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Legacy and achievements of the three-year-long Earth Observation user engagement of the Horizon 2020 FIRE project

  • Posted on: 28 Feb 2023
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The FIRE project team thanks all involved stakeholders who allowed to successfully achieve the project’s aim to build a strong community and a well-defined process which have been crucial in delivering the strategic research and innovation roadmap. The roadmap has been disseminated and is already inspiring the workflow of both EO and non-EO stakeholders. Moreover, the community created by the project and enriched due to the engagement of the seven FIRE sector leads and the seven ‘EO Evangelists’, has become self-aware of its great value and potential and will be maintained beyond the project’s lifetime. Similarly, various aspects of the methodology designed by FIRE will continue to be applied in the future.

User engagement – FIRE Focus Groups, FIRE Forum events and the ‘EO Evangelists’ programme

FIRE animated and encouraged the exchange of the community with multiple tools, notably by organising two rounds of FIRE Focus Group discussions and three FIRE Fora events. Crucial to the success of these interactions was the commitment of the so-called ‘sector leads’ – organisations with extensive networks, ties, knowledge and experience within FIRE focus sectors. Throughout the 3 years, FIRE partnered with 7 sector leads: COPA-COGECA (agriculture), EIT Raw Materials (raw materials), Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique and Centre national d’études spatiales – CNES (marine), Vital Infrastructure Arena – VIA (infrastructure), SMURBS (urban development), and WindEurope (wind energy). In total, during the two rounds of six Focus Group discussions (Autumn 2020 and Winter 2022) FIRE gathered the needs of 147 industry experts from 18 European countries.

The FIRE project brought together stakeholders to discuss the challenges and look for solutions. Still, more work at the level of EU policies is needed for the uptake of the best technologies on the ground, providing farmers a larger room of manoeuvre to make good farming decisions.
Patrick Pagani
COPA-COGECA, sector lead for agriculture

Each workshop round was followed by a larger event in a conference format – the FIRE Forum event. Each forum gathered around 400-500 industry professionals, Earth Observation experts and policy and market development executives. In total, three FIRE Fora events (June 2021, June 2022, and February 2023) were organised, attracting 2137 registrants and effectively bringing together 103 speakers and moderators, and 1347 attendees.

To bridge the gap between the Earth Observation and target sector communities, FIRE also designed a novel ‘EO Evangelist’ programme. The seven impactful, motivated storytellers were selected as a result of an open call recruitment procedure. They promoted the global benefits of EO in a way that resonated with their target audiences and the general public, using various means to this end – video messages, written articles, social media posts etc. Overall, EO Evangelists promoted EO benefits, the FIRE project and benefitted from exchange with the industries at more than 12 events.

Being an EO Evangelist has been an incredible experience. [..] FIRE is a one-of-a-kind initiative that fills a painful gap between industries with enormous, but currently untapped, potential for collaboration. Much work still needs to be done, especially as the value of space-based solutions for raw materials will only multiply in the coming years.
Irene Benito
Raw Materials EO Evangelist

The long-term impact and legacy of FIRE and the FIRE Roadmap

The main outcome of the project and the most tangible result of the consultations and activities described above is the FIRE Roadmap. FIRE Roadmap is an analytical document consisting of a roadmap for each sector and a detailed chapter for transversal challenges. The Roadmap as well as the way forward were the main topics of the FIRE Forum 2023.

FIRE had a significant strategic impact due to the importance of such cross-sectoral activities bringing the EO community together with non-EO actors, therefore helping to bridge the disconnect between the supply and the demand side of the EO market. Moreover, FIRE provided the platform for converging perspectives of different communities from these sectors – practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and industry representatives. The results of these discussions, exchanges and building of understanding of each other’s priorities, challenges and capabilities will influence the future work and results of all the involved parties.

FIRE’s success highlighted the need to pursue these stakeholder matchmaking efforts in the future, as the benefits for further EO uptake and return on investment in the EO technology are important. Actors involved in the project have already committed to continuing the collaboration, while FIRE methodology will be potentially reproduced in other sectors in the future. Concretely, multiple elements or outputs of FIRE will be continuously utilized, namely, the FIRE Roadmap and the set of sectoral videos, as well as the EO Evangelists programme and concept. The overall success of the project and its sustainability activities, in particular, have served as a catalyst for the consortium to maintain their support for the FIRE ecosystem and explore avenues to capitalize on the project’s accomplishments in the future.

EARSC already has prepared a list of dates and set meetings where we’ll bring the FIRE sectoral roadmaps with us. Similarly, projects and ideas are already in the pipeline through which we will continue the work of the FIRE consortium. As a starter, don’t miss out on the EXPANDEO 2023 event, 13-14 June 2023 that will focus on EU policies supported by EO.
Natassa Antoniou
Coordinator of FIRE and Market Development Officer at EARSC

Overall, FIRE has contributed its share to ensuring that the society and economy can benefit the most from the added value brought by remote sensing technologies. EO has been recognised to help reach European Green Deal objectives and enhance the scientific understanding of the Earth and other crucial aspects. Complemented by rapidly advancing technologies, EO transversal opportunities are only expected to grow in the future.

