Bridging The Gap
Between Space And Society-Helping Regions To Access The Benefits Of Satellite
Information And Services
(16 July 2008) The half-day conference
"Regional Policy: Benefits from Satellite Information and Services" to be held
in Brussels, on the morning of 11th September 2008, is the mid-term event of
Eurisy's 5-year programme supporting Local and Regional Authorities to improve
their access to the benefits of space technology.
Society faces
growing challenges while local and regional authorities are increasingly
recognised as major players in running our complex European society. This is
due to the growing awareness that managing global changes needs action at local
as well as global level and because of the regions' increasing role in the
European multilevel governance structure and their proximity to the issues
specific to their territory. Therefore, European and national politicians count
especially on these territorial entities to materialise policy objectives such
as those of the Lisbon agenda.
Numerous best-practice examples show that
satellite information and services already provide useful and innovative
solutions for local and regional authorities to cope with societal, economic
and environmental problems. They deliver breakthrough solutions for managing
increasingly complex issues such as monitoring the natural environment,
controlling the over-exploitation of natural resources, natural disaster
management, pollution, agriculture and forestry, real estate, traffic
management, tracking of goods, assistance to disabled people, spatial planning,
energy production and distribution, e-Government and many more.
However,
it can be observed that many local and regional authorities do not yet profit
from these benefits and that their full potential remains unexploited. Since
its start in 2006 Eurisy's Programme for Local and Regional Authorities has
thus organised several conferences and workshops with the support of
institutions such as the Committee of the Regions, the Assembly of European
Regions, the European Commission, the European Space Agency and many other
organisations dealing with regional affairs, to identify the regions' needs and
points of view concerning the implementation and the use of satellite-based
applications. During this bottom-up consultation process Eurisy has gathered
valuable feed-back from the regions on how to improve this
situation.
This conference is therefore a unique possibility to engage
in a fruitful discussion with politicians and decision makers from the European
Commission, the European Parliament, international and European institutions
and the regions to find solutions for a facilitated access for regions to the
benefits from satellite information and services. To stimulate the debate
Eurisy, in close co-operation with the Assembly of European Regions, has
produced a position paper which contains specific recommendations that will be
discussed during a round table discussion with experts.
Some 100
representatives are expected to attend the conference, coming from European
institutions, local and regional authorities, with an interest in finding out
how the access to the benefits from satellite information and services can be
facilitated for local and regional authorities. They are expected to engage in
a lively discussion following the various presentations and a high-level round
table debate.
Eurisy- a European non-profit organisation mandated by its
members (the European Commission, ESA, national space agencies and others)-aims
at facilitating the process of cross-sector appropriation of space
application-based tools. Additionally, Eurisy provides the service industry and
governmental bodies with a bottom-up feedback from user communities across
Europe.
A press conference will be organised after the event at 13:00
hrs. To obtain accreditation and access to the conference interested press
representatives are invited to fill in the attached registration form and to
return it to the Eurisy secretariat.
(source: Eurisy)
