MAY VIDEO CONFERENCE MINUTES
The last Copernicus Academy monthly video conference was held on 20 May 2020. Please find the minutes of this meeting below.
1. Updates of the FPCUP project - Framework Partnership Agreement on Copernicus User Uptake Julia Röhrig, German Aerospace Center (DLR)
The idea behind the FPCUP is to enhance the user uptake of Copernicus data and services, which entails reaching potential users and increasing the usage of the data itself. It is an EU funded project (under the Commission’s User Uptake Strategy) that started in 2018 and runs until 2022. The consortium consists of 48 partners from 23 European countries, led by DLR.
There are currently 70 user uptake actions that are running, with more starting soon. Some of these actions include information and training events, building an active dialogue with actors, developing and piloting downstream applications and services and promoting national and multi-national innovative actions. They focus on national and international user uptake, supporting businesses and innovative solutions (SMEs).
On the FPCUP website , you can find relevant and useful information, such as project management, running actions, procedural information and how to get involved.
They have started preparing the Work Programme for 2021, the last one in the project, which will be submitted in March 2021.
As an external, how can you engage with FPCUP?
• Engage with FPCUP-partner to co-define actions for the Work Programme; • Respond to tenders by partners issued in the framework of FPCUP; • Participate in events etc. organised as part of FPCUP actions.
2. State-of-the-art of the Copernicus Start-Up programme • Copernicus Masters Monika Mayr, AZO
The Copernicus Masters competition has been running for 9 years, with more than 3,700 participants. Since 2011, 84 prizes have been awarded and the total prize pool that has been handed out amounts to € 4.7 million. Over 200 international experts are involved in evaluating the submitted business concepts. The Copernicus Masters is a joint initiative of the European Commission, ESA and DLR. In 2020, Challenge partners include the European Commission, ESA, Planet, BayWa, Airbus Sobloo and BMWI. A new feature for 2020, is represented by the Copernicus Prizes, which are co-funded by the European Commission and national or regional entities.
The 2020 Copernicus Masters Challenges include a series of different topic-specific challenges from various partners. Find out more about these Challenges here .
For this year´s edition, the European Commission is hosting two topic-specific challenges and is co-funding 13 Prizes. The first EC Challenge is the “EU Space data for new Business Applications Challenge” which aims to find solutions that have the potential to stimulate new commercial incentives in “established” markets and open up business opportunities to start- ups. The second EC Challenge is the “EU Space data for “Blue Economy” Challenge” which aims to find solutions that have the potential to stimulate new markets and to contribute to environmental protection related to the so-called “Blue Economy”.
How can you participate?
The submission phase is currently open until 30 June. Participants must choose a Challenge in the online secured database. To increase the chances of winning, participants can also choose one of the Prizes.
The Prize pool includes cash prizes and in-kind prizes for a total amount of € 620,000.
Concerning the overall timeline, the submission phase will run until 30 June. From August to September, all received applications will be evaluated, and the award ceremony will be held (online) in December.
Download the presentation here.
• Copernicus Accelerator
Florentyna Smith, SpaceTec Partners
The Copernicus Accelerator prepares Europe’s boldest innovators for scalable success. 50 promising starts-ups are run through the programme, wich challenge and inspire them to take their ideas and transform them into an impactful commercial solution. This initiative is built on three pillars:
- 12 months of coaching: each start-up is matched with a mentor that best suits their needs and desires. - Two bootcamps: one at the start, which is a two-day training programme where they can grow their network and build the foundations for the virtual training, and one at the end where they can present and showcase their successful solution. - Virtual training: during the 12 months of the programme, participants have access to technical trainings and business knowledge from industry experts.
Other benefits include access to a large pool of mentors and experts and, for 2020, 3 start- ups will also have the possibility to “Meet investors” during a dedicated roadshow, thus receiving dedicated training, tailor-made support as well as a market validation pilot.
The 2020 cohort is currently running, and a new call will be launched from 1 June until 20 September. The opening bootcamp will follow in December 2020, with virtual training and coaching sessions taking place between January and December 2021. The closing bootcamp will take place in November/December 2021.
