EDI is a general purpose, template-driven metadata editor for creating XML-based descriptions. Originally aimed at defining rich and standard metadata for geospatial resources, It can be easily customised in order to comply with a broad range of schemata and domains. EDI creates HTML5 [9] metadata forms with advanced assisted editing capabilities and compiles them into XML files. The examples included in the distribution implement profiles of the ISO 19139 standard for geographic information [14], such as core INSPIRE metadata [10], as well as the OGC [8] standard for sensor description, SensorML [11]. Templates (the blueprints for a specific metadata format) drive form behaviour by element data types and provide advanced features like codelists 1 underlying combo boxes or autocompletion functionalities. Virtually, the editing of any metadata format can be supported by creating a specific template. EDI is stored on GitHub at https://github.com/SP7-Ritmare/EDI-NG_client and https://github.com/SP7-Ritmare/EDI-NG_server .

Modern technology and innovation research needs to analyse and collect users' requirements from the outset of the project's design, according to the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach. Bringing in new services without involving end-users in the whole research process does not make for optimal results in terms of scientific, technological and economic impact. This commentary reports on research experience of stakeholder involvement and co-production in Italy, implemented in Earth Observation downstream services at regional level. It reports the participative approach and method adopted and the impacts and benefits derived.

A thorough understanding of marine and ocean phenomena calls for synergic multidisciplinary data provision. Unfortunately, much scientific data is still kept in drawers, and in many cases scientists and stakeholders are unaware of its existence. At the same time, researchers lament the time consuming nature of data collection and delivery. To overcome barriers to data access, the RITMARE project issued a data policy document, an agreement among participants on how to share the data and products either generated by the project activities or derived from previous activities, with the aim of recognizing the effort involved.

Despite successful technological developments, COPERNICUS, the European Earth Observation flagship program, has been showing a weak regional involvement with regards to the wide capacities and benefits it provides for the Environment and Security domains at public and private level. During the DORIS_Net project, a methodology was successfully implemented to raise regional awareness on COPERNICUS potential with the concept of a Regional Contact Offices (RCO) Network. This paper aims to describe the process of RCO's creation and certification. It also presents both benefits and challenges of management and sustainability faced by RCO in order to reach their operational goals. Finally, the paper explores the potential regional impact of RCO.

RITMARE is a Flagship Project by the Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR) and coordinated by the National Research Council (CNR). It aims at the interdisciplinary integration of national marine research. In pursuing a Linked Open Data (LOD) vocation, the RITMARE sub-project 7 is building the necessary domain-related data structures by leveraging existing RDF-based schemata and sources. These data structures are grounding semantics-aware profiling of end users, data providers, and resources. The goal is designing a flexible infrastructure that adapts to the audience's specificities.

Poster presented during the RITMARE project Workshop held in Bologna 14 - 15 April 2014 describing how to join the call for participation for the Starter Kit use