FORCOAST, a Copernicus market uptake project, had its kick-off meeting in Schevening, the Netherlands, on 26-27 November. The project is coordinated by the co-chair of the EuroGOOS Coastal Working Group Ghada El Serafy, Deltares. FORCOAST is receiving €2 million from the EU Horizon 2020 programme to develop oceanographic products for the European aquaculture, wild fisheries and oyster restoration sectors, based on the Copernicus Earth Observation products, in situ data and national numerical models. 21 organizations from 9 countries spanning research, academia and SMEs form the FORCOAST consortium which was instigated by the EuroGOOS Coastal Working Group. In addition, EuroGOOS office is also partner in the consortium, providing a pan-European perspective on products design and stakeholder engagement and visibility.
FORCOAST will develop services in eight pilot sites in the North Sea, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean, Black Sea, and the Iberian Atlantic. The project is supporting advanced data management and cloud computing for Copernicus-based downstream services utilizing Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS). The availability and accessibility of data and derived products generated in the project will stimulate exploitation by a wide range of users in the targeted industries. Partnership with SMEs is at the core of FORCOAST ensuring the market applications and services for coastal sectors will continue after the end of the project.
The EuroGOOS office is co-leading the FORCOAST work package 7 on marketing and communications and is involved in work packages on user engagement and requirements (WP2) and service design (WP3). FORCOAST brings together many EuroGOOS member organizations and many of the EuroGOOS Coastal Working Group members. The broader EuroGOOS community will be involved through the FORCOAST Stakeholder Advisory Board which will be set up soon.
FORCOAST is funded by the European Union H2020 research and innovation program under the grant agreement 870465.
Discover FORCOAST via Twitter. The website will be released soon.
FORCOAST consortium at the project’s kick-off meeting, 26 November 2019, Schevening
