Nazka at BeGeo 2024: Looking through the eyes of a project manager

At a sun-covered Heysel Park, the prospects were good. Not to watch the Red Devils with a beer this time, but to submerge ourselves in the wonderful world of geo-IT in the convention halls of Brussels Expo. One of Nazka's project managers had the honor to visit 'BeGeo' and spend his day at the only national geo-fair in the country.

The National Geographic Institute (NGI) organized the event to gather the crème de la crème of Belgium's geo-IT sector in one place. Nazka could of course not miss this and spent the whole day wandering between the different booths. The variety of exhibitioners was surprising! Ranging from multinationals to start-ups, and from SMEs to government agencies. Also the perfect moment to say hi to old friends, the geo-IT world is not too big so you start seeing familiar faces a lot. We also made a bunch of new friends with partners who have interesting projects for which we believe Nazka could be an ideal match.

Besides the general fair, visitors could also follow specific 'tracks', each in a specific domain. Our project manager opted for Track 2: Enrich crisis management with geo-intelligence. With the INA project in our portfolio, an intervention application that is actively used by several firefighter services in Belgium, this track looked like a good opportunity to improve our knowledge on the matter. The presentations were interesting and diverse. For example, we learned a lot about the enormous potential of earth observation (and analysis) in crisis management. Different Belgian companies are specialized in this, so several business cards were promptly exchanged. At Nazka, we are always looking for opportunities to improve our products.

We also saw a nice presentation from our INA client BZA (Firefighter Services of Antwerp) about the need for uniformization of symbology throughout all emergency services. Nazka is a strong advocate of this and it is nice to see that this is also carried by the end-users. Finally, there was also a presentation of the Belgian Defense with the title: 'You cannot hide', where it was shown how the Belgian military could spy on all citizens if it wanted to, followed by declaring that the Chinese were definitely already doing this.

With those reassuring thoughts, a long but interesting day came to an end ;-). The only thing that was left, was an obligatory picture of the Atomium on our way home. You can make sure Nazka will be back again next year!