REPORT INTERNATIONALISATION OF EUROPEAN EO COMPANIES...

Internationalisation of European EO companies workshop 07/12/2016

2016 Copernicus User Forum Industry Workshop of 20

European Commission

Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW)

Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries

Copernicus: Infrastructures

SPECIFIC CONTRACT No 2 - 30-CE-0747761100-24

ORGANISATION OF WORKSHOPS FOR GATHERING SETS OF REQUIREMENTS TO BE FULFILLED BY THE NEXT

GENERATION COPERNICUS SPACE COMPONENT

REPORT

INTERNATIONALISATION OF

EUROPEAN EO COMPANIES

WORKSHOP

22 NOVEMBER 2016, BRUSSELS

PRODUCED BY: SPACETEC PARTNERS

APPROVED BY: GMV



1WORKSHOP REPORT

1.1. INTRODUCTION

The European Commission (EC), which is responsible for the Copernicus programme, has initiated actions with the twofold objective of supporting Copernicus user uptake and gathering user requirements for the Next Generation of the Copernicus Space Component (CSC).

The objective of this specific workshop was to discuss opportunities, challenges and critical needs of European EO companies, in particular SMEs, to expand their business outside the EU, and to provide information on dedicated tools and initiatives available in support to internationalisation.

The workshop covered:

Opportunities for internationalisation of EO companies linked to the Copernicus international strategy

EU industry perspectives

European support to SME internationalisation (with a special focus on support instruments)

Other Pan-European initiatives

SME expectations

103 people registered for the workshop and around 90 attended.

The programme of the workshop was structured to host contributions from: DG GROW, EARSC, ESA, Aerospace Valley, H2020 projects and several SMEs.

The agenda and the list of participants are available in Annex 1 and Annex 2, respectively.

Internationalisation of European EO companies workshop

07/12/2016


1.2. MAIN POINTS AND RESULTS

1.2.1. INTRODUCTORY TALKS

The event was opened by the morning moderator, Peter Zeil, who welcomed the attendees and outlined the

relevance of the subject of the workshop, especially in light of the recently published European Space Strategy (link). He then introduced the programme of the day and the structure of the discussion panels, and gave the floor to Andreas Veispak (Head of DG GROW’s I3 Unit). Mr Veispak started off by stressing the importance for stakeholders to be fully aware of the instruments available to foster the internationalisation of EO enterprises. The international market is still relatively unknown and it is fundamental for DG GROW to have a comprehensive overview of the opportunities present, and this goal is only achievable through mutual exchange between the EU

and the interested parties. In addition, within the framework of an export-driven economy, SMEs (for whom it is more difficult to expand internationally) must be supported with adequate tools and instruments developed by the EU. Mr Veispak concluded by inviting the audience to engage and to provide an opinion on the best way forward.

1.2.2. MORNING SESSION

The first presentation, given by Dr Astrid-Christina Koch (EC/DG GROW focused on the last of the four pillars of the European Space Strategy, which is about strengthening Europe's role as a global actor and promoting international cooperation. Copernicus can become a global best practice example internationally, and should facilitate access to international markets for European EO companies. Three types of cooperation are possible:

Full participation of third countries in Copernicus (e.g. Norway)

International activities on Earth Observation (including multi-lateral frameworks): GEO, CEOS, UNOOSA, UNEP, etc.

Co-operation in the area of data exchange and mutual partnerships for the benefit of the Copernicus

programme o Third countries with significant data provision capabilities from space infrastructures (e.g. United

States) o Third countries with other valuable contributions for Copernicus (e.g. Australia)

o Data exchange as a tool for development and capacity building (e.g. African Union Commission)

The second presenter, Christophe Roeland (EC/DG GROW), expanded on the long-standing EU-Africa cooperation to build Africa's own capacity to exploit EO. A bilateral cooperation framework was launched in 2007 under the Joint Africa-EU Strategy with the objective of supporting the use and development EO services on the African continent. GMES&Africa essentially relies on the data, information and know-how offered by the Copernicus programme. The collaboration built on successive capacity-building projects carried out in the last 15 years (PUMA,

AMESD, MESA). With the adoption of the GMES&Africa Support Programme (€32M over five years) under the Pan-

Figure 1: Andreas Veispak (EC/DG GROW) giving his

introductory speech

Figure 2: Peter Zeil (SpaSe/SpaceTec Partners

expert), morning moderator

http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/19442/attachments/2/translations/en/renditions/pdf


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African Programme 2014-2020, GMES&Africa is entering an operational phase to be managed by the African Union Commission (AUC) based on four main components are:

EO services with an initial focus on the establishment of the Water & Natural Resources Management

service, and the Coastal & Marine Monitoring service. Six other services will follow in a later stage. Data access Capacity building Awareness-raising

Building on this, the next steps include the launch of an open call for proposals to be published by the African Union Commission tentatively planned in Q1 2017 for implementation of the services:

Application by Regional Implementing Centres (RICs) in five African regions

Two lots, one for each service Selection of one RIC/consortium per region and per service

