User outreach and engagement at ECMWF: Examples of partnerships, outreach and innovation support

ECMWF’s Partnerships and Engagement section supports the effective use of ECMWF, Copernicus and Destination Earth services, datasets and infrastructure through partnerships and many targeted outreach and engagement activities. This work serves a diverse user community, including the National Meteorological Services (NMS) of ECMWF Member and Co-operating States (MS and CS), EU Member States, EU institutions and agencies, and WMO and other UN bodies, as well as a growing community of researchers, private companies, weather enthusiasts and other users.

This poster presents selected examples of outreach and engagement activities and shows how different approaches are combined to respond to evolving user needs and to build sustained dialogue with user communities. Liaison visits to ECMWF MS and CS NMSs support long-term collaboration and enable direct discussions on ECMWF activities including operational needs of forecasters. Further engagement is delivered through the Copernicus CAMS and C3S National Collaboration Programmes, which aim to strengthen the links with National Partner institutions and increase the uptake of Copernicus services at country level. In addition, the first two Copernicus Thematic Hub pilots, which focus on health and energy, are demonstrating the value of targeted outreach and support across these sectors.

Training activities are a key part of ECMWF's outreach and cover topics ranging from Numerical Weather Prediction and machine learning to software development and high-performance computing. Experience shows that combining clear explanations with practical examples is important for supporting users with different backgrounds and levels of experience, especially in an increasingly open science environment.

ECMWF Outreach also includes activities around ECMWF’s forecast model upgrades, such as updates to the Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) and the Artificial Intelligence Forecasting System (AIFS) in the medium, sub-seasonal and seasonal forecast ranges. These activities focus on communicating and explaining scientific and technical developments in the models and how they may effect user workflows, new forecast products, and how the updated models perform based on evaluation results.

Code for Earth programme offers hands-on, challenge-based opportunities for participants to develop innovative applications using ECMWF, Copernicus and Destination Earth data and software. The AI Weather Quest is a real-time international competition in which participants submit AI-based sub-seasonal forecasts in an operational-like setting, with results evaluated through transparent and openly documented methods.