the results 2019 - copernicus accelerator · strategy for europe”, through which it identified...

Get a glimpse of the business ideas boostedby the third edition of the Copernicus Accelerator

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The Results 2019

Table of Contents

2018/2019 Copernicus Accelerator Programme 03Statistics 04Success Stories 06Copernicus Accelerator Business Cases 2018 10Mentors 2018 52Mentees 2018 53Copernicus Start-up Programme 54

2018/2019 Copernicus Accelerator Programme

In 2016, the European Commission adopted the “Space Strategy for Europe”, through which it identified priorities for the European Space policy, such as encouraging the user uptake of space data and services. The Commission set up the Copernicus Start-up Programme to inspire start-ups, companies, students and researchers to develop smart solutions for the use of Earth observation data, creating added value in new products, services or applications.

The Copernicus Accelerator contributes to this objective: helping to provide fertile grounds in Europe for creating new markets, developing new applications and explaining the benefits of Copernicus data to citizens. An important incentive for the user uptake of Copernicus!

Today, after three successful editions of the Copernicus Accelerator, 140 start-ups benefitted from business coaching, training and networking opportunities. These numbers are promising and demonstrate a remarkable creativity in Europe. They showcase that Copernicus data and information is recognised as a valuable resource for new business opportunities.

The 2018/2019 cohort of 50 ventures from 16 countries complete the programme by presenting their innovative products and services during a Bootcamp at INTERGEO 2019. The results are impressive. All business cases are of technical quality and have innovation potential.

The European Commission thanks all participants of the 2018/2019 programme and welcomes everyone to the closing Bootcamp at the INTERGEO.

All the best for a successful market uptake of your great projects!

#CopernicusAccelerator

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StatisticsThe third edition of the Copernicus Accelerator was remarkably diverse both in terms of participants’ countries and the ideas’ application fields. 50 innovative solutions based on Copernicus data developed by entrepreneurs from 16 EU countries can be applied in 10 fields to make Earth a better place to live on.

12% Assistance in Customer Acquisition 23% Business Coaching

10% Assistance in Internationalisation

18% Access to Financial Resources

26% Support during Product Development

11% Expert Advice on Market Launch

Mentees by Application Fields

14% Atmosphere Monitoring

14% Land Monitoring

16% Natural Resource Management & Farming

6% Other

8% Infrastructure & Mobility

8% Energy

6% Finance & Legal Consulting

6% Climate Change Monitoring

10% Disaster Management

10% Marine Monitoring

Mentees by Core Technologies

26% Image Processing

29% Artificial Intelligence

6% IoT

8% Machine Learning

8% Predictive Analytics

12% GIS

12% Big Data & Blockchain

Mentees by Country

10% Italy

29% Germany

2% Sweden

6% Greece

4% Poland

4% Spain

2% Czech Republic2% Iceland

2% Latvia2% Portugal

2% Slovakia2% Slovenia

10% The Netherlands10% United Kingdom

6% Finland

6% France

Mentors‘ Fields of Expertise








14% Land Monitoring


6% Other


8% Energy








6% IoT

8% Machine Learning


12% GIS


Mentees by Country

10% Italy

29% Germany

2% Sweden

6% Greece

4% Poland

4% Spain





6% Finland

6% France









14% Land Monitoring


6% Other


8% Energy








6% IoT

8% Machine Learning


12% GIS


Mentees by Country

10% Italy

29% Germany

2% Sweden

6% Greece

4% Poland

4% Spain





6% Finland

6% France









14% Land Monitoring


6% Other


8% Energy








6% IoT

8% Machine Learning


12% GIS


Mentees by Country

10% Italy

29% Germany

2% Sweden

6% Greece

4% Poland

4% Spain





6% Finland

6% France


4 5

Success Stories6

Agricolus – Validating Farmers’ Gut Feelings with Data Agricolus Srl is an innovative Italian start-up that develops solutions for smart agriculture. The company’s mission is to support farmers, agronomists, agrifood processors, and other agricultural operators in optimising agronomic practices and field operations using cutting-edge technologies for data collection and analysis.

Agricolus is a cloud platform made up of smart farming appli-cations that include forecast models, decision support systems (DSS), remote sensing data, and tools for crop scouting. These tools aim to facilitate smart pest and disease control, wise irrigation and fertilization management, and efficient farm management.