Moreover, the EC and the AUC intend to sign a Cooperation Arrangement on access to Sentinel data in 2017. In

conclusion, the AUC Call for proposals will foresee participation of African private sector and allow for international partnerships:

RICs consortia should include private sector partners, with a possibility of African-EU partnerships

A share of RICs’ grants should be earmarked for private sector partners

Moving on to the European Industry perspective, the third speaker, André Jadot (EARSC/Eurosense), after a brief introduction of EARSC and its activities, recognised the role of Copernicus as a strong European asset for both economic development and policy support. He then summarised the solutions offered by EARSC to its members for internationalisation. These include:

1. Support to ESA with the programme developing projects with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) 2. Trade Missions & B2B meetings

3. Export Information (opportunities, instruments, meetings, etc.) portal 4. MoUs with Japan Space Systems, AARSE, etc. 5. International B2B (Business-to-Business) 6. International B2G (Business-to-Government)

Mr Jadot then focused on EC’s actions presented earlier, such as GMES&Africa, and stated the EC must ensure that

the European industry benefits. The African perspective is extremely attractive for European EO companies according to a recent EARSC & AARSE survey in Africa with more than 90% positive replies of African companies on

cooperation with European counterparts. Joint projects are seen as the way forward. Training in topics such as project planning, processing of data, etc. and more opportunities for information exchange would be also highly welcome (73 %). Almost the same number of respondents would go for partnerships (71 %). The last part of Mr Jadot’s talk focused on solutions to support industry:

Diplomatic means: accompany Copernicus Data & information agreements with support from European industry

Informing/briefing local representatives Local offices (Eurochambers), cooperation centres (e.g. EU Japan Centre) Missions: trade missions meeting with local companies (B2B meetings) Focused marketplaces: as part of the “EARSC” marketplace, specific tailored boutiques dedicated to

regional issues Links to the IFI’s: ESA’s activity provides a basis linking local partners and business coming from the

international banks' projects

Benefit from GEO activities and initiatives Procurement of services giving references for EU companies: ensure that within the EU, public sector is a

procurer of services rather than infrastructure which it then operates (public-private interface) Targeted R&D to involve non-EU partners e.g. Copernicus for Asia

If Europe is willing to fully capitalise on its investments in Copernicus, a strategic approach is necessary to support the industry. This should envisage the whole EO services sector beyond Copernicus. Many measures are possible and many instruments already exist, but the EC and industry need to develop a coherent strategy (roadmap) to

work together, since Copernicus can really be a game changer in the EO world.

One of the possible routes to internationalisation for European EO companies is indeed represented by H2020 projects, and this was the theme of the presentation given by Lefteris Mamais (GEO-CRADLE project), who started by highlighting the needs of EO companies willing to support their internationalisation strategy:

Understanding the local market


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o Institutional capacities o Policy priorities o Procurement processes

o Data availability Building relationships with local stakeholders

o Mapping the local competitive landscape o Engaging the end-user community o Partnering with local companies (industrial cooperation)

H2020 can help in that direction through Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs), Research and Innovation actions and the SME instrument (fast track to innovation) to, for example, reach the following objectives:

Raising awareness Performing capacity gaps analysis Providing network platforms Instil a data sharing culture

The GEO-CRADLE H2020 project aims at promoting the uptake and exploitation of Earth Observation activities in North Africa, Middle East and the Balkans. GEO-CRADLE activities are supporting internationalisation by:

Regional Networking Platform Regional Data Hub Regional and community oriented Workshops Regional Feasibility Studies

Moreover, the presenter coined some additional ideas on how H2020 could further support internationalisation, such as:

Further support Innovation Actions: excellent channel for the exploitation of Copernicus and other open

data as an enabler of business plans that can support internationalisation Introduce calls targeted at market development/industrial cooperation on an international scale [GSA has

been following this approach for years] Especially for Research & innovation Actions: introduce the creation of spin-offs as expected impact? And

then link with existing incubation schemes (e.g. Copernicus Accelerator)? Common Exploitation Booster: introduce specific internationalisation perspectives

After the coffee break the discussion continued with Patrick De Smedt (EC/DG GROW), who stressed the

importance of internationalisation, as 90% of the global growth is expected outside of the EU. Mr De Smedt presented the main EU instruments to support SME internationalisation:

1. Political actions a. To reduce barriers to trade and investment b. SME international dialogue support: Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia (on hold), Israel

and the USA

c. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) 2. Information sources

a. Export Helpdesk: informs on the EU tariffs, requirements, preferential arrangements, quotas and statistics relating to imports from trade partner countries

b. IPR helpdesk: helps EU SMEs to both protect and enforce their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) through the provision of free information and services

c. EU business centres: provide practical information, advice, and training in the areas of business

development, legal issues, standards and HR to facilitate market access for European SMEs d. Market Access Database: includes information on applied tariffs, import formalities and

documentary requirements for imports into third countries and information on trade barriers restricting access to those markets

3. EU Gateway | Business Avenues: an initiative funded by the European Union to help European companies to establish long-lasting business collaborations in Asia

a. Selected European companies receive the opportunity to participate in a one-week business

mission in any of the three target markets, Korea, South East Asia and China, focused on a specific sector

4. H2020 a. Collaborative Research Orientation by R&D topics b. Eurostars - Target: R&D intensive SME c. SME instrument (new and powerful) - Target: Business innovation motivated SMEs

5. Enterprise Europe Network


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a. International Partnership Services b. Information & Advisory Services c. Feedback from SMEs concerning EU initiatives, EU legislation

A deeper dive into the EU Economic Diplomacy was then given by Philippe de Taxis du Poet (EC/DG GROW). Economic diplomacy is necessary to open up business opportunities for European enterprises, and for bringing growth, competitiveness and jobs to Europe. Currently many EU policies and instruments have been put in place, but a cohesive approach is missing. Moreover, while 30 million jobs in the EU are already export-related, only a small fraction (1/8) of EU SMEs are active internationally, and this situation must necessarily be improved. Suggested next steps are:

EU Delegations: Support EU economic interests abroad

Partnership Commission – MS – EU business organisations Rationalise presence of EU business support structures Boost access to finance for business internationalisation EU economic missions to third countries

In conclusion, business as usual should be avoided, while value-adding and effective ideas should be fostered and supported.

Christophe Guichard (EC/DG GROW) presented an overview of the EU support to cluster internationalisation. Clusters are effective springboards for accelerating SMEs internationalisation:

SMEs can join forces for accessing international markets more successfully SMEs need to establish long-term cooperation with strategic business and research partners worldwide to

access global value chains Cooperation between European clusters is also key for developing common international strategies

The Cluster Internationalisation Programme for SMEs (COSME, €19m) foresees:

European Strategic Cluster Partnerships (ESCP) – Going International (ESCP-4i) European Cluster Collaboration Platform International cluster matchmaking events in third countries and Europe

The "ESCP-4i" main characteristics are:

Minimum 3 cluster organisations from minimum 3 EU MS or COSME countries

To develop and implement a joint internationalisation strategy fostering complementarities in a thematic area, promoting notably cross-sectoral cooperation

To facilitate internationalisation of SME members in third markets in order to support growth and employment in Europe

To set up a partnership agreement to develop common actions and implementation roadmap with a long-term cooperation agenda

The next call is planned for early 2017 (Total budget: 5,79M€)

Phase 1

o 2 partnerships reserved on dual use technologies in the defence and security sector o 2 partnerships reserved on the Earth Observation downstream market and various application

domains

The last presentation of the morning was given by Dr Philippe Lattes (Aerospace Valley), who presented a concrete initiative funded by ESCP-4i in the space sector: the Space2ID cluster cooperation. He stressed that while space SMEs are small, the world is big, so it simply takes time and effort to internationalise your business. He

introduced the Space2ID cluster cooperation, aimed at creating an export accelerator of “MADE IN EU” space based

services in the areas of:

Mobility Energy Logistics Creative industries Agriculture & Food Security

The cluster is now in the phase of defining the strategy and its implementation roadmap. The operations are

foreseen to start in 2017-2018.


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Figure 3: The morning session speakers. On the top from the left: Dr Astrid-Christina Koch (EC/DG GROW), André Jadot (Eurosense),

Lefteris Mamais (The GEOCRADLE project), Patrick De Smedt (EC/DG GROW). On the bottom from the left: Christophe Roeland (EC/DG

GROW), Philippe de Taxis du Poet (EC/DG GROW), Christophe Guichard (EC/DG GROW), Dr Philippe Lattes (Aerospace Valley)

1.2.3. MORNING DISCUSSION PANEL

The panellists were:

Ryuichi Sato - Japan Space Systems Dr Philippe Lattes - Aerospace Valley André Jadot - Eurosense Lefteris Mamais – GEO-CRADLE project Philippe de Taxis du Poet – EC/DG GROW

The moderator (Peter Zeil), after a recap of some key messages from the morning’s presentations, invited Ryuichi

Sato to present his experience at the EU-Japan Centre. Mr. Sato expanded on the EC-funded Minerva fellowship programme, aimed at conducting market research activities in key sectors (EO in this specific case). The outcome of his 6-month activity was a MoU between EARSC and Japan Space Systems. The Minerva scheme has the advantage of being readily available and scalable to other countries, and can represent an interesting gateway for SMEs.

The moderator then gave the floor to Mr Jadot, who specified two basic ways of establishing a fruitful communication with interested end-users abroad:

Direct link with the users (through institutional entities, such as ministries) Liaison with European companies which operate in the foreign country of interest

While the first approach is the most used, the second needs to be improved, as most of the times companies are simply not aware of the potential benefits coming from EO.

Dr Lattes, fully in line with Mr Jadot, reinforced the idea of identifying companies which might be interested in using EO data and contacting them to make them aware of the available opportunities. A possible practical solution would

be that of showing off example with the help of prototypes adapted to the needs of the company contacted. Space2ID is indeed moving towards this direction.


