Coastal/Marine GI/GIS - A Pan-European Perspective
45
EUREKA
EUREKA - Technological Cooperation in Europe - is not a programme of the
European Commission, but rather is an initiative created at Ministerial level by 22
European member states, including all EU Member States, for the purpose of
encouraging cross-border technology transfer, research and development in a range of
technologies. The EU Institutions may participate in EUREKA projects via their own
research capacity (such as at JRC) or via R&D programmes (such as Esprit and
Telematics Applications) and by other financial facilities (such as support to third
countries for technology transfer projects). The technologies and projects are organised
into various multi-project “umbrella” actions, such as EUROENVIRON and
EUROMAR. The latter umbrella has 22 associated marine research RTD projects
either already completed or underway.
The EUROMAR Board, responsible for monitoring the activities of the
umbrella projects, cooperates with the EU’s MAST programme in developing the basic
research supported by MAST. The EUROMAR projects, some of which are already
finished, are listed in Table 3.
A typical success story from the EUROMAR stable of projects is
SEAWATCH, a six-metre high buoy-based marine monitoring system able to measure
22 environmental parameters every three hours, transmitting the data to land by
satellite. A 10-buoy network is already in operation from the coast of the Netherlands
to the Barents Sea off Russia, an entire network has been sold to Thailand, and the
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) may use SEAWATCH as a demonstration
project. In any event, the EUROMAR projects demonstrate that industry can work
effectively with research institutions in the area of developing marine and coastal zone
management and research techniques, tools and systems, for which there is a ready
market.
European Environment Agency (EEA)
The EEA, whose headquarters is located in Copenhagen, Denmark, is “the
environmental information reference centre of the European Union” (EEA, June
1997). EEA’s mission is to monitor the state and trends of the environment in Europe
and to support the EU, EU Institutions and Member States in improving their
environmental policy and its implementation. A main initiative of EEA is to provide
wide access to various levels of environmental information, including marine and
coastal data, to as wide an audience as possible, using various means, including the
Web, CD-ROM products, and printed material.
To that end, the EEA has created eight European Topic Centres (ETCs), each
with from three to 14 partner organisations, helping to collect information that is then
made available via the EEA’s Web server and via EIONET - the European
Environment Information and Observation Network, created in response to Article 1 of
Regulation 1210/90 which established the EEA. Full details of EIONET are available
elsewhere. (see EEA Newsletter 9). The eight ETCs and hundreds of EIONET
45
EUREKA
EUREKA - Technological Cooperation in Europe - is not a programme of the
European Commission, but rather is an initiative created at Ministerial level by 22
European member states, including all EU Member States, for the purpose of
encouraging cross-border technology transfer, research and development in a range of
technologies. The EU Institutions may participate in EUREKA projects via their own
research capacity (such as at JRC) or via R&D programmes (such as Esprit and
Telematics Applications) and by other financial facilities (such as support to third
countries for technology transfer projects). The technologies and projects are organised
into various multi-project “umbrella” actions, such as EUROENVIRON and
EUROMAR. The latter umbrella has 22 associated marine research RTD projects
either already completed or underway.
The EUROMAR Board, responsible for monitoring the activities of the
umbrella projects, cooperates with the EU’s MAST programme in developing the basic
research supported by MAST. The EUROMAR projects, some of which are already
finished, are listed in Table 3.
A typical success story from the EUROMAR stable of projects is
SEAWATCH, a six-metre high buoy-based marine monitoring system able to measure
22 environmental parameters every three hours, transmitting the data to land by
satellite. A 10-buoy network is already in operation from the coast of the Netherlands
to the Barents Sea off Russia, an entire network has been sold to Thailand, and the
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) may use SEAWATCH as a demonstration
project. In any event, the EUROMAR projects demonstrate that industry can work
effectively with research institutions in the area of developing marine and coastal zone
management and research techniques, tools and systems, for which there is a ready
market.
European Environment Agency (EEA)
The EEA, whose headquarters is located in Copenhagen, Denmark, is “the
environmental information reference centre of the European Union” (EEA, June
1997). EEA’s mission is to monitor the state and trends of the environment in Europe
and to support the EU, EU Institutions and Member States in improving their
environmental policy and its implementation. A main initiative of EEA is to provide
wide access to various levels of environmental information, including marine and
coastal data, to as wide an audience as possible, using various means, including the
Web, CD-ROM products, and printed material.
To that end, the EEA has created eight European Topic Centres (ETCs), each
with from three to 14 partner organisations, helping to collect information that is then
made available via the EEA’s Web server and via EIONET - the European
Environment Information and Observation Network, created in response to Article 1 of
Regulation 1210/90 which established the EEA. Full details of EIONET are available
elsewhere. (see EEA Newsletter 9). The eight ETCs and hundreds of EIONET