COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Counci, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Mid-term evaluation of the Copernicus programme (2014-2020)
Date: 2017-10-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, European Space Agency, aerospace industry, environmental monitoring, observation, public safety, space technology

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 23.10.2017  SWD(2017) 347 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Counci, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Mid-term evaluation of the Copernicus programme (2014-2020) {COM(2017) 617 final}  
 
 
Content 
1. Executive summary ............................................................................................................................. 3 

2. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 5 

2.1 Purpose of the evaluation ............................................................................................................. 5 

2.2. Scope of the evaluation ................................................................................................................ 5 

3. Background ......................................................................................................................................... 5 

3.1 Description of the Programme and its objectives ......................................................................... 5 

Structure of the programme ............................................................................................................... 6 

Space Component ............................................................................................................................... 6 

Services Component ............................................................................................................................ 6 

In-Situ Component .............................................................................................................................. 7 

3.2 Baseline ......................................................................................................................................... 7 

Copernicus Space component ............................................................................................................. 8 

Copernicus Services component ......................................................................................................... 8 

In-situ component ............................................................................................................................... 8 

4. Evaluation Questions ........................................................................................................................... 8 

5. Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 9 

6. Results ............................................................................................................................................... 10 

Implementation of the Copernicus Space component ..................................................................... 10 

Implementation state of the Copernicus Services component ......................................................... 12 

Implementation state of play of in-situ component ......................................................................... 13 

7. Answers to the evaluation questions ................................................................................................. 14 

Effectiveness ...................................................................................................................................... 14 

Efficiency ........................................................................................................................................... 16 

Relevance .......................................................................................................................................... 18 

Coherence, complementarity and cooperation ................................................................................ 18 

EU-Added value ................................................................................................................................. 19 

8. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 19 

9. Recommendations ............................................................................................................................. 20 

10. Annexes ........................................................................................................................................... 22 

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1. Executive summary 
The  Copernicus  Earth  Observation  Programme  was  launched  on  20141  to  build  on  and 
continue  the  experience  of  the  previous  Global  Monitoring  for  Environment  and  Security 
(GMES)  programme.  It  aims  at  building  a  European  capacity  to  deliver  services  in  the 
environmental and security fields. Copernicus primarily responds to operational needs of its 
users  –  public  authorities  and  companies  -  through  six  thematic  services  (Land,  Marine, 
Atmosphere,  Climate  Change,  Emergency  and  Security).  These  services  support  the 
development of many applications potentially impacting businesses and organizations in day-
to-day  business  and  operations,  and  facilitating  decision  and  policy  making  processes.  The 
Copernicus programme thus provides data and services that support added value products and 
services  in  several  non-space  domains,  such  as  for  example  agriculture,  forestry,  urban 
planning, energy and environment.  The programme is articulated in three components: space 
infrastructure, services and in-situ data, inherited from the previous programme (GMES)2 as 
well  as  the  governance  model,  with  the  delegation  of  operations  and  services  to  delegated 
bodies.3 

As requested by the Regulation, an evaluation has  been  performed, the results of  which are 
here  reported,  based  on  an  external  study  including  extensive  consultation  of  all 
stakeholders.4The evaluation covers Copernicus first three years of activity (April 2014- April 
2017). Five criteria have been applied to assess the programme achievements: effectiveness, 
efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU-added value. The Programme  objectives as defined 
in  the  Copernicus  Regulation  are:  monitor  the  Earth  and,  more  specifically,    support  the 
protection  of  the  environment,  civil  protection  and  civil  security;  ensure  the  European 
independent  access  to  environmental  knowledge  and  key  technologies  for  earth  observation 
and  geo-information  services;  maximize  socio-economic  benefits;  support  the  Europe  2020 
strategy; foster the development of a competitive European space and services industries and 
maximise  opportunities  for  European  enterprises  to  provide  innovative  Earth  observation 
systems  and  services;  and  support  and  contribute  to  European  policies  and  foster  global 
initiatives such as GEOSS5.  

The evaluation has assessed that the Copernicus programme is globally on track, in line with 
the achievement of the objectives, and that these objectives are still relevant with current EU 
political priorities and users’ needs, although significant changes in the global socio-economic 
environment and in the Earth observation domain would require a fine-tuning of the original 
objectives.  The  implementation  of  Copernicus  provides  tangible  benefits.  In  terms  of 
governance,  the  Copernicus  programme  is  coherent,  both  internally  between  its  various 
components, and externally vis-à-vis other EU measures with similar objectives. EU action is 
regarded  as  providing  large  added  value,  especially  when  compared  with  what  could  be 
achieved at national level.  

1 Regulation (EU) No 377/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April2014 
establishing the Copernicus Programme and repealing Regulation (EU) No 911/2010 
2 Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme- Regulation(EU) No 911/2010 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 on the European Earth monitoring programme (GMES). 
3 European Space Agency (ESA), European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological 
Satellites (EUMETSAT), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Mercator 
Océan, European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), European Maritime Safety Agency 
(EMSA), European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC), European Environment Agency (EEA) 
4 PwC "Copernicus interim evaluation", ET-04-17-742-EN-N 
5 Global Earth Observation System of Systems 

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The Space component of the programme is well advanced in terms of deployment, operations 
and  data  delivery.  The  Copernicus  satellites,  the  Sentinels,  are  performing  very  well 
producing  a  large  quantity  of  high  quality  data.  Copernicus  Services  performance  regarding 
the  products  relevance,  the  timeliness  of  delivery  and  their  availability  is  perceived  as 
satisfactory by the users.  

The  in-situ  component  (data  from  land,  air  and  sea  sensors  measurements),  under 
coordination  of  the  EEA,  demonstrated  good  results  over  the  period,  resulting  in  a  wider 
catalogue of datasets. However, managing in-situ data has proved to be challenging due to the 
differences among the providers regarding the data availability, data quality and quantity  or 
licence conditions. 

The collection of user requirements for the evolution of the different Copernicus components 
is  well  integrated  in  the  programme  management  processes,  although  the  task  remains 
challenging,  considering  the  wide  span  of  users,  both  from  the  research community  and  the 
private  sector,  with  sets  of  different  requirements.  There  is  a  clear  need  for  a  prioritisation 
exercise between requirements in order to consolidate system specification evolution. In this 
framework a new procedure for new products has been set up in agreement with stakeholders.  

The  open  data  policy  is  a  strong  asset  for  the  Programme,  stimulating  the  uptake  by  the 
private sector in particular: the number of registered users in the main dissemination hub (the 
Open  Access  Hub)  reached  82  000  in  May  2017,  well  exceeding  the  target  set  at  the 
beginning of the programme. In line with the programme’s ambition of being a world leader 
in  Earth  Observation  data  provision,  nearly  22  million  Copernicus  products  had  been 
downloaded  from  ESA’s  hubs  by  the  end  of  2016.  This  might  also  be  due  to  the ambitious 
user  uptake  activities  programme  launched  since  2015  by  the  Commission,  including 
awareness events, training courses, start-up support programmes, and regional initiatives. The 
sizeable  socio-economic  benefits  are  encouraging  considering  the  share  of  the  total 
investment  actually  spent  at  this  stage.  The  huge  amount  of  data  and  information  produced 
represents a challenge for the traditional access and distribution routes planned at the onset: 
the Commission is responding by launching innovative Data and Information Access Services 
(DIAS) that shall be operative as of January 2018. 

The financial state of the programme shows that the spending is under control. Over the three 
years under scrutiny, the European Commission commitments to the Entrusted Entities for the 
implementation of the Services were in line with the initial forecasts, and the development of 
the  Sentinels  did  not  face  significant  over-costs  notwithstanding  limited  delays  for  two  of 
them, due to the unavailability of Russian launchers identified as the best economic option for 
launchers at the time they were procured. 

The results show that Copernicus is the most comprehensive Earth Observation programme in 
the world today and one of the largest data providers (behind Google), making it a real driver 
for the development of Europe's digital economy.  

The  complexity  of  the  interaction  among  the  programme's  activity  clusters  (space 
infrastructures,  services  supply  and  users'  access)  has,  however,  highlighted  the  need  for  a 
simplification  of  procedures,  to  deliver  the  best  results  in  terms  of  industrial  policy 
implementation  and  boost  the  market  uptake  efforts.  In  this  framework,  the  evaluation 
suggests  the  possibility  of  looking  into  an  involvement  of  an  operational  agency,  for  tasks 

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linked  to  communication,  market  uptake,  user  uptake  or  services  evolution,  provided  this 
agency has the necessary resources and expertise.  

