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Φ-lab contributes to Earth observation education at ESA-NASA training week

Posted on by nchimonides

The Trans-Atlantic Training course (TAT 2023) took place in the Czech Republic from 27 June to 1 July and included presentations and tutorials from current and past Φ-labbers. Organised by ESA, NASA and the Charles University in Prague, the course was aimed at educating early-career scientists and post-graduate students on remote sensing for environmental monitoring and modelling.

TAT has been running since 2013 with the objective of providing training activities for young scientists in the field of Earth observation (EO), with a particular emphasis on remote sensing of land-cover change and ecosystem dynamics. The forum shares and discusses advanced space research through a series of workshops, with this year’s edition dedicated to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), passive optical sensing and lidar for forestry, agriculture and hydrology.

Attendees from 18 countries took part and were able to gain a detailed picture of the state of the art in satellite-derived environmental measurement and prediction. The week was split between the cities of Prague and Brno and included insight from a number of global experts in the field.

The expert input included a significant contribution from ESA’s Earth Observation Programme Directorate. Scientific Coordinator Francesco Sarti was part of the TAT organising committee and kicked off Day 1 with an outline of the Agency’s current and forthcoming EO missions. Next was a session introducing Φ-lab and its activities, with talks from Digital Technologies Engineer Bertrand Le Saux, InCubed Officer Albin Lacroix and other Φ-labbers. The session began with a comprehensive overview of how the Explore Office’s research is transforming Earth observation through the application of artificial intelligence, quantum machine learning and other computational methodologies. This was followed by a presentation on the scope, benefits and successes of the ESA InCubed programme.

Day 2 featured a key lecture on applying SAR data time series to forest monitoring. Given by former Φ-lab visiting researcher Daniel Paluba, the workshop was largely based around work carried out at ESA and included two practical sessions, covering topics such as processing Copernicus Sentinel data and comparing Classical and Automatic Machine Learning approaches. This and the other ESA-related presentations were very well-received by the course attendees, with the Φ-lab sessions in particular giving a glimpse into real-world opportunities in EO research and commerce.

“I think it’s crucial that Φ-lab contributes to educational events such as TAT,” Bertrand Le Saux reflects. “Not only is it a pleasure for us to share details of our research and industry support with such an enthusiastic and energetic audience, but I also feel we are helping to plant the seeds for the EO scientists and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”

To know more: ESA Φ-lab, ESA InCubed, TAT on eo4society, Copernicus Sentinel missions

InCubed co-funded SaferPlaces platform maps aftermath of Emilia-Romagna floods

Posted on by nchimonides

The Italian region of Emilia-Romagna was devastated by severe floods in May 2023, claiming lives and displacing thousands of people, resulting in an estimated €8.8 billion in damages. With the region still grappling with the aftermath, satellites have been instrumental in assessing the damages of the affected areas.

Between 16-18 May 2023, 350 million cubic metres of water, equivalent to six months’ worth of rain, fell within 36 hours across Emilia-Romagna, one of Italy’s most important agricultural regions. The heavy rain led to the overflow of 23 rivers across the region, affecting 100 municipalities and triggering more than 400 landslides, which in turn damaged and closed off hundreds of roads.

Read the full article on www.esa.int.

Φ-lab-WMF AI4EO competition inspires European New-Space start-ups to rise to the challenge

Posted on by nchimonides

At a recent award ceremony, Φ-lab announced the four winners of the AI4EO Call, a competition launched in conjunction with the We Make Future event. The top entries received a range of prizes, including an all-expense-paid trip to the ESA EO Commercialisation Forum in October.

As a seed bed for innovation in commercial Earth observation (EO), ESA Φ-lab actively promotes and encourages ideas from start-ups and entrepreneurs. We Make Future (WMF) is the largest digital and social innovation festival in Southern Europe, and so provides an ideal forum for Φ-lab to interface with today’s and tomorrow’s success stories in the space sector. In fact ESA has enjoyed a major presence at the gathering since 2020, and this year’s edition in Rimini in Italy featured a popular ESA booth with exhibits that included activities, products and mock-ups from Φ-lab. The multitude of visitors to the booth comprised enthusiasts, start-ups and companies among others, with each taking the opportunity to interact with Φ-labbers and other ESA representatives.

