Polish Space Agency (POLSA) organised the EUMETSAT workshop for the space sector (both private and public entities) on 11th September, to which the representatives of EUMETSAT have been invited as speakers.

Dr Magdalena Skulimowska from POLSA opened the workshop and welcomed the participants. It was followed by a presentation of Mr. Paul Counet, Head of Strategy Communication & International Relations, on EUMETSAT Strategy and overview of EUMETSAT Programmes. He discussed the mission and objectives of EUMETSAT. Mr. Counet underlined that EUMETSAT procurements are based on open competition and best value for money in EUMETSAT Member States, with no geo-return. Thus what matters is the excellence of the proposal. He also stressed that observing the weather and the climate has a real positive value for European economy, citizens and protection of property and infrastructure. However, it is impossible to put a value on of hundreds of lives saved. The benefit to defence and security also is difficult to assess. In addition, there are benefits flowing from specialised forecasts of weather-related phenomena such as air quality, the health of the marine environment and the dispersion of pollution. He also focused on EUMETSAT satellites and next generation of satellite programmes. The ESA-EUMETSAT cooperation model has also been discussed. Finally, the future opportunities for cooperation with EUMETSAT have been presented.

Mr. Stanisław Krzyżanowski from Cloudferro spoke on the practical aspects of cooperation with EUMETSAT on European projects. He underlined the importance of getting to know the ecosystem well, providing high quality solutions, developing close cooperation and being ready for negotiations with EUMETSAT. He gave many tips on how to cooperate with EUMETSAT.

Finally, Mrs. Sandrine Foster, acting Head of Contracts, delivered a presentation on Procurement procedures, tender conditions and upcoming business opportunities. She underlined that procurements are achieved through a maximum use of open competition. In addition, contracts are awarded to the contractor whose offer meets the requirements and is regarded the most advantageous as regards price, quality, running costs, technical/schedule performance and guarantees best value for money. It is important that over 80% of EUMETSAT budget is dedicated to procurement activities – substantially targeted at procurements from industry. Mrs. Foster also spoke about the scope of EUMETSAT procurements and the procedure of selecting contractors. She underlined that Invitations to Tender (ITTs) for the EUMETSAT procurements are published electronically on EUMITS and suggested registering there in order to see the upcoming opportunities.

After the workshop, several bilateral meetings took place, between the representatives of EUMETSAT and Polish entities. They gave the participants a chance to discuss more in depth both the areas of cooperation with EUMETSAT and future opportunities.

The workshop was very informative and useful for the participants. The EUMESTAT representatives provided many tips for a successful cooperation with EUMESTAT and replied to detailed questions. The excellence of the invited guests guaranteed the high quality of the workshop. The additional presentation of Cloudferro on the Polish perspective brought a special value to the workshop as well. It was the first workshop after several years, which showed we definitely need to meet more often, develop closer links with EUMETSAT, invite EUMETSAT representatives to various events taking place in Poland and work together on future projects.

Companies which took part in the workshop: PIAP Space Sp. z o.o., EXATEL S.A., Scanway S.A., N7 Space, Cloudferro S.A., ITTI, Creotech Instruments S.A., Astronika, BIMO TECH Sp. z o.o., Asynchronics sp. z o.o., Transition Technologies MS – TTMS, SmallGIS Sp z o.o., CGI, Semicon and public institutions: Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute, Institute of Environmental Protection – National Research Institute, Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation and National Institute of Telecommunications – the State Research Institute.