OBSERVER: Copernicus Horizon 2035

The consequences of climate change have emphasised the vital importance of the European Union taking action to develop innovative solutions for tackling current and future environmental challenges. As a contribution to these solutions, the Copernicus component of the European Union Space Programme is a world-class Earth Observation system that enables us to understand our Earth better and make decisions that improve sustainability and resilience. The recent Copernicus Horizon 2035 symposium brought together the European Commission, Member States, delegated bodies, and the community of users to continue the dialogue on Copernicus’ contribution to the environment and consider its transformation by 2035.

Copernicus Horizon 2035 took place in Toulouse, France on the 16th and 17th of February 2022. Organised by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, it was an opportunity to highlight Copernicus’ state-of-the-art capabilities and to outline how they will be built upon for the future. The event featured numerous distinguished speakers from the European Commission, EU delegated bodies, EU Member State institutions, the international community, the trio of presidencies, and a range of space-related policy and technology institutions. Copernicus Horizon 2035 also enjoyed remarks from the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron!

During a time of COVID-19 disruption, Copernicus Horizon proved to be a hybrid-event success with guests hosted in-person in Toulouse and over 7,000 views online, across the two days! The first topic of the event recalled the major challenges ahead for the planet and humankind. This was followed by presentations on Copernicus at the nexus of the green and digital transitions, how research supports Copernicus, and important considerations for its future considering the massive changes that digital opportunities and New Space approaches will present. On the second day, the sessions provided insights into how Copernicus user uptake could be boosted and how to foster market development for Earth Observation in Europe. Virtually present were 43 exhibitors from the global Copernicus ecosystem to engage and network with participants with the aim of demonstrating their uses of and contributions to Copernicus.

Copernicus Horizon 2035 opened with welcome speeches from Frédérique Vidal, French Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market, and Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency. It was underlined that Copernicus is a European success story and a symbol of strong European cooperation. Copernicus is the “gold standard” for Earth Observation, making the EU the number one supplier of environmental data in the world. Commissioner Breton expressed his vision for European Earth Observation, for a green Planet and a resilient Europe. The future of the space component was raised, outlining ambitious intentions for pushing the expansion missions and collaborating with New Space. Services were also addressed given their unique added value in policy implementation to be more resilient, more reactive, and always connected to users. Thierry Breton underscored that Copernicus’ next steps will be key for responding to challenges such as climate change, resilience building for the digital transition, and the space industry’s transformation in order to exploit more robust, diversified, autonomous, and fit-for-purpose services.

“We must build the Copernicus of tomorrow around two objectives for Europe: (1) a Europe which is a pioneer in the battle for a green planet; (2) a Europe which is resilient, and capable of projecting its own strategic power.” ­– Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market.

A feature of the event was the keynote address delivered by French President Emmanuel Macron. His speech expressed the significance of space for the European Union in terms of European strategic autonomy, the economy, and security. By acknowledging the world-class achievements of Galileo and Copernicus, President Macron also lauded that EU Space is an outcome of decades of investment in research and development and the nurturing of European cooperation at the scientific and industrial levels. Nonetheless, he recognised the challenges that the space domain will face in the coming future. The French president called on Europeans for more harmonisation in areas of space policy, research, and the development of new innovative space-based products and services. He identified that Copernicus is a tool to drive this and as a result, improve the world around us, especially in the context of climate change.

“We are at a turning point for Europe in space, given the industrial and technological acceleration that we have seen and the fundamental choices that we have to make when it comes to space policy.” - Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic.

The importance of Copernicus as a pillar of the green and digital transitions was emphasised by speakers throughout the event. Copernicus’ superpower was noted to be its capacity to support policymakers and users with the force of full, free, and open access to the data. It is at the nexus of enabling individuals, institutions, and states alike to understand the Earth better for improved environmental outcomes, as well as advancing digital innovation. Given the criticality of monitoring the effects of climate change and developing new approaches for mitigating and adapting to it, Copernicus delivers and will continue to present a broad range of state-of-the-art capabilities to provide high-quality, relevant information over territories, oceans, the atmosphere, for climate change monitoring, emergency support, resilience, and security. Furthermore, many asserted that the sheer amount of data delivered by Copernicus is also a driver for developing more precise and sophisticated practices based on data processing and analyses that can cross-fertilise and benefit innovation: enhanced computing power, quantum technologies, and artificial intelligence. As Joanna Drake, Deputy Director-General at the DG Research and Innovation, stated, “Copernicus data and services are hugely important for achieving the scientific breakthroughs required to meet the European Green Deal.”

Copernicus Horizon 2035 bore witness to some inspirational presentations on the state of the planet to provide broader perspectives on the Earth’s environmental situation and the necessity of acting. This included Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut with the European Space Agency, who has been hosted on the International Space Station twice. He talked about the fragility of the planet and that from space he bore witness to humanity’s influence on Earth, the increase of deforestation and polar ice melting. Nonetheless, the astronaut stressed the importance of data and evidence-based solutions for dealing with climate change as well as other environmental and policy applications. Underlining the strength of Copernicus’ capabilities, Thomas Pesquet highlighted, “There are going to be many more applications that will come to the fore – Copernicus is all about space, for us.”

The exciting future of Copernicus was emphasised by roundtable discussions and presentations alike, including the common stance for Copernicus provided by the Trio of presidencies of the Council of the European Union. This is summarised by expressed fervour for developing Copernicus to ensure more data and services are available, as well as supporting the critical role of research in this endeavour. Expanded user uptake can contribute to increased opportunities for public participation and adoption, thus, acting as a multiplier for sustainable development in support of the Green Deal which is at the heart of the European Commission’s policies.

Central to Copernicus’ evolution is the expansion missions which include a focus on anthropogenic carbon dioxide emission monitoring, polar ice and water monitoring, land and natural resources monitoring, and food security and water applications. These missions will be complemented by the procurement of not only data but space services from New Space as well, as innovative technologies and practices advance. Hence, outlining a future cooperation model with private industry. This will enable improved spatial and temporal resolution of observations. Designing Copernicus as a hybrid constellation of various observation capabilities will support improved and new products for its services, such as those for water quality and cycles, the origin of atmospheric pollutants and air quality, natural and climate risk transverse analyses, emergency management, and additional services for better resiliency to crises. The digital transition and emergence of European digital capacities will facilitate a streamlined user journey through easier access, increased data validity, and improved Copernicus products as inputs into users’ practices. As a result, next-generation services aim to be delivered based on these Copernicus and Digital frameworks which will be delivered by both the public and private sectors. Magali Domergue, French Delegate for the Copernicus User Forum, noted, “Copernicus users expect that in the future, Copernicus will develop new tools to make it easier for them to access and use Copernicus data. They also expect that critical infrastructures should be connected to national and extra-national platforms.”

In parallel to the development of Copernicus, so must user uptake and market development evolve. Four cases of user uptake were explored by representatives from the delegated bodies for Copernicus services and their end-users. As Jacques Moussafir, Founder of Aria Technologies, proclaimed when highlighting their company’s Copernicus-enabled success story, “The future of environmental services is bright as Copernicus is filling gaps and allowing business to focus on developing technologies.”

Nevertheless, speakers stressed that Copernicus products need to be informed by user requirements, which are vast and diverse. Furthermore, data alone does not drive environmental action, but engagement with society does. Reinforced and regular engagement with the community of users and the public is crucial to ensuring that the benefits of investment into Copernicus can be realised, not only for the environment but also socioeconomically. Whilst the state of the European Earth Observation market was noted to be growing strongly, there are still challenges. To foster market development, the CASSINI initiative was stated to be a key policy driver for boosting entrepreneurship for entities across the innovation cycle. This is especially important for students and the youth, to ensure Copernicus provides opportunities for them to contribute to space and a sustainable future.

Copernicus Horizon 2035 brought together the brightest minds in Earth Observation. The Copernicus component of the EU Space Programme was put on show to highlight its accomplishments and its contributions to environmental monitoring. Its future was outlined with ambitious plans for its evolution, calling for a Copernicus digital infrastructure of services, whilst collaborating more closely with New Space to deliver innovative solutions for the environmental challenges ahead. It was also reinforced that Copernicus is for the citizens of the world and that user uptake and market development are critical to Copernicus’ success.

Ondřej Šváb, Head of Space Technologies and Applications Unit at Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic, stated,

“This has been a very interesting conference and very valuable preparation for our work under the upcoming Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU. The conference has shown consensus on what the future of Copernicus should look like: it has to remain a state-of-art and user-driven observation system, which will not be a follower, but a trendsetter in Earth Observation!

My take-aways are: no revolution but evolution, continuity of observations and services, leveraging opportunities from New Space and private sector contributions, improved spatial and temporal resolution of Sentinel observations, and keeping best practices, such as the full, free and open data policy.

Congratulations to the French Presidency and European Commission for such an insightful and forward-looking event!”

Andrea Taramelli, Italian Representative to the Copernicus User Forum, expressed,

“In the last ten years, thanks to the Copernicus User Forum consultation process, a lot of work has been performed to push the idea that Earth Observation can be used in the operational services for environmental control or civil protection in Italy. This concept has slowly permeated into established sectors. Further developing governmental, regional, and local use of Copernicus has been one of the main focuses of this Horizon 2035 conference. The conference has underlined the need for continuity of Copernicus observations and services and has confirmed the central role of the users in Copernicus as underlined by all the representatives of Member States.”

Together with you, we eagerly wait for what Copernicus can bring to Europe and the world over the next decades!