The European Commission’s new Space Programme brings together Copernicus, Galileo, EGNOS, Space Surveillance and Tracking Support, and governmental satellite communications. Lot 2 of this Framework Contract covers the production of studies describing the Copernicus ecosystem together with other elements of the EU Space Policy. Evenflow teamed up with an expert consortium led by VVA in bidding for this contract, which was successful.
Our first activity in this contract was to evaluate the effectiveness of the user uptake initiatives carried out within the Copernicus programme. The goal was to examine how well the initiatives were performing, what wasn’t working and why, and what could be done better or differently in the future.
The consortium carried out over 50 interviews and surveyed over 250 respondents in order to evaluate six action areas: start-ups/business, awareness-raising, activities by the Copernicus Services, national uptake, capacity building, and skills and data uptake.
The study included the planning of two workshops. The first was held in Brussels on the 8th of November, and attracted 44 participants who provided input and feedback on the initial results. The second was held during the Copernicus General Assembly organised during the European Space Week in Helsinki, in December 2019. Here, the consolidated results were presented, and participants provided their feedback on the proposed recommendations via interactive polls.
In this study, our overall contribution came in the form of strategic guidance based on our many (combined) years of cross-cutting exposure and involvement in the Copernicus programme. Evenflow advised on interviewee selection and carried out 15 out of the 50 interviews. We provided high-level inputs to the overall study design and drafted key chapters of the report. We also organised the workshop in Brussels, including – all practical and logistical elements, bringing together 12 panellists and four moderators. Evenflow’s director, Dimitri Papadakis, acted as Master of Ceremonies during the workshop and moderated one of the four panels, with another two moderated by Evenflow’s Robert Lowson and Nico Thom.