I write this blog-post from Kampala where I am attending the African Association for Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE) 2016 conference. This biennial conference brings together researchers and stakeholders from across the African continent. It is my first visit to Uganda and in fact my first visit to Africa! It seems incredible that for all the traveling that I have done over the years, I have not put foot on African soil before now.

This year, AARSE has organised a session devoted to the private sector following the survey of African companies which was completed earlier this year. For the survey, EARSC supported AARSE with the methodology that we use for our survey of the European industry. The results of the African survey can be found here.

After the plenary session where the survey was presented by Tsehaie Woldai and I presented EARSC and how the Association functions, we held a B2B meeting for African and European companies. In my presentation I explained what we do for the companies in Europe and gave a short history of EARSC as well as explaining the challenges that we face. It was intended to provide guidance for African companies seeking to set up their own “EARSC-like” organisation. The biggest challenge which they face is the large geographical scale which inhibits bringing companies together; but this is also an issue in Europe.

The B2B meeting proved very successful. Feedback afterwards was positive with companies from both continents appreciating the opportunity to meet face-to-face and the structured character of the meetings. We learned something about the importance (or difficulty?) of meeting the needs of large and small companies but overall the formula of a matchmaking event seemed to be largely the right one.

I have been pleased that we (EARSC) have been able to help facilitate discussion between African and European companies and to bring some of our experience (for example the methodology for the industry survey) to helping our African counterparts move forward towards a co-operative structure.

As many of you will know we are studying the possible conditions for establishing a Marketplace Alliance for EO Services (MAEOS). We have just about reached the half-way stage of the work. We have held an extensive consultation with the stakeholders and mapped this to possible functions and architecture. The results are looking good and have helped enormously to clarify the complex landscape in which we are working. We presented the outcome to the EARSC board last Tuesday (4th October).

The bottom line, I am delighted to report, is that the EARSC board has decided that the industry should move immediately towards establishing an EOMall which would be a completely separate legal entity to EARSC. The EOMall would operate a marketplace on behalf of those companies which choose to join and invest in the venture. At the same time, EARSC will define possible policy and governance conditions for companies working together under a lighter structure which will be the MAEOS.

The result is that every company will have a choice whether to join the close collaboration in the EOMall, work in a lighter co-operation under EARSC/MAEOS or stay outside both and operate independently. All companies will be able to remain in the EARSC network and benefit from the lobbying and information activities but those seeking closer co-operation will receive additional benefits.

We shall complete the MAEOS study early next year and plan a meeting in January to present the packages to industry in order that they can start to take decisions on the level of co-operation each one wishes to engage in. In the meantime, the interim results, including those from the stakeholder consultation analysis, will be presented on 25^th October 2016 at the EO Innovation Europe: Network of Platforms Architecture and Implementation - Stakeholder Consultation Workshop at ESRIN in Frascati. The registration is open under  the registration link

For more information on MAEOS / EOMall, please go here.