According to current discussion within the community of stakeholders, there is in the Geographic Information (GI) sector a gap between the knowledge currently being offered by the European universities and the knowledge and skills requested by the enterprises and public authorities. This is partly due to a fast technological development but also due to societal changes, for instance the EU INSPIRE directive and the e-government action plans within the member states.giCASES, as a Knowledge Alliance project, aimed to enable and strengthen innovation in GI education and industry and to facilitate the collaborative creation, management and sharing of knowledge.These objectives have been addressed by developing new methods for co-creation of knowledge, where industrial partners and universities jointly developed new case-based learning materials by facilitating the exchange flow and co-creation of this knowledge. The project specifically addressed the Geographic Information (GI) sector.The giCASES method for co-creation of knowledge consists of process patterns, supplementary material and a collaboration platform. A process pattern is here a general description of a business process, which may be slightly modified in a particular case in order to suit the specific conditions better. All case studies are different from each other, but the processes they use to co-create knowledge have many characteristics in common which are captured in giCASES by the concept of business process patterns.giCASES considered the following paradigms:• co-creation of knowledge: the process through which two or more organizations and/or actors interact with each other in a collaborative fashion to generate learning content. • case studies: consisting of a real-world problem, which tackle specific topics and issues and has well-defined scopes, learning outcomes, results, actors and corresponding roles, and is addressed in a learning environment. • case-based (collaborative) learning: the educational approach adopted within the giCASES project, where knowledge is cooperatively produced by all the actors involved in the specific case studies planned. • (case-based) learning/training material: the whole of materials produced and/or used to co-create knowledge. • (case-based) learning/training tools: the solutions and technical tools adopted to store, visualize, reproduce, present or aid the development and exchange of learning/training material as well as the results of the learning process.The specific objectives of the giCASES project have been to improve the quality and relevance of GI courses provided by the University members of the consortium, to facilitate the growth of new knowledge-sharing processes and tools between enterprises and universities.In the approach taken in this project, enterprises and academia collaborated both when creating learning material based on real cases and during the courses. Collaborative web-tools have been identified to support the collaboration and co-creation of knowledge among different stakeholder groups. The new learning material and collaborative teaching have been tested in university settings. The project outcomes are provided under open licenses. In order to optimize the spread and usage of the project results, dissemination actions have been specifically addressed to external universities adhering to the open learning paradigm and companies that want to have a close connection to academia. In addition, the project results can also improve the knowledge management within the participating organisations. Questions related to processes for creation of knowledge and knowledge repositories have been placed at a strategic level, also within the enterprise, including Public Authorities with the possibility to enlarge their vision and perspective in the Academic context and in the European level.

The overall objective of CopHub.AC is to create a knowledge and innovation hub with several nodes (secretariat, research briefs, knowledge landscape, outreach, sustainability) to focus and link ongoing R&D activities in Copernicus-relevant academic fields, and to sustain the innovation process from academia to businesses on the highest possible scientific and technical level, with a clear commitment to a full thematic and geographic coverage for a Europe-wide boost in space uptake. The CopHub.AC consortium led by PLUS / Z_GIS will provide the following objectives: i) foster the enlargement of the Copernicus Academy ecosystem through a well-orchestrated set of tools and structures; ii) reinforce the R&I capacities of Copernicus Academies and channel their outputs within an improved format of research briefs; iii) inform industry, educational networks, authorities and the citizen about Copernicus and its societal benefits. iv) promote capacity building of and connectivity with the Copernicus Relays Network; v) promote the long-term impact and sustainability of the Copernicus Academy network through the establishment of a secretariat, a monitoring process and a forward looking roadmap. A duration of 24 months is envisaged. During the second year, the EC will be provided with recommendations for the continuation of the activities under long-term funding.

Most of us live in cities, even though cities are not the healthiest places due to poor air quality, noisy surroundings and lack of recreational spaces. Many cities have few green areas and consist of too much ‘concrete jungle’ which makes for a harsh environment for all living things. With the changing climate, the weather is expected to become more extreme. One such effect will be urban heat islands, which will be even more profound, with heatwaves expected to increase 3 to 10-fold by 20801 depending on the climate scenario. A way of tackling all these issues, is to plant more trees within the urban fabric - a well-recognised, and relatively cheap and efficient measure for cities to adapt to future climatic challenges. In view of this, the ambition of 100KTREEs is to make cities a better and healthier place to live by encouraging municipalities to plant more trees and to optimise the impact of tree planting. The team will support cities by mapping the existing trees and by showing a solid business case for planting new trees, as well as attracting third party sponsorship to make it happen. We need to plant trees now to allow our children to enjoy their shade in 20 years’ time. 100KTREEs will develop a mapping and modelling toolbox to optimise the planting of trees and to monitor the health of the trees, based on Copernicus and in-situ data. By assigning monetary value to the key attributes of a tree, e.g. pollution absorption, cooling effect, noise abatement, flood risk reduction and increased biodiversity, a number of business cases will be developed for our two partner cities, Copenhagen and Sofia. Such business cases will also be used to attract third party financing. By means of a crowd science app we will engage with citizens and create awareness of the wonders of trees, also extending to improved life quality and mental health impacts.