1/14 Leveraging SMEs’ strengths for INSPIRE Dialogue session at Geospatial World Forum, Rotterdam (NL) SEIS & INSPIRE IN ACTION Giacomo Martirano (Epsilon Italia)

2/14 SUMMARY  Who we are and what we are doing (in brief)  Tips to stimulate the dialogue session debate ˗ The main barriers we identified ˗ Barriers seen as challenges ˗ Turning challenges into opportunities

3/14 Who we are (in brief)  We are a small enterprise specialized in geospatial technologies  We are based in South Italy  We are deeply involved in EU co-funded projects dealing with geospatial information in general and with INSPIRE implementations in particular

4/14 What we are doing (in brief)  We are implementing SEIS using INSPIRE ˗ We are involved in the execution of a contract for the implementation at national level of SEIS (Shared Environmental Information System) for 5 themes: Air, Water, Soil, Noise and Radiation. ˗ We are responsible for the design of the SEIS theme-specific geodatabases ˗ We are focusing on INSPIRE EF DS (and on O&M), so more on the data “production” side of the data chain

5/14 The main barriers we identified  Organizational barriers (within the consortium and with the Client)  Technical barriers  Financial barriers

6/14 The main barriers we identified  Organizational barriers within the consortium: ˗ Misalignment of technical competencies between partners responsible for the development and further integration of project components strictly correlated. ˗ Lack of coordination, both at technical and management level

7/14 The main barriers we identified  Organizational barriers with the Client: ˗ Misalignment of technical competencies between the Client and the Supplier. ˗ Heterogeinity of the organizational structures of the Client’s departments/agencies responsible for the management of the relevant geospatial information

8/14 The main barriers we identified  Technical barriers: ˗ Misalignment between the national reporting obligations set by EEA and the INSPIRE obligations set by the Implementing Rules on the interoperability of spatial datasets. ˗ Complexity of data modelling activities needed to merge the many applicable schemas into one single geodatabase structure for each SEIS theme

9/14 The main barriers we identified  Financial barriers: ˗ Competitive tender won offering a price much lower than the reference one (- 38 %) ˗ Unfavourable payment clauses (30% advance payment after the contract signature) and 70% balance payment at the end of a 24 months project after final acceptance of all deliverables)

10/14 Barriers seen as challenges  Investing in filling-in knowledge gaps: ˗ increasing manpower allocation (in terms of 50% FTE) in order to deepen the technical and technological aspects ˗ self-training (thorough analysis of INSPIRE DS and practice with the data transformation tools and the data harmonisation workflows)

11/14 Barriers seen as challenges  Investing in filling-in communication gaps: ˗ spending more effort in supporting less aware partners and also the Client  Investing in filling-in cash-flow gaps: ˗ getting from the bank an increased credit limit

12/14 Turning challenges into opportunities  The increased technical competencies: ˗ increased our competitiveness ˗ increased our productivity ˗ created new market opportunities

13/14 Conclusions  Not a sales pitch but rather a networking invitation …

14/14 Conclusions  If this is the business model we are aming at …  … then join us at