LiveEO – Delivering Answers from AboveIncreasingly erratic and extreme weather events are requiring more frequent, thorough, and efficient moni-toring of our infrastructure than ever before. Recurring disastrous wildfires triggered by vegetation located too close to electricity grids are just one dramatic example of the problems the industry is facing. Understanding, controlling, and mitigating risks will be an increasingly indispensable mission for electric utilities.

LiveEO is a space start-up from Berlin, Germany, that is using satellite images to monitor electricity, railway, and pipeline networks and other large-scale infrastruc-ture grids. It optimises the combination of public and commercial satellite data to monitor grids at the scale of an entire country in a single day – all around the world.

Use of the platform results in lower costs, better yield quality and quantity, and reductions in the environmental impacts of farming. Copernicus has supported the integration of remote sensing data from satellites (especially Copernicus Sentinel-2) into the platform. This Earth observation data is processed in the Agricolus application and can be accessed by the user through the imagery feature. The data helps farmers identify homogeneous management zones at the farm level, and the imagery feature compares plant vitality and water stress values for multiple fields. Based on its outstanding expertise in specific crops (such as olives, grapes, tobacco, and corn), Agricolus has also focused on developing features tailored to these crops.As one of the top 50 Copernicus Masters entrants in 2017, Agricolus gained access to the second edition of Copernicus Accelerator and was supported by Willem Bulthuis from WBX Consulting. Shortly after the coaching process began, the first version of Agricolus was released online. At present, the company has several versions of the platform that meet the different needs of customers (farms of varying size, associations of farmers, agronomists, farm suppliers). It is currently working on improving its existing features and developing new ones.

The application of state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms enables LiveEO to extract valuable insights for preventive and reactive operational strategies. Detecting vegetation dangerously close to a grid helps not only in substantially lowering operational costs, but also in ensuring compliance with operational and regulatory guidelines.Since competing in Copernicus Accelerator in 2017/2018, LiveEO has come a long way in developing solutions to improve vegetation management for utility companies. With more than 20 people working on machine learning, remote sensing, GeoIT, and business development, LiveEO has grown substantially to provide a proper solution to utility companies with the help of Copernicus Accelerator.With LiveEO’s corresponding tool, utilities can completely revolutionise their vegetation management at every organisational level – from vegetation management to contractors – thereby increasing their efficiency and reliability. The information is distributed via two digital platforms: a web-based user interface and a mobile app that support operation managers in planning budgets and resources for evidence-based maintenance.

live-eo.comagricolus.com

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Mentor Hinnerk Gildhoff, SAP“LiveEO delivers answers from above in a disruptive way, which is highly relevant for the SAP business world. It’s an

open and extensible cloud platform that derives information from Earth observation and drone data to improve business decisions. The success of its initial proof-of-concept with a customer in the energy market has already shown the po-tential of its combined solutions. LiveEO has thus managed to create a platform for start-ups and commercial partners that paves the way into the world of enterprise business.”

Mentor Willem Bulthuis, WBX Consulting“Precision agriculture is a very relevant innovation nowadays, as it makes it possible to grow quality products for the Earth’s steadily growing population while reducing the use of natural resources and pesticides. This is why there are more and more

start-ups emerging in the field. The Copernicus Accelerator start-up Agricolus is very well positioned thanks to its multidisciplinary team, its strong customer focus, its decision to start with specific

crops, and its pragmatic approach to market entry and business model decisions. The founders are also great to work with!”

Success Stories8

TETHYS – Supporting Farmers in Their Daily DecisionsCentrale Valutativa is an innovative start-up that offers valua-ble smart services to farmers. Having started with a service for more efficient use of water in agriculture (TETHYS Water Saver), it has broadened its scope over time to include services for monitoring crop health (TETHYS Crop Monitor) and estimating crop yields (TETHYS Yield Estimator).Centrale Valutativa was founded in 2016 by seven partners with different backgrounds who had already spent a long period working together on evaluating agricultural programs co-funded by the EU. This collaboration strengthened their close professional and interpersonal relationships and helped them gain in-depth experience in agricultural research, which has been useful in developing innovative EO-based services for agriculture.The start-up has just completed a two-year incubation period at ESA-BIC Lazio that has allowed it to evolve from a simple business idea into a proper decision support system that gives farmers and agriculture professionals clear and profound overviews of what is happening on their fields. This is thanks to advanced algorithms that are fed by satellite images and other data (weather, soil, etc) in a holistic approach.Above all, the support provided by Copernicus Accelerator has aided Centrale Valutativa in refining its business strategy, improving its branding, and building important relationships at the international level. Its growth has been accompanied by awards and other accolades (including as the second

