LifeWatch ERIC is a European consortium of research e-infrastructures that offer research services in e-science to scientists who investigate biodiversity and the functions and ecosystem services in order to help society address the main planetary challenges.
Established
2017
LifeWatch ERIC was created as the European Consortium of Research Infrastructures by the European Commission in 2017
E-Infrastructure for R&D&I of Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of Ecosystems
LifeWatch ERIC is a European distributed R&D&I Infrastructure that provides e-Science research tools to advance knowledge of biodiversity and ecosystems in order to address the great environmental challenges and support strategic solutions based on knowledge. LifeWatch ERIC aims to address the limitations that affect the science of biodiversity and the study of ecosystems such as the pressing need for increasingly diverse data , more powerful and advanced models, open data and open science clouds, which will explore new frontiers in ecological science and support society to address key environmental challenges around us.
It is an entity, belonging to the international European public sector, whose main function is the creation and exploitation of the broadest scientific, technological infrastructure, information systems, algorithms and data, for research on the biodiversity, ecosystems and climate change, providing the best analytical capabilities to European administrations and public institutions for decision-making in their functions as well as for the knowledge and dissemination of the aforementioned purposes, to the academic and scientific world, to the private sector and citizens in general. For more information www.lifewatch.eu
LifeWatch ERIC It was established as a European R&D&i Infrastructure Consortium by the European Commission in 2017. It is the first European research infrastructure consortium that Spain hosts.
The international office is located in Sevilla, reinforcing Andalusian participation in the initiative.
The Junta de Andalucía is part of this Consortium together with the Government of Spain through its participation in the founding agreement by our country, held in Madrid on July 22, 2016.
LifeWatch ERIC ”European E-Science Research Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research” as a key European platform in the research and monitoring of biodiversity and the sustainable management of ecosystems that advances the knowledge of issues related to climate change, desertification or the scarcity of water and natural resources, among other major global challenges, shares knowledge with scientific institutions throughout the EU, supporting the Science industry and assuming leadership roles in its field, in the international collaborations of Europe with the countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa
Empowering individual agents and organizations to know and act on the conditions of their nearby ecosystems
Its essential task, therefore, is to create virtual research environments that will allow the generation of models to predict future scenarios with the most advanced technologies (Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, IoT... ) giving support to political decision-making based on addressing social challenges that demand scientific knowledge in a context of global climate change.
As a provider of e-Science facilities for the European Research Area, LifeWatch ERIC represents substantial progress, empowering users and stakeholders with tailored solutions that seek to address societal challenges related to climate change and efficiency of resources, food security and agriculture, sustainable development and energy supply, security and health.
The mission of, LifeWatch ERIC is the R&D&I infrastructure that provides “one-click” access to the content, services and biodiversity communities of the world.
LifeWatch ERIC has in its vision to contribute to accelerate the research of the scientific community by providing a cutting-edge European electronic infrastructure on biodiversity and sustainable management of ecosystems. To this end, a digital twin or digital twin (also metaverse) will be generated that provides the access to key scientific services and the necessary support through the application of cutting-edge ICT technologies (Big Data, AI, Blockchain, etc.).
Digital solutions will be co-designed and co-created with user communities and in tune with the needs of research that provides key information for society, with special emphasis on supporting decision-making in the public and private sector.
The commitments of LifeWatch ERIC
Involve citizens in science, within citizen science paradigms, as well as promote public participation events.
Provide Virtual Research Environments, Virtual Laboratories and tools based on Big Data, AI, Blockchain, etc., to carry out cutting-edge research.
Drive technological innovation, continually improving the performance of our Virtual Research Environments, and open new fields for socioeconomic development.
Establish synergies with various national and regional stakeholders, in particular with respect to Smart Specialization Strategy, promote democracy and creativity in science.
Creation of quality ”green” and ”blue” jobs, based on the SDGs 2030, EU Blue Growth, EU Green Deal, EU Biodiversity 2030, etc., through the creation of effective initiatives that deploy and guarantee synergies between the various financial instruments European Horizon, Resilience Funds, Digital Europe, ERDF, etc...
