Europe’s ambition in space: unlocking potential and funding future challenges

Andrew Brown is Deputy Director-General and Director of Research at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. He has over 30 years experience of performing and leading research, and of translating research outputs into operational service improvements. A key aspect of this is furthering the exploitation of Earth observations from space, facilitating delivering yet more societal and economic value through improvements in the accuracy of weather forecasts and climate monitoring (e.g. in the context of Copernicus services).

Simonetta Cheli is the Director of Earth Observation Programmes at the European Space Agency (ESA) and Head of the ESA-ESRIN establishment in Frascati, Rome. She has worked at ESA for over three decades, both at ESA Headquarters in Paris and at ESRIN. She is a member of the ESA management team and the ESA Executive Board and is accountable for formulating the ESA strategy for the Earth Observation (EO) sector, managing the development of EO satellites, in-orbit Mission operations, ground segment data distribution and archiving, science applications and projects. She actively engages with worldwide stakeholders including space agencies, industry, scientific communities, satellite operators, public/private entities, and international partners, managing major partnership programmes like Copernicus and meteorological programmes with the European Commission and EUMETSAT. Additionally, serving as the representative of ESA in Italy and Head of the ESA ESRIN establishment, Simonetta Cheli represents ESA in numerous international fora and acts as a spokesperson with media in worldwide conferences.

Since 2014, Mauro Facchini has been the head of Copernicus, the European Earth Observation programme. Mauro was actively involved in the development of Earth Observation capacities and subsequently appointed Head of the Space Research Unit, where he led the preparation of the space related part of Horizon 2020. Prior to this, Mauro participated in shaping the definition of the European Space Policy.

Giorgio Gori currently serves as Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), where he has been appointed as Shadow Rapporteur for the upcoming Space Act. He is also a substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), and Standing Rapporteur for Tunisia.  Founder of Magnolia, a television-production company, Giorgio was the Mayor of Bergame from 2014 to 2024.

Emmanuel Pajot is the Secretary General of EARSC, with over 20 years of experience in remote sensing and geology. He joined EARSC in 2017, focusing on supporting SMEs, developing new services and engaging with institutions. He holds a PhD in radar data application for geological features and has worked on SAR interferometry, Land Use/Land Cover mapping and temporal analysis. Previously, he worked as a consultant for the energy sector, assessing geological risks and monitoring assets. From 2011 to 2017, he led an Earth Observation team at SPIE Oil & Gas, driving business development and innovative monitoring solutions in Europe and the US.