ConstellR – Taking Our Planet’s TemperatureWe need to produce 60% more food by 2050 to feed the world’s increasing population. However, due to increasing demographic pressure, bad management practices, low water productivity, prolonged extreme weather conditions, and land and soil degradation, today’s agriculture is facing a breakdown.

With a fleet of thermal infrared satellites, ConstellR will directly access vegetation health and soil moisture content to help irrigation management and warn of im-pending droughts weeks before physiological changes manifest. It is designed to provide the high-precision temperature data this requires at a high spatial and temporal resolutions. The team behind ConstellR believes that this will not only serve an emerging market need,

runner-up in the 2017 Copernicus Masters B2B Challenge and a finalist in the 2018 Copernicus Masters Land Monitoring Challenge) that have resulted in international exposure and visibility. The service is currently offered based on customised reports, but an app will soon be launched that will give users direct and flexible control. The app will be made available free of charge and enable users to benefit from various services, including a farm book and a crop monitoring service.

Meanwhile, other services (e.g. water management and yield estimation) will still be available at an affordable price.The huge scalability potential of TETHYS has allowed Centrale Valutativa to enter other interesting markets, such as institutions (creating thematic maps for public bodies) and the insurance sector in particular. Here, the company is working on an auto-matic, EO-based system for damage detection and estimation.

but drastically increase humankind’s capability to respond swiftly to environmental challenges. These include the thawing of the permafrost, increas-ingly large and long-lasting forest fires, respiratory diseases related to urban heat islands, soil degradation, and fast-spreading pandemics. Hailing from two of Europe’s largest research organisations, Fraunhofer and the German Aerospace Center, this team does more than cover the technical side of things in areas such as space engineering or image processing. It has also picked up in-sector knowledge thanks to the time its members have spent at companies in both agriculture and the insurance business.ConstellR’s journey started with Copernicus Masters and Copernicus Accelerator (when it was known as THERMI), where it evolved from a technical concept into a real-world application and began revealing its potential to have a substantial environmental impact. Having applied what it learned in the Copernicus Accelerator program, the team was recently one of seven start-ups to graduate from the distinguished VC-led Seraphim SpaceCamp in London. It has also been invited to pitch its vision during World Satellite Business Week in Paris.

constellr.space

tethysfarming.com

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Mentor Peter Grognard, Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics

“As an engineer and entrepreneur, I believe that extended thermal monitoring capabilities are desperately needed to support humankind’s long-term well-being on our planet.

At the same time, I can also see the market potential of corresponding thermal infrared data. I believe that this team is not only well-suited to tackling this challenge; it also has

the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to succeed.”

Mentor Panagiotis Ilias, Neuropublic S.A“TETHYS is an innovative product designed to provide EO-

based services with added value to clients. The solution’s require-ments – and especially its modular form – will make it possible to offer services that are tailored to customers’ actual needs. The TETHYS team combine business and technological knowledge

with a focus on their vision, which centres on providing effective, affordable, and modern EO-based advisory services.”

10 11Celsius – Reducing the Effects of Temperature in Cities

Green Urban Data develops environmental intelligence solutions for companies and administrations. It does so by integrating environmental information into the management processes of such organisations to improve people’s quality of life.Green Urban Data is breaking new ground in the development of environmental big-data technologies using Sentinel, Corine Land Cover, and Urban Atlas products. It is already working with six cities, including Valencia and Zaragoza, as well as with service companies and urban developers in the private sector. Copernicus is a key resource in the company’s business, and its acceleration programme is enabling Green Urban Data to be more competitive and introduce its solutions to new markets.

