GEO Week 2019: Boosting the Economic Impact of EO – November 2019
Over 1500 representatives from 57 countries came together in Canberra over 4-9 November for GEO Week 2019 and Ministerial Summit, focusing on collaboration to scale up the use of open EO data to address the world’s greatest challenges.
2019 GEO Plenary attendees
Delegates discussed better ways of working together to integrate measurements of our Earth into strategies and approaches related to climate change, sustainable development to disaster risk reduction.
GEO Week 2019 and Ministerial Summit was a week-long event to bolster investment and support for EO, held in Canberra, Australia
Some highlights from the week include:
- GEO Week Ministerial Summit endorsed the Canberra Declaration
- GEO Week 2019 hosted the first ever Industry Track
- Earth observations to support Indigenous communities
- Earth Observations to support Pacific Island Nations
- China announces open data sharing from Gaofen satellites
- Japan announces data sharing from Radar satellites
- GEO and Google launch a new program for Earth observations development
- Earth Science Data Operational Readiness Levels to Empower Disaster Responders
- Digital Earth Africa: Enabling insights for better decision making
- Spotlight shines on the winners of the GEO Week Awards
- GEO Week 2020 is heading to South Africa
The Talanoa Session on EO in the Pacific was the cornerstone event of the GEO Week Pacific Program.
As well as being closely involved in the preparations of the week itself, the Centre coordinated across CSIRO to host a Ministerial Breakfast and an innovative ‘Earth Observation 2.0’ Workshop. Several high-level bilateral meetings have also been organised with the Centre for international guests to make the most of their visit in Australia, strengthening our collaborations or creating new partnerships. A full program of events kept attendees busy, discussing future investments in the EO sector that will drive productivity and sustainable economic growth. This is the first-ever GEO Week meeting to be held in Australia, which included of course, a pause during the Melbourne Cup to watch the race that stops a nation!
The annual GEO Week, and 4-yearly Ministerial Summit, is one of the world’s largest gatherings of Earth observation practitioners and policy makers.