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Mr Mamais then focused on the importance of having a trusted partner in the country where you want to expand, since that is the necessary first step to make contacts with real end-users and know the local ecosystem. Moreover, knowing precisely which kind of information the end-users need is another key to success.

Mr De Taxis Du Poet identified a few elements to focus on:

It is fundamental to have synergy between the EU initiatives to support SME internationalisation It is fundamental to capture the specific needs of the end-users in the countries where SMEs want to

expand It is fundamental to rebuild trust in internationalisation (especially in this political period)

After this first round of panellists, the moderator stimulated some interventions in the audience. Christian Hoffman (Geoville) reminded how 3 out of 6 of Copernicus services are provided by public entities, 2 are a mix of

industry/public, while only the land service is supported by industry. He wondered whether the problem is that industry is not able to compete with the public sector or if the nature of Copernicus should be changed to favour higher involvement of the industry.

Mr Mamais expanded on this by acknowledging the fact that recently Entrusted Entities have been issuing tenders specifically addressed to industry, looking at specific use cases and exploitation of the information delivered by the Copernicus Services. They are not big contracts, but still this will help creating the industry “momentum” later on.

The moderator re-focused the discussion on the theme of the workshop and stimulated Andre Jadot on publicly-lead initiatives. Mr Jadot insisted on the fact that if the internationalisation initiatives are led by public they are significantly slower with respect to those led by private, especially because of bureaucracy and decision-making chain. Focusing on Copernicus, if the Entrusted Entities have mainly public customers, with established long-term relationship, it is difficult for the private sector to enter into play, and this will create obstacles to internationalisation. Thomas Heege from the audience supported this argument.

On the other hand, Dr Lattes stressed the fact that many SMEs are small and need a sustainable and adapted tool

for internationalisation, and coined the coupling of an investment fund with the export accelerator to boost SMEs’ export plans. Mr Mamais suggested that expanding the Copernicus Relays beyond the EU might be useful, so that a link with local stakeholders is always present. Mr De Taxis Du Poet insisted on the fact that subsidiarity principle must be enhanced (e.g. EU countries have different needs).

Again, Mr Jadot took the word and summarised his view in four points:

1. The application processes for the support tools should be easier and faster 2. The success rate of applications should be reasonable

3. Fair evaluation should be guaranteed 4. Detailed feedback on evaluation should always be provided

Tom McHugh (Icon Group) stated that the link public-private and large-small must be improved (maybe rebuilt) with clear distinctions of roles and responsibilities.

The final round of interventions saw the panellists agree on the following:

When going international, usually the solution is to join effort amongst several companies (idea of

complementarity, i.e. “United we are stronger”) Joint efforts should be made to cooperate and complement, to grow the pie rather than compete for each

other’s share Local relays or partners in the country of interest are fundamental Support to market development after the initial phase is as important as the initial “boost”


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Figure 4: The morning discussion panel members. From the left: André Jadot (Eurosense), Philippe de Taxis du Poet (EC/DG GROW),

Lefteris Mamais (The GEOCRADLE project), Dr Philippe Lattes (Aerospace Valley), Ryuichi Sato (Japan Space Systems)

1.2.4. AFTERNOON SESSION

After the lunch break the afternoon moderator, Thomas Tanghe, gave the floor to Dr Stephen Coulson (ESA), who presented the opportunities for international business development deriving from the use of EO for Sustainable Development Goals. The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were adopted in September 2015 during the UN Sustainable Development summit. The SDGs are the follow-on of the Millennium Development Goals and will drive the UN and its member states' agenda on development for the next 15 years. The 2nd SDG relates to Food: end Hunger, achieve Food Security and Improved Nutrition and Promote Sustainable Agriculture. EO can play a crucial role with its ability to provide unique and timely information for applications such as monitoring food

security, precision agriculture, etc. The Official Development Assistance (ODA), government aid designed to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries, sees EO as ‘best-practice’ of environmental information provider in the planning, implementation and monitoring of International Development Banks project activities in developing countries (typically large infrastructure developments). More than 65 small-scale demonstrations of EO-based environmental information have been carried out in support of actual Bank

development projects. ESA and IFI signed a 5 years Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to foster collaboration and the

initial set of ESA-financed projects (total cost of 2.7 M€) have generated directly EO procurements by mainly Global Environment Facility (GEF), World Bank & International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for additional activities. In conclusion, the message that Dr Coulson wanted to convey is that Europe has world-leading capabilities in Earth Observation (EC, ESA and national EO missions) and a highly skilled and experienced EO information services industry, therefore we can really make a difference in the area of ODA and IFI projects in developing countries, following the examples of USA and other nations more active on this side.

After Dr Coulson’s intervention, the moderator introduced the latest series of presentations of the day, which gave

room to the perspectives of the SMEs, and the key challenges and success factors of going international.

