Around 80 participants attended this seminar on 4 December to find out about the added-value of satellite applications as tools for improving the workflows and the quality of services by local administrations in various fields, e.g. urban planning, public transport, health and tourism, among others.

Keynote speaker Claire Jolly, the resident expert on aerospace activities at the OECD, talked about the key role local governments play in fostering economic development and ‘green growth’ policies. She stressed the potential of satellite applications to support decision-makers at the local level, and encouraged cities and towns to reap the benefits of such applications by using a mix of innovation policies.

Keynote speaker Andrew Hudson-Smith, Chair of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at The Bartlett, University College London provided the audience with an inspiring overview of operational and pre-operational satellite applications that will impact our daily lives in the near future.

More than 120 participants attended "Valuing and managing biodiversity: how satellite applications can help" on 18 October, a conference hosted by the Region of Nord-Pas de Calais.

They discussed the experience of end-users from regional administrations with satellite applications for the management of biodiversity, with a view to evaluate how well investments in space infrastructure have translated into operational tools for environment professionals.

This international workshop was organised by the Basilicata Region, in collaboration with NEREUS (Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies), the National Research Council (Institute of Methodologies for  Environmental Analysis), the University of Basilicata, the TeRN Consortium and Sviluppo Basilicata.

Eurisy Secretary General, Stefaan de Mey, was invited to talk about how successful innovation is diffused and taken-up by end-users, a condition sine qua non for continued investment in applications development and in the dedicated clusters. The contribution was based on Eurisy’s knowledge of practical examples of regions and cities that are using satellite applications operationally to meet their daily challenges and to respond to policy challenges.

Eurisy was invited by Eurocities – a major association of European cities – to contribute a good practice example showcasing the potential of satnav applications for sustainable urban transport today. We invited Mr Jesus Peruche, from the City of Madrid, to share his experience in using satnav applications, including their smartphone extensions, to offer bus traffic information to passengers.

Mr Paul Verhoef, former programme manager for EU satellite navigation programmes and currently Head of Unit – Research and Innovative Transport Systems at DG MOVE, also present at the event, took up Eurisy's invitation to talk about how Galileo is likely to affect the offer of satnav applications for transport when the system becomes operational.

This successful workshop brought together 50 participants representing mostly regions and cities, but also the space community and satellite service providers interested in the topic.

It illustrated, through a variety of concrete good practice examples from professionals working in tourism, natural and cultural heritage management,  that local and regional authorities are instrumental in ensuring citizens and the local economy benefit from the added value of the use of satellite services in these areas.

More than 70 participants attended Eurisy’s workshop, organised in the framework of the Committee of the Regions’ “Open Days: the European week of Regions and Cities”.

Angelika Poth-Mögele, the Director of Policy of the CEMR, highlighted some of the threats local and regional authorities face in implementing e-Government, such as the “change of culture” necessary to accompany technological developments, staff training needs,  interoperability of information systems and others. Such potential threats are offset by tangible benefits such as better public services, more interaction with citizens and general improvements in quality of life.

On the 22nd September in Brussels on the occasion of Mobility Week, Eurisy contributed to the event “Smart2Wheels”, on invitation from the organisers - ETRA (The European Twowheel Retailers' Association) and Forum Europe.

The event highlighted the role and potential of cycling, and also of electric bikes for creating cleaner, less congested cities and by extension, healthier citizens.

Eurisy invited Irma Juskenaite, a representative of the City of Vilnius, Lithuania, to introduce their hands-on experience in introducing a satellite navigation-based system for managing the city’s electric bike Rent-and-Share system, as well as for developing a series of mobile applications for users.

The presentation was very well received, with a representative from the organisation Eurocities welcoming Ms Juskenaite’s presentation and commenting that he “would like to see more mobile applications for bikers” in such events the future.

On 13 September, Eurisy participated in the ICLEI European Convention 2011 "Cities in Europe 2020: Enhance Sustainability Now!" held in Brussels.

Eurisy invited a representative of Hespul, a non-profit energy association working for the City of Lyon on the innovative urban rehabilitation project "Lyon Confluence", where satellite information is used to assess solar potential and estimate yield on buildings over 75000m2. The project was showcased as a concrete example of how innovative cities already use innovative tools to reach their energy objectives.

On this occasion, top political leaders from cities and towns across Europe released the ICLEI European Convention Declaration. They are responding to the Europe 2020 Strategy and are calling for greater support and recognition of their contribution to an economically smart, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable Europe. With regard to innovation, the Declaration calls for assistance "in taking the lead in CO2 reduction, improving energy efficiency, using locally generated sustainable forms of energy and transport and encouraging the development of innovative and sustainable products and services".

The 3^rd edition of Intermodes, the first international convention dedicated to “Intermodality in passengers transport”, took place in Brussels on 9^th & 10^th February, with more than 210 participants.

Each year, this event gathers representatives of local and regional authorities (70% of the audience), as well as transport professionals from throughout Europe, and this year the convention was organised under the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and focussed on “accessibility”.

Eurisy’s contribution was first to briefly introduce its Support Initiative for Regions and Cities, as well as how satellite navigation has revolutionised the transport sector, with a large number of operational applications currently available for intermodal transport - such as transport-on-demand, car-sharing systems, ticketing and tolling systems etc.