A notable attraction at this year’s event was the AI4EO Call, a joint initiative of Φ-lab and the organisers of WMF. The competition concerned applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and data processing in aerospace and EO and aimed to reaffirm the value of these sectors in international development and the protection of our planet. Entries were assessed by a panel consisting of ESA and industry representatives, based on criteria including project feasibility, degree of innovation, competitive positioning and potential for further development.

Sixteen of the start-ups were shortlisted and invited to WMF to pitch their proposals to the panel. At a dedicated ceremony in the ESA booth, Φ-lab AI Ecosystem Manager Sabrina Ricci announced the four winning applications:

  • FlyPix AI, a geospatial platform that extracts insights from satellite and drone imagery, enabling customers to detect and segment objects of interest, identify their characteristics and monitor changes and anomalies over time
  • SaferPlaces, an AI-based digital twin solution that uses satellite and climate data to deliver flood risk intelligence for urban environments
  • Terroir from Space, a service for the wine industry that both detects unexploited planting sites and monitors existing vineyards through AI processing of EO data
  • Latitudo 40, an analysis engine that draws on Deep Learning algorithms to provide customers with satellite-derived information on topics such as land use, carbon sequestration and coastline erosion

The first-prize winners, FlyPix, won a trip to the ESA EO Commercialisation Forum in October, where they will participate at an ideas-pitch session with private investors. Other prizes for the runners-up included access to business and technical coaching on EO and a subscription to the Sentinel Data Hub.

“We’re truly grateful to have had the opportunity to take part in the AI4EO competition at WMF 2023 and were overjoyed to be selected as the winners,” commented FlyPix co-founder Sergey Sukhanov. “Not only did this experience allow us to showcase our progress, but it also provided a platform for networking with other participants and exploring potential collaborations. In addition, the EO Commercialisation Forum will be a fantastic chance for us to present our product to a new audience.”

Head of the Φ-lab Invest Office Michele Castorina was impressed by the competition’s take-up: “There has been a striking response to the AI4EO Call, with an extremely broad range of ideas that amply demonstrate the vigour and continuing growth of European innovation. We’ve also had a great deal of interest shown in the ESA InCubed programme, giving a number of possibilities for future co-funding of EO start-up activities.”

To know more: ESA Φ-lab, ESA InCubed, We Make Future, AI4EO Call, ESA EO Commercialisation Forum

Image courtesy of WMF – WeMakeFuture

Register for ESA’s first Earth observation commercialisation event

Posted on by nchimonides

Registration is now open for ESA’s first-ever Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum. Taking place at ESA Headquarters in Paris from 30 to 31 October 2023, investors, institutions, entrepreneurs and companies of any size from the Earth observation sector will now be able to come together and discuss the commercial potential and challenges of Earth observation, together with the technical, industrial and risk-capital support available to European companies.

Advancing commercial space in Europe is a vital component of ESA Agenda 2025 and the Earth observation sector has an abundance of possibilities that private businesses can capitalise on, from satellites and ground infrastructure through to applications that solve real-world problems with data from space. ESA’s Earth Observation Programme Directorate is organising the first Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum to bring leading stakeholders of the fast-growing Earth observation commercial space sector under the same roof.

Read the full article on www.esa.int.

Additional commercialisation innovation opportunities for Portugal with InCubed

Posted on by nchimonides

After confirming their support to ESA InCubed at the 2022 Ministerial Council, Portugal and ESA are announcing a new call for co-funding innovative Earth observation (EO) business cases.

With its mission to support commercially successful business activities in the Earth observation sector, the ESA InCubed programme has a fundamental role to play in promoting growth and competitiveness in the space economies of its Participating States. Portugal is a well-established subscriber to InCubed, and has recently confirmed its intention to open a new call for applying for InCubed co-funding.

