The ITC Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente is amongst the partners in a European collaboration to establish a Slovenian Centre of Excellence on 3D geodata.
SLICE3D (Slovenian Centre of Excellence on 3D Geodata) is a one-year project, financed in the framework of the Widening Actions under the Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation part of Horizon 2020, dedicated to the preparation of a scientific and innovation strategy together with the business plan for the setting-up of the Centre of Excellence.
Strengthen research and innovation capacity
The main idea of the centre is to strengthen the research and innovation capacities of Slovenia in the fields of geo-data acquisition and 3D/4D geo-data modelling, consequently also in the other fields related to geo-data and spatial decisions.
The consortium, coordinated by the University of Ljubljana, includes the governmental institution (Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia) as well as a SME (XLAB d. o. o.) from the widening country, and partners with long-standing experience in the fields of geospatial technologies, 3D mapping and business planning (Fondazione Bruno Kessler from Italy, KU Leuven from Belgium, University of Twente and Valorisation from the Netherlands, Swisstopo from Switzerland).
Within the granted first phase project of 1 year, a formal and strong cooperation will be developed between the involved partners to provide the platform for knowledge transfer and strengthening of the research and innovation capacities in the widening country (Slovenia), with still various research and innovation (R&I) performance measures below EU thresholds, as well as wider in the region.
Cutting edge geospatial technologies
The ambition is to create a Centre of Excellence that will achieve strong medium- and long-term scientific presence at the European and at the wider international level. The focus of SLICE3D will be to realize excellence through education programs and research and innovation (R&I) projects using cutting edge geospatial technologies, resulting in tangible results which are supplied to market players.
Prof. George Vosselman, Head of EOS department at ITC: “Our department is proud to join one of the only two EU-WIDESPREAD teaming phase 1 projects that have been granted in The Netherlands for 2017. For the Slovenian universities SLICE3D is a very important capacity building EU funded project and we envisage that our contribution will play a key-role to the continuity of the project in phase 2. During the first phase, strategic scientific and business plans will be developed for the establishment of a Slovenian Centre of Excellence which we hope to implement in phase2 that will last for another 5-7 years.”
The Centre will thus be an important technology bridge for the industrial use of research results. Beside the scientific goals, the societal and economic contributions are emphasized. For this purpose, in synergy to the scientific agenda, a clear innovation path is foreseen. These will ensure scientific excellence and a strong positioning of Slovenia within the relevant domains.
For more information, visit the project website via www.slice3d.si.
