COSMO-SKYMED FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS & CURRENT PERSPECTIVES FOR DOWNSTREAM APPLICATIONS

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) promotes the use of space assets to address not only scientific research questions, but also civilian applications and to the social-economic benefit of citizens. In the current scenario, when efforts are made to achieve the United Nations' 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the COSMO-SkyMed data exploitation initiatives launched by ASI - "Open Call for Science" and "Open Call for National Industry/Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)" - show increasing statistics proving that users are exploring how this state-of-the-art space technology can be used to address several applications feeding into SDGs. A selection of the successful experiences is discussed in relation to infrastructure monitoring, environmental assessment, understanding of and mitigation to natural hazards and climate change. The ASI's initiatives also helped companies to develop new businesses and cooperate with local administrations to address sustainability and land management issues.