How can you apply? During the open call, start-ups need to register their idea on the online platform, submit a pitch deck and fill in a brief questionnaire. Results will be communicated in October 2020.
What about mentors? Experts wanting to share their knowledge and foster innovation can apply to become mentors. The application period is the same as for the start-ups (1 June – 20 September). Find out more information here .
• Copernicus Incubation
Nicolas Helssen, Verhaert
The Copernicus Incubation programme offers start-ups €50.000 in equity free funding to further develop Copernicus based services within an already existing incubator (joint application programme). The funding can be used for one year.
The focus of the Incubation is to find new, exciting and innovative ways of using Copernicus data for real problems in existing markets (e.g. agriculture, smart cities, construction, etc.).
The pre-conditions for start-ups to participate are the following:
• use Copernicus data • be commercially promising • joint application with a support programme (incubator, accelerator, consulting firms, etc.) • based in the EU (+Norway) • a maximum of 5 years since the company was registered
Every year, around 20 start-ups are selected.
This is a partially co-funded programme, which entails that 15% (€8,000) has to be funded by the start-up itself. 50% is given upfront as an advanced payment, and the last payment is a reimbursement payment at the end of the year.
What are some of the achievements of the programme?
• 46 companies supported over the past 2 years (27 completed); • Average increase in employees by 3.5 (72 new FTEs); • Average revenue increase by €100k during incubation year; • 33% have found new investment capital; • 89% able to export outside own country
What have some of the winners done?
• LiveEO: a company that does vegetation monitoring close to railway tracks and electric utilities for safety management by monitoring of ground subsidence for pipelines in combination with AI to generate useful information for end-user. • Viridian Raven: a company that uses EO data to monitor forest health and detect bark beetle activity at an early stage. EO data can detect changes in the forest and its health structure and a risk analysis can be performed to improve forest health. • Deep Blue Globe: a company that is using satellite data to optimise ship routes by looking at waves and other parameters to reduce time, fuel and money.
Check out the communication materials on their website .
• Copernicus Hackathons
Maximilian Heiser, AZO
The Copernicus Hackathon programme brings together computer programmers and thematic experts from all over Europe, to collaborate on the development of new software based on Copernicus data. The winner of each Hackathon receives a place in the Copernicus Accelerator programme.
The European Commission finances 40 Copernicus Hackathons. Until now, 30 Hackathons have taken place in 16 European countries, with over 1,300 participants. Overall, more than 252 Copernicus prototype applications have been developed and there have been 340 European partner organisations from academia, industry, public authorities, etc. 10 more Hackathons are scheduled for 2020 (online due to COVID-19).
The programme benefits from different partners that often re-join from previous editions.
What are some of the winning solutions?
• ShatShipAI : aims to enhance maritime surveillance with satellite data and Artificial Intelligence. It fills a gap in the existing maritime surveillance capabilities by providing ship detection, type classification, and size estimation from satellite imaging. • SuperVision Earth : aims to improve gas infrastructure safety with the help of remote sensing satellites and Artificial Intelligence, by monitoring pipelines for risks and delivering warnings directly to the client.
3. The ERATOSTHENES: Excellence Research Centre for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment- 'EXCELSIOR’, H2020 widespread teaming phase 2 project Diofantos Hadjimitsis, Department of Civil Engineering & Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology & Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence
Ιn 2007, the Remote Sensing & Geo–Environment Lab (Eratosthenes Research Centre - ERC) was established within the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics of the Cyprus University of Technology.
In 2019, they won a proposal under H2020 widespread teaming. The Excelsior project aims to upgrade the existing Remote Sensing & Geo-Environment Lab into a sustainable, viable and autonomous Centre of Excellence: the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence (ECoE).
The project kicked-off at the end of November 2019 and is composed of a consortium with partners from Cyprus, Greece and Germany. Cyprus was chosen as it has a unique geostrategic position and is ideal for calibration and validation processes, as well as for acquiring cloud-free satellite images.
Why ECoE? They identified some needs and opportunities for Earth Observation in Cyprus. For example, there was a need for more data on the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa region (EMMENA).
