Held every August to mark the anniversary of the Philippine Space Act, Philippine Space Week celebrates the country’s growing presence in space science and technology. On 9 August 2026, students, families, and space enthusiasts made their way to Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao, Quezon City for the main exhibition day of Philippine Space Week 2026. This year’s theme, ‘Navigating Tomorrow’, brought the Philippine space community together to celebrate the country’s progress and to look ahead to what comes next. CopPhil celebrated alongside the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) and partners from across the sector.
CopPhil, or the National Copernicus Capacity Support Action Programme for the Philippines, is a flagship programme of the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy. Funded by the EU, the programme is designed to strengthen the country’s capacity to access and use full, free, and open Copernicus Earth Observation data. Through the co-development of Earth Observation (EO) services with national agencies, and the establishment of local infrastructure such as the Philippine Copernicus Mirror Site, CopPhil empowers Filipinos to use EO in their own work.
Copernicus up close
Throughout the day, visitors to the CopPhil booth could get a close look at the CopPhil EO services and discover their benefits. At the booth, which was shared with the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), the team introduced guests to the programme’s services and answered their questions. Through interactive demonstrations, the team showed how full, free, and open Copernicus satellite data support everyday decisions across the Philippines, from monitoring hazards to mapping farmland and forests.
Sharing the booth with SGAC aligned with CopPhil’s ongoing effort to support the participation of young people in the sector, following an earlier collaboration on the EU-Copernicus Youth Challenge. This partnership reflects a shared belief that the future of Philippine Earth Observation belongs to future generations.
On the main stage: Careers in Earth Observation
The focus on future generations carried onto the main stage event, in which CopPhil and SGAC hosted a panel discussion, “Pathways in the Philippine Space Sector: Careers in Earth Observation”. The session brought together voices from across the ecosystem to share their experience and encourage young Filipinos to consider a future in the field.
Moderated by Ms Rheanne Jimeno of SGAC, the panel featured Ms Mari Trix Estomata of the CopPhil Technical Assistance team, Ms Ryella Sison of SGAC, Ms Jeniffer D. De Maligaya of PhilSA, Dr Maricor Soriano of the University of the Philippines, and Ms Cristina Macaraig of Alerto PH and WiredField Philippines. Together, they showed students an overview of the many routes into a career in Earth Observation and space, spanning government, academia, and the private sector.
The message was clear: Earth Observation is not a distant, specialist pursuit, but a growing field with room for scientists, engineers, and innovators of all kinds.
Beyond the Philippine Space Week exhibit
As lively as the public day was, it was only part of CopPhil’s Philippine Space Week. Away from the exhibition floor, the team spent much of the week working with national agencies, deepening partnerships built over the course of the project.
In the days around the celebration, CopPhil organised a series of hands-on trainings tailored to individual agencies. Specialists worked with the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) on land cover and forest mapping, with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) on ground motion monitoring, and with the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (DA-BSWM) on crop mapping. These sessions were designed to help each agency integrate CopPhil’s services into their own day-to-day workflows, reaching beyond the original development teams to the wider staff who will use them.
For those who want to learn more about the EO co-developed services, the CopPhil Digital Campus provides a library of learning resources, open to anyone curious about Copernicus Earth Observation data and services.
CopPhil also co-organised an interagency workshop with PhilSA, “Strengthening EU–Philippines Earth Observation Collaboration”, which brought government agencies together to identify shared challenges Earth Observation could help solve, and to look ahead to how PhilSA will continue co-developing services with its partners.
From the exhibition floor to the training sessions, CopPhil’s Philippine Space Week activities showcased a programme embedded in the country’s space ecosystem, working alongside PhilSA and national agencies as trusted partners. It also showed Earth Observation settling into the everyday work of Philippine institutions, with Filipino agencies increasingly in the lead. This is how CopPhil is ‘Navigating Tomorrow’ with its Filipino partners.
Background Information
As a flagship and unique program of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, CopPhil is designed to harness digital resources and space technology for sustainable development and to support innovations in research and business in close cooperation with government partners.
CopPhil is managed by the European Union Delegation to the Philippines. It is implemented by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) and the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST). In addition to the development of the Earth Observation Services, the activities of CopPhil include the establishment of a Copernicus Data Centre and IT infrastructure as well as awareness-raising and knowledge and skills transfer related to Copernicus data and information.
