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The European Space Agency (ESA) hereby invites all companies from DUE participating countries to submit a tender for this procurement. If companies are not yet registered as an ESA bidder, they are invited to obtain access to EMITS by completing a questionnaire, which can be found at the indicated URL, section Registration Request.

In 2002, ESA has initiated TIGER as a concrete step to implement the recommendations of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The WSSD Plan of Implementation, the main document adopted by UN member countries including 104 Heads of States in Johannesburg in September 2002, contains 12 articles specifically referring to the role of earth observation for sustainable development. Based on this political recognition, the CEOS WSSD Follow-up Programme was launched at CEOS Plenary in ESRIN. CEOS WSSD comprises five modules, one of which on water. To put words into action, ESA started the TIGER initiative, which aims at developing sustainable earth observation information services for integrated water resources management in developing countries, with a particular focus on Africa.

In this context, the Data User Element of the Envelop Programme launch this call for proposals, TIGER-innovators, which has the double objective of: 1) give African User organisations and industry an opportunity to capitalise on the latest research results and new technology in order to prototype and demonstrate innovative products, services and information systems to support integrated water management in Africa; 2) improve the capabilities of African partners to use EO technology and build the basis for a long-term sustainable service.

A maximum of 5 implementation and demonstration projects will be funded, each with a maximum budget of 100KEuro.

Bidders shall implement and demonstrate innovative information services that gives a practical and concrete respond to specific users needs expressed by African water organisations. To this end, projects shall be carried out by North-South partnerships involving European/Canadian Industry and research groups besides African users (e.g., National departments of Water) and technical centers (e.g., African remote-sensing centres, African National Environmental Agencies, local service providers) with some exiting capabilities to deal with EO technology and GIS.