case of Copernicus is peculiar in the sense that it has been, for about a decade, an initiative whose development was research-led. Only later did it become a user-led programme. As a consequence, the potential local users (the Local and Regional Authorities – LRAs) have long been “ignorant” of the benefits they could reap from using Copernicus. This limited knowledge of Copernicus has led to a situation where LRAs are almost not at all involved in the development of Copernicus. Therefore, Demand, as a steering force, is not as developed as it could be. The ambition of GRAAL on this particular matter was to help the market to transition from a very Offer-led market to a situation in which potential users, thanks to their awareness of Copernicus and the various GRAAL tools, could identify and perhaps do business with the Service Provider most likely to meet their needs. Such an achievement could ultimately support the development of a Copernicus market balanced between Offer and Demand.
Thirdly, in addition to the “fostering downstream services” dimension of the project, the ambition of GRAAL was also to better understand the situation of Copernicus at local and regional level, and characterise the needs of Local and Regional Authorities in terms of downstream services. Although this specific objective is not crucial in order to foster Copernicus at local level, it is essential to understand how Copernicus is perceived at local level and where there is potential room for change or improvement, and the barriers that exist to limit the development of Copernicus at local and regional level.
Fourthly, despite the fact that communication and awareness raising activities cannot foster downstream services alone, these two activities are necessary to achieve the project’s overall objective. The objectives of the project for communication and awareness raising activities were to:
- Produce communication tools and products introducing Copernicus to potential users
- Disseminate those communication tools and products towards LRAs and European networks
Finally, based on the four previous points, the objective was to develop a platform where all Copernicus stakeholders targeted in the context of the GMES4Regions initiative could find a set of specific functions and information such as the Copernicus Academy, the Communication materials, the SME-related reports etc. whilst also providing access to the RCO network implemented by the DORIS_Net project.
Project Results:
The results of GRAAL project are presented in four categories:
1) Regional dimension of Copernicus
The objective of this LRA-oriented activity was to characterise the needs of Local and Regional Authorities, analyse the overall situation of Copernicus amongst these public authorities, in order to understand the stakes and issues which could slow down the uptake of Copernicus at downstream level and, consequently, identify those factors that would speed up the uptake.
The achievements include: a) The development of a user-oriented taxonomy based on the outcomes of a survey conducted in selected EU countries (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) to identify the common administrative responsibilities of LRAs that could benefit from the services delivered by Copernicus at the downstream level. b) The production of a report on the typology of LRA needs across Land, Ocean, Emergencies and Atmosphere domains. This report offered very interesting insights with regards to the needs that Local and Regional Authorities may have with respect to Copernicus products and services.
2) Entrepreneurial and business dimension of Copernicus
GRAAL focused not only on the Demand side (LRAs) but also on the Offer side and extended its activities to the academic and research sectors. Activities related to the entrepreneurial side of GRAAL are important in order to successfully ensure the long-term development of the Copernicus downstream components. In this framework, GRAAL produced the Directory of Service Providers identifying Service and System Providers as well as consultancies active in the Copernicus sectors i.e. Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing, Earth Observation, Environmental Monitoring, etc. In addition, in order to support SMEs, GRAAL produced a "Beginners' Guide on funding opportunities at EU level" in Copernicus and its related domains (Earth observation, GIS, etc.). Moreover the project created a report on the barriers that new entrants face when developing their business roadmap.
3)The Copernicus Academy
Along with SMEs, Academia and Research Centres are key stakeholders to be considered to ensure that research and development activities continue to play a significant role in the development and emergence of new Copernicus downstream services and also, in the operational dimensions of those services; Copernicus services require qualified personnel to be operated (developed and used), hence the importance of the Academia dimension in supplying staff with appropriate skills. GRAAL, in coordination with DORIS_Net, has made the Copernicus Academy operational on the GMES4Regions portal. The components include a directory of Copernicus-related universities and research centres (Gateway), a catalogue of research briefs (Bridge), a search engine that allows proposing of internships or research cooperation (Facilitator) and a repository of ongoing Copernicus-related research projects and educational programmes. The launch of the Copernicus Academy took place in Salzburg on September 13th, 2012.
4)The GMES4Regions.eu portal
The GMES4Regions.eu website is available in the five “GMES” languages (EN, FR, DE, IT, ES) of GRAAL and all technical functions are available (matching platform, functions of the Copernicus Academy such as the Research Briefs, Directory of Service Providers, etc.). It is the home of all public deliverables of GRAAL.
Potential Impact:
Potential impact
Since the very early stages of the project, the ambition has been to ensure that the activities covered by the GRAAL project, and consequently the GMES4Regions initiative, are sustained. The sustainability of the GMES4Regions initiative has become the raison d’être of the GRAAL project. Indeed, the issue of the uptake of Copernicus at local and regional level is so vast that it cannot be reasonably dealt with by two projects and an overall EC Grant of 2 million Euros. The number of potential targets is literally gigantic and both DORIS_Net and GRAAL were pioneers in their respective fields. However, despite the fact that neither of the two projects has fully achieved their objectives, both of them have paved the way to foster the uptake of Copernicus among LRAs. In that regard, the RCO network, the Copernicus Academy, Window on GMES and the GMES4Regions.eu portal, despite the various improvements needed, will undoubtedly be cornerstones of the continuation of the GMES4Regions initiative.
Dissemination activities
GRAAL has produced a multitude of communication materials that will still be used after the project has ended, and that will remain relevant for a long time. In addition the project has support awareness raising on the GMES4Regions initiative through networking activities and events. The most notable elements of dissemination activities are:
a) Window on GMES, a publication mainly focused on the downstream component of Copernicus which is divided as follows: 2 institutional articles (CoR and CESE), 13 User Portraits (9 of which were provided by DORIS_Net), 17 articles, 1 Interview (four entrepreneurs). Window on GMES (English version), 168 pages, was printed and 250 copies were distributed at the European Space Solutions Conference in London in early December 2012 on the DG ENTR booth. The dissemination of WinoG will commence when all other linguistic versions are available (FR, DE, IT, ES), after the end of the project. The dissemination of WinoG will be performed by the relevant partners at their own expense.
b) The MultiMedia Presentation (MMP) is complementary to Window on GMES in the sense that it is designed to popularise the benefits of Copernicus. It is organised so as to ensure that the user of the MMP can quickly discover a large set of downstream services of interest to LRAs.
The MMP is embedded in the GMES4Regions.eu portal and available in the “Discover the benefits of GMES” section.
c) Networking activities include two briefings with LRA representatives, liaison with EGTC platform within the Committee of the Regions and participation in or organisation of the following events:
- DORIS_Net SME event
- GMES Academy
- DORIS_Net event (LRA-oriented)
- Geoland Final Forum (October 2012)
- London European Space Solutions Conference (December 2012)
List of Websites:
http://www.copernicus4regions.eu/