RoadEO – Data-Driven Road Maintenance

RoadEO advises public road authorities and construction firms on when and where the next road segment needs to be maintained. Its global road quality monitoring and prediction platform supports customers in their transition from reactive to predictive road maintenance in order to improve efficiency while increasing road comfort and safety. RoadEO does so with the help of AI by combining several sensor and data sources, in particular Sentinel-2 and crowdsourced smartphones for the detection of road wear and structural damage.

Mentee Mentee

Business Case

Business Case

Mentor Mentor Alejandro Carbonell, Green Urban Data“Copernicus Accelerator has given us more know-ledge about the large amount of information availa-ble for many applications. We have discovered in-novative technologies and new business models, and thanks to our mentor, we have improved the quality of our technology for future lines of business.”

Alexander Gunkel, RoadEO “Copernicus Accelerator has helped us get back on track and attract some initial customers and investors. I highly recommend it to any start-up and scale-up looking for support resources and great mentors!”

Prof José Sobrino, University of Valencia“Green Urban Data is a promising start-up that integrates Copernicus information for use by admin-istrations and companies. Celsius is a good start for the development of tools for evaluating climate change adaptation strategies in urban environ-

ments, where such strategies are becoming increasingly necessary.”

Dr Manfred Krischke, CloudEO AG“I had the pleasure of getting to know Alex and his start-up at the point where his initial proposition didn’t add up in both technical and commercial terms. Being a passionate entrepreneur and engineer myself, Alex and I were able to connect on a professional and personal level, which allowed us to make great pro-

gress and form a proposition that is innovative, novel, and most importantly, desirable!”

12 13UrbanZee – We Care for Air

With detailed city-wide air quality information usually not available, related satellite data too coarse, and government sensor networks too sparse, UrbanZee is building a platform-based economy for measuring air quality in cities. Crowdfunding campaigns will sell sensors to consumers to participate in this economy. Satellite data (Sentinel-5P) will reveal areas of interest, and community members can be encouraged to zoom into these areas (e.g. a single street). This service will be of interest to local governments, housing owners/buyers, schools, businesses, and other organisations.

Sheriff.ai – When Cloud-Based Security Isn’t Enough

Sheriff.ai is an evolution of Pipely, an idea from 2018. It is a cybersecurity solution that uses AI to protect space data from unauthorised human access. With EO being increas-ingly used for global business intelligence, it is important to keep the human-to-machine interface as secure as possible. Access to accurate maps based on Copernicus EO data is also vital for modern armies. In areas where other access methods are currently the norm (fingerprint readers, badge readers, and plain old passwords), Sheriff.ai makes all the difference in accessing systems, as well as in logging who uses them and at what time. Sheriff.ai – when cloud-based security isn’t enough.

Aschwin van der Woude, UrbanZee“The Copernicus programme has showed us what is possible with satellite data. Having a mentor has been the best part of it. My mentor provided a different approach, and together, we found a better way to build communities. He was critical in pushing me forward and re-energising me when I faced some difficulties.”

Carsten Deyl, Sheriff.ai“Regular mentoring sessions enabled us to incorpo-rate new ideas into our project and define product requirements for a secure layer over Copernicus space data. Thanks to the practical advice our mentor shared on target markets and the working environ-ment created by Copernicus Accelerator, the project developed smoothly!”

Hans van ‘t Woud, BlackShore“When Aschwin won the pitch competition during the Copernicus bootcamp, I immediately knew we were the right team working together for the greater good, but on challenges, as well. I can’t wait for the crowd-generated network to go online and comple-

ment the capabilities of the S5, generating the best services of both worlds!”

Simon Chambers, Axsysnav“Working with Sandino and Carsten was a mutually enriching experience, and it was great to see their business idea develop into a real service. It was the result of shared knowledge and experience not only in technical terms (based on my experience in the space

business), but with regard to the managerial aspects of starting and running a company, as well.”

Mentee Mentee Mentor Mentor

Business Case

Business Case

14 15SatShipAI – Enhancing Maritime Surveillance with Satellite Data and Artificial Intelligence

Besides being limited in range, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) mainly used for maritime surveillance is a co-operative system. This means that rogue actors can always switch off their onboard AIS transponder or even spoof it, thus becoming “dark” ships. Sat-ShipAI enhances and complements the maritime surveillance capabilities currently provided by AIS and similar systems using state-of-the-art AI. It can thus provide ship detection, type classification, and size estimation services based on Copernicus satellite imagery.

