The EO4SURE project held a Living Lab session today at IMar’s facilities in Mindelo, Cape Verde, with support from AIR Centre, Indra Deimos, and INE – Instituto Nacional de Estatística de Cape Verde. The session focused on developing Earth Observation-based solutions to support the monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 14.1, 14.4, and 14.7, aligned with Cabo Verde’s national priorities.

The Living Lab concept involves end-users directly in defining requirements and co-creating solutions based on Earth Observation data. Today’s session aimed to understand how Cape Verde currently monitors and reports on marine-related SDGs, identify key challenges faced by national institutions, and determine what type of data users need and how it should be presented.

Participants explored how EO4SURE’s Earth Observation pipelines can address local monitoring needs and support SDG implementation in Cabo Verde. The session also focused on co-designing functional and sustainable final products that will be operationally useful in the local context.

EO4SURE (Earth Observation for Sustainable Use of Resources) is an international project funded by the European Space Agency and led by a consortium comprising the AIR Centre, Indra Deimos, and the DHI Group. The project leverages satellite-based EO to help countries monitor and report on the UN SDGs. It develops operational, cloud-based EO data pipelines that enable the generation of timely, accurate, and disaggregated statistics—particularly for SDG indicators that are traditionally hard to measure due to limited data or in situ capacity.

Following a co-design approach, the project brings together national and international stakeholders to ensure that EO-based solutions respond directly to local needs and contexts. EO4SURE plays a strategic role in bridging the gap between Earth Observation science and sustainable development policy by transforming complex geospatial data into actionable national statistics.

The strengthened stakeholder engagement achieved through today’s Living Lab session will enhance the implementation of EO4SURE in Cabo Verde, ensuring that the final solutions are both technically sound and locally relevant.