MARINE–EO: The first Earth Observation Pre-Commercial Procurement
Maritime “Awareness” is a top priority for Europe. It is sought either in regards of maritime security, border control against irregular immigration and safety of navigation or in regards of the marine environment and climate change. “Awareness” is sought both for sea-basins of traditional interest like the Mediterranean and the Atlantic as well as for basins currently trending like the Arctic. Copernicus, the Union's Earth observation (EO) and monitoring program produces a wealth of EO data and information that could serve as a basis to facilitate competent maritime Public Authorities (PAs) to carry-out their operations in a more efficient and effective way. To this end, Marine-EO aims at procuring the development of demand-driven EO-based services, adopted on open standards, bringing incremental or radical innovations in the field of maritime awareness and leveraging on the existing Copernicus Services and other products from the Copernicus portfolio.