South East Asia centre on European GNSS for international cooperation And Local development

Today, South-East Asia is considered to be one of the most dynamic growth engines of the world’s economy. This will increase in the future, along with its commercial and political interaction with the European Union. With regard to the GNSS field specifically, South East Asia will greatly benefit from the GNSS multi-constellation that will become available during the next few years.

In this context, a constantly increasing demand for better services and logistics, which are crucial for sustaining the economical growth, is going to require more and more GNSS-based solutions. The aim of the SEAGAL project is to set up a Collaboration Centre which will establish a new link between Europe and South East Asia in the framework of satellite navigation and related applications, in particular focusing on technology transfer, research and education activities.

The project relies heavily on the commitment of two Asian universities: Hanoi University of Technology (Vietnam) and the Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand). The Centre will be located in facilities in Hanoi. The Centre should be considered as a focal point to create new opportunities to develop the markets for European GNSS applications, both for consumers and manufacturers, and will be operational by October 2010.

Description

SEAGAL will develop a new connection between Europe and South East Asia in the framework of satellite navigation and related applications, from education to technology transfer, from research activities to life-long learning. The Collaboration Centre will establish a real link in the region with European actors, thus promoting European GNSS technology. The Centre should become the place where students, companies and policy-makers find information, resources and support on GNSS-related activities. The Centre will also offer support to European companies and universities operating in the GNSS field wanting to expand into this region. 

Dissemination activities will be carried out during the entire project. In particular, two workshops on European GNSS and related applications will be delivered in Vietnam and Thailand. These workshops will offer the opportunity for establishing links between European and local actors. Furthermore, a student competition on GNSS topics will be organised to raise awareness of the Centre. Indeed, the project foresees accompanying awareness actions to facilitate the start-up of the Centre, as well as to link it to European institutions operating in the GNSS sector, so as to help the continuing co-operation and sustainability of its activities. A final workshop will be organised for the opening of the new Collaboration Centre.

Objectives

The main goal of this project is to set up conditions and structures enabling future co-operation between South-East Asian and European institutions in technology transfer, research and training, and providing support to public/private decision-makers in the field of GNSS, in particular of Galileo/EGNOS. 

SEAGAL will set up a European GNSS Collaboration Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam, which aims to cover the entire South-East Asian region. The Centre will rely on two main activities: those related to laboratory activities focused on research, training and technology transfer, and those related to networking and support for political and strategic actions to which the Centre can contribute with its expertise, international links and vision. 

The first phase of the project will consist of researching the local context in order to understand the current situation so as to be able to design the future activities of the Centre efficiently. The second phase is devoted to the definition of the implementation plan for the Collaboration Centre and its final set up. The final phase is intended to prepare a synthesis of all the results achieved and a possible scenario for the follow-up to the project.