The first SME representative was Christian Hoffman (GeoVille). He stressed the role played by the EU with international trade agreements, which enabled SMEs such as GeoVille (based in Austria) to make business abroad in countries such as Liberia. These are extraordinary opportunities which would have been simply impossible without the EU. Mr Hoffman then highlighted again the importance of initiatives like GMES&Africa and EO4IFI. Industry represents a valuable asset, and it can work in synergy with the public, especially to face Grand Challenges such as climate change. The impact of climate change is both global and local, and industry can provide

valuable solutions at local scale. Moreover, since the World Bank is putting constantly a significant amount of

money for issues such as climate change adaptation and mitigation on the table, Copernicus can play a fundamental role in this. Mr Hoffman then concluded by focusing again on the opportunities coming from GMES&Africa. After confirming the summary made by Christophe Roeland in the morning, he added that training of local companies is one of the most important keys to success of the initiatives, as it is extremely difficult to find local partners which are competent and reliable.

The moderator then gave the word to Dr Gerard Margarit (GMV), who presented GMV’s EO-based activities outside of Europe, especially Latin America, but also Asia and Africa. Their recipe for internationalisation entails running R&D projects financed by EU institutions to mature technology, collect user contacts and execute test campaigns to provide evidence of added-value. Subsequently, the projects outcomes evolve into specific pilot cases with direct contact with users to delineate a long-term and sustainable business strategy. Dr Margarit presented


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some examples of pilot studies transformed into sustained business cases in Latin America (Argentina), Asia (Iraq and Japan), and Africa (Mozambique). In conclusion, he stated that the markets with large potential are:

Agriculture

Environmental (Forestry / Marine) Land Use / Land Cover Security (only at governmental level)

It is important to enforce agreements with local / regional entities and with data providers at worldwide level for very high resolution data at a competitive price.

The floor was then given to Thomas Heege (EOMAP), who, after a short introduction about EOMAP and its global presence (Europe, Australia, America, Asia-Pacific, and China), identified some limitations of Copernicus data over

non-European countries, especially in terms of temporal resolution. These gaps should be filled in the near-future. He then moved on to discuss push mechanisms for international market development. Copernicus-related agencies could be an excellent ambassador of industry services (trade delegations). Moreover, demonstration of real complementarity between institutional Copernicus services and industry proprietary services and solutions is

needed. Examples include the business network for EO companies to be developed by GIZ Bremen, which will support EO Applications for Sustainable Development in Africa. Dr Heege acknowledged the limited perception for

commercial sector role in Copernicus (e.g. it has no visibility within international delegations) and for proprietary EO solutions (with the exception of H2020). We should re-invent the wheel rather than reflecting or engaging existing proprietary professional solutions, and we should fund “open technology” rather than supporting “traceable comparable quality standards”. For what concerns the future international business perspectives, Dr Heege suggests to make the commercial sector the backbone of Copernicus with solid bottom-up market development. The political framework should encourage market driven innovation, competitive growth, free demand driven market economy. The financial support should be limited to programs such as H2020, SME instrument, access to

financing tools for growth, while investments should go on basic ‘data traffic’ infrastructures, administrative support to streamline SME-friendly procurement processes.

The final presentation of the day was given by David Hello (TerraNIS). He started off by listing the major challenges to be faced by an SME in the EO domain:

Find a niche market Specialised personnel recruiting process Innovation (R&T)

Establish presence at local level in the country where you want to sell products

As regards the Copernicus programme, Mr Hello stated that the availability of free-of-charge data, especially those of Sentinel-2, is an extremely favourable situation. Mr Hello introduced the audience to the EUGENIUS network, which stands for European Group of Enterprises for a Network of Information using Space. EUGENIUS is an association of European SMEs active in the geo-information sector that are cooperating to set up an open network of commercial EO services platforms in the frame of the EUGENIUS project co-funded by the European Commission

as an innovation action of the H2020 framework programme. The objective is to share their know-how and address new regional and local customers – both public and private – in a cost-effective and sustainable way. As of today, the product portfolio includes 14 applicative tools in the following domains:

Agriculture Regional and urban development Ecosystems and Biodiversity – Forestry Water quality

Civil protection – Hazards

The principle of “united we win” was applied also in this case. The value proposition of the EUGENIUS network

resides in the cost-effectiveness of the products offered, linked to the data shared amongst the partners, proven and largely used applications all over Europe, long-term sustainability, with the support of local service providers.


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Figure 5: The afternoon session. On the top from the left: Thomas Tanghe – moderator (SpaceTec Partners), Dr Stephen Coulson

(ESA), Dr Christian Hoffman (GeoVille). On the bottom from the left: Dr Thomas Heege (EOMAP), Dr Gerard Margarit (GMV), David Hello (TerraNIS)

1.2.5. AFTERNOON PANEL

Thomas Tanghe opened the panel discussion reminding how Copernicus, apart from being free and open, is also a

global system, which unlocks opportunities for the European industry to use our knowhow and expertise to provide services beyond the EU internal market. He then reinforced the objective of the afternoon panel: to explore what opportunity lies outside of the EU market, what barriers or issues to experience, and some first-hand experience from the panellist on how they dealt with those.