Applications belong to the fields of deformation monitoring, flood risk analysis, water leakage detection, fire detection, managing cultural heritage, agricultural applications, air pollution and climate change, air quality/aerosols, maritime awareness/ship detection and land cover changes.
The Excelsior project has a € 44 million budget (15 million from the EC, 15 million from the Republic of Cyprus and 8 million from the university). It will run for 15 years, from October 2019 to September 2034. They will build new infrastructures, employ around 100 people and develop a state-of-the-art remote sensing research lab, just to name a few of the initiatives that will be carried out.
Within the next 7 years, they aim to become a world-class Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) for EO and Geospatial Information, becoming the reference Centre in the Eastern Mediterranean and in EMMENA. There will be three departments (environment and climate, resilient society; and big earth data analytics), as well as 13 thematic research areas.
They will provide relevant information for decision making to science, industry and governments in order to support policies, business development, generate economic growth and ultimately improve the quality of life for all citizens.
The ECoE will be established in the Cyprus University of Technology in Limassol, Cyprus with supporting infrastructures in coastal municipalities. They are open for collaboration with other universities, research centres and industrial partners. Find out more information on their website .
4. COVID-19 Custom Script Contest winner: monitoring of lettuce production
Karl Chastko
In the framework of the COVID-19 Custom script contest , Karl focused on lettuce production in Yuma County - Arizona, USA. Yuma County is one of the largest lettuce producing regions in North America. It generates USD 3.2 billion in revenue annually, it is home to nine salad processing plants, it produces just under 1 million kgs of salad per day during peak production and employs more than 50,000 people.
The production relies heavily on precision agricultural practices such as precision irrigation and fertiliser application. It also relies on manual labour for harvesting, mainly from guest workers from Mexico. COVID-19 has significantly disrupted the markets in North America and Asia, due to the closure of most restaurants and a consequent drop in demand. Due to the latter, guest workers are not being admitted, which in turn has economic fallouts on Mexican families.
How can the impact of COVID-19 on the lettuce industry be measured using Satellite Imagery?
Karl identified lettuce fields from previous years, extracted the spectral signature of lettuce and used that to classify the crop. Then one can use various remote sensing indexes to determine what was being done on the ground as a result of the pandemic. Where crops being harvested or tilled under? How were they reacting? How was this situation impacting water reservoirs and irrigation practices? Karl compared trends observed in 2020 to trends in previous years.
This type of information can be used by a variety of stakeholders such as:
• Immigration services: they can understand how many visas they may need to process and how to staff the visa processing centres. • Regional Water Authorities: they would be able to plan for water releases in the future. • Local, state and federal government: the fast and accurate data can help government make informed decisions and take appropriate actions.
5. Introduction of a new member: Facultad Politécnica de la Universidad Nacional de Asunción – PARAGUAY
The National University of Asuncion was established in 1889 and is the oldest and most significant University in Paraguay. The aeronautical and space research group, which is part of the Polytechnic School, is the section of the university that became part of the Copernicus Academy network.
The University has 40 campuses all over Paraguay and is present in 22 cities and 12 districts. The Polytechnic School’s mission is to:
• Train professionals in the areas of technology, applied science and management; • Promote research, technological development and innovation projects; • Develop extension activities to respond to the demands of the globalised environment and contribute to the sustainable growth of the country.
GIAE, the aeronautical and space research group, is a new school and the research group was established in 2018. The group is composed by teachers, students and researchers in the area of aerospace engineering. Their research interests are aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, stratospheric platforms, suborbital vehicles, avionics and space applications.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the GIAE focused on monitoring nitrogen dioxide using Sentinel-5P. The compared Sentinel-5P data between Paraguay, where strong lockdown measures were taken, and Brazil, where fewer restrictions were deployed. Comparing March 19 to March 30, the data showed a general decrease in both countries, but still a higher level in Brazil.
By making these studies public, they managed to gather some media attention for their findings, as well as interest from the general public, thus increasing awareness of the Copernicus programme, and hopefully, user uptake of Copernicus data in Paraguay.