Following the great success of the EARSC EO Product Award 2017 won by ‘Waste from Space’ a product developped by Air & Space Evidence, EARSC has decided to focus this year’s award on products supporting sustainable development and SDGs.
In 2015, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These include a broad range of sustainable development issues; ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests. The SDGs are being launched with an emphasis on collecting data that will be extensive and specific enough to serve these needs. They are designed to balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental. European EO industry can help achieve the SDGs by providing critical information on natural resources, government operations, public services, and population demographics.
As last year’s award recognised a product helping to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at national, regional and/or local levels, and the monitoring and reporting against the global indicator framework, EARSC has decided to align this year award with one of the strategic engagement priorities that addresses key global policy mandates such as the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The competition will run over a 3 month period (February 2018- April 2018) during which candidate companies may adapt an existing product, develop a new product or simply promote one they have already in their catalogue. Companies will be asked to provide a short summary of the results (report should not exceed 2 pages and a template will be facilitated) which will be used as statement for the jury.
CRITERIA: ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS & METRICS
- Any commercial product which will support sustainable development
- Report on the findings (not exceed 2 pages): (i) Explain what type of product the company offers, (ii) Describe the challenge: What problem this product will solve/what solution will this provide? How will this product contribute to sustainable development? (iii) Explanation of the circumstances surrounding the development of this product and the identification of the SDG which will support or the monitoring and reporting against the global indicator framework, (iv) Expected impact to address.
TIMING
- Expression of Interest: by 15th March 2018
- Dead-line entries: 1st May 2018
- Selection: the files will be judged by the jury to select the overall product winner (1st May- 31st May)
- Announcement: EARSC annual cocktail June 2018 in Brussels where the winner of the EARSC “European Earth Observation company of the year” is also revealed.
SOURCE: EARSC website