2. Introduction 

2.1 Purpose of the evaluation 

Regulation  (EU)  No  377/2014  of  3  April  2014  establishing  the  Copernicus  programme  and 
repealing  Regulation  (EU)  No  911/2010  sets  out  in  Article  32  the  obligation  for  the 
Commission  to  report  by  31  December  2017  on  the  achievements  of  the  objectives  and  the 
tasks financed by the programme. To meet this obligation, the Commission has started, at the 
end of 2016, an evaluation aimed at verifying the sound management of the programme, its 
achievements as well as the weaknesses of its implementation. Although Copernicus is known 
to have satisfied and sometimes exceeded all expectations in its first years of activity, many 
changes in the space sector, both on the internal scene (as the definition and publication of the 
European  Space  Strategy),  and  at  international  level  (for  example:  the  emergence  of  a  new 
space economy), suggest that the moment is appropriate to assess the validity of this flagship 
initiative against its original intents. As such, the evaluation might provide relevant inputs for 
a  better  implementation  in  the  remaining  years,  a  base  for  potential  future  legislative 
proposals and for the long-term evolution of this EU space programme. 

2.2. Scope of the evaluation 

For the purpose of this evaluation the time taken in consideration covers the period from April 
2014,  when  the  Copernicus  Regulation  was  officially  launched,  until  April  2017.  The 
assessment  covers  the  first  achievements  in  the  areas  corresponding  to  the  programme's 
objectives  and  the  first  key  results  in  all  its  components.  The  downstream  service 
development; the user uptake trend; the management and governance structure performance; 
the  development  of  an  international  cooperation  activity,  and  the  impact  of  the  Copernicus 
data and information policy are assessed as well. 

3. Background  

3.1 Description of the Programme and its objectives 

Copernicus is the Union programme for Earth observation and monitoring, repealing the old 
GMES  programme.    It  actually  gives  continuity  to  the  previous  space  initiative,  by 
transforming it into a fully-fledged operational industrial programme. The impact assessment 
associated  to  the  Copernicus  programme  was  in  fact  largely  based  on  the  existing 
implementation  experience  of  GMES,  its  preparatory  actions,  its  initial  operations  and  all 
related  research  and  development  initiatives  that  provided  sufficient  justifications  for  the 
launch of a new space programme. 

Article  4(1)  of  the  Copernicus  Regulation  sets  out  the  programme's  general  objectives  to 
monitor the Earth and, more specifically, to  support the protection of the environment, civil 
protection  and  civil  security;  to  ensure  the  European  independent  access  to  environmental 
knowledge  and  key  technologies  for  earth  observation  and  geo-information  services;  to 
maximise  socio-economic  benefits;  to  support  the  Europe  2020  strategy;  to  foster  the 
development  of  a  competitive  European  space  and  services  industries  and  to  maximise 

5 

 
 
 
opportunities  for  European  enterprises  to  provide  innovative  earth  observation  systems  and 
services; and to support and contribute to European policies and foster global initiatives such 
as GEOSS. To achieve these main objectives, specific objectives have been set in Article 4(2) 
of the Regulation: delivering accurate and reliable data and information to users, on a long-
term and sustainable basis; providing sustainable and reliable access to space borne data and 
information  from  an  independent  European  observation  capacity  and  building  on  existing 
European and national assets and capabilities; providing a sustainable and reliable access to 
in-situ data relying on European, national and international capacities and networks. 

Structure of the programme  

The  Copernicus  Regulation  confers  to  the  European  Commission  for  the  period  2014-2020 
the responsibility for the implementation and management of Copernicus and its components, 
i.e.  the  overall  responsibility  for  the  strategic  management,  the  coordination  among  the 
different components and the budget execution. Most of the operational, project-management, 
coordination- and implementation tasks, however, have been delegated to ESA and partially 
EUMETSAT.  Services  rely,  instead,  on  the  support  of  Service  Operators  (ECMWF,  EEA, 
Mercator  Océan,  FRONTEX,  EMSA  and  EUSC)  with  whom  delegation  agreements  have 
been concluded.  

To assist the Commission in the implementation of the Programme, the Regulation foresees 
the  Copernicus  Committee,  chaired  by  the  European  Commission,  composed  of  Member 
States  representatives,  meeting  four  times  per  year,  and  involving  delegated  bodies  as 
observers.    There  is  also  a  Security  Board,  as  a  specific  configuration  of  the  Committee, 
where security aspects are analysed. The Copernicus User Forum is advising the Copernicus 
Committee  on  user  requirements  aspects,  on  the  annual  Work  programme  and  on  market 
uptake and data dissemination activities. To fulfil its tasks, Copernicus' structure is composed 
of the following elements (article 2 of Regulation): 
- 

a space infrastructure, (the "Sentinels" satellites and a ground segment where space borne 
data are processed, distributed and archived, as well as the access to contributing missions' 
data);  

-  6  services  providing  data  products  and  information  (Land,  Marine  environment  and 
Atmosphere monitoring, Climate change, Emergency management and Security) and  
in-situ data (air, land and sea-based). 

- 

Space Component 

The  Copernicus  Space  Component  includes  the  overall  space  infrastructure,  including 
satellites design and manufacturing, the satellites launches and their operations, the operation 
of the ground infrastructure and the distribution of Sentinels and contributing missions’ data. 
The  European  Commission  has  entrusted  the  European  Space  Agency  (ESA)  to  lead  the 
technical coordination, procurement and operations for the Sentinels fleet, and EUMETSAT 
for the operation and maintenance of some of the Sentinels.   

Services Component 

The  Copernicus  service  component  aims  to  deliver  data  products  and  information  freely 
available  for  a  wide  variety  of  users.  Six  services  integrate  space-borne,  in-situ  data    and 
model (if required) to offer Copernicus products, tailored to the needs of end-users. Each of 
the six services responds to very specific issues identified as key for the European society and 
is  delegated to  competent service  operators (Entrusted Entities)  that manage  the Copernicus 

6 

 
 
 
services,  creating  new  operative  products  and  performing  research  activities  as  needed  to 
maintain the products updated: 

 

 

Land  Monitoring  Service  -  delegated  to  the  European  Environment  Agency  (EEA) 
and the DG Joint Research Centre  
Emergency Management Service - delegated to the DG Joint Research Centre. To be 
noted  that  the  operational  coordination  of  the  service  is  delegated  to  DG  ECHO's 
Emergency  Response  Coordination  Centre  (ERCC)  which  is  the  single  entry  point 
for activating the mapping service. 

  Marine Environment Monitoring Service - delegated to Mercator Ocean 
 

Atmosphere  Monitoring  Service  -  delegated  to  the  European  Centre  for  Medium-
Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 
Climate  Change  Service  -  delegated  to  the  European  Centre  for  Medium-Range 
Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 
Security  Service  -  delegated  to  the  European  Border  and  Coast  Guard  Agency 
(FRONTEX),  the  European  Maritime  Safety  Agency  (EMSA)  and  the  European 
Union Satellite Centre (EUSC) 

 

 

In-Situ Component 

The  Copernicus  In-situ  component  provides  coordinated  access  to  in-situ  data  (meaning 
ground-based,  airborne  and  seaborne  observation  data)  as  needed  by  the  operational 
Copernicus Services. The component relies on existing data sources and capacities, as well as 
on  EU  Member  States’  data  sources  and  third  party  in-situ  data  sources  at  the  international 
level.  

3.2 Baseline 

The programme was established with a total funding of EUR 4.3 billion for the period 2014-
2020. 79% of the total funding is allocated to the development of the Space component, while 
the remaining 21% is allocated to the service and in-situ components. 

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Table 1. Copernicus budget allocation (2014-2020) 

Copernicus Space component 

The  Sentinels  have  been  intended  to  provide  a  unique  set  of  observations  for  Copernicus. 
They consists of three twin satellite missions (Sentinel-1A and 1B, 2A and 2B, 3A and 3B) 
and  two  payloads  (Sentinel-4  and  5)  integrating  different  sensors.  At  programme  inception, 
the Sentinels were planned for launch between 2014 and 2020 (Table 3 in Annex).  

Copernicus Services component 

At  the  onset  of  Copernicus,  the  land  monitoring  service  and  the  emergency  management 
service  were  already  operational  and  were  based  on  the  data  provided  by  contributing 
missions  under  the  GMES  programme.  The  marine  environment  monitoring  and  the 
atmosphere monitoring services were in pre-operational phase, while the climate change and 
the  security  monitoring  services  were  in  the  design/development  phase.6  (See  table  4  in  the 
annex). 

In-situ component 

The  data  coordination  for  Copernicus  services  is  done  at  two  levels:  (a)  the  day-to-day 
operational management and ingestion of the in-situ data and pre-processing, provided by the 
services  themselves,  allowing  also  for  exchanges  between  services  to  avoid  duplication;  (b) 
the  overall  in-situ  data  coordination  by  the  European  Environment  Agency  provided 
whenever  a  common  approach  should  be  ensured,  when  coordination  and  partnership  with 
one data provider/network should be established and maintained for different services of the 
programme.  

6 Interim Evaluation of the European Earth Monitoring Programme (GMES) and its initial Operations 
(2011-2013) – Final report – January 2013 –by CSES  (page 8) 

8 

Service and in situ components21%Space component79%Total ~ EUR 4.3 Bln 
 
 
                                                            
Copernicus  has  inherited  from  GMES  a  great  synergy  with  the  INSPIRE7  programme  with 
which  it  interacts  for  the  operational  context  of  the  core  services  and  data  distribution 
platforms.  Copernicus  conformity  with  INSPIRE  online  services  and  interoperability  is 
mandatory to ensure effective and efficient integration with all other geospatial data resources 

4. Evaluation Questions 

The evaluation answers the following 15 questions which relate to the overall objectives and 
key evaluation criteria as detailed in the table below: 

Criteria 

Question 

Effectiveness 

Efficiency 

o  To  what  extent  has  the  Programme  achieved  its  objectives  and 
implemented  the  tasks  set  out  in  its  mandate? What  are  the  key 
factors influencing/restricting progress? 

o  How  appropriate  is  the  progress  in  relation  to  the  Copernicus 

initial needs and expectations? 

o  How  effective  are  the  adopted  operational  solutions  in  meeting 
the programme  objectives,  across the  space, services and in-situ 
components?  

o  How  effective  have  the  Copernicus  and  its  components  been  in 
anticipating  and  dealing  with  constantly  evolving  user 
requirements and expectations or with new policy priorities, such 
as the ten priorities of the current Commission? 

o  What  are 

the  first 

the 
implementation  of Copernicus? To what  extent are the  financial 
investments proportionate to these benefits?  

tangible  benefits  associated  with 

o  What aspects are the most efficient or inefficient in implementing 

o  To  what  extent  are 

the tasks set out in the programme mandate?  
the  mechanisms 

for  programming, 
monitoring,  reporting  and  evaluating  Copernicus  and 
its 
components  adequate  for  ensuring  operational  and  financial 
the  overall 
accountability  and  appropriate  assessment  of 
performance of the programme? 

Relevance 

o  How  far  are  the  original  Copernicus  objectives  and  actions  still 

aligned with key EU political priorities? 

o  Which  Copernicus 

continue 
implementing  existing  and  evolving  obligations  under  the 
Treaties and EU legislative framework?  

are  necessary 

actions 

to 

Coherence, 
Complementarity 
and Cooperation 

o  Are  the  objectives  set  out  in  the  Copernicus  regulation  still 

appropriate given current user needs?  

o  To  what  extent  does  the  cooperation  between  the  European 
Commission  services,  the  Member  States,  the  Delegated  Bodies 
and other agencies and bodies ensure complementarity and avoid 
duplication of efforts? Which areas can be improved? 

o  To what extent are the different Copernicus services cooperating 
and what procedures are in place to ensure complementarity and 

7  DIRECTIVE  2007/2/EC  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND  OF  THE  COUNCIL  establishing  an 
Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) 

9 

 
 
                                                            
avoid duplication of efforts? 

o  To what extent are the procedures and mechanisms put in  place 
effective  to  ensure  that  Copernicus  cooperation  activities  are 
coherent with the policies and activities of its stakeholders? 

o  What is the EU added value of Copernicus? 
o  What  could  be  achieved  on  merely  national  level,  and  which 

issues yet require action at EU level? 

Table 2. Evaluation questions 

EU added value 

5. Methodology  

The  evaluation  is  based  on  a  study  contracted  by  the  European  Commission  to  an  external 
consultant. Data gathering and review on one side, and stakeholders consultations on the other 
side  have  provided  the  framework  for  the  analysis.  The  stakeholders'  consultation  has  been 
organised  first  drawing  from  the  results  of  the  large  open  survey  for  the  European  Space 
Strategy, and concluded few months before the launch of the evaluation.  Six on-line surveys 
have  been    developed  and  held  for  six  categories  of  stakeholder,  covering  the  whole  value 
chain of Copernicus (Copernicus Committee and User  Forum  members;  ESA, EUMETSAT 
and other Entrusted Entities; Space / ground upstream industry (manufacturers); Contributing 
missions  owners  /  space  data  providers  and  Service  providers  and  Users).  Face  to  face 
interviews  and  written  free  contributions  from  Members  of  the  Copernicus  Committee  and 
User Forum, have completed the consultation, that produced 241 responses in total, covering 
the  whole  value  chain.  Answers  were  distributed  between  web  questionnaires  (143),  direct 
interviews (94), and 4 written contributions by those Member States that had not answered the 
web-questionnaire. 

The  distribution  of  stakeholders  that  replied  to  the  consultation  (interviews  and  surveys) 
shows that 43% of the sample was made of representatives of core user organisations, while 
other  users  counted  for  the  remaining  57%.  In  terms  of  geographic  distribution,  European 
users accounted for 91% of the stakeholders consulted, while the remaining 9% was made of 
international  users  notably  in  Australia,  China,  South  Africa  or  the  USA.  An  evaluation 
framework identifying the most important key performance indicators has been developed to 
consolidate the results of both review and surveys. The framework contained all the KPIs and 
indicators  defined  to  support  the  definition  of  the  answers  to  the  evaluation  questions  and 
were  structured  around  the  five  objectives  of  the  programme  as  defined  in  the  Copernicus 
Regulation. A triangulation of results followed to validate them. 

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6. Results 

Implementation of the Copernicus Space component  

The  Space  component  of  the  programme  is  well  advanced  in  terms  of  deployment, 
operations  and  data  delivery.  The  Sentinels  satellites  are  performing  very  well  producing  a 
large quantity of high quality data and representing the core element of data provision. With 
the successful launch of Sentinel-2B in March 2017, the Sentinels constellation now counts 5 
satellites in orbit. These 5 in-orbit satellites should be followed by 4 additional satellites, that 
will  complete  the  constellation  and  help  addressing  specific  needs,  namely  Sentinel  3B, 
Sentinel-4  (atmospheric  composition),  Sentinel-5  (atmospheric  composition  as  well)  and 
Sentinel-6 (global sea-surface).Development of the follow-on satellites (C and D) is also on 
track.  

Satellite  

 Sent-1A 

Sent-2A 

Sent-3A 

Sent-1B 

Sent-2B 

Initial launch date 

Actual launch date 

Q2 2014 

Q2 2015 

Q4 2015 

Q2 2016 

Q2 2016 

3 April 2014 

23 June 2015 

16 February 2016 

25 April 2016 

7 March 2017 

Table 3- Launch date vs. initial schedule for currently flying Sentinels 

Out  of  the  5  flying  satellites,  3  have  been  launched  in  accordance  with  the  initial  schedule 
(S1A, S2A and S1B), while S3A has registered a limited delay, and S2B has been delayed by 
about  ten  months.  These  delays  are  associated  to  the  unavailability  of  the  launchers:  both 
satellites were planned to be launched on the Russian Rockot launcher, mainly for economic 
reasons. The deterioration of the political context and the impact on the supply chain affected 
the launch schedule. While S3A was maintained on Rockot, the launchers of S2B and S3B, 
respectively  planned  on  Rockot  and  Vega,  were  swapped  in  order  to  mitigate  the  launch 
delays. Hence S2B has been launched on Vega while S3B is now to be launched on Rockot. It 
can be noted that Europe is now in a political position to move towards non-dependence with 
regards to Russian launchers. The launch of S5P (on Rockot), originally planned mid-2016, 
has  been  delayed  and  is  now  expected  for  autumn  2017,  and  the  launch  of  S3B  is  now 
planned  for  the  end  of  2017  instead  of  mid-2017.  It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  that  the 
delays remain relatively moderate for a space programme of this scale and with a lifespan of 
7-15  years.  Furthermore  a  delay  in  the  commissioning  of  a  Sentinel  is  not  critical  to  the 
programme's progress and success considering the availability of the contributing missions.  

The Sentinels have reached and exceeded the expected volume of data to be produced every 
day:  as  of  March  2017,  they  were  producing  about  12  TB  of  data  per  day,  well  above  the 
formal  requirements.  As  for  the  Ground  segment  of  Copernicus,  it  has  been  primarily 
designed  to  serve  the  Copernicus  Services  and  Copernicus  participating  States  with  a  large 
quantity  of  data,  to  be  then  transformed  into  higher  level  products  and  information.  The 
success  of  the  open  access  hub  (COAHub)  rose  issues  regarding  the  ability  of  the  IT 
infrastructure to answer the high demand. Upgrades have been implemented, and currently the 
GEANT network enables network traffic up to 20 Gbps, with an upgrade held in March 2017 
to double its capacity. In addition to the traffic and downloading capacity, the data hubs are 
also  regularly  upgraded  to  reduce  in  particular  the  interruptions  of  services.  To  this  core 
infrastructure  Member  States  added  "collaborative  activities"  including  additional  local 

11 

 
 
 
stations to  receive  the  data  from  the  satellites,  data  processing,  mirror  sites  and  archives,  to 
serve  the  requirements  of  public  and  commercial  users  in  some  Member  States.  However, 
'collaborative'  activities,  through  the  deployment  of  parallel  processing  facilities,  risked  to 
lead  to  fragmentation,  as  well  as  duplication  of  infrastructure  and  investments  that  could 
weaken  the  status  of  the  core  ground  segment  funded  by  the  Commission,  as  well  as  the 
governance of Copernicus, including its international relations. Since mid-2015 a  task force 
was  then  created  to  promote  the  setting  up  of  an  Integrated  Copernicus  ground  segment  to 
reinforce  synergies  between  the  Core  and  the  collaborative  ground  segment  and  coordinate 
with initiatives in the Big Data area. 

The  data  produced  by  the  Sentinels  are  perceived  by  the  users  as  reliable,  accurate  and 
precise,  and  generated  by  high  quality  sensors.  All  the  data  acquired  by  the  satellites  are 
controlled, calibrated, based on in-situ data, and validated before being published, ensuring a 
homogeneous  quality  level.  For  some  users  these  aspects  act  as  a  game  changer  for  their 
business, and the overall data quality and reliability stand out as key assets for the Copernicus 
programme.  

As  Sentinels  alone  cannot  provide  all  the  types  of  data  relevant  to  final  users  and  to  the 
Services  products,  Copernicus  Contributing  Missions  (CCM)  are  vital  to  the  programme, 
providing  Very  High  Resolution  data.  In  addition,  from  a  chronological  point  of  view, 
Contributing Missions data have allowed the Copernicus Services to be operational before the 
launch of the Sentinels. 

As  for  the  security  aspects,  Article  23  of  the  Regulation  defines  the  limitations  to  the  full, 
open and free data policy. Each entrusted entity however, counts on internal measures to face 
data security threats. 

Besides the access to Copernicus Services platforms, the main data access channel consists in 
the 4 ESA hubs:  

 

 

 

The Copernicus Open Access Hub (COAHub) – previously Scientific Hub – is open 
to  all  users  without  restriction  and  gives  free  access  to  all  Sentinels  data.  The 
Copernicus  Services  Data  Hub  (ServHub  –  previously  CopHub)  is  only  open  to 
Copernicus Services and European institutions. 
The  Collaborative  Data  Hub  (ColHub)  is  open  to  the  GSC8  and  Copernicus 
participating States following a signature of a Collaborative Ground Segment agreement 
with ESA. 
The International Access Hub (IntHub) is open to international partners which have 
signed an arrangement. 

By April 2017, the main dissemination hub, COAHub, reached over 82,000 registered users, 
way above the target of 55,000. The registered users of the Copernicus COAHub are mainly 
located  in  Europe,  Asia  and  South  America  are  the  two  other  main  users  locations.  The 
IntHub is available to 4 international partners (3 in the US, 1 in Australia), below the target of 
5.  These  partnerships  rely  on  a  principle  of  data  reciprocity,  where  partners  provide  data 
which should be useful to the Copernicus Services and other European users, in return for a 
privileged access to Copernicus data on a hub isolated from the thousands-users of COAHub. 
Additional arrangements are foreseen, with countries from Latin America in particular, but at 
this  stage  the  way  the  partnership  could  be  beneficial  to  both  parties  is  still  under 
investigation, especially when the partners cannot provide Earth observation data. 

8 GMES Space Component 

12 

 
 
                                                            
To  respond  to  the  huge  volume  of  data  and  products,  the  Copernicus  Data  and  Information 
Access  Service  (DIAS)  has  been  designed,  aimed  at  improving  ICT  performances  by 
increasing  downloading  capacity  when  many  users  are  logged  on,  and  offering  a  unique 
platform serving as a one-stop shop and product catalogue. They are planned to be operational 
as from early 2018.  

Implementation state of the Copernicus Services component 

As the Services have been created at different times and target different types of usages, they 
do not have the same level of maturity and it is challenging to build comparisons among them.  
Generally  speaking,  the  more  mature  services  (Marine  environment  monitoring,  Emergency 
Management,    Atmosphere  and  Land  monitoring)  have  a  consistent  and  proven  portfolio  of 
products while some other services are still in pre-operational phase (Climate Change and  the 
Security sub component of support to external action) and are still ramping-up in their offer 
and their operational performance. However, the less mature services are demonstrating their 
improvement  over  time  by  raising  their  timeliness  or  their  number  of  registered  users. 
Limitations are represented mainly by two factors: the fragmentation of data offer to the users 
and  the  partial  response  by  Copernicus  data,  products  and  services  to  user  specific  needs. 
According  to  the  consulted  stakeholders  the  process  established  by  the  Entrusted  Entities 
delegation  agreements  is  complex  and  presents  many  layers  of  approvals,  delaying  the 
implementation time.  

Table 4 – Status of the implementation of Services in 2017 

Service 

Land  monitoring 
Service 

(CLMS) 

Emergency 
management 
Service (EMS) 

Marine  (CMEMS) 
environment 
monitoring Service 

Atmosphere 
monitoring  Service 
(CAMS) 

Climate 
change 
monitoring  Service 
(C3S) 

Security Service 

Development 
phase 

Pre-
operational 
phase 

Operational 
phase 

Notes 

 

 

 

 

 

GMES 

Operational since 2012 
as 
Initial 
Operation  (GIO)  Land 
service 

Operational since 2012 
as  GIO 
- 
Mapping 

EMS 

Operational since 2015  

Operational since 2015  

Pre-operational 
2016 

since 

Operational since 2016 

 

 

CAMS is valuable as it reduces the fragmentation for air-quality products offer and supports 
many  applications  in  a  variety  of  domains  including  health,  environmental  monitoring, 
renewable energies, meteorology, and climatology. It ensures a high availability of its website  

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CMEMS performance is above the targets defined for its availability and products timeliness. 
This contributes to the very high satisfaction of users, who evaluated the service at 4.75/5. As 
of today, however, commercial users still represent a small share of the total (25%) that could 
be increased in the future. 

CLMS portfolio is considered consistent and coherent with its objectives. The pan-European 
component  continued  to  update  its  products  in  order  to  respond  to  users’  needs.  No  critical 
problem on the local component occurred during the reporting period. 

C3S,  as  a  more  recent  service,  is  still  in  a  pre-operational  phase.  However,  the  service  is 
already  on  good  track  as  the  number  of  users  doubled  between  2015  and  2016  and  has 
reached about 11,000. 

EMS  appears  very  relevant  as  80%  of  the  surveyed  users  emphasized  consistency  of  the 
products with their request. The service faced issues regarding its timeliness, but progress is 
constantly  made  as  by  the  end  of  2016  23%  of  the  satellite  images  were  delivered  late 
compared to 50% at the beginning of the year. Since 2012 there have been 240 activations of 
the  mapping  services  with  the  production  of  3195  maps  (964  reference  maps;  1424 
delineation maps, and 807 grading maps). 

The Security service is harder to assess with regards to its objectives as it is more recent than 
the other services and still lacks indicators to be assessed on. 

Implementation state of play of in-situ component 

For  the  in-situ  data,  the  overall  coordination  activity  done  by  the  European  Environment 
Agency (EEA) is performing well, as illustrated by the provision of cross-cutting in-situ data 
through  CORDA  (with  a  threefold  increase  of  the  number  of  users  in  2016)  and  the  fluent 
management of partnership agreements with the providers. 

The coordination of in-situ data provision is complex, as well as the data gathering (due to the 
heterogeneity of data availability, reluctance to provide data for free, mismatch with services 
requirement,  data  quality,  and  licence  conditions)  and  would  require  more  resources  to 
improve the results. Several milestones, however, have been achieved in 2017: 

 

 
 
 
 

 

Copernicus  in-situ  data  requirements  have  been  revised  and  updated  for  all  six 
Copernicus services;  
Critical in-situ data gaps have been listed, including proposals for gap closing activities; 
Data access agreements have been signed with selected European networks; 
Copernicus Reference Data Access (CORDA) node became operational; 
A plan for the involvement of selected global level networks has been agreed with the 
services; 
A cross-service register of stakeholders, partnerships and data access arrangements was 
constituted. 

The agreement with international networks of partners such as EUMETNET 9 has established 
a  single  interface  providing  access  to  several  dozens  of  partners.  It  is  recognised  as  an 
example  of  efficiency  with  a  strong  push  toward  reduction  of  number  of  interface  and 
streamlining of processes, and therefore as a best practice for other programmes. 

As  for  the  user  uptake,  market  uptake  and  communication,  the  European  Commission 
launched  different  activities:  thematic  workshops,  publications  and  info-sessions.  Two 

9 European Meteorological Services Network 

14 

 
 
 
                                                            
European  networks  for  Copernicus  user  uptake,  the  Copernicus  Relays  and  the  Copernicus 
Academy have been set up to boost the promotion at regional and local levels. The number of 
participants has strongly increased (61 Copernicus Relays (over 25 countries including 2 non-
European) and 78 Copernicus Academy members). The Copernicus support office was set up 
by  the  European  Commission  in  October  2016  in  order  to  provide  support  to  the  different 
stakeholders contributing to the promotion of the Programme at European, national, regional 
and  local  levels.  Copernicus  Masters  prize  has  registered  900  submissions  and  50  winners 
(organised jointly with ESA). 40 start-ups benefited from the first Copernicus Accelerator, a 
one-year  coaching  programme  where  5  or  6  people  receive  a  prize  and  are  followed  by  a 
mentor  that  helps  them  develop  their  business.  Positive  feedback  was  received  from  all 
contestants.  A series of actions are developed and supported in order to enhance geo spatial 
data  skills  development  (Copernicus  skills  programme)  under  the  New  Skills  Agenda 
Blueprint  action,  and  with  the  Knowledge  Innovation  Communities  (KICs).  Moreover,  the 
idea of a "KIC Space" is shared at the level of the operational contacts in the EIT10 and DG 
EAC. 

Common  didactic  background  materials  in  different  EU  languages  were  created  by  the 
Commission over the last year. Communication on the web and on social media has also been 
subjected to a drastic change through a reinforced cross-fertilisation policy with the existing 
social  media  profiles.  Dedicated  Copernicus  profiles  on  Twitter,  Facebook,  YouTube  and 
Instagram  were  created  and  have  known  a  significant  success  (e.g.  over  the  last  1.5  years: 
from 957 to 4.637 Facebook followers; and from 1.216 to 8.026 Twitter followers). 

Communication and user uptake activities however face a certain number of challenges: 
Copernicus  is  promoted  only  in  specialised  area.  There  are  not  enough  activities  oriented 
towards  the  general  public  and  the  Copernicus.eu  website  does  not  raise  more  adhesions. 
There is no media monitoring (hence no tracking of the number of publications or quotation 
indexes). Direct talk to the media is difficult, which makes it hard to develop communication 
for  the  private  sector.  The  Copernicus  programme  is  not  sufficiently  promoted  outside 
Europe.  

7. Answers to the evaluation questions 

Effectiveness 

The  general  perception  concerning  achievement  of  the  objectives  set  in  the  Copernicus 
regulation  is  that  the  program  is  on  track  with  the  planned  achievements,  even  if  not  all 
objectives  are  being  achieved  to  the  same  extent,  keeping  in  mind  that  the  margin  for 
improvement  is  directly  linked  to  the  recent  beginning  of  service  operation.    In  fact,  the 
quality and reliability of data provided by the Copernicus space component, in particular by 
the  Sentinel  satellites,  combined  with  the  adoption  of  the  free  data  policy,  is  one  of  the 
programme  strengths  and  main  success  story.  Because  the  services  have  been  created  at 
different  times  and  target  different  types  of  usages,  they  do  not  have  the  same  level  of 
maturity  and  it  is  challenging  to  build  comparisons  among  them.    Generally  speaking,  the 
more mature services (CMEMS, CLMS for instance) have a consistent and proven portfolio 
of  products  while  some  other  services  are  still  fine-tuning  their  offer  and  their  operational 
performance. However, other services too are demonstrating their improvement over time by 
improving their timeliness for instance (such as for the CEMS) or their number of registered 
users (such as the C3S). 

10 European Institute of Technology 

15 

 
 
 
                                                            
There  is  consensus  that  the  programme  is  lined-up  with  European  policy  priorities  and  will 
provide major support to the implementation of major EU policies. According to stakeholders 
Copernicus’ alignment with new policy priorities (European Commission’s priorities on Jobs, 
Growth and Investment, Digital Single Market, Internal Market, Climate, Migration and EU 
as  a  Global  Actor)  is  very  high.    Among  the  concrete  results:  CAMS  provides  daily 
information on solar radiation (particularly useful for the planning of solar energy production) 
and the global atmospheric composition at global and regional scale; CLMS provides several 
indicators  useful  for  biomass  production  or  energy  infrastructure  monitoring  (e.g.  dams). 
CLMS also provides information on vegetation health and condition, including the measure of 
dry  matter  productivity,  as  well  as  burnt  areas.  Furthermore,  CMEMS  supports  oil  &  gas 
production and renewable marine energies initiatives, including, among others, wind fields at 
sea for wind farms (already operational at regional and global scale), sea surface currents for 
tidal power plants, waves height, directions for tidal and wave power plants, and sub-surface 
currents.  

As  an  example  of  support  to  migration,  during  the  refugees’  crisis  in  Europe  in  2015  and 
2016, Copernicus dealt with evolving national authorities and NGOs requirements to provide 
imagery used to monitor ports and beaches identified by FRONTEX as departure points for 
migrant  vessels;  it  also  helped  detecting  rubber  boats  leaving  the  coast  of  Libya  and 
contributed to saving the life of 350 persons in October 201511. Another example lies in the 
Emergency  Management  Service,  which  significantly  contributes  to  place  EU  as  a  stronger 
Global  Actor  when  dealing  with  floods  (e.g.  Sentinel-1  imagery  used  during  floods  in 
Australia12  and Peru in March 2017).  

Copernicus also fosters international cooperation: administrative arrangements on data access 
have  been  developed  with  international  partners,  based  on  reciprocity.  Partnerships  are  also 
under  consideration  with  Ukraine,  India  and  several  Latin  American,  but  they  are  still  in 
preliminary stages of discussion.  

Through  the  funding  of  the  GMES  &  Africa  project,  implemented  in  cooperation  with  the 
African  Union  Commission,  the  EU  supports  capacity  building,  training  and  awareness 
raising with African public institutions, notably to foster the deployment of local industry and 
activity  linked  to  specific  Earth  observation  services  such  as  water  and  natural  resource 
management,  marine  and  coastal  monitoring.  Copernicus  is  also  offering  opportunities  for 
collaboration between European and African enterprises. 