We democratize scientific knowledge so that it is a resource of public and universal value
LifeWatch ERIC executes dozens of projects throughout Europe. In Andalucía, six of them should be highlighted, financed by the ERDF funds for Andalucía POPE 2014-2020 granted by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, allowing for collaboration between research groups from public universities Andalusian organizations, scientific centers, regional administration bodies, town councils and provincial councils, as well as environmental and ICT companies.
Get to know our work
Ref.: LIFEWATCH-2019-04-AMA-04
AMAYA-Junta de Andalucía leads a project aimed at creating a network of observatories to monitor climate change, with the participation of all Andalusian public universities, IFAPA and INTA. It encompasses the study of biodiversity in ecosystems Andalusians, analyzing their evolution based on the impact of climate change and its possible consequences.
Read moreRef.: LIFEWATCH-2019-11-UMA-04
Led by the University of Malaga, it carries out an intelligent study of biodiversity and the sustainable management of ecosystems through the creation of Virtual Research Environments - VREs -. The 'Picasso' Supercomputer participates, developing tools and services in the cloud through the ITIS Big Data Analytics laboratory.
Read moreRef.: LIFEWATCH-2019-06-AGAPA-04
Promoted by the Andalusian Agrarian and Fisheries Management Agency (AGAPA), it implements technological monitoring infrastructures for the Andalusian agri-food sector, with the main focus on Agroecology. For this purpose, the launch of a nanosatellite and HAPs, as well as the co-design and construction of smart irrigation machines and sensorized buoys. In this way, it focuses on the protection, management and sustainable use of biodiversity, and the impact on the ecosystems generated by the activity. agriculture, forestry-agroforestry, and fishing.
Read moreRef.: LIFEWATCH-2019-10-UGR-04
The University of Granada and the Provincial Council of Granada lead it to generate reliable and quality data on biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate change in mountain ecosystems. Sierra Nevada and the surrounding municipalities are the main focus of At the same time, the excellence of the University of Granada in computer science and artificial intelligence is one of the keys to this project, so the International Center for Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning for Biodiversity and Management is established. Sustainable Ecosystems.
Read moreRef.: LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-04
Led by the CSIC with the aim of implementing a strategy for the conservation of biodiversity in natural or semi-natural systems of the Western Mediterranean, making use of high-tech infrastructure, field work, VREs for research and collaboration of researchers and citizens. It aims to establish a system for the registration, storage, analysis and dissemination of the state of conservation, and threats to Andalusian biodiversity in the most frequent ecosystems.
Read moreRef.: LIFEWATCH-2019-01-OMAU-04
With the OMAU-Málaga City Council as its beneficiary, it focuses on the understanding and preservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of terrestrial, marine, and transition ecosystems. Applying Information Technologies, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in three areas of action: Observation of the movements of the Alboran Sea; recovery of the Green Corridor of the Guadalhorce River, and adaptation of municipal spaces for the exhibition and interpretation of biodiversity data from the Malaga urban area, in order to be a reference world on the matter based on the “Green Cities” paradigm.
Read morePromoting measures that guarantee the sustainability of the continent's ecosystems
ERIC Forum aims to strengthen coordination between European Research Infrastructures by promoting collaboration between its partners.
ENVRI-FAIR advances the localization, accessibility, interoperability and reuse of data and services offered by European environmental research infrastructures and connects them to the emerging European Open Science Cloud.
EU-LAC ResInfra pursues the construction of a bi-regional collaboration between the European Union and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
ALL-Ready aims to develop the framework for a future European network of Living Labs (LL) and Research Infrastructures (II) that will enable the transition towards sustainable agroecological systems in Europe.
RItrainPlus aims at the transformation, professionalization, efficiency and long-term value creation of European research infrastructures and basic facilities.
BiCIKL aims to create new community of key research infrastructures by implementing open science practices in the domain of biodiversity.
EOSC Future is implementing the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) which will give European researchers access to a wide network of FAIR data and related services.
DOORS links science, policy and industry for the critical regeneration of the Black Sea, to address the impacts of humans and climate change on damaged ecosystems.
MARBEFES aims to evaluate and characterize the links between marine biodiversity, the functioning of ecosystems and ecosystem services of coastal communities in order to optimize the sustainable use of socioeconomic and ecological values.
The main objective of Marine SABRES is to co-design, co-produce and co-deliver a simple Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) framework to analyze, understand and solve marine environmental management problems.
