Welcome message

Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to the 106th Conference of the Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes (DGINS), which will be held in Warsaw from 27 to 28 October 2021 in a hybrid format.

The DGINS 2021 Conference will tackle the topic of the Earth observation (EO) for official statistics, as the importance of making use of EO data for statistical purposes is rapidly growing and the scientific potential of these data make them an important source for innovative statistical products.

EO data are already used by many governmental services and industry. National Statistical Institutes also have a strong interest to explore the use of satellite imagery data and to develop official statistics on a wide range of topics such as agriculture, the environment business activity or transport. EO, appropriately processed, has
a significant potential to provide more timely statistics, further reduce response burden and could provide information at a more disaggregated level than traditional statistics.

The main objective of the Conference is to identify opportunities and challenges arising from the availability of Earth observation
data and to debate how these new data sources and technologies could be incorporated into regular official statistical production.
The formula of the Conference allows not only to bring together different perspectives and practices related to use of EO data, but
also to discuss them in depth and to plan future action in the ESS in this respect.

I believe this Conference can be also an opportunity to see you in person, which was not possible for a long time.

I truly look forward to welcoming you in Warsaw at the end of October.

Dominik Rozkrut
President of Statistics Poland

The 106^th Annual Conference of the Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes (DGINS) will take place from 27 to 28 October 2021 in Warsaw and will be held back to back with the 47^th meeting of the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) on 29 October 2021.

The DGINS Conference was created on 15 July 1953 in Luxembourg. Nowadays DGINS Conference is the most important forum in the European Union to debate on the future and development of the European Statistical System (ESS). The Conference is held once a year in one of the EU Member States. The meeting brings together Heads of national statistical offices, representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The DGINS 2021 Conference will tackle the topic of the Earth observation for official statistics.