The  Copernicus  Regulation  also  states  that  Copernicus  is  the  European  contribution  to 
GEOSS  (Global  Earth  Observation  System  of  Systems),  part  of  GEO  (Group  on  Earth 
observations).  Stakeholders  surveyed  in  the  frame  of  this  mid-term  review  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  links  between  Copernicus  and  GEOSS  could  be  strengthened  even  more. 
Copernicus also contributes to CEOS (Committee on Earth Observation Satellites) due to the 
European  Commission’s  membership.  Since  the  launch  of  the  Sentinels,  the  European 
Commission’s role in this committee has increased and the European Commission will be the 
chair  of  CEOS  for  a  year  starting  in  October  2017.  Copernicus  is  also  involved  in  other 
multilateral  initiatives:  UN  cooperation  (through  CEMS),  United  Nations  Environment 
Programme (UNEP) around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), UN Office for Outer 

11 European Commission, March 15th 2016, European space capacities support responses to the 
refugee crisis. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-
databases/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8706 (Accessed: April 25th 2016) 
12 Floods caused by the cyclone event Debbie: http://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/list-of-
components/EMSR200 

16 

 
 
                                                            
Space  Affairs  (UNOOSA),  WMO  (World  Meteorological  Organisation),  and  GCMS 
(coordinated through GEOSS initiative). 

Efficiency 

The  implementation  of  Copernicus  provides  tangible  benefits,  the  most  important  being  its 
open and free data policy creating significant socio-economic benefits.  

Since the launch of the programme and up to the end of 2016, the overall transactional value 
generated  by  the  investment  in  the  Copernicus  programme  can  be  estimated  to  be  around 
EUR  5.44  billion.  This  value  represents  the  Gross  Value  Added  (GVA)  in  the  European 
economy, before considering the benefits generated by the exploitation of Copernicus data. It 
corresponds to the total investments up to the end of 2016 in the space component (EUR 3.03 
billion13) and in the service component (EUR 0.88 billion14) to which is applied a multiplier 
of  1.3915  ,  also  called  “GDP  multiplier”.  This  represents  the  total  impact  of  the  investment 
made  in  the  programme  on  the  European  GDP,  when  adding  together  the  direct  impact 
(impact of spending into the space industry), the indirect impact (economic activity supported 
by the expenditures of suppliers of the space supply chain) and the induced impact (economic 
activity  supported  by  the  people  directly  and  indirectly  employed,  when  spending  their 
income).  The  sum  of  these  impacts  is  then  compared  to  the  initial  investment,  and  thus  the 
multiplier  can  be  interpreted  as  “1€  spent  within  the  Copernicus  programme  (for  both  the 
space industry and the non-space industry), creates 1.39€ of total Gross Value Added in the 
wider European economy”. An assumption is made on the GDP multiplier of 1.39, as it was 
computed based on the cost and spending structure of the GMES programme.  

Since 2013 the share of the spending associated to the services component has become more 
important, increasing from almost nothing up to over 20% of the total spending. This change 
in the cost structure should impact the multiplier, as for instance the expenses related to the 
Copernicus services occur more in ICT related industries than in the space upstream industry, 
generating different kind of direct, indirect and induced impacts. However from an economic 
point of view, investments in the information and communication services industry tends to 
have a higher economic impacts than the manufacturing industry, when considering apparent 
labour productivity and gross operating rate16. Hence the value adopted in this case (1.39) can 
be expected to be higher for the services component, leading to a conservative assumption and 
therefore conservative values for the GDP impact of the Copernicus programme. 

Consequently to the investment in the space and service components of the programme, the 
availability  of  Copernicus  data  and  products  enabled  an  economic  activity  in  the  Earth 
observation  downstream  market  (intermediate  users).  Though  no  figure  exists  on  the  total 
revenues  enabled  by  Copernicus  in  the  downstream  sector,  these  revenues  are  estimated 
between EUR 71 million and EUR 138 million17 for the period 2014 – 2016 in Europe, on the 
basis  of  8  selected  sectors:  Agriculture,  Forestry,  Urban  Monitoring,  Insurance,  Oil  &  Gas, 
Ocean  Monitoring,  Air  Quality  and  Renewable  Energies.  These  values  are  based  on 
stakeholder consultation across the value chains, to define the share of their revenues that can 

13 PwC-Strategy&, Study to examine the GDP impact of Copernicus in the EU, 2015 ; ESA, Copernicus 
Space Component Quarterly Implementation reports, 2014 to 2016 
14 PwC-Strategy&, Study to examine the GDP impact of Copernicus in the EU, 2015 ; Copernicus 
Entrusted Entities, Services Quarterly Implementation reports, 2014 to 2016 
15 PwC-Strategy&, Study to examine the GDP impact of Copernicus in the EU, 2015 
16 Eurostat, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-
explained/index.php/Information_and_communication_service_statistics_-_NACE_Rev._2 ; 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Manufacturing_statistics_-
_NACE_Rev._2 , last accessed May 2017 
17 PwC, Study to examine the socio-economic impact of Copernicus in the EU, 2016 

17 

 
 
                                                            
be associated to Copernicus data. This share is then extrapolated to the overall intermediate 
users’ revenues for each value chain.  

This  range  can  therefore  be  seen  as  a  rather  low  in  absolute  number,  however  it  should  be 
noted that this value concerns only 8 value chains over a period of two years after the launch 
of Copernicus. Across these 8 sectors, the revenues enabled by Copernicus in the downstream 
are estimated to have supported 500 to 1000 person-years18. The same precautions have to be 
taken  in  the  reading  of  these  values  which  include  both  newly  created  and  already  existing 
jobs.  Similarly  to  the  upstream,  the  jobs  supported  on  the  downstream  in  the  frame  of 
Copernicus  are  rather  highly  skilled  employees.  They  contribute  to  the  development  and/or 
maintenance  of  a  critical  mass  of  experts  within  the  firms,  hence  contributing  to  the 
competitive  advantage  of  the  company.  As  an  illustration  the  involvement  of  CLS  in  the 
CMEMS  enabled  the  company  to  develop  its  skills  through  the  design,  implementation  and 
operation of the system architecture across Europe. 

Beyond  the  downstream  sector,  Copernicus  data  also  benefits  the  wider  industry  including 
non-Earth  observation  actors  from  various  sectors  (such  as  the  ones  mentioned  above).  The 
overall Copernicus-enabled revenues on these end-users markets is more challenging to assess 
due  to  the  number  of  industrial  sectors  and  the  variety  of  companies  and  practices  in  each 
sector. However, the economic impact of Copernicus on these markets can be expected to be 
much  higher  (as  it  includes  much  more  than  EO-related  activities)  and  as  an  illustration,  a 
previous  PwC  study19  estimates  these  enabled  revenues  up  to  EUR  595  million  on  2014  – 
2016  for  3  sectors  (Oil  &  gas,  Insurance  and  Urban  Monitoring),  underlining  the  high 
potential of Copernicus economic benefits in the EU economy. 

On the budgetary aspect, the findings are positive. The programme is progressing well with 
no  cost  overruns  and  limited  utilisation  of  management  reserves.  The  Services  have 
heterogeneous  costs  and  commitments  profiles,  given  their  lifetime  and  specific  needs.  The 
space component costs and commitments are below the initial forecasts (it mostly reflects a 
shift in the implementation schedule for some Sentinels), yet without impacting the expected 
cost-at-completion.  In  particular,  the  procurement  process  is  very  efficient  (generating 
excellent  feedbacks  from  ESA,  EC  and  industrial  partners)  thanks  to  the  appropriate 
distribution of responsibilities between stakeholders based on their area of expertise. 

At  Programme  level  the  governance  is  efficient,  as  the  mechanisms  established  for 
programming,  monitoring,  reporting  and  evaluating  Copernicus  are  adequate  to  ensure 
operational  and  financial  accountability.  However  some  duplication  of  efforts  are  noted, 
generated  by  the  red  tape  and  the  lengthy  approval  process  of  the  Delegation  Agreements, 
which should be improved to gain flexibility in the future.  

From a social standpoint, urban products based on Copernicus provide sound social benefits. 
Urban Atlas ensures a VHR mapping for urban sprawl monitoring of the main European cities 
as well as of artificial surfaces (e.g. roads), helping to monitor the various issues linked to the 
phenomenon.  From  an  environmental  standpoint,  the  development  of  precision  farming 
applications  based  on  Sentinel  data  enable  farmers  to  produce  food  of  better  quality.  The 
integration  of  Sentinel  data  in  forestry  related-projects  also  contributes  to  improving  the 
monitoring of deforestation and forest degradation and to a better prevention of forest fires. 
Copernicus data also boost sustainable fishing and limits environmental nuisance, by enabling 
fishermen to better target fishing zones. There is also a good quantity of unexpected benefits 
especially in the utilisation of Earth Observation data in support of educational activities. The 

18 PwC, Study to examine the socio-economic impact of Copernicus in the EU, 2016 
19 PwC, Study to examine the socio-economic impact of Copernicus in the EU, 2016 

18 

 
 
                                                            
spending related  to the space component  is in  line with  the forecasted budget on the period 
2014 – 2016, with no over costs at this stage and therefore the same cost-at-completion. 