Global Supply Risk Monitoring – An Intelligence Service for Raw-Material Supply Chains

Manufacturing businesses depend on raw materials sourced from around the world. Riscognition is here to support them in acquiring geospatial intelligence that helps manage risks related to the supply chain. Riscognition delivers standard geospatial risk products tailored to each customer’s supply chain management needs. It focuses on locations such as plantations, forests, and mines that matter to manufacturing business. Thanks to the platform’s integrated Earth observation features, Riscognition can improve manufacturing flows and supplier relationship management. It does so by providing details at the raw material level that are relevant to environmental and social impact risks and climate-related changes.

Christos Iraklis Tsatsoulis, Nodalpoint Systems“The path of an idea from the conceptual level to a full-fledged commercial service is neither easy nor straightforward. The guidance and support we received from the Copernicus Accelerator programme was instru-mental for us in covering a large part of this path, and it gave us the confidence to see our idea through.”

Dr Conrad Bielski, Riscognition“Copernicus Accelerator helped the Riscog-nition team develop the skills we needed to move our business forward and enlarge our EO network. Our mentor guided us through a pivot and provided invaluable discussions and assessments to keep us on track. We would not have achieved so much without his help.”

Dr Richard Hilton, Independent“The SatShipAI concept is an exciting step forward in the world of ship detection. I have linked the team to potential partners, customers, and funding and provided advice on how their service could evolve. Their willingness to absorb all this infor-mation and follow up on it in a proactive and pro-

fessional manner made them a pleasure to mentor.”

Willem Bulthuis, WBX Ventures“Riscognition is focused on a rapidly growing challenge that all production companies face: under-standing their raw material supply chain. Riscogni-tion understands how to turn essential EO data into actionable information. It has been a great pleasure

to help with their pivot, and I hope to continue working with them in the future.”


Business Case

Business Case

16 17Sandbag – Measuring Big Polluters from Space

Climate policies in Europe and beyond are targeting cost-effective emissions reduction and thereby providing evidence-based advocacy with the highest leverage. Sandbag robustly explores the new European Sentinel-5P-TROPOMI and CAMS data in a machine learning approach. According to the WHO, facts and findings are showing that SOx, NOx, and COx emissions from coal power plants are responsible for four million premature deaths each year. Therefore, Sandbag’s value proposition is to work with the coal campaign community to provide transparent information that will accelerate the phase-out of coal in the best way possible to help people avoid health hazards and environmental threats.

QresQ – A Live Disaster Management Dashboard

Existing digital platforms for disaster response are not user-friendly for non-experts and volunteers. In emergency scenarios, QresQ provides an easily accessible solu-tion for locating survivors and goods. It is a one-stop platform where the user expe-riences actionable and updated information and insights thanks to analytics derived from satellite data. QresQ’s sources include Sentinel-1 and -2, DTM, mobile location data, localised social media signals, local weather data, and crowd-sourced data. Its customers range from corporations, insurance companies, and media to government authorities. Having already attracted dozens of users in India, QresQ will be targeting thousands of cities across the world in the next three years.

Dave Jones, Sandbag“Analysing so much data and making it useful has come with a steep learning curve for me. The new Sentinel-5P satellite is exciting because it offers a wealth of new data about the pollu-tion, we humans throw into the atmosphere. It also opens the door to a million new ways to keep track of things on Earth, and to ensure a better quality of life.”

Devleena Bhattacharjee, QresQ“Thanks to Copernicus Accelerator, we validated and enhanced our product idea and reached out to an international audience. Our mentor aided us in understanding the usefulness of Copernicus products and DIAS, shaping our business model, and identify-ing market opportunities to tap into.”

Md Bayzidul Islam, FabSpace 2.0“Sandbag is playing an outstanding role in working with policymakers to change EU and UK climate policy with the support of in-depth research and analysis. The principle is to phase out coal power and implement carbon capture and storage. Along with Sentinel-5P, CAMS, other air quality informa-tion, and a machine-learning approach to analysis

will enable Sandbag to make big difference in this regard.”

