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EU-Asia GNSS Cooperation Initiatives

EU-Asia cooperation in GNSS is supported through different channels. Members of the GNSS Asia consortium and experts have been involved in most Asia-related activities on GNSS-related cooperation in the past years. GNSS Asia aims to work with partners in related projects, looking to create synergies in EGNSS awareness and raise stakeholder involvement. More information on cooperation activities in this field is presented below.

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 (H2020) is the EU’s latest Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, which is implementing the ‘Innovation Union’, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness. Running from 2014 to 2020, the H2020 programme uses simplified rules to provide funding opportunities in several fields, including the development of downstream GNSS applications. The EGNSS applications are part of the programme’s Space Theme, having synergies with topics of societal challenges such as transportation, maritime, agriculture, energy and climate change. Specific rules on the eligibility for funding can be found in the corresponding EC guidelines. More information can be found via this link.

 

In order to maximize the impact of European GNSS in Asia, GNSS Asia works in close collaboration with BELS, another project financed under the H2020 Framework Programme. BELS involves twelve partners from Europe, Asia and Australia among universities, research centres, companies and industries. The project runs from 2015 to 2018 and aims to raise awareness on European Satellite Navigation (EGNSS) technology in South-East Asia. BELS will exploit the potentialities of NAVIS, a centre focused on EGNSS located in Hanoi (Vietnam), setup and funded by previous FP7 projects. NAVIS peculiar geographic position (excellent visibility of all the GNSS systems today available in the world and high ionospheric activity) makes it a perfect site to test GNSS solutions of European companies and prepare them for the global market. BELS will focus on three pillars:

• to bring EU companies to South-Est Asia, opening new markets to those companies;
• to conduct awareness activities, through workshops and other initiatives;
• to carry on capacity building actions that will prepare a generation of researchers skilled with EGNSS technology.

EU-Asia cooperation in FP7

The Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7) was the European Union’s main instrument for funding research in Europe. FP7, which applied to the years 2007-2013, was the natural successor to the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6),  and was the result of years of consultation with the scientific community, research and policy making institutions, and other interested parties.There have been many FP7 projects that promote EU-Asia cooperation. Of particular interest for the scope of GNSS Asia are FP7 projects established in Asia that enable cooperation in GNSS.

DragonFly – Taskforce on SatNav/ GNSS-enabled Applications in relation to China.

In 2009 GSA initiated a taskforce consisting of applications and China GNSS experts to support GSA/EC in elaborating the China GNSS Applications Programme. The objective was to identify synergies and areas of cooperation with China in GNSS-enabled applications, enable discussions with China, find common ground for joint activities and combine concrete Chinese initiatives with an EU approach.

SIDEREUS – Dialogue Concerning EU and Asia on Galileo-based applications.

SIDEREUS addressed European and Southeast Asian companies operating in the aerospace and ICT sectors on satellite navigation applications with a special focus on Galileo. The main objective of SIDEREUS was to establish long-term business and technological co-operation agreements through a series of one-on-one matchmaking meetings between companies, research centres and other organisations operating in the aerospace and ICT sectors.