On 20 November 2015, the Space for Smarter Government Programme (SSGP) on behalf of the Earth Observation (EO) Working Group (chaired by Stephen Lovegrove, the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)), hosted a Discovery Day to explore how EO could transform UK public sector policy delivery.

Senior policy makers and Chief Scientific Advisors (CSAs) from across Whitehall were joined by industry representatives from a diverse range of backgrounds. Attendees included representatives from small, medium and large organisations who are engaged in the manufacture of satellites, the provision of imagery and / or the development of applications, along with multinational organisations not commonly thought of as working with the Space sector.

The focus of the day was about ‘discovery’ to:

Explore the opportunities and benefits which could be realised through EO
Understand the availability of and future evolution of this technology
Understand the commercial offering and the associated service offerings / business models available to access it
Discuss and air the common requirements across Government

Outcomes from the day

The EO Working Group reconvened on 14 December 2015 to discuss how best to take forward the topics identified at the Discovery Day. More information about the recommendations and proposed Action Plan will be available shortly via this page. The detailed summary of the day and the presentations are available below.

Click here for an Event Summary

Presentations – Policy Ask Presentation and Industry Presentation