Within the framework of the European ConnectEO project, four of online trade missions to Chile and Australia and a series of B2B meetings have been organised as a culmination of the project. They have been organised by Eurochile and FrontierSI, with the support of CTA, EARSC and PMBA.

These trade missions aim at connecting ConnectEO beneficiaries with the relevant stakeholders from the targeted country and sector. Specifically, with Chilean and Australian stakeholders from the agricultural and maritime sectors.

The 19 ConnectEO SMEs participated in 144 meetings in total, including 53 meetings with Australian stakeholders, and 91 with Chilean stakeholders.

European companies will benefit from a market with a great potential, and in turn, Australian and Chilean companies and organizstions will benefit from greater visibility in the international market, as well as better positioning at European level. Internationalisation activities between European companies and local stakeholders have proved useful and even needed by the EU SMEs to support them in their export activities abroad the EU.

Funded by the EISMEA under the COSME Cluster Go International programme, the ConnectEO project aims to promote and foster market access between the European Earth Observation SMEs and two target countries: Australia and Chile. The project has focused on the use of EO addressing business opportunities and key socio-economic/environmental challenges in the maritime and agricultural sectors.

ConnectEO SMEs confirmed that there is a niche market for the maritime and agriculture sector in Chile and Australia. The future industries 4.0 & 5.0 represents a great opportunity for European SMEs developing Earth observation products and services that could address the sectors’ challenges.