The 2024 Earth Observation (EO) for Africa Symposium, scheduled from 23 to 26 September 2024, kicked off today at ESA-ESRIN in Frascati, Italy. The European Space Agency (ESA) organised the Symposium in collaboration with key stakeholders, including the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE), the European Commission (EC), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Objectives of the Symposium
This event aims to build a robust African-European R&D partnership and facilitate the sustainable adoption of EO and related space technology across Africa. The symposium follows an African user-driven approach with a long-term vision of more than ten years for Africa’s emerging digital era. This vision comes amid increasing collaborations between Africa and Europe in EO, supported by initiatives like the EO African Framework for Research, Innovation, Communities, and Applications (AFRICA) Initiative, implemented by ESA.
Over the next three days, the symposium will bring together partners from Africa, Europe, and the United States to showcase the latest R&D EO Science and Applications achievements relevant to Africa. It will also focus on designing models to facilitate international EO R&D collaborations and continue the process of capturing high-priority EO topics for future R&D and capacity development efforts. Additionally, the symposium will provide a platform to share information about future EO missions, discuss digital technology opportunities, and address challenges related to integrating downstream services into operational solutions.
Day 1 Opening Remarks
During the plenary opening ceremony, Ms Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA, delivered a presentation on the Global Gateway and the next stage of the African-European partnership. She emphasised intensified cooperation with the Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG-INTPA), financing the Africa-EU Space Partnership Programme.
Ms Cheli discussed the Global Development Assistance (GDA), a global partnership programme by ESA with more than USD 100 million mobilised from space and development finance resources. The programme focuses on mainstreaming EO into development operations as a catalyst for long-term action in 67 countries, including 30 African nations. GDA is being implemented across several key thematic areas, including agriculture, clean energy, marine environment and blue economy, urban sustainability, fragility, conflict and security, climate resilience, disaster management, health, water resource management and forest management
She also highlighted the European Union’s flagship Copernicus Sentinel Missions, the largest producer of EO data globally. With its Full, Free, and Open Data Policy, Copernicus provides global landmass observation every five days at 10m resolution, generating 20 terabytes of data daily. The mission has produced over 700 petabytes of Sentinel products, supporting six operational services (land, atmosphere, ocean, climate, disaster, and security) and 200,000 registered users since January 2023.
The ESA EO AFRICA Initiative, another key part of her presentation, was noted as a network of 4,000+ professionals collaborating with over 100 African entities. The initiative focuses on capacity development efforts across Africa, including:
- An EO AFRICA community of over 3,000 people spanning 51 countries.
- Ten face-to-face training sessions with more than 200 participants.
- Online courses and webinars, including 20 online courses, two massive open online courses (MOOCs) with 800+ participants, and eight downloadable training modules.
In addition, Ms Cheli elaborated on R&D investments with African partners, including continental demonstrator projects, pioneering new research through Explorers projects, and mainstreaming EO solutions through National Incubator projects. One of the highlights was the Tandem Research Projects, which aim to strengthen African-European collaboration through innovative EO algorithms and applications tailored to African water and food security challenges. The projects, which started in 2021, have led to the funding of 13 projects in 2022/23 and 17 projects in 2023/24. Another research call for 2024/25 has already been published.
Dr Tidiane Ouattara, President of the African Space Council, presented EO trends and priorities in Africa. He outlined the growth of Africa’s space economy, noting that the African remote sensing and EO sector experienced robust growth between 2019 and 2021, with a 13.83% increase, bringing the sector’s value to USD 170.7 million in 2021. Growth is expected to continue at 7.68% over the next four years, with projections that the industry will reach USD 183.9 million by 2026.
He provided a high-level overview of the 279 EO NewSpace companies operating in Africa within the EO service value chain. These companies are primarily downstream startups that depend on ground station operators, satellite operators, and foreign data resellers to develop satellite data products and EO application products. He emphasised that this trend is comparable to global regions and highlighted the following reasons for the increase in EO NewSpace companies in Africa:
- The ability to address unique local challenges such as food security, urban planning, and resource management.
- The companies’ ability to fill critical data gaps in areas lacking comprehensive ground-based monitoring systems.
- The decreasing cost of satellite technology and data processing, making EO more accessible to African entrepreneurs and organisations.
- Growing government support and awareness of the value of EO in decision-making.
Dr Ouattara also discussed key trends in the African EO landscape, including:
- The rise of application services and custom analytics driving demand for non-defence EO use cases.
- The integration of AI and ML for enhanced data analysis.
- The growing use of subscription models for accessing EO data.
- The movement toward data democratisation making EO insights more accessible across sectors.
Panel – What Africa Needs – Continental Scale
The opening presentations were followed by a panel titled What Africa Needs – Continental Scale. This panel brought together key figures from the African Space Council to discuss critical aspects of EO and space technology adoption in Africa. This high-level discussion focused on several important themes:
The panel explored the continent-wide needs and priorities for space technology and EO applications, discussing aligning national space programmes with a broader African space vision. They addressed the development of African expertise in space technology and EO, including education initiatives, training programmes, and knowledge transfer from European partners. The discussion covered the need for ground stations, data centres, and other crucial infrastructure to support EO activities across the continent.
In addition, the panellists tackled mechanisms for improving access to EO data for African researchers, policymakers, and businesses and ways to facilitate data sharing between African nations. They explored priority areas where EO can have the most significant impact in Africa, such as agriculture, water resource management, urban planning, and disaster monitoring. A key topic was ensuring long-term financial sustainability for African space initiatives, including public-private partnerships and international collaborations.
The discussion discussed the need for harmonised policies and regulations across African countries to support space activities and EO data utilisation. Given the context of the event, the panel addressed ways to strengthen and expand partnerships between African and European space agencies and research institutions. In addition, they explored strategies for fostering innovation in the African space sector and facilitating technology transfer from European partners.
Similarly, the panel emphasised the potential socio-economic benefits of EO and space technology for African countries, including improved decision-making in various sectors. Therefore, this high-level discussion set the stage for a long-term vision of Africa’s role in the global space sector, emphasising the continent’s unique EO needs and contributions to sustainable development.
From today until September 26, the symposium will feature keynote speeches from various stakeholders, presentations and high-level panel discussions on the future of African-European EO collaborations. In addition, key objectives include developing creative models to facilitate international EO R&D partnerships and exploring opportunities to accelerate the integration of EO into operational solutions for Africa’s key challenges. Furthermore, the symposium serves as a critical platform to advance EO technology in Africa, focusing on building local capacity, fostering innovation, and developing evidence-based solutions to address the continent’s pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges.