Graz, 21/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - In collaboration with the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission will soon be opening a “competition” to find a new name for the Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security system (GMES), said Günter Verheugen, Commissioner for Business and Industry, on 21 April during an informal meeting of the Competitiveness Council, in Graz. Now that the “financial conditions are settled, we need a name, a mark” for GMES, he said. The competition, which will be open to European students, should find a name “that everyone can pronounce”, he joked, evoking the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, who was professor of mathematics at the University of Graz at the end of the 16th century. Mr Verheugen said that, in the field of space research, the aim is not to “conquer the stars” bur rather to create conditions in which to develop “a new major market”.
Hubert Gorbach, Austrian Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, recalled that the Austrian EU Presidency organised a specific conference on GMES on 19 and 20 April. During this conference, “we tried to see whether there was a market” which depends on the public sector for “one third” and, if there is, for what kind of applications, he explained. Among the fields that may use developed technologies, there are “urban development, the environment, agriculture, transport and (the fight against) natural disasters”, he said. Mr Gorbach also stressed the “essential role” to be played by “European regions” in this field, recalling the proposal put forward by Mr Delebarre, President of the Committee of the Regions, to create a permanent conference in which the regions would participate.
During a joint press conference with Commissioner Verheugen after the Graz conference on the GMES project, the Austrian Secretary of State for Research, Eduard Mainoni, stressed the interest that the project held not only for European citizens but also for public authorities and industry. “By observing the surface of the Earth with great precision, we can see changes taking place early and better exploit the resources that are being used up. In future, it will also be possible to detect natural disasters in good time, such as avalanches and flooding, and react in accordance”, he said.
The conference of experts that resulted in the Graz Declaration had been preceded by workshops in Warsaw, Toulouse and Budapest, the Austrian Presidency said, stressing that, in the context of the Graz Dialogue, over 800 experts gave their views on the GMES project.