CEOS NEWSLETTER No.12

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CONTENTS

 

CEOS New Membership Categories and Mechanism to Develop Interaction with the Private Sector

Dr. Jean-Louis Fellous, CNES
Ms. Dominique Fourny-Delloye, CNES

Following a recommendation from the 11th Plenary, Dr. K. Kasturirangan,in his position of CEOS Chair, asked Dr. J.-L. Fellous from CNES, early January 1998, to lead a task team which would consider "the need to improve the exchange of information and dialogue with currently not eligible entities like international organizations", integrating "the general need to also enhance interaction with the commercial sector".

    At the same time, the task-team should consider whether the current CEOS membership organized in three categories
of "Members, Observers and Affiliates" remained appropriate with regard to the role played by the different entities, especially in the development of an IGOS. The task team was asked to report to the 12th Plenary for consideration.
    The task team, composed of Secretariat members (*), was established in March 1998 and decided to consult CEOS
participating agencies to get their feelings and remarks about these issues.
    Concerning the membership criteria, most agencies agreed on the necessity to reshape CEOS into two
categories, namely Members and Associates, although they felt comfortable with the current three categories, but they
admitted that it would constitute a step forward and improvement of CEOS management. After some discussion, the 12th Plenary decided to simply combine the current Observers and Affiliates into one single category, while keeping the Members category as formerly defined.
    It must be stressed that one of the major outcomes of this survey is the statement that CEOS was facing an evolution
and that its participating agencies are moving in that direction. As an example, there was some suggestion to distinguish between Members and Associates on the basis of their degree of contribution and commitment to help advance CEOS goals. Furthermore, it was mentioned that regarding the foreseen evolution of the Earth Observation community, membership criteria might not differentiate between government and private sector.
This trend was confirmed when it came to considering the interaction with the private sector. CEOS participating
agencies recognized that commercialization of Earth Observation data was a growing feature and should become
a major component in their activities, and fully supported the development of interaction with the private sector, but
stressed the importance for CEOS to remain a manageable group. In that respect, the 12th Plenary agreed on the
organization of a structured framework that would remain under the control of the CEOS Secretariat. This recommendation adopted, as a first step, the setting up of dedicated workshops at the occasion of major events, such
as IAF or ISPRS, as well as organization of meetings for specific exchange of views and information on topics of common interest, or for participants based in the area of location of CEOS meetings, in particular through CEOS Working Groups, WGCV and WGISS. The CEOS Secretariat was tasked to submit to the Plenary a program of such events for the forthcoming year.
    With regard to the change of CEOS Membership criteria, the 12th Plenary adopted new Terms of Reference taking
into account the new definition of Members and Associates, and incorporating the 11th Plenary resolution to include in
the CEOS secretariat the past and forthcoming CEOS Chairs.
New Terms of Reference are available in this newsletter for information.
*Brent SMITH (NOAA), Leslie CHARLES (NASA), Yukio HARUYAMA (NASDA),
Harald AREND (ESA), Mukund RAO (ISRO), Dominique FOURNY-DELLOYE (CNES)

(continued from Page 1)

Report on the 12th CEOS Plenary at Bangalore

system for the requirements. This would be an important element of the space component strategy. The plenary also
endorsed, in general, the approach outlined by EUMETSAT, which identifies the roles of the IGOS Partnership; of GOSSP, through its Sponsors; and of SIT through CEOS, in the implementation and development of the IGOS
    The CEOS Plenary also decided to participate in the UNISPACE Exhibition and also to organise, jointly with the

other members of the IGOS Partnership, a one day IGOS Forum at the forthcoming UNISPACE III Conference being
organised by United Nations in July 1999. The Forum will focus on the concept of IGOS and Projects that would
demonstrate the benefit of a global strategy of observations to meet the user needs.
    The Plenary also endorsed the need for re-categorisation of its membership, which earlier included, 3 categories of
agencies - Members (currently operating EO Missions, or in an advanced stage of development), Observers (with a
Phase A or equivalent system development or having ground segment activities) and Affiliates (International
Programmes - mainly users and Inter-Governmental Organisations). With the resolution in the 12th Plenary, the
Observers and Affiliates have been re-categorised as "Associates" with a focus on active cooperation between the
Members and Associates. These cooperative activities would be towards Space Segments, Ground Segments, Application Segments or Services.
    The Plenary also endorsed the admittance of Satellite
(to be continued on Page 2)
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