Federica Mastracci, Telespazio S.p.A.“QresQ is an interesting case of technological and cultural contamination being applied to emergency- response mapping services. Besides bringing data analytics and location-based services into the down-stream Copernicus market, it is developing Copernicus-

based solutions for the Asian market and thus contributing to the internationalisation of this EU program.”


Business Case

Business Case

18 19Scuba Scubadoo – A Mobile Application for People Who Love Scuba Diving

Scuba Scubadoo is a mobile app for people who love scuba diving, snorkeling, and aquatic life in general. Scuba Scubadoo will find the best place to swim or dive in terms of temperature (do I need a diving suit?), pollution and turbidity (how’s the water?), bathymetry (will there be rocks or sand?), and other factors. Sentinel-1, -2, -3, and in-situ data on characteristics such as water quality, sea conditions, and maritime traffic can offer suitable indications regarding the environment, sea life, and fauna in a given area. Sentinel data can also be used to deliver alerts on any location of interest to users’ mobile phones every few days.

TRACE – Tool for Recording and Assessing the City Environment

TRACE is a customisable data transformation and interpretation service designed to convert large and cumbersome Earth observation data into dynamic information about air quality in cities. This provides cheap, consistent, and extensive air pollution monitoring compared to the current approach used by local and government agencies and environmental consultants. TRACE is efficient and adaptable to processing large quantities of data from Copernicus (specifically Sentinel-5P) and other data providers.

Elisa Erioli, Studio Boost Srl“In general, it was a pleasure to work within the Copernicus Accelerator initiative. We got to know some partners, prepared our application, and set some commercial objectives based on Copernicus data and services.”

Dr Eloise Marais, University of Leicester“The Copernicus Accelerator programme gave me a renewed appreciation of the diverse applications of Earth observations to real-world issues in identifying potential synergies with TRACE. A particular strength of the programme was the opportunity to be mentored by Luísa Bernardes, who provided the support and encouragement I needed to promote TRACE, set and meet milestones, and identify international market opportunities.”

Teemu Tares, Envia Oy Ltd.“I appreciated this opportunity to get involved in an Italian start-up. I tried to give them scientific and commercial advice and make practical suggestions on setting R&D objectives. Scuba Scubadoo has a

promising idea for a mobile coastal tourism app with a well-defined and extremely large target group.”

Luísa Bernardes, Portugal Social Innovation“TRACE’s value proposition with regard to air quality brings Copernicus EO to policy makers. Having succeeded in securing funding, attracting key players, and building stronger business cases, Dr Marais is now looking to expand into international markets. It

has been a stimulating experience to work with new solutions that are needed to tackle our current societal challenges.”


Business Case

Business Case

20 21UptoEarth – Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soil

UptoEarth offers a set of innovative services based on the combination of satellite imagery from the Copernicus programme (Sentinel-1, -2, -3, -5P) and advanced machine-learning techniques. It seeks to monitor and encourage carbon sequestration in agricultural soil. UptoEarth’s products are primarily designed to address several market segments and potential customers within the agricultural sector (e.g. farmers, farmers’ associations, food retailers), but they will also appeal to industrial sectors and the public sector. There, they will provide authorities with the appropriate tools for monitoring, controlling, and (if necessary) regulating CO2 emissions in agriculture.

BalanceShift – Assessing Climate Risk

BalanceShift provides multinational companies with short-term and long-run assessments of the climate risk. It translates climate activity into location-specific and asset-explicit economic damages to support corporate decision-making and planning.How are increasing temperatures affecting a company’s balance sheet? How is a production shock due to a one-degree increase influencing a firm’s retail division? BalanceShift answers such questions by combining impact and cascading models at the asset level. The pilot application uses post-processed products and data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) to show how climate change is relevant to the corporate world.

Filippo Iodice, UptoEarth GmbH“Copernicus Accelerator provided us with access to knowledge, contacts, and opportunities that we would otherwise not have been able to obtain. Our mentor guided us through every step, from the definition of our products to the establishment of key partnerships and business relations.”

