Overview
- Title
- EO4GEO. Towards an innovative strategy for skills development and capacity building in the space geo-information sector supporting Copernicus User Uptake.
- Abstract
EO4GEO aims to bridge the skills gap between the supply and demand of education and training in the space geoinformation sectors, fostering the uptake and integration of space/geospatial data and services in a broad range of application domains. EO4GEO results aim at the broader space geoinformation education/training community.
- Status
- Completed
- Duration
January 2018-June 2022
- Sector
Space geo information
More information on the description of the sector: http://www.eo4geo.eu/sub-sectors-and-domains/
- Countries
- Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden
- Scope of the project
The space geoinformation sector is of strategic importance since it supports many European, national and sub-national policy domains. However, the uptake of existing data and services and their integration in added value services for government, business and citizens could be significantly improved. The lack of specialised technical and scientific skills impedes this uptake by private companies and other actors. Moreover, there is also a gap between the offerings from universities and vocational education and training and what the sector needs. The scope of EO4GEO was to define an innovative strategy for skills development and capacity building in the space geoinformation sector also supporting the user uptake of Copernicus data and services. The Sector Skills Strategy includes the vision and mission for skills development: the vision of EO4GEO is to foster the growth of the European EO*GI (Earth Observation and geoinformation) (Earth Observation GeoInformation) sector ensuring a workforce with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time. The mission of EO4GEO is to ensure the strategic cooperation among stakeholders on skills development in the EO*GI sector.
- Objectives
EO4GEO aims to help bridging the skills gap in the space geoinformation sector by creating a strong alliance of actors from the sector/community. The main objective was to reinforce the existing EO*GI training and education ecosystem and foster the uptake and integration of space geoinformation data and services in end-user applications. The specific objectives of EO4GEO were to:
- define a long-term and sustainable strategy to fill the gap between supply of and demand for space geoinformation education and training;
- define an ontology-based Body of Knowledge for the space geoinformation sector based on previous efforts by mobilising a network of domain experts in a collaborative environment;
- design and develop a series of training curricula for different types of occupational profiles in the sector, and to develop a portfolio of training modules directly usable in the context of Copernicus and other relevant European and national level private and public initiatives to conduct a series of training actions aimed to test the designed curricula and the training modules developed by the project.
- to develop and endorse a long-term Action Plan based on the strategy developed and the experience gained in the implementation phase.
- Short description
EO4GEO is an Erasmus+ Sector Skills Alliance gathering 25 partners from 12 EU countries, most of which are part of the Copernicus Academy Network. The project also groups 50 associated partners from 22 EU countries. Be they from academia, public or private sector, they are all active in the education and training fields of the space geoinformation sector. The project is also supported by a strong group of Associated Partners mostly consisting of associations or networks active in the space geoinformation domain.
EO4GEO aims to help bridging the skills gap in the space geoinformation sector by creating a strong alliance of players from the sector community reinforcing the existing ecosystem and fostering the uptake and integration of space geoinformation data and services.
EO4GEO defines a long-term and sustainable strategy to fill the gap between supply of and demand for space geoinformation education and training considering the current and expected technological and non-technological developments in the space geoinformation and related sectors (e.g., ICT). The strategy is implemented by: creating and maintaining an ontology-based Body of Knowledge for the space geoinformation sector based on previous efforts; designing and developing a series of curricula and a rich portfolio of training modules and conducting a series of training actions in three sub-sectors - integrated applications, smart cities and climate change to test and validate the approach.
Read more on the project’s dedicated website http://www.eo4geo.eu/
- Key findings
EO4GEO developed a series of outcomes (including a set of tools, training materials and training actions, based on standardised concepts and language provided by a Body of Knowledge) aiming to support the workforce in the EO*GI sector and to foster the uptake and integration of space-geoinformation data and services in a broad range of application domains.
To ensure the long-term sustainability of the EO4GEO outcomes, a Space-Geoinformation Sector Skills Alliance is being formed after the project end to play a leading role in the EO*GI skills development and workforce upskilling and reskilling.
