CTA, in collaboration with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), has organised an international webinar to present tools and funding opportunities for Earth Observation SMEs in Australia.

The aim of the event was to provide recommendations and key information for innovative SMEs developing Earth Observation technologies and interested in obtaining funding to develop international technology cooperation projects in Australia.

The CTA consultant Víctor Corral moderated the event, which was divided in two parts. In the first session, Daniel O’Toole, Senior Advisor at Austrade and Senior Policy Adviser at the Australian Space Agency (ASA), presented the programmes and instruments that the ASA offers to European SMEs, as well as conditions, requirements and eligibility criteria. He also shared platforms and tools for partner search and general recommendations.

In the second session, Merced Pérez, coordinator of the Asia-Pacific area of the CDTI, explained the financing programmes offered by this entity to Spanish SMEs to develop international technological cooperation projects in Australia. The aim of these programmes is to strengthen the competitiveness and visibility of Spanish companies with their own technologies in the international arena.

This webinar is part of the activities that are being developed by the European ConnectEO project to promote market access for European Earth Observation SMEs in Chile and Australia. The project, which is funded by the COSME programme of the European Union (EU), focuses on the use of Earth Observation technologies, i.e. those that use satellite data to identify business opportunities and address socio-economic and environmental challenges in the maritime and agricultural sectors.