GEO-CRADLE achieved great scientific, societal and economic impact through the networking and exchange of EO methodologies, know-how, datasets and services.
For the first time in the RoI the current state-of-play was captured and the provision of EO value-adding services was beneficial for the local societies and the EO market uptake towards sustainable development.
The methodology for EO maturity assessment provided a common standard for evaluating the countries’ involvement in the implementation of GEO and Copernicus for mutual benefit.
The Networking Platform presents an up-to-date status of the regional capacities, and facilitates the networking and synergies among the stakeholders, helping to set region-based consortia.
The Regional Data Hub provides access to millions of regional datasets, and thus fosters further data sharing and EO service development for the benefit of the relevant science and geo-information sector.
The Adaptation to Climate Change pilot supported the sustainability of regional EO infrastructures. It focused on the holistic monitoring and forecasting of region-specific atmospheric components, ECVs and hazards, in line with the standards and vision of GEOSS & Copernicus. It provided services related to desert dust, climate change, and air quality, benefiting key end users, and engaging aviation authorities, environmental and civil protection institutions and state agencies, as well as public/private sectors e.g. tourism, agriculture, natural hazards and water management.
The Improved Food Security – Water Extremes Management pilot transferred state-of-the-art know-how between the involved countries on soil spectroscopy, and built for the first time a standardized regional Soil Spectral Library, as a complement to the EU Soil Sample Data Base, serving the food security and agriculture sectors. It provided detailed thematic soil maps by analysing the soil spectra with Sentinel-2 image acquisitions. Moreover, in support to the agriculture production and flood/drought mitigation, the pilot adapted and launched a region specific version of the myDEWETRA web platform. The delivered services have strong potential to support EU agricultural policy and initiatives (e.g. SDGs, PRIMA).
The Access to Raw Materials pilot studied mining and post-mining sites, focusing on EO based solutions to support the sites’ management and mitigation of their environmental impact on the surrounding areas. All the methodologies were elaborated on the basis of Copernicus data integration and were delivered having a universal character, applicable for other RoIs as well. The pilot engaged key private and public/state organisations from the mining and environmental sectors.
The Access to Solar Energy (SENSE) pilot took advantage of the free access to Copernicus data and Core services, innovative modelling and state-of-the-art real-time solar energy calculating systems, and delivered reliable and high resolution solar Atlases and broader climatology studies. It engraved strategic methods to integrate a solar energy nowcasting system into a wider GEOSS driven system at global scale. It stimulated the interest of key energy stakeholders and decision makers from the private and public/state sector in various countries, e.g. Egypt where it was acknowledged by the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy and is currently integrated in its official website, serving the needs of potential solar investors.
Finally, the detailed Roadmap further promotes multi-actor, cross-border and interdisciplinary collaboration among EO stakeholders in the RoI for the delivery of EO-based benefits to society and economy.