Portuguese entities can now submit ideas, which will then be assessed by InCubed and the Portuguese Delegation. Activities selected will need to meet the needs of the Portuguese National Space Strategy, demonstrate a credible return on investment for the company and provide a balance of subject areas and geographical locations within Portugal.

Proposals can be submitted at any time, with two evaluation periods per year. In 2023, the first evaluation is scheduled for early July and the second for Quarter 4. Further details can be found on the Portuguese Space Agency website, and an online webinar to explain InCubed opportunities in Portugal will take place on 23 May at 11:00 CEST. Applicants for InCubed support from any participating state should submit their proposals on ideas.esa.int.

“This initiative from Portugal amply demonstrates the broad commitment to InCubed,” commented Head of the Φ-lab Invest Office Michele Castorina. “We will continue to work hand in hand with our participating states to increase access to finance for the European EO sector, and I look forward to seeing a host of new proposals from Portuguese enterprises.”

Carolina Sá is the Earth Observation officer at the Portuguese Space Agency: “Earth Observation and all its potentialities are a central component of Portugal’s National Strategy for Space. The Portuguese Space Agency believes that this funding opportunity for innovative products and services will give a fundamental boost to our national Earth Observation ecosystem.”

To Know more: ESA InCubed, Portuguese Space Agency

New call released for UK InCubed proposals

Posted on by nchimonides

The latest ESA InCubed call for the United Kingdom is now out. UK entities are invited to submit proposals seeking to develop innovative and commercially viable products and services that exploit the value of Earth observation. The deadline for submissions is 31 May.

The ESA InCubed programme focuses on co-funding commercial development activities across the entire Earth observation (EO) value chain, including satellites, ground applications, downstream applications and new EO business models. InCubed works in very close cooperation with its participating Member States and periodically issues dedicated country-oriented calls.

The most recent national call has been released in collaboration with the UK Space Agency and is open to UK industry and academia. A total of £1 400 000 of funding has been made available, with no upper or lower limit for individual activities. Idea pitches and proposals will be jointly assessed by InCubed and the UK Space Agency, based on criteria such as financial return for the British space sector, level of innovation and wider environmental, social or economic benefits.

Selected activities must finish within 18 months of starting and be able to demonstrate market readiness at completion.

There will be a webinar on 24 April to guide entities on the application process and answer questions relating to the call. Requests to join the event can be sent by completing the online form.

Details of the call can be found here. Applicants should submit their proposals on ideas.esa.int, and the closing date for entries is 31 May 2023.

To Know more: ESA InCubed, UK Space Agency

AI for Sustainable Development Goals initiative yields user-focused solutions to enhance food security

Posted on by nchimonides

The EO & AI for SDGs Innovation Initiative was set up by Φ-lab and the World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator to find commercially viable Earth observation and Artificial Intelligence-based solutions to global hunger issues. Launched in 2021, the initiative short-listed four start-ups and then supported them in designing and testing their solutions with users and WFP stakeholders in several countries.

Earth observation (EO) and artificial intelligence (AI) have a significant role to play in helping to increase food security. The focus of ESA Φ-lab in its research and co-funding support is always on innovation led by market and user needs, with particular emphasis on integrating emerging technologies such as quantum computing, blockchain and crowdsourcing.

These principles were very much to the fore when Φ-lab and WFP launched the EO & AI for SDGs Innovation Initiative. In selecting the finalists from the pool of entrants in the challenge, the panel sought commercially oriented start-ups with solutions which could scale up and were sustainable. WFP country offices and programme units were also consulted to gain user input.

As a result of the selection process, four start-ups were identified, all of which were deemed to have the right combination of technical prowess, flexibility and readiness for coaching. All four then attended a four-day workshop where they worked with Φ-lab and WFP stakeholders on initial co-design and piloting plans, before going off to develop their solutions in detail using the human-centred design approach.

With the initiative completed, now is a good time to look back over the progress and achievements of each project.