The afternoon panel saw the presence on stage of:

Robbert Mica - VanderSat Rainer Malmberg - IABG Dr Paolo Manunta - Planetek Italia Dr Thomas Heege - EOMAP David Hello - TerraNIS

Christophe Roeland – EC/DG GROW

Thomas Tanghe introduced the panellists who did not have the opportunity to present during the session, i.e. Robbert Mica (VanderSat), Rainer Malmberg (IABG), Dr Paolo Manunta (Planetek Italia).

Rainer Malmberg started the discussion and expanded on the motivations for internationalisation. Developing countries lack EO information, and European companies can fulfil this need. We need to invest in awareness-raising

initiatives in those counties.

Dr Heege stated that his company, EOMAP, started thinking global since the beginning and quickly learned how

profitable the EO market abroad was.

The moderator then asked Robbert Mica whether he was able to identify specific regions or markets abroad which are more appealing than others. Robbert stated since EO is global by nature it would be silly not to think globally. VanderSat works with multinational corporations, therefore they are automatically entering the global market with modest effort.

The moderator asked the audience to reflect on the previously mentioned arguments, and Thomas Klein (Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management) reinforced the concepts expressed by Dr Coulson regarding the UN


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SDGs. That should be the benchmark for Europe and for Copernicus. You need to act locally, nationally, and globally, and industry should play an important role in all of this. Christophe Roeland from the panel added that the EU exactly today (22/11/2016) adopted a strategy in response to SDGs (link), which not only includes the aspects

of sustainable developments in Europe, but also abroad, and EO is acknowledged as one of the tools to support in this direction.

An unidentified speaker from the audience stated how SMEs should look, amongst other aspects, at competitors in the countries they are interested in and which measures they take. Rainer Malmberg expanded on that and stated that in many cases the best solution is cooperation. Alliances allow meeting a broader spectrum of needs and leading to win-win situations for the SMEs who joined forces. Moreover, Dr Paolo Manunta added that in countries like India competition is strong for what concerns applications which are not high-end and do not require high-level

technical expertise. More than competition, it is important to understand the “money flow” in the countries you are interested in. You need to know what happens “behind the scenes”, as in the majority of realities this is quite different from European schemes. David Hello explained his experience in Canada, where his company established a link with a local actor, and the Canadian users do not even know the product is being produced in France.

In the audience, John Allan (EARSC) stressed the need for SMEs to offer innovative products that can then be offered on different markets (e.g. online selling).

Expanding on competitiveness, Robbert Mica suggested that a potential solution could be the formation of a big European company focused on EO downstream applications (which is one step further with regard to SMEs consortia). This way you can also play on the battleground against the US giants.

The moderator then focused on barriers to export. Dr Manunta took the lead in this case by stating how continuity is the main barrier, in the sense that establishing a sustained business that lasts in time and is solid is a major challenge.

The audience listed some other clear barriers, such as: knowledge of local funding schemes, in situ training of

professionals (Rainer Malmberg suggested that training can also be done in Europe), bureaucracy and timelines of funding (crucial for SMEs, as Rainer Horn, SpaceTec, stated). Robbert Mica admitted that the SME tool is indeed quite interesting and effective in his opinion.

Paolo Manunta insisted on the issue of “trust”: if you, SME, are advertised and certified by ESA and the EC, at least the initial phases are much easier.

The general discussion focused again on the EU instruments and the awareness about them amongst the European

SMEs. Several people admitted that many of the instruments are unknown and/or insufficiently advertised.

Christophe Roeland ensured that DG GROW will take care of improving this situation by publishing regular updates and augmenting visibility. Moreover, there will be regular news about the B2B business opportunities, which in fact take place on a regular basis and could be better promoted. On the same line, Geoff Sawyer (EARSC) stated how the EU trade missions usually remain too high-level and the B2B do not have tangible outcomes.

The moderator thanked all panellists and moved on to the concluding remarks of the workshop.

Figure 6: The afternoon panel members. From the left: Christophe Roeland (EC/DG GROW), Dr Thomas Heege (EOMAP), Rainer

Malmberg (IABG), David Hello (TerraNIS), Dr Paolo Manunta (Planetek Italia), Robbert Mica (VanderSat)

Conclusions

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1.2.6. WORKSHOP KEY MESSAGES

The workshop key messages were presented by Rainer Horn (SpaceTec Partners), who started off by summarising the key messages of the speakers regarding the operating environment for SMEs willing to go international:

Market Supply o The Sentinels represent a valuable asset o Copernicus services are still biased towards institutional service providers

Market Demand o EO is global by nature o Market opportunities are not known very well o The markets are mostly global with limited constraints on data access and associated legislation

Macroeconomic environment o Economic growth in Europe is expected to largely come from outside o Several companies have more confidence to operate on the European market (international with

respect to their country, but limited to the EU) o Globalisation and trade agreements are getting questioned – an opportunity? (to be seen)

EU o MS institutional presence abroad varies greatly, but Europe can help smaller MS companies o EU’s ability to sign agreement with countries internationally is considered as an enabler

For what concerns EU’s actions, within the newly published European Space Strategy and specifically for

Copernicus:

EU geographic priorities identified Strong link with international activities (GEO etc.) Agreements, data sharing & reciprocity / data access Local capacity building

The international (funding) instruments strengthen economic diplomacy capability of the EU, increase visibility and organisation of existing support instruments, focus towards effectively applying Cluster Internationalisation and

SME support instruments.

