Since the organization of the Third United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) in 1999 there has been considerable progress in the operational use of space technology and its applications for sustainable development in general. Space-based assets such as telecommunications, Earth Observation for environmental monitoring and navigation satellites support a wide range of applications and are increasingly integrated into public infrastructures and may contribute to policy- and decision making to improve people's lives. In practice all countries today are users of various space-based solutions.

More and more countries are interested in establishing own basic capacities in space technology development and also in access to- and use of diverse space-based data.

In this context, a new Graz Symposium series is proposed starting with 2012. The new series will attempt to address various space-based data analysis and workflows, data availability and data sharing status as well as future opportunities, with a view to facilitate better and easier access to such data and resulting analytical products for general and wide-scale scientific benefit and also in support of decision making processes. Also, as 2012 is the year of the Rio+20 Summit and the initiation of discussions for a post-2015 global development strategy, the Symposium series will look at how various space-based data availability and analysis could support that global development agenda, and how it could help address or monitor the various sustainable development goals and targets set by the United Nations and its Member States in achieving a sustainable development of our Planet.

This year's Symposium, the first of this new series, will be again hosted and co-sponsored by the Government of Austria, the State of Styria and the City of Graz, as well as supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), and held in Graz, Austria from 18 to 21 September 2012.

The focus in 2012 will be on Space Weather data sources, in-situ and space-borne, related networks and potential analysis scenarios including wider access to such data and analysis results. The topic is also timely in light of the predicted maximum solar activity during the 2012-2013 period, and the impact that it could have on the World.

The 2013 and 2014 Symposiums will then also consider Earth Observation and geospatial data use and analysis more in general, with a view to identify means by which various types of space-derived datasets for example could be used in a potentially complementary way for the overall advancement of the global sustainable development agenda, and for improvements in any forecasts of phenomena that could significantly impact the Earth's environment or economies. These two workshops will be organized in the aftermath of the Rio+20 Summit, and with a more clearly outlined Post-2015 Development Agenda also available, they will be geared towards addressing and supporting specific actions of that agenda.

In that context, OOSA will also collaborate with the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) on bringing to the Graz symposia agendas topics of relevance such as geospatial- and earth observation data sharing and data democracy, and also a specific review of the UN system's use of space-derived geospatial data as well in partnership with the UN Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG).

The Graz symposia will thus give GEO, CEOS and the UNGIWG communities a platform for dialogue with end users and Member States on all aspects of data access and utilization.