IBISA: forecast index insurance

Luxembourg start-up IBISA worked with the WFP Guatemala Country Office to design and test a new forecast index insurance product for smallholder farmers in the country’s Chiquimula region. The pioneering IBISA insurance model triggers action based on climate forecasts and observations, granting farmers advance pay-outs ahead of a forecast period of consecutive lack-of-rainfall or dry days. In this way the smallholders can take action to prepare and protect the harvest from damage.

The product is based on a combination of the ECMWF ERA5 dataset, 10-day forecast data and field visits, with pricing ensuring that policies are affordable for local people. IBISA and WFP are currently working together to engage local governments and communities, and product launch is expected later this year.

agriBORA: crop yield prediction and monitoring

agriBORA is a German company with operations in Kenya. Its platform uses machine-learning (ML) processing of satellite and ground-based data to monitor and forecast crop yields for Farmer Service Centres (FSCs), which provide information, finance and market connections to help farmers move from small-scale to commercial production. Within months of launching the pilot, agriBORA had enlisted 30 FSCs and thousands of farmers, leading to the development of models for both yield prediction and crop classification.

The pilot highlighted the fact that user geo-tagging is an essential factor for training the ML model and thereby increasing prediction accuracy. In terms of further development of the platform, agriBORA is therefore seeking to incentivise FSCs and individual farmers to geo-tag their land so that the precision of the insights they receive back from agriBORA continues to improve.

Oxford Earth Observation Limited: hydrological drought index

Specialising in water management, Oxford Earth Observation is a British start-up that has developed a hydrological drought index based on precipitation, soil moisture and surface water availability. Rather than simply relying on rainfall like the Standard Precipitation Index, the company’s more comprehensive model factors in additional components such as water run-off and infiltration to groundwater, in order to give a more complete picture of green vegetation growth.

In trials in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, Oxford Earth Observation and WFP found that growth forecasting improved by an average of 20% compared with the Standard Precipitation Index. WFP is now planning further validation of the new model and a wider roll-out in drought-prone areas.

RAMANI: CHEETAH

Highway tolls, customs charges and bribes can severely eat into the profits of players in the food supply chain, while poor road quality can destroy crops due to excessive vibration. Dutch company RAMANI has produced an application dubbed Chains of Human Intelligence Towards Efficiency and Equity in Agro-food Trade along the Trans-Africa Highway (CHEETAH). Piloted with sellers, traders and transporters in Ghana and Burkina Faso, the CHEETAH application collected crowdsourced data on charges and measured road conditions through both very high resolution optical satellite imagery and the motion sensor of users’ phones.

The result was a wealth of information that helps to monitor unforeseen costs and protect produce in transit. Possible future expansions of the application include a digital marketplace for crops, access to emergency vehicle repair and measuring CO2 savings.

“Collaborating with WFP Innovation Accelerator on this initiative has been a fantastic opportunity to see the real-world needs of growers and traders in often challenging regions,” commented Φ-lab data scientist Nicolas Longépé. “As shown by the skills and output of the four finalists, AI-powered Earth observation can be a vital tool for humanitarian development, and ultimately the final proof of the benefits is in the ability to improve lives and outcomes in communities around the world.”

To know more: Fighting hunger from space, WFP Innovation Accelerator

Image courtesy of agriBORA

Φ-lab and UNICEF joint dengue fever research receives further award

Posted on by nchimonides

A project carried out by Φ-lab in conjunction with UNICEF has been selected as one of the UN agency’s top research initiatives of 2022. The success of the project, which developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution for quantifying dengue fever outbreaks, has led to its operationalisation phase receiving significant funding from the Wellcome Trust.

Dengue fever is a major public health issue in the world’s tropical and sub-tropical regions, with the disease registered as endemic in more than 100 countries according to the World Health Organisation. Forecasting outbreaks has traditionally been particularly challenging due to the complex nature of how dengue spreads, but pioneering research by Φ-lab in conjunction with UNICEF has shown that modelling from Earth observation data can successfully predict instances of the disease one month in advance.

