New Associates and Participating Organizations join the Group on Earth Observations
News / 13 August 2019
New Associates and Participating Organizations join the Group on Earth Observations
Geneva, 13 August 2019
The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has officially announced the first commercial entities accepted as GEO Associates. Approved at the 48th GEO Executive Committee in Geneva, Switzerland from 23 to 24 July 2019, the approved lists of GEO Associates and newest Participating Organizations are now publicly available.
The GEO Associates category was created earlier this year as a way for commercial and non-governmental, not-for-profit and civil society organizations to join as official collaborators of GEO, a global intergovernmental partnership that improves the availability, access and use of Earth observations.
GEO supports more than 100 UN Member States to advance access to open Earth observations. GEO offers all countries the opportunity to benefit from collective knowledge, expertise and skills to develop national Earth observations programmes.
Commercial products and services based on Earth observations provide important public and private benefits, foster scientific and technological innovation and spur economic development. The new GEO Associates category is one of the approaches that GEO has taken to work with the commercial sector. More information can be found here.
In addition to new GEO Associates, three new Participating Organizations have been added to the 100+ Participating Organizations already involved in GEO. Participating Organizations are partner organizations that support the vision and mission of GEO to work with countries on the value and usefulness of Earth observations. Now GEO boasts 132 Participating Organizations involved in the global Work Programme.
"GEO welcomes our newest Participating Organizations and the very first round of GEO Associates. We look forward to collaborating on issues of critical importance to our planet, using data and evidence from Earth observation activities to support our Member governments and the UN system as part of our Engagement Priorities. As GEO expands its already broad and diverse member base, we are encouraged by the efforts, inputs and ambitions of our newest members to help us achieve our mission," said Gilberto Camara, GEO Secretariat Director.
The GEO Secretariat has invited the newly approved GEO Associates and Participating Organizations to attend the GEO-XVI Plenary at GEO Week 2019 in Canberra, Australia from 2-6 November. As GEO Week 2019 will include a focus on “Earth observations and the Digital Economy,” and a dedicated Industry Track, the commercial sector is invited to take part in series of workshops, presentations and events throughout the week.
The new GEO Associates include:
For more information, view the full list of GEO Associates here.
The newest Participating Organizations include:
For more information, view the full list of Participating Organizations here.
To learn more about joining or contributing to GEO, visit the website here.