For some time, COSPAR has been planning a programme of capacity-building workshops to be held in developing countries, and the first of these was held at Institute Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), S (a) over tildeo Jose dos Campos, Brazil from 4th to 13th December 2001. The next two will be held in Udaipur, India and in Beijing, China, respectively, during 2003. The workshops are innovative in character, and their objectives and their concepts will be described, as well as the experience gained from the first workshop in Brazil. (C) 2004 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.