The climate-based ensemble model uses multiple Machine Learning approaches to take account of geographical variations in dengue incidence and proved to be more accurate than previous predictive techniques when piloted in Brazil and Peru.

The importance of the research was initially recognised by UNESCO in its 2021 Global Top 100 list of projects solving problems related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The possibility of further acclaim followed last year, when the project was put forward for the Best of UNICEF Research 2022 competition. This annual challenge seeks to promote research best practices and to award activities with a high potential for impact on policies and programmes that benefit children. Submissions are assessed on the basis of a number of criteria, including originality, relevance, methodology and local engagement.

As a result of the peer review and panel evaluation, Φ-lab’s research was short-listed as one of the three projects in the critical ‘Every child survives’ goal area. In fact, the project was given pride of place in the enticing opening sentence of the UNICEF report on the finalists: “Imagine creating a machine learning model that uses data about rainfall to forecast disease outbreaks.” The report goes on to explain that the 12 selected projects all deliver results for children by informing decision-making, shaping policy and raising public awareness, showing “not only the power of innovation in the face of emergency and crisis, but also the virtues of agility, endurance and scalability.”

Results from the research showing the state-by-state correlation between dengue incidence rate, maximum temperature and humidity in Brazil

The dengue project was then showcased at a UNICEF award ceremony. In a video played to the online audience, Hanoch Barlevi, UNICEF Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Changes Assessment Specialist emphasised the benefits of the endeavour: “In tandem with the [UNICEF] Innovation Team, and partners like the European Space Agency, we have explored different approaches and techniques and technologies to strengthen health systems, making them better prepared, which will boost estimates of the current and future projection of dengue distribution for children today and tomorrow.”

The foundation laid by Φ-lab’s research has now attracted funding for the crucial next phase, developing an end-user application for predicting dengue outbreaks. The Wellcome Trust has granted over €600 000 to the University of California San Diego, New Light Technologies Inc. and UNICEF to produce the tool, initially for Latin America and then potentially expanded to other regions and diseases.

“We’re truly delighted to receive such recognition for our work,” commented Rochelle Schneider dos Santos, the Φ-lab researcher who led the project. “We hope and believe the dengue research will be a game changer for outbreak modelling, and the multi-disciplinary nature of the awards is particularly rewarding – sustainable development from UNESCO and children’s health from UNICEF. In addition, the grant from Wellcome is another example of how Φ-lab’s AI-powered research can pave the way to third-party funding and customer-focused products and services.”

To know more: UNICEF, UNESCO, Wellcome Trust

Competition details and extracts courtesy of Best of UNICEF Research 2022, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, 2022

ESA Φ-labbers share stories about their Earth observation activities

Posted on by nchimonides

A new video provides a chance to meet researchers and business innovators from ESA Φ-lab and get an overview of their stimulating working environment.

The work of ESA Φ-lab covers a remarkably wide scope in both Earth observation (EO) research and support to the commercialisation of EO products and services. In this brief but informative video, Φ-lab members from both the Explore and Invest offices talk about some of the fascinating activities they are involved in, embracing topics such as dengue outbreak risk assessment, embedded artificial intelligence on satellites and collaborating with EO start-ups.

Φ-lab is always looking for new recruits, so if you are interested in pushing the boundaries in leading-edge EO research, please get in touch.

Boosting market traction for agri-monitoring service

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Support from ESA’s Earth observation InCubed commercialisation programme has enabled two companies, GeoVille and EOX, to secure a major contract to provide an Austrian Area Monitoring Service. The consortium’s EO-WIDGET software provides the farming sector with critical satellite-derived information and is a key tool in compliance monitoring for the European Common Agricultural Policy.

Agricultural monitoring has gained ever-increasing attention recently in the face of a major global food crisis and growing concerns over food security. Within Europe, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a fundamental pillar of the continent’s food supply. The CAP now requires national governments to carry out increasingly extensive checks and controls of agricultural production and payment claims from farmers.

Read the full article on www.esa.int