Testimonies: FIRE sector leads

Earth Observation data and technology are key drivers for the agriculture sector. Increasing availability of data and improved interoperability provide new avenues to the agricultural sector and a unique opportunity to improve monitoring, communication on their environmental and agronomic performance, and obtain a return from market. The FIRE project has brought together stakeholders to discuss the challenges and look for solutions. Still more work at the level of EU policies is needed for the uptake of best technologies on the ground, providing farmers a larger room of manoeuvre to make good farming decisions.
Patrick Pagani
COPA-COGECA, sector lead for agriculture
It was an absolute pleasure to work with the FIRE team. Their passion and professionalism inspired everyone who participated in the FIRE Fora. I thoroughly enjoyed my role as the raw materials sector lead. I had many insightful discussions and inspiring conversations with panel members and participants, highlighting the importance of earth observation for the raw materials sector. It is clear that this was just the starting point. I look forward to following the implementation of the Roadmap and continuing to engage with the diverse Earth Observation community.
Patrick Nadoll
EIT Raw Materials, sector lead for Raw Materials
FIRE was a great project with an efficient approach by gathering end-users or potential end-users, providers and experts to promote the use of Earth Observation (EO)! It was a great exercise for the marine sector which definitely needs more EO services and applications to grow sustainably. The roadmaps gives us the way to follow! Let’s keep this momentum to move forward.
Phil Monbet
Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, sector lead for marine &maritime
The exploitation of Earth Observation (EO) in the urban domain bears many challenges linked to the complexity of the structure and functionalities of cities. Therefore increased requirements are set in place and more synergies need to be pursued. It was a pleasure and of great interest for me to be leading the urban sector of the FIRE Forum which provided a structured and organized means for identifying the major urban pressures and discussing how EO could actually facilitate their resolution. FIRE provided a really rich and grounded knowledge to be shared with the varios EU stakeholders in the form of a roadmap. It also contributed to the for a European contribution to GEO's 4th engagement priority on resilient cities.
Evangelos Gerasopoulos
IERSD / NOA, sector lead for uban development
It has been a great value for VIA to be the sector lead in the FIRE project. We have gained new insights about Earth Observation and, most importantly, we have built our international network.
Helen Roth
VIA – Vital Infrastructure Arena, sector lead for infrastructure

Testimonies: FIRE EO Evangelists

When I said that I am the first Earth Observation (EO) Evangelist for the marine sector, the interest was immediately there. People were curious to discover what this is all about. Thus, being officially the first Marine Evangelist helped enormously to share my passion for EO and to leave a lasting impact. I learned that you must start with something special to ignite the flame in people to be on fire for Earth Observation. The future for Earth Observation solution uptake lies in telling tangible success stories to which the marine sector can relate. All this must be based on excellent technical solutions that are tailored to the sector’s needs, based on continuous exchange and in-depth discussions.
Eva Haas
Marine EO Evangelist
Being part of the FIRE Forum as the first EO Evangelist for the Wind Energy sector was such an honour, but my journey as an EO Evangelist doesn't end here, I will continue creating awareness about how Earth Observation Data and technologies can help achieve Europe climate neutral goal.
Miriam Gonzalez
Wind Energy EO Evangelist
The FIRE Forum has been a unique experience for me as a scientist and a service developer, but even more for me as the first FIRE EO Evangelist for Agriculture. I find it particularly unique that researchers, EO-data and service providers, stakeholders and users, practitioners and policy-makers have been gathered to share their needs and challenges and exchange their knowledge about existing solutions. FIRE managed to identify, collect and report the challenges, while also improve the transparency and visibility of solutions. Being an Evangelist was indeed great since the role builds a knowledge bridge between the research and developers and the user and practitioners communities. The communication between these different groups is not always straightforward and as an Evangelist I had to effectively communicate the accumulated knowledge from FIRE. The future of the EO sector is exciting, but this does not mean it will come without challenges and risks. However, we all need to deal with these risks already now in order for our knowledge and technical solutions to grow in the future. This is exactly where the FIRE roadmap will act as a catalyst to ease the identification of opportunities.
Ilias Pechlivanidis
Agriculture EO Evangelist
Being an EO Evangelist has been an incredible experience. It has given me the opportunity to use my knowledge of both the raw materials and Earth Observation sectors to help accelerate the dual digital and sustainable transition. FIRE is a one-of-a-kind initiative that fills a painful gap between industries with enormous, but currently untapped, potential for collaboration. Much work still needs to be done, especially as the value of space-based solutions for raw materials will only multiply in the coming years. As the demand for critical raw materials rises due to the shift towards green energy systems, there is an unprecedented need for mining companies to adopt new technologies. Fortunately, Earth Observation can help ensure that the increased supply is achieved in a safe, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible manner. In the future, advancements in space technology and data fusion will allow for real-time monitoring of supply chains, which will be a game-changer for the mining industry. However, both sectors must collaborate closely to ensure that raw materials actors receive the information they need in a useful format.
Irene Benito
Raw Materials EO Evangelist

Video: FIRE in numbers and video testimonies