Copernicus remains to be seen as “best practice” on a global level.

International opportunities include:

Official Development Assistance (ODA) to International Financing Institutions (IFI): IFAD/ World Bank / EBRD / EIB / DEVCO with majority of IFI programmes in South Asia and East-Asia-Pacific

o Drivers: Green growth and sustainable development / climate resilience & proofing, natural capital valuation, etc.

o EO data can potentially support 9 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) o EO data exploitation for: monitoring, assessment, planning, policy support o Demonstration of technology & Information services o More efficient allocation of economic resources o Existing MoUs with ESA can facilitate future agreements with the EU

European neighbourhood programme

North Africa: fill a huge “white spot” Multinational customers (direct channel to internationality): agritech / insurers Private demand in Asia, Africa and Latin America: agriculture, security environmental, forestry, etc. Technology licensing EU opportunity through NASA discontinuing climate change work (TBD)

To sum up, it is required to improve the understanding of markets and competition. Cooperation amongst SMEs is always a plus, and a solid local network is essential (Copernicus “Relays” also abroad?).

It is important to learn from proven efforts in market development and industrial cooperation (e.g. GSA). EU has the potential to become a reference international business ambassador for European companies. Moreover, there should be a stronger focus on developing the commercial market: commercial sector led capacity building and marketing could be supported by a well-structured programme of EU. To complete the picture, innovative products should always be privileged, as they guarantee market sustainability.

As a conclusion, Mr Horn summarised the main challenges to be faced by SMEs:

SME consortia are suboptimal vs VC financed North-American companies


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Not easy to follow the UN SDGs and satisfy their needs Transparency and reality of international tenders Trust building

Resources to ensure business solidity and continuity

Figure 7: Rainer Horn (SpaceTec Partners) summarising the key messages from the workshop

1.2.7. WORKSHOP CONCLUDING REMARKS

Christophe Roeland closed the workshop. Leveraging on the global nature of the Copernicus programme, the international strategy developed by the Commission is acting as a door opener. Africa and Latin America are currently the main focus.

The Commission wants to reinforce the message that SMEs will not be left alone, and a clear example of that is the EUGENIUS network initiative. The Cluster International call in 2017 will include specific calls for EO industry. Moreover, as local partners abroad are seen as essential elements to succeed, B2B meetings opportunities, which

already exist and happen on a regular basis, will be better advertised (on the EC website).

The European Commission is aware of its potential role as an international business ambassador for European companies and will keep this in mind for future trade missions or business diplomacy in general. Communication

with EU delegations abroad will be strengthened.

In short, this workshop brought up very encouraging messages and valuables ideas. The Commission will follow up on the most important action items resulting from the discussion and will welcome additional feedback from SMEs today and in future.

Figure 8: Christophe Roeland (EC/DG GROW) making some concluding remarks


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2ANNEX 1 WORKSHOP AGENDA Venue:

Breydel building Auditorium

45, avenue d'Auderghem-1049 Brussels

Date: 22 November 2016

09:00 - 09:30 Registration and welcome coffee

Morning moderator: Peter Zeil - SpaSe/SpaceTec Partners Expert (EC contractor)

09:30 – 09:45 Introduction Andreas Veispak - DG GROW

The Copernicus international strategy: an opportunity for European EO companies

09:45 - 10:15

On-going and future cooperation with third countries, data exchange arrangements

Opportunities of GMES&Africa

Dr Astrid-Christina Koch- DG GROW

Christophe Roeland - DG GROW

EU industry perspective

10:15 – 10:30 How to leverage Copernicus to develop export sales of European EO companies

André Jadot - Eurosense on behalf of the EARSC Board of Directors

An H2020 perspective

10:30 – 10:45 H2020: a route to internationalisation? Lefteris Mamais – GEOCRADLE project

10:45 – 11:15 Coffee break

European support to SME internationalisation

11:15 – 11:45 EU support to SME internationalisation

Other EU support instruments: towards an EU economic diplomacy

Patrick De Smedt - DG GROW

Philippe de Taxis du Poet - DG GROW

11:45 – 12:15 EU support to Cluster Internationalisation

The Space2ID cluster cooperation

Christophe Guichard – DG GROW


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Dr Philippe Lattes – Aerospace Valley

12:15 – 13:10 Morning discussion panel Ryuichi Sato - Japan Space Systems

Dr Philippe Lattes – Aerospace Valley

André Jadot - Eurosense

Lefteris Mamais – GEOCRADLE project

Philippe de Taxis du Poet – EC / DG GROW

13:10 - 14:30 Lunch break

Afternoon moderator: Thomas Tanghe - SpaceTec Partners (EC contractor)

Other pan-European initiatives

14:30 - 14:45 EO4SD: an opportunity for international business development?