The procurement model based on the Procurement Board has proven to be very efficient and 
is appreciated by the main stakeholders (European Commission, ESA and industrial primes). 
The development of the Sentinels did not face any significant over cost and overall was kept 
under  control.  Between  2014  and  2016,  the  scope  of  activities  managed  by  ESA  underwent 
some evolutions. Some activities which were not part of the EU-ESA Copernicus Agreement 
originally are expected to be included in the scope, like satellites launch insurance (developed 
against the risk of launch failure after the delays registered for Rockot launches), and DIAS. 

The management and governance model set out since 2014 was appropriate to implement the 
tasks  defined  in  the  programme  mandate.  The  set  of  delegation  agreements  were  efficient 
tools to implement the tasks set out it the Copernicus Regulation related to the services and 
the  infrastructure.  More  flexibility  in  their  implementation  rules  would  however  ease  the 
bureaucratic  and  approval  process.  This  issue  of  the  bureaucratic  and  approval  process  is  a 
concern  for  the  impact  it  could  have  on  the  implementation  of  the  system  operations  and 
service  provision.  In  order  to  favour  these  activities,  more  flexibility  in  the  implementation 
rules (especially concerning the reallocation of funds within the delegation agreement, and the 
enlargement of service product portfolio)  and a leaner approval process would be welcome. 
The  mechanisms  established  for  programming,  monitoring,  reporting  and  evaluating 
Copernicus were adequate to ensure operational and financial accountability. 

Relevance 

Perception of the consulted stakeholders is that Copernicus is aligned with key EU political 
priorities and also promoted synergies with other programmes. The products portfolio is good 
and the procedure to offer new products has been recently agreed among stakeholders. 

To  remain  relevant  to  the  political  priorities,  the  products  and  information  delivered  by  the 
Core services may evolve. This evolution is a point that needs improvement. The Copernicus 
open  data  policy  is  a  necessary  pillar  to  continue  implementing  existing  and  evolving 
obligations related  to  the  use  of  earth  observation  data.  Broader  EU  legislations  that  do  not 
always specifically target space programmes also require Copernicus actions (e.g. the Single 
Market Initiative, the Common Agricultural Policy, the Energy policy, EU’s Artic policy, and 
numerous environmental directives). The objectives set out in the Copernicus Regulation are 
still appropriate, as well as the main identified user needs.  

Coherence, complementarity and cooperation 

As already described in the answers to previous questions, there is a very positive perception 
of the internal and external coherence of the programme governance. Role and responsibilities 
are well defined and the communication flow is efficient. Streamlining of current governance 
with  increased  communication  and  more  transparency  on  the  decision  making  process  for 
programme budgetary management would, however, be more than welcome to facilitate next 
programme phases. 

A  certain  degree  of  effort  duplication  is  experienced  between  the  Commission  and  the 
Entrusted  Entities  in  the  implementation  of  the  delegation  agreement,  and  between  the 
Commission and the Member States for the provision of data. Cooperation between delegated 
bodies  and  the  Copernicus  Services  is  considered  smooth  and  satisfactory  but  increased 
coordination  between  Entrusted  Entities  is  envisaged,  for  better  communication  about 
Copernicus services and more user uptake. 

19 

 
 
DG  GROW  cooperates  with  13  European  Commission  Directorate  Generals  (11  of  which 
already make use of Copernicus) (i.e. DG JRC, DG RTD, DG ENVI, DG AGRI, DG HOME, 
DG MOVE, DG MARE, DG ECHO, DG DEVCO, DG CLIMA, DG ENER).There has been 
a  considerable  uptake  of  Copernicus  data  by  the  European  Commission,  but  it  could  be 
promoted  more,  especially  in  the  area  of  agriculture.  This  could  be  achieved  through  a 
legislation  to  use  only  Copernicus  data  in  the  European  Commission  DGs,  instead  of  using 
other sources of Earth Observation data.  

It  is  recognized  that  Horizon  2020  R&D  is  functional  to  deployment  and  evolution  of  the 
Copernicus system. Nevertheless, closer cooperation with H2020 innovation processes could 
speed  up  adaptation  of  Copernicus  products  to  market  needs  and  build  new  capabilities. 
Current  H2020  procedures  are  considered  too  slow  to  incorporate  Copernicus  services 
provision requirements and there is the need for a better coordination.  

EU-Added value 
European Union support to the Copernicus programme is considered outstanding, especially 
at political level and for ensuring the appropriate funding and continuity of action. It is also 
perceived  as  very  efficient,  especially  when  compared  to  support  provided  by  international 
and third country governments to other space programmes. EU action is regarded as providing 
large added value, especially when compared with what could be achieved at national level. 
Implementation of task at national and regional level might considerably increase duplication 
of efforts and risks of inefficiency. Therefore stakeholders do not see any possible alternative 
to implementing the programme under the lead of the European Union, especially for all the 
activities  related  to  the  deployment  of  the  space  infrastructure  and  promotion  of 
interoperability at international level and distribution. 

Nevertheless  for  activities  concerning  the  development  of  applications  and  services  and  the 
creation of a European market, a stronger role of the Member States, under the overarching 
political guidance of the EU, is envisaged and believed to be beneficial for the achievement of 
the programme objectives. 

For  worldwide  issues  such  as  the  management  of  global  climate  change  (e.g.  related  to  the 
C3S),  managing  Copernicus  at  EU  level  enabled  higher  visibility  within  international 
initiatives, compared to what could be achieved by single Member States. In these initiatives 
the  image  of  the  European  Union  is  reinforced  through  Copernicus,  leading  to  cooperation 
with third countries. 

8. Conclusions 

The  Copernicus  programme  can  be  globally  assessed  as  being  a  success,  just  over  3  years 
after the first Sentinel launch. The program is in line with the achievement of the objectives 
set out in the Copernicus Regulation,  and these objectives are still relevant with current EU 
political  priorities  and  users’  needs.  The  implementation  of  Copernicus  provides  tangible 
benefits,  the  main  of  which  being  the  economic  impacts  (macro-economic  transactional 
impact, enabled revenues on the downstream, supported employment) and the uptake of data 
and products by institutional  and commercial actors,  supported in  particular  by the free and 
open data policy. On the budgetary aspect, no significant costs overrun have been identified. 
In  terms  of  governance,  the  Copernicus  programme  is  coherent,  both  internally  between  its 
various  components,  and  externally  vis-à-vis  of  other  EU  measures  with  similar  objectives. 
Synergies with the programme INSPIRE ensure an easy access to all geospatial data required 
by  the  Copernicus  core  services.  EU  action  is  regarded  as  providing  large  added  value, 
especially when compared with what could be achieved at national level. 

20 

 
 
Copernicus  main  strengths  lie  in  its  open  and  free  data  policy,  its  user-driven  approach 
through the implementation of its services, based on the deployment of its space component 
that  provides  high  quality  and  reliable  data.  Copernicus  is  also  significantly  contributing  in 
promoting the image and role of European Union and in establishing international cooperation 
with  third  countries.  Many  political  priorities  of  the  EU  are  delivered  thanks  to  Copernicus 
services  and  products,  from  the  fight  to  climate  change  to  food  safety,  from  maritime 
surveillance and  migration policies to emergencies  management. Some examples of  success 
stories are described in the annex. 

The  space  component,  as  regards  to  both  the  space  segment  and  the  ground  segment,  is 
evolving as planned, the development of the Sentinels was achieved with minimal delays, and 
the delayed launches were mainly caused by the geo-political tensions in supplying countries. 
The  space  component  fully  commits  to  the  Programme  objectives  by  providing  more  Earth 
observation  data  than  expected  (12  TB  per  day)  with  an  unmatched  quality.  As  the  use  of 
Copernicus data by the institutional, commercial and individual users is a key success factor 
for  the  Programme,  the  large  amounts  of  data  downloaded  demonstrate  the  success  of 
Copernicus. Copernicus services provide a good level of satisfaction to their users regarding 
the products relevance (yet with evolutions to be expected in the coming years), the timeliness 
of  delivery  and  the  availability  of  the  products.  The  collection  of  user  requirements  for  the 
evolution  of  the  different  Copernicus  components  is  well  integrated  in  the  programme 
management  processes.  Users  have  the  opportunity  to  raise  their  needs  through  the  various 
helpdesks,  questionnaires  on  data  hubs  and  they  benefit  from  the  technical  bilateral 
cooperation  between  the  European  Commission  and  the  Entrusted  Entities  and  between  the 
European Commission and the upstream industry. This task remains challenging considering 
the  wide  span  of  users,  both  from  the  research  community  and  the  private  sector,  and  of 
different  requirements  to  be  satisfied.  It  therefore  necessitates  a  prioritisation  exercise 
between requirements to consolidate system specification evolution. 

