In order to network the exchange of ideas and expertise among core partners a consortium of European Earth Science Institutions was founded on 4 September 2012 in Potsdam. The prime objective of this cluster includes the use of joint infrastructures, the bundling of interests, in particular within the European research framework, and the promotion of joint project concepts.  

First signatories of the “Letter of Intent” were

• The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany
• The British Geological Survey (BGS), Great Britain
• The Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera (Spanish National Research Council, ICTJA/CSIC), Spain
• The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), Switzerland
• The Institute of Earth Physics of Paris (IPGP), France
• The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
• Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands

On 17 October 2012

• The Polish geoscientific network "Geoplanet"

also joined the consortium at a meeting in Paris.

Since then, several meetings have taken place, i.e. in Erice (2013), London (2014), Warsaw (2014), Chester(2015), Utrecht (2016), Rome (2018), Vienna (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018),  at which ideas were discussed and further developed.

The current thematic focus of Geo.8 is on natural hazards and georesources.

The EU project EPOS: European Plate Observing System, in which all Geo.8 partners are involved, forms a further platform for exchange.