Eurisy’s contribution also featured a good practice presentation of the experience of the City of Rome, whose transport authority, ATAC, introduced “Bus abile” - a service of transport-on-demand for the disabled with a fleet of 100 vehicles. The service integrates a satellite navigation-based solution allowing for dynamic travels plans, fleet monitoring and real-time service adaptation, some of the features which are now offering higher reactivity and flexibility of the service. In addition to cutting on administrative costs of the service, it has had a major impact on inclusion for this population, with a 50% increase in the use of the service and more than 700 users daily.

For more information on Intermodes 2011, click here.

This workshop gathered stakeholder organisations from Norfolk and a panel of experts in satellite information and services. Together, they carried out a scoping exercise to explore how stakeholder organisations can enrich their local knowledge, through the use of satellite applications, and how to best harness this knowledge to deliver local objectives in relation to the protection of heritage, biodiversity, at the service of people.

They analysed local challenges related to issues such as risk management, habitat protection, tourism and boating, the fishing industry, new infrastructure development and, last but not least, getting population support for policies and actions dealing with these challenges. On the basis of these exchanges, the group of experts drew up recommendations on opportunities for using satellite applications with minimal investment and maximum results.

The workshop was organised in the framework of a Eurisy case-study in partnership with the consortium of regional administrations from around the North Sea involved in the INTERREG IVB project "Coast Alive!".

The Campania Region organised a 3 day meeting (from 11th to 13th of November 2011) on to the topic "Sustainable energy for sustainable city ".

For the 4^th year running, Eurisy was invited to participate in the annual European Regions' General Assembly, hosted in 2010 in Istanbul, focusing on “Challenges for Europe 2020, demands for an effective R&D Policy”, and gathering more than 500 Representatives from 150 European Regions.

Presented by the AER Committee 1 “Economy and Regional development”, the General Assembly voted the AER endorsement of Eurisy’s Position Paper, Eurisy's contribution to the post 2013 EU financial perspective, and recommendations in terms of support mechanisms for Regions.

Eurisy hosted a stand at the event exhibition area:  along with its awareness raising focus on the benefits of satellite information and services for the Local and Regional Authorities.  The stand provided the opportunity for Eurisy to introduce its Position Paper and its recommendations to AER members in more detail.

See www.aer.eu for more information.

Eurisy was invited to contribute to the General Assembly of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) on the topic of “Territorial Cohesion in a Post-Crisis Scenario. Contribution of Cross-border Cooperation”.

Regional policy-makers, planners and practitioners are permanently faced with the need to take decisions that balance the imperatives of economic growth, protection of the environment and quality of life.

The conference ‘Local and regional authorities using satellite information and services to mitigate and adapt to climate change’ was held in Ljubljana, on 31 May – 1 June. It focused on how regions and cities can concretely benefit from satellite services to tackle climate change in areas such as water and forest management, CO2 reduction, transport and others.

Eurisy organised the Open Days workshop ’Bringing economic stimulus to regions through satellite information and services’ in cooperation with the Assembly of European Regions (AER), the European Association of Satellite Operators (ESOA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and a Consortium of regions.

The Workshop « Innovation at the service of regions and cities implementing sustainable energy strategies » was held in The Hague, on 22-23 June 2009 to bring together and establish a dialogue between the actors from regional and local authorities and those from the space community on how innovative satellite services, in particular, can support sustainable energy strategies.

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) invited Eurisy to organise an information workshop for its members in the framework of the 2009 CEMR General Assembly.

On the invitation of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) Eurisy contributed to the conference “Regional answers to climate change”

Dr Colin Hicks, the President of Eurisy, on the invitation of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional Policy, gave a presentation on the benefits of satellite information and services during the workshop “European Regions Reaching for the Sky – Satellite information systems for risk management”.

This conference, organised by Eurisy and hosted by the Committee of the Regions, presented the mid-term findings of Eurisy’s Programme for European Local and Regional Authorities (LRA) in order to stimulate the political debate on how to increase the benefits LRAs obtain from satellite information and services.

The workshop “Innovation at the Service of Regional Growth: The Competitive Advantages of Satellite Information and Services”, organised in Dublin on 20-21 May 2008, successfully continued the series of thematic workshops of Eurisy’s programme for Local and Regional Authorities.

124 participants from 19 countries were welcomed in Sinaia, Romania, for the Eurisy workshop “Regional Risk Management – Integrated Use of Satellite Information and Services”, last 10-11 March 2008. Mr G. Stahl, Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions, took the opportunity to reaffirm the strategic role Regions have to play in the protection of their citizens, of the environment, property and local economy.

The workshop “Efficient Management of Coastal Regions and Cities” was held in Tallinn, Estonia, on 17-18 September, with the kind contribution of Enterprise Estonia and the City of Tallinn which helped organise the event. The Tallinn workshop was the second event of Eurisy’s programme dedicated to Local and Regional Authorities.

The event inaugurated Eurisy's Support Initiative for Local and Regional Authorities. It brought to Barcelona numerous professionals from regions and cities and from the space technology and service sectors.