On February, 21^st 2018 in the context of the EU Industry Day, the European Commission launched a second generation of 23 co-funded EU Cluster Partnerships (ESCP-4i). The SpaceWave Consortium was given the great chance to be one of them, and is very proud of having won this award. This event enabled networking with other projects and seeking synergies.

SpaceWave was officially launched during the kick-off meeting held in Brussels on January, 9^th 2018. The consortium is made of four European clusters: Aerospace Valley (coordinator – FR), Pôle Mer Méditerranée (FR), Marine South East Limited (UK) and Distretto Tecnologico Aerospaziale (IT). The aim of SpaceWave is to enable expansion into international markets for Earth Observation SMEs in Blue Growth.

SpaceWave aims at achieving three main objectives:

• Study the international markets of downstream EO in Blue Growth
• Identify European and international stakeholders and analyse the related value chains
• Draft an internationalization plan in order to reach Europe’s full potential in downstream Earth Observation in Blue Growth

The project targets 8 third countries: Australia, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The four members of the consortium are currently conducting market and trends analysis in order to evaluate the different opportunities for SMEs in these countries. Thematic workshops will be organized in the coming months.

Representatives of the 23 co-funded EU Cluster Partnerships (ESCP-4i) receiving the Label in Brussels