Dr Stephen Coulson – ESA

SME perspectives

14:45 – 15:45 Going international: opportunities, challenges and key success factors

GeoVille Dr Christian Hoffmann – GeoVille - Leveraging on EO4IFI benefits and GMES&Africa

GMV Dr Gerard Margarit – GMV - GMV’s experience in Latin America

EOMAP Dr Thomas Heege – EOMAP - EOMAP international business development: opportunities, challenges, support mechanisms

TerraNIS David Hello – TerraNIS – TerraNIS: opportunities, challenges, and key success factors of going international

15:45 – 16:15 Coffee break


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16:15 – 17:10 Afternoon discussion panel Robbert Mica – VanderSat -

Rainer Malmberg – IABG

Dr Paolo Manunta – Planetek Italia

Dr Christian Hoffmann - GeoVille

Dr Thomas Heege - EOMAP

David Hello - TerraNIS

Christophe Roeland – EC / DG GROW

17:10 – 17:20 Key messages from the workshop Rainer Horn – SpaceTec Partners

17:20 – 17:30 Concluding remarks and next steps Christophe Roeland – EC / DG GROW



3ANNEX 2 LIST OF WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS

Table 1: List of actual participants

N° Last name First name Affiliation

1 Allan John EARSC

2 Araujo Joao Spin.Works

3 Arnocz Istvan Space Apps

4 Arozarena Antonio IGN

5 Baumann Ingo BHO Legal

6 Billast Philippe CNES

7 Blundel Richard Malta Council for Science and Technology

8 Bollanos Stelios Planetek Hellas

9 Coulson Stephen ESA

10 D'Angelo Sandro EC / DG GROW

11 De Smedt Patrick EC / DG GROW

12 De Taxis Du

Poet Philippe EC / DG GROW

13 Delourme Thibaud EC / DG GROW

14 Donati Cecilia Mercator Océan

15 Dubost Ariane EARSC

16 Durocher Lucie Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur

17 Geist Thomas FFG Austria

18 Gilson Philippe AMOS

19 Gómez Zotano Miguel Ángel Everis

20 Gontier Eric VITO

21 Grabak Ola ESA

22 Guichard Christophe EC / DG GROW

23 Hannah Bruce National Space Centre Ltd.

24 Havlicek Martin Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic

25 Hawkins Owen Earth-i

26 Heege Thomas EOMAP GmbH & Co.KG

27 Hello David TerraNIS

28 Hoffmann Christian GeoVille GmbH


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29 Hoffmann Jörn German Aerospace Center (DLR)

30 Horn Rainer SpaceTec Partners

31 Jadot Andre Eurosense

32 Johansson Anna Maria SWEPA

33 JUTZ Simon ESA/ESRIN

34 Kadoya Yoko EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation

35 Klein Thomas Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management

36 Koch Astrid-

Christina EC / DG GROW

37 Kossack Annika Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

(EASME)

38 Krekels Steven VITO

39 Kunogi Yoshiharu Japan Space Systems

40 Lattes Philippe Aerospace-valley

41 Maj Kamil European Parliament

42 Malmberg Rainer IABG mbH

43 Mamais Lefteris Evenflow SPRL

44 Manunta Paolo Planetek

45 Maranesi Marcello Independent Consultant

46 Margarit Gerard GMV

47 Mastracci Federica e-GEOS

48 McHugh Tom Icon Group

49 Menking Christina Airbus Group

50 Mezzadri Sandra IABG mbH

51 Mica Robbert VanderSat

52 Milánkovich Dorottya Space Apps Ltd.

53 Mitu Nicolae EC / DG GROW

54 Mondon Emmanuel AdviceGEO

55 Moullec Maud PwC

56 Natali Stefano SISTEMA GmbH

57 Neteler Markus Mundialis

58 Nohelová Kateřina Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic

59 Oeldenberger Stefan German GeoConsultants Group


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60 Pacholska Magdalena Turkish Research and Business Organisations

61 Parlak Meric SCISYS Deutschland GmbH

62 Perrot Yann PwC

63 Perusini Valerio e-GEOS

64 Petalios Dimitrios CREVIS Sprl

65 Pica Udrivolf SpaceTec Partners

66 Pradhan Chetan CGI

67 Roeland Christophe EC / DG GROW

68 Rohn Michael DWD

69 Sandalinas Jordi Image sea solutions

70 Sato Ryuichi Japan Space Systems

71 Sawyer Geoff EARSC

72 Schreier Gunter DLR

73 Sebastian Ana GMV

74 Sheehan Conor Enterprise Ireland

75 Simion Iulia REA

76 Smotkova Jana CzechInvest- Investment and Business Development Agency

77 Takayama Hisanobu Japan Space Systems

78 Tanghe Thomas SpaceTec Partners

79 Tarasenko Valeriy Mission of Ukraine to the EU

80 Turpin Julien EC / DG GROW

81 van Loon Jasper Netherlands Space Office

82 Vanderhaeghen Francis VITO

83 Veispak Andreas EC / DG GROW

84 Velasco Almudena SpaceTec Partners

85 Wildervanck Lucas Ears Bv

86 Zeil Peter Spatial Services Ltd

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