Chetan Pradhan, Chairman of the Board of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), recently spoke to SciTech Europa about the Earth Observation industry in Europe today and how it is developing.

During the interview, Chetan was asked; “At the national level, how would you characterise the implementation – or lack thereof – of national associations in the field of EO? How do you ensure that the industry is adequately represented when they are absent?”

To which he responded; “This does tend to vary greatly from country to country. In some countries we see dedicated and thriving national associations, like the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies (BARSC) in the UK, which has over 30 member companies, whilst in other countries there is really no equivalent.”

“For EARSC, the focus is on being inclusive to industry from all across Europe – we currently have 102 members, spread across 23 European countries and Canada (which we include because Canada also participates in ESA EO programmes).”