On 30 October 2012 NEREUS organized its annual NEREUS General Assembly with a full day of discussion and activities (agenda). Besides statutory affairs, last year’s initiatives, outlook on planned activities and 2013 network strategy were among the key topics.
Vice President Mr Bruns launched a debate centered on the network’s current state of play and challenges ahead. He addressed the participants with a series of questions aimed at collecting their comments, regional experiences and suggestions. His purpose was to stimulate an exchange of ideas to improve the network strategy and regional anchorage.
The afternoon session also welcomed non-NEREUS members. NEREUS seized the opportunity to initiate a discussion how relevant EU and ESA-programs can be increasingly exploited for development of regional space applications. Representatitves of the European Commission, ESA/ESTEC and of the European Space Policy Institute, ESPI were among the invited speakers.
Mr Peter Breger, European Commission, presented the Horizon 2020 EU funded programme objectives and opportunities; Mr Thomas Bouvet, ESA/ETEC, gave a presentation on the ESA International Ambassador Platform programme and to conclude, Mr Erich Klock, ESPI, gave a presentation titled “Partnership model for the benefit of space-based services: Identifying innovative funding mechanisms”.
The 2012 NEREUS General Assembly ended with the awarding ceremony of the NEREUS-EUROAVIA Academic Competition in GMES. Mr Donato Impedovo from University of Bari (Apulia region), received 1000 EUR as award for the quality and originality of his thesis: “Classificazione di immagini telerilevate multitemporali acquisite da sensori SAR ed ottici”
NEREUS wishes to thank the Committee of the Regions for having hosted again its annual General Assembly.
