The new ESA’s Earth Observation (EO) Science Strategy shall express a renewed vision and identify objectives that address the challenges posed by today’s rapidly changing world. The priorities and accompanying goals must respond directly to scientific and societal needs and reflect shared user community values and feedback. Ultimately, the Science Strategy shall be applicable to all ESA EO programme activities. It shall provide a strategic framework that connects scientific research and development, innovative new EO mission ideas and technologies, and the mission data exploitation and development of the solutions needed to advance Earth system science and deliver societal benefits.

The current EO Science Strategy guiding EO programmes was published in 2015. Since then, the context for Earth Observations Programmes has evolved and changed dramatically. Advances in Earth system science, remote sensing, in-situ observations, and in digital information technology, all opening the door to new and unprecedented opportunities for advancing science. The Independent Science Review conducted in 2021 prompted ESA to initiate a review of scientific needs and priorities culminating in the successful EO Science Strategy Workshop held on June 19-20, 2023, in Bruges. During the workshop updated domain cross-cutting science priorities were presented, reviewed, and debated by workshop participants.

Additional feedback and inputs were collected on-line both before and after the Workshop from the wider community. The results of this consultation process have since been captured, processed and integrated as inputs to the drafting of a new EO Science Strategy.

This 2024 EO Science Strategy Review Workshop is the next important milestone in the process of developing a new EO Science Strategy. The main workshop objectives are to:

• present the draft of the new EO Science Strategy to be reviewed by the EO science community. This includes providing details on the strategy contents, its structure, and the process followed since the Bruges workshop.
• review and collect recommendations from the community on the role of Digital Innovation, Open Science, Commercial EO and other factors influencing implementation of the new EO science strategy.
• identify programmatic considerations driving the EO Science Strategy.
• present and review with the community the expected role of the new Strategy in guiding implementation of ESA EO Programmes.
• provide an opportunity for collecting final feedback from the EO community.

Therefore, ESA would like to extend a warm invitation to you to participate in the upcoming Earth Observation Science Strategy Review workshop. This is a valuable opportunity help gain insights into the new EO Science Strategy, help with the review of the draft document and share your feedback, insights, and expertise with respect to its implementation.