PROJECT TITLE: Scientific, Technical and Legal Support for Romania’s Participation in ESA Committees on Earth Observation, Satellite Navigation and Communication Satellites – EONAVCOM

Coordinator: University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine  Bucharest  

Partners:

• EUROSENSE ROMANIA SRL
• BITNET Centrul de Cercetari Senzori & Sisteme

Period: 20 October 2012 – 19 October 2015

Project director: Prof. univ. dr. Sorin Mihai Cimpeanu 

Project team: 15 key experts and 8 additional experts from the three partners in the consortium

Description: The project EONAVCOM includes support actions to Romanian Space Agency to participate in activities  of three committees of European Space Agency: Earth Observation Programme Board (PB-EO), the Programme Board on Satellite Navigation (PB-NAV), and the Joint Board on Communication Satellite Programmes (JCB-COM). The project will also provide input data for the drafting of  a Romanian National Space Plan that should include a National Strategy for Space and an associated Programme of actions. The project plans to contribute to definition of  medium-term and long-term objectives for the Romanian space sector as well as the evaluation criteria to be able to measure whether the objectives will be  met within the approved timeframes. The actions and Programmes to be implemented should be also identified and proposed, as well as a first estimate of their financial implications. 

Project objectives:

General objectives of project:

• Support the elaboration and  implementation a long-term National Space Strategy to meet the requirements of the European Space Programme and, in the same time, to ensure the compliance with the National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation.
• Identify scientific, technological and industrial niches in the space field in domains EO, NAV and COM that will strengthen Romania’s competitiveness at European and international level.

Specific objectives of project:

• Identify the key actors (academic community, private companies, research institutes) in the domains EO, NAV and COM. Perform a screening of their technology readiness level (TRL), accordingly to ESA’s standards. Identify their interests in participating in ESA’s programmes and announcements of opportunity.
• Improve the collaboration between the scientific community and industry by providing relevant information and assistance for the harmonization of European and national programmes.
• Provide scientific, technical, legal and financial support for the Romania’s representatives in PB-EO (including the Data Operations Scientific and Technical Advisory Group – DOSTAG), PB-NAV, and JCB (including JCB Iris Advisory Committee – JIAC). Provide technical expertise to elaborate Romania’s position in response to the decision and consultation items listed in the meeting’s agenda.
• Ensure the scientific, technical and legal support for Romania’s participation to the Council meetings at ministerial level. Also, ensure the support of the Romanian representatives to the participation at abroad Task Force reunions and to scientific seminars, whenever needed.
• Promote and disseminate relevant information about ESA and its optional programmes in EO, NAV and COM domains by organizing, whenever necessary, reunions, workshops, and info days. 
• Ensure the documentation for studies of projects that might be the subject of future participation in the optional programmes of the European Space Agency. Create synthesis reports containing the projects that were financed by ESA in the past in order to draw attention to gaps and duplication.
• Disseminate technical documentation provided by ESA in order to support the increase in competitiveness of Romanian actors among other Member States with a longer history in ESA.
• Promote the principles stipulated in „ESA Convention and Council Rules of Procedure”.

Activities:

• WP1 – Management of project, organization of  project boards, teams and committees
• WP2 – Drafting the elements for a Romanian National Strategy in the field of space  and space applications EO, NAV and COM 
• WP3 – Support for Romania’s Participation in ESA Committees on Earth Observation, Satellite Navigation and Communication Satellite (EONAVCOM)
• WP4 – Proposals for Romania’s participation in optional programmes of ESA in activities of EO, NAV and COM
• WP5 – Support for development of  technology  niches suitable for building-up capacity of  Romanian entities in the space sector, EONAVCOM activities
• WP6 – IT infrastructure, reporting , promoting and dissemination

Contributions to the STAR programme objectives:

The EONAVCOM project contributed to disseminate information about the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Optional Programmes in the field of Earth Observation, Satellite Navigation and Communication Satellites, and to promote the opportunities offered by ESA to the Romanian industry in order to increase the number of contracts that ESA is granting to Romania as a Member State.

The project also contributed and provided scientific and logistic support to participation of ROSA delegates and experts in activities of ESA committees on EO, NAV and COM. 

EONAVCOM activities identified industry niches in the space applications sector in which Romanian actors could  perform successfully in contracts awarded by ESA, provided they will be able to reach the technology level and competitiveness required by the European Agency. 

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