AgroServ aims to generate an offer of multisectoral services jointly through a large consortium of European research infrastructures in order to promote the transition towards sustainable agroecological systems.
BioDT aims to develop a digital twin that provides advanced modeling and simulation capabilities to improve predictions of biodiversity dynamics.
FAIR-IMPACT focuses on the expansion of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) data solutions, promoting their use among the European scientific community in the EOSC (European Open Science Cloud).
OEMC will increase Europe's capacity to generate timely, accurate, disaggregated, people-centred, accessible (GSM-compatible) and easy-to-use environmental information based on Earth observation data.
International positioning of LifeWatch ERIC and its special relevance in terms of biodiversity and climate change in the EU's relations with Latin America, Caribbean and Africa
LifeWatch ERIC is the European scientific institution responsible for the pilots of the EU-CELAC Agenda (Latin America and the Caribbean) on ”Biodiversity and Climate Change” and the EU-African Union Agenda in the chapter of ”Green Transition and Renewable Energies”. LifeWatch ERIC it is also, at an international level, ICT leader in the field of Agroecology.
Organized by LifeWatch ERIC this constitutes a key institution in IKRI
Capture, process, analyze and present indigenous knowledge
Participation of LifeWatch ERIC in the Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean
In the exercise of these international responsibilities, LifeWatch ERIC organized last September 2022, the Biodiversity Plenary at the United Nations in its 77th Edition, being also a key institution in the Indigenous Knowledge Research Infrastructure (IKRI).
This Global Research and Knowledge Repository initiative aims to develop a global collaborative infrastructure using Public-Private Partnership leveraging the power of Earth observation and Artificial Intelligence to capture, process, analyze and present indigenous knowledge from multiple sources, which allows advance in the implementation of the UN SDGs and the objectives and action elements of the 2030 Agenda. In addition to participation in the IKRI, we must also highlight in the area of Latin America and the Caribbean, the activity of LifeWatch ERIC in the FILAC, Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the field of international relations with Africa, LifeWatch ERIC develops a special role in collaboration with the ASREN - Arab States Research and Education Network -, an international organization under the umbrella of the League of the Arab Stateswhose main objective is to connect Arab institutions with each other and with the world through high-speed data communication networks, promoting pan-Arab collaborative research and education projects and activities, contributing to promote the scientific research, innovation and education throughout the Arab region.
The scientific collaboration of LifeWatch ERIC with the Arab countries it is also intertwined with exceptional relations with the State of Israel, in the field of technology and biodiversity.
Collaboration with Arab States Research and Education Network with the aim of connecting Arab institutions with each other and with the world
Collaboration in the technological and biodiversity field
The participation of LifeWatch ERIC at the European Strategic Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), they position LifeWatch ERIC, an international European public sector entity, in a world reference situation - especially in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa - in the field of cooperation and development of projects linked to the scientific study of ecosystems, agroecology, biodiversity and climate change.
Explore the content that the creators of associations of LifeWatch ERIC offer
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Sharing the latest advances from our research groups
Tarifa Island, a possible climate change observatory
The CEO of the LifeWatch ERIC consortium, Christos Arvanitidis, visited the interpretation centre and expressed his willingness to "assist and collaborate" in the development of the project.
30/10/2023
Tarifa Island aspires to be a reference point for the preservation of ecosystems.
Tarifa Town Council and LifeWatch ERIC share an interest in making Tarifa Island a reference point in the scientific study of the preservation of ecosystems and climate change.
The European LifeWatch ERIC consortium supports a climate field observatory on Tarifa Island.
The Director General, Christos Arvanitidis, visits the site with the Mayor, José Antonio Santos.
The names of Andalusian children will travel into space with the nanosatellite 'Platero'.
This "technological landmark" is intended to improve biodiversity management.
We produce podcast series on different topics, open conversations about biodiversity and ecosystem research.
Introducing the LifeWatching science channel. On this new exclusive platform for video content on biodiversity and ecosystem research, you can learn about ongoing projects and higher education programs at national and European level, immerse yourself into the hidden worlds of wild creatures and the scientists who track them, as well as following high-profile conferences and events, past and present.
Videos in Spanish and English on the latest European research
If you want to know more about LifeWatch ERIC or have any general questions, do not hesitate to contact us