Main limitations identified so far refer to data dissemination: accessing Sentinels data is not 
considered  as  intuitive  unless  stakeholders  are  familiar  with  the  Earth  Observation  eco-
system.  Actions  have  already  been  taken  to  improve  this  aspect  (i.e.  the  forthcoming  DIAS 
initiative) but it is still too soon to evaluate the impact of this mitigation plan.  

Additionally,  it  should  be  pointed  out  that  there  is  a  lack  of  awareness  of  the  Copernicus 
programme  and  its  opportunities  among  users  which  are  not  Earth  Observation  specialists. 
Copernicus  data  is  used  by  a  variety  of  types  of  users,  both  institutional  and  commercial, 
nevertheless  a  high  level  of  awareness  is  currently  observed  almost  only  in  the  scientific 
community.  Though  the  current  user  uptake  is  already  substantial,  this  lack  of  awareness 
remains a barrier to the market uptake, and especially to the expanding of the end users base. 

9. Recommendations 

Regarding  the  access  to  space,  Europe  should  keep  orienting  its  policy  towards  non-
dependency  on  foreign  technology  for  this  programme,  as  the  consequences  have  been 
illustrated through the delays on several Sentinels.  

In the frame of its future evolutions the Payload Data Ground Segment (PDGS) infrastructure 
should  be  streamlined.  The  fragmentation  of  the  current  infrastructure  (different  centres 
between  the  Services  and  between  the  geographical  locations)  creates  some  duplication  of 
efforts  and  technical  complexity:  this  aspect  should  be  preserved  but  with  a  better  trade-off 
regarding efficiency. The uptake of Copernicus services would benefit from a unified access 

21 

 
 
 
 
offering  a  single  interface.  Similarly  to  the  access  to  the  products  of  the  services,  access  to 
Sentinel  data  should  be  unified  and  simplified  in  order  to  avoid  multiple  channels,  which 
creates  complexity  for  the  users.  This  centralisation  of  entry  points  should  not  curb  the 
technical  performances  of  the  data  access  (downloading  speed  for  instance),  and  therefore 
should  address  the  user  interface  (single  link,  common  visual  identity  etc.)  rather  than  the 
actual IT infrastructure, which may require to rely on multiple nodes of distribution. 

In  the  frame  of  the  evolution  of  the  services  Copernicus  should  guarantee  long-term 
observations  in  the  framework  of  climate  change  mitigation  which  requires  a  long-term 
approach to be effective. In particular, space-borne observations of greenhouse gases should 
be included as part of its portfolio. 

There  is  a  need  to  expand  communication  and  user  uptake  activities  beyond  specialists’ 
communities, by broadcasting more use cases and showing concrete examples to users. This 
would enable to  widen the potential user base. Additionally, users surveyed  in  the frame of 
this mid-term review pointed out that more information online should be available in national 
languages. Copernicus services websites should be harmonised. No tracking of the number of 
publications  or  quotation  indexes  related  to  Copernicus  has  been  done,  making  it  hard  to 
develop  communication  for  the  private  sector.  A  solution  might  be  to  externalise 
communication  on  operational  activities.  More  promotion  activities  should  be  undertaken 
outside  Europe  (especially  in  China,  the  US,  the  BRICS  and  Africa)  to  facilitate  access  to 
international markets – i.e. beyond EU borders – for European Earth Observation companies 
in the downstream sector 

To  address  the  evolving  needs  of  Copernicus  users,  there  is  a  need  for  additional 
mechanism(s) to foster innovation, with a more practical approach to define research priorities 
and a leaner process cycle than the H2020 mechanism. This new mechanism(s) would require 
coordination between the innovation projects and the Copernicus services and data users. 

Although satisfied with the governance model, in order to fill the gaps identified, and to face 
the new challenges of the space sector and of the management of such a complex programme, 
a  more  suitable  solution  with  the  reassignment  of  responsibilities  for  the  operational  phase 
could  be  suggested,  provided  the  experience  in  the  Earth  Observation  sector  by  any  new 
stakeholder is ensured. 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Annexes 

Table 1: 

Copernicus intervention logic 

Table 2 

23 

Results & impactsActivitiesObjectivesNeeds•To monitor the Earth, support the protection of the environment, civil protection and civil security; •To provide sustainable and reliable access to space borne data and information from an autonomous European earth observation capacity building on existing European and national, complementing them whenever necessary •Earth observation gaps, •Lack of data and information •Development of space infrastructure, agreements with delegated bodies, promotion of interoperability of data and systems; coordination of space initiatives •Constellation of Sentinels, production of data and 6 Copernicus services products to support the three policies •To maximize socio-economic benefits supporting Europe 2020 strategy •Lack of use of earth observation in applications and services, •Small economic growth •Initiatives for the uptake of data and products •Wide data and service uptake, creation of new markets, expansion of the existing ones •To foster the development of a competitive European space and services industries and to maximiseopportunities for European enterprises to provide innovative Earth observation systems and services •Declining competitiveness of European space and services industries compared to emerging or stronger non-EU players •Creation of a European market for space infrastructures and services; ensure their development and evolution; promote their competitiveness on a global scale •Market penetration of European space industry and creation of new markets for downstream operators ; defending a Copernicus standard on the global market •To ensure the European independent access to environmental knowledge and key technologies for earth observation and geo-information services. •To deliver accurate and reliable data and information to Copernicus users, supplied on a long term and sustainable basis enabling the services referred to in Article 4(1) and responding to the requirements of Copernicus Core Users •Dependence from extra EU powers to guarantee a sustainable access to earth observation and state of the art technology. •European cutting edge research lacking appropriate means for developmet•Development of space infrastructures and services; agreements with agencies and bodies; coordination of National initiatives and other relevant European initiatives •Constellation of Sentinels and appropriate ground infrastructures providing a sustainable and reliable access to space borne and in-situ data and information, as well as to Copernicus services' products •To support and contribute to European policies and foster global initiatives such as GEOSS. •Demonstrate how a European civil space programmecould provide crucial support to other policies implementation and enable the EU to play an international role in global observation systems •Mainstream the space policy in all other policies; agreements with third countries and organisations; endure links with other relevant Union policies, instruments, programmesand actions •Wide uptake of Copernicus data and products in support of EU policies and global initiatives  
 
 
 
Table 3: Sentinel sensors and launch dates as planned in the Indicative Copernicus Constellation Schedule20 

Type of data 

Planned launch date 

Sentinel-1A 

All-weather, day and night radar imagery for emergency (floods) 

and 1B  

Sentinel-2A 

and 2B  

land and ocean services.  

High-resolution optical imagery for land and emergency services.  

Sentinel-3A 

High-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and 

land services.  

The first Sentinel-1 satellite planned for 
launch in 2014. 

The first Sentinel-2 satellite planned for 
launch in 2015. 

The first Sentinel-3 satellite planned for 
launch in 2015 with routine operations 
shared between ESA and EUMETSAT. 

Data for atmospheric composition monitoring. Sentinel-4 is a 

payload embarked on Meteosat Third Generation (MTG). 

Planned for launch in 2021, operated by 
EUMETSAT.  

and 3B  

Sentinel-4  

Dedicated to atmospheric composition monitoring, Sentinel-5 is a 

Sentinel-5  

payload embarked on a MetOp Second Generation satellite, also 

Planned for launch in 2021, operated by 
EUMETSAT. 

known as Post-EPS. 

Table 4: Copernicus services status at the beginning of 2014 

Service 

Development phase 

Pre-operational phase  Operational phase 

Notes 

Land Monitoring Service 

Emergency Management 
Service 

Marine Environment 
Monitoring Service 

Atmosphere Monitoring 
Service 

Climate change Service 

Security Service 

20 Copernicus EU-ESA Agreement,  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operational  since  2012  as  GMES 
Initial  Operation 
(GIO)  Land 
service 

Operational  since  2012  as  GIO 
EMS - Mapping 

24