Managing Risk in the 21st Century

February 15-16, 2006

Hilton Torrey Pines, La Jolla, California

Highlights “Through the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, launched by my administration only three years ago, nearly 60 nations and the European Commission are developing and linking observation technologies to enhance our ability to identify and address critical environmental, economic, and societal issues.”

President George W. Bush Letter dated February 14, 2006

“The weather risk market – in fact the risk-management business in general - has a profoundly strong interest in serious, systematic attempts to improve, expand and intensify the capture of data relating to our planet.”

Warren Isom, Senior Vice President, Willis Re Inc.,; Board Member, Weather Risk Management Association

“…Google Earth is having enough of an effect on society that the awareness of GIS is growing.”

Michael Jones, Chief Technical Officer, Google Earth “Getting faster and more reliable data would be good for us…The market is already there...There’s definitely a need for a framework.”

Graeme Rae, Scientific Product Manager, Surfline

"We believe the next area of search is around an immersive real-world framework whereby geography is your method of discovering information."

Christopher Sampson, Director, Worldwide Sales, Microsoft MapPoint

"It is clear that environmental Earth observation plays a key role in our nation's economy. There is a very large, emergent market developing, driven by GEOSS and related systems. Successful companies will be the ones that can break the code in providing actionable information to their customers in a timely manner."

Wes Colburn, Forum General Chair; Vice President, Earth Observing Systems, Lockheed Martin

“The western governors’ need a National Integrated Drought Information System now. We must start implementation as soon as possible.”

Shaun McGrath, Program Manager, Western Governors Association "The most valuable commodity in the future worldwide ... is going to be water…Our world is an integrated system. Every process, every issue -- whether ecological, biological, climatological, geological or sociological -- is affected by or affecting something else."

The Honorable Jim Geringer, former governor of Wyoming and current director of Policy and Public Sector Strategies, ESRI

“Your technology value adds…It’s security. That is one of the things that you contribute to greatly…It’s defining the undefined.”

J. Garrett Ralls, Principal, Cohen & Company “Hurricane Katrina was more than a weather event. It was an energy event, public health event, and transportation event. Earth observations must be exploited to respond to all of these areas.”

William H. Hooke, Senior Policy Fellow and the Director of the Policy Program, American Meteorological Society

“Whether you are in government, you are in the private sector in the insurance field, whether you are practicing law or in engineering, or you are a world class manufacturer...it comes down to the quality of the information that underpins your decisions.”

James Palmer, Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency