President of Latvia Egils Levits today met with Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme, at Riga Castle to discuss the increased involvement of Latvian scientists and entrepreneurs in the Agency's projects, as well as the EU's future plans for the use of space data in European security, communication, health and other areas of life.
President Levits emphasized that Latvia should definitely make more use of the grant and project opportunities offered by the EU Agency for the Space Programme. Mr da Costa informed the President that during his visit to Latvia, he had been positively impressed by the potential of science and industry in using space data. He also appreciated the previous successful cooperation with Latvian partners and the involvement of Latvian participants in at least two major projects of the agency related to forestry, urban planning and construction.
The Riga Metacity project was also discussed, which aims to bring together industry leaders, universities and public institutions to create a meta-version of the city that would allow for digital testing of future ideas for the city.
E. Levits and R. da Costa discussed the EU's future goals in the use of space and digital data. Mr da Costa also stressed that one of the Agency's objectives is to bring "European minds" back from other parts of the world to work for the EU Space Programme Agency or invest in its projects.
