Why an EU Earth Observation Science Service?
Earth Observation (EO) data has become an indispensable asset for informing critical decisions across multiple domains. The EU Space Programme explicitly recognizes its transformative potential for societies and citizens' lives, particularly through Copernicus, Europe's flagship EO programme. Copernicus is user- and policy-driven, and it is enabled by Services with significant investments and world-leading capabilities.
Despite this, a persistent gap remains between specific policy needs and available products and services. This “last-mile” reflects a critical disconnect whereby raw EO data and core services require additional tailoring to become directly usable for policy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, as policymakers lack standardized, validated tools to translate observations into the reporting indicators, compliance metrics, risk assessments, or impact evaluations required by specific legal frameworks.
These gaps, repeatedly identified in policy uptake assessments conducted through the Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO), indicate two key aspects that require attention. The first relates to prototyping tailored policy applications, and the second concerns their long-term sustainability. The latter can be envisaged either within or outside of Copernicus. A coordinated approach is required for the former, taking advantage of Europe's broad research competencies, and it should be developed closely with Copernicus entities and partners to ensure an effective transition from research to operations and sustainability. These elements are also related to "last mile" prototyping were identified and remain central to the Earth Observation Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), which guides European R&I priorities required for efficient Copernicus evolution.
A longer-term ambition that would address this need for a coordinated approach to the prototyping of these types of applications would be to establish an EU Earth Observation science service. This service would bring together an EO competence network covering different thematic areas that could address specific requests and provide technical specifications and prototypes for implementation in operations. This science service should leverage existing networks in Europe, such as the EuroGEO community and its Action Groups, as well as Copernicus uptake activities at national and European scale. The KCEO could act at the interface, to the science service, in providing the policy application needs from the Directorates-General (DGs) as the basis for defining technical specifications and prototypes and ensuring that the EO science service develops truly fit-for-purpose applications.
As a forward-looking vision for this ambition the KCEO and EO science service should play a central role in accomplishing the following objectives:
- Addressing the "Last Mile" Gap: bridge the critical gap between raw EO data and policy-ready applications, enabling the transformation of research and innovation into operational, sustainable solutions for European and international policy needs.
- Prototyping Applications Ensuring Sustainability: foster the prototyping of tailored EO applications and ensure their long-term sustainability through diverse scenarios.
- Leveraging Existing Expertise: integrate lessons learned and best practices to maximise the impact of Earth Intelligence (e.g. e-shape).
- Empowering EuroGEO Action Groups: driving the shift from research to operation (R2O) and supporting the development and scaling of sustainable solutions in thematic areas.
- Driving Downstream Commercialisation: demonstrating policy-relevant use cases, reducing barriers with open data and standards, and providing trusted prototypes.
Comprehensive implementation of these objectives is a long-term development that must be carried out incrementally. The open 2025-26 Horizon Europe call provides an immediate opportunity to begin building the foundations of such a science service with anticipated continuation in the 2026 work programme. Successful proposals should contribute to organising scientific knowledge supporting European and international frameworks, address cross-cutting policy needs using EO, and develop and validate EO-based intelligence solutions and datasets to bridge the “last-mile” gap, while supporting the update of a policy-driven EO R&I Roadmap for the next Multiannual Financial Framework, under the guidance of the KCEO.
The remainder of this article will highlight the KCEO resources, as well as potential roles and interfaces, that will ensure that this common effort can be built to effectively support the needs for EO-based “last-mile” policy applications.
KCEO Resources for Prioritisation
To bridge the ‘last mile’ gap, develop fit-for-purpose applications, and support decision-making, the KCEO conducts its assessments using a systematic inverse value chain approach, beginning with a data-agnostic identification of policy and decision-making needs. These are then translated into requirements for applications and services, subsequently into product specifications, and ultimately into requirements for the observation system itself, thereby ensuring strong traceability throughout the entire value chain (EU policies and Earth Observation | Knowledge for policy). To this end, the KCEO employs the following approaches:
Deep Dives Assessments: Tools to enhance EO uptake in EU policies focused on specific needs and use of EO in particular policy areas. Each deep dive follows a four-part methodology: (1) examining established EO applications where satellite monitoring is operationally mature across major policy areas; (2) exploring emerging EO applications through detailed use cases; (3) performing a systematic gap analysis of technical, institutional, and operational limitations; and (4) reviewing cross-cutting implementation requirements. So far, thematic deep dives on Biodiversity and Urban Climate Adaptation have been produced, with a deep dive on Compliance Assurance currently under development (with publication planned for Q2 2026). As a state-of-the-art example in this type of assessment, the following use cases are covered within the Compliance Assurance Deep Dive:
KCEO Policy Survey and Assessment: The KCEO Survey provides a comprehensive overview of opportunities and ongoing challenges in Copernicus uptake across European Commission Directorate-Generals, by applying a structured framework to bridge the “last-mile” gap between EO capabilities and policy needs. The elicitation phase systematically captures EO requirements across all Directorate-Generals through a multi-channel approach, and co-design, followed by a five-step methodology - (1) identification of application needs, (2) product inventory, (3) assessment of match level, (4) gap analysis, and (5) definition of improvements. This methodology translates needs into user requirements, supported by iterative feedback and validation from Policy Directorate-Generals to ensure relevance and accuracy in the recommendations for the Copernicus Programme evolution.
Assessment of internal treaties and commitments: The KCEO has developed an ongoing initiative to enhance EO's contribution to international frameworks such as the 2030 Development Agenda, UNFCCC, CBD, and SDGs. The assessment focuses on a systematic process to align policy needs with EO capabilities: (1) extracting policy targets from international treaties using AI-assisted analysis; (2) translating them into concrete EO requirements (resolution, frequency, extent); (3) validating needs with expert reviewers; (4) compiling a unified catalogue of global EO products from Copernicus, JRC, NASA, CEOS, and others; (5) matching needs to existing data using a suitability score; and (6) identifying priority gaps and best-available EO solutions for policy reporting. This exercise encompasses more than 30 international treaties and conventions (see full list below).
Roles, Responsibilities and Interoperability
The EO science service and the KCEO should engage with the Copernicus Entrusted Entities, Member States, as well as European and global GEO initiatives within its governance framework. This will ensure longer-term sustainability and facilitate the upscaling of the KCEO policy assessments. The different roles, responsibilities, and mutual interfaces among the actors would ensure operational flexibility and scalability, strategic alignment, efficient resource mobilisation, and coordinated contributions to European priorities and international commitments, building on existing European EO structures. The following key interfaces are conceptualized:
The 2025-26 Horizon Europe call provides the first concrete opportunity to implemnt key components of the EO science service. Successful proposals will address elected elements of the science–policy interface by engaging the research community, in particular in activities related to prototyping tailored EO applications based on KCEO-identified policy needs, while contributing to the evolution of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). These foundational projects will establish the methodologies, governance structures, and validation frameworks required for the further development and consolidation of the EO science service under the next Multiannual Financial Framework and future initiatives.
The functional workflow between the KCEO and the EO science service will be a continuous, iterative process designed to ensure that EO applications are developed with direct policy relevance and user needs at their core. This systematic interface is essential for bridging the gap between data and intelligence, ensuring that research and innovation (R&I) translate into operational services.
Resources
Initial Science Service Call
Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Interconnect Earth Observation research for addressing environmental policies (URL)
Contact
Permalink: Main URL
Contact: EC-KCEO@ec.europe.eu
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| Originally Published | Last Updated | 27 Jan 2026 | 20 Mar 2026 |
| Knowledge service | Metadata | Earth Observation | EU policies and Earth ObservationResearch & InnovationFitness for purpose of EO products |