Francesca Larosa, BalanceShift“We used the Copernicus Accelerator programme as a learning platform and a tool to boost awareness of opportunities arising from climate change. With the help of our coach, Hinnerk, we tried, failed, tried again, and failed better, guided by the belief that Copernicus data and technology highlight new opportunities in connection with our climate.”

Dr Reinhard Schulte-Braucks, European Commission (retired)“UptoEarth’s software and services will enable their clients to check the amount of CO₂ sequestered in agricultural soil. From the start of the project, I was fully committed to supporting the team in reaching their objectives. I hope their clients will appreciate

their enthusiasm and professionalism as much as I did.”

Hinnerk Gildhoff, SAP SE“BalanceShift provides climate forecast information that enables large enterprises to reduce risks in global supply chain management and build awareness in the business industry. It’s a great example of how to

improve business decisions and work towards the Sustainable Development Goals.”


Business Case

Business Case

22 23EDEN – Monitoring and Forecasting of Soil Fertility Degradation

EDEN helps farmers and policymakers estimate the risk of soil degradation. Loss of fertility occurs all around the world for natural and human-driven reasons, such as strong rainfall, pollution, and intensive farming.EDEN uses Copernicus Sentinel-2 data supplemented by historical data (SPOT World Heritage and Landsat) to provide quantitative, automated, early-stage predictions of soil fertility loss. The team behind it leverages rigorous research results from the fields of statistical physics and climate science, machine learning, and Earth observation data to provide risk assessments to expert customers on decision support platforms for farmers and governmental institutions.

Dynland – Self-Learning Land Cover Recognition for Earth Observation

Dynland provides software and services in the field of land cover recognition. It decreases the time and costs involved in creating and updating land cover maps with regard to trees, habitats for certain species, peat lands, soil nitrogen levels, and more.At the heart of Dynland is an algorithm that replicates a human’s ability to recognise images. It is built on machine-learning models that are all widely known, but require no training data to provide accurate results that have been verified by independent tests.Though Dynland is data-agnostic, it has been mainly used with Sentinel-2 data. The service is available via its webpage to anyone interested in trying it in their next land classification project.

Dr Francesca Pietracaprina, EDEN“The Copernicus Accelerator programme and my mentor were crucial in helping me connect with technical and business partners and find further incubation support. Given our strong synergies and complementary expertise, EDEN has also joined forces with two other Accelerator mentees to form a well-rounded team with a clear vision.”

Gatis Bolinskis, Institute of Electronics and Computer Science“Placing among the Copernicus Masters finalists enabled us to boost the applicability of our algorithm to different cases. It also provided us with access to different industries. Meanwhile, the scientific and industrial expertise of our mentor helped us find our way through different notions of the same things in science and business.”

Philippe Lattes, Aerospace Valley“The EDEN project developed by Francesca is very advanced and original. The capability to foresee the desertification of a place years before it will occur is crucial in the current context of climate change. Even developed countries like Spain and the United States are concerned about desertification. The current predictions are based only on climate modifications,

but other parameters like local micro-climates, vegetation, and ground characteristics could be integrated in the future.”

Prof Dr Thomas Blaschke, University of Salzburg“Based on substantial research, the team developed an unsupervised image classification technology which doesn’t need training data – a wise alternative to typical machine-learning techniques. It is fascinat-ing to be part of a spin-off and commercialisation

project which aims to develop efficient, easy-to-use software.”


Business Case

Business Case

EDEN

24 25ACTAEON – Advancing Agricultural Insurance with Remote Sensing Data & Weather Intelligence Services

ACTAEON exploits recent developments in EO technology and climate services to deliver maximum utility for the agricultural insurance (AgI) sector. Copernicus EO data and other information derived from missions contributing to Copernicus are utilised, processed, and “translated” into valuable information that AgI companies can use to design their products and remotely assess the impact of natural disasters. In-house climate services based on data assimilation, numerical weather prediction, and the Copernicus ensemble’s seasonal forecasting are used to verify the occurrence of a catastrophic weather event, predict future perils, and better estimate weather-related risks in connection with AgI products.

Forest Threat Monitor – Combining Machine Learning and Satellite Data

The forest health monitoring service 20tree.ai combines machine learning and satellite data. Forests, the lungs of our planet, are under pressure from deforestation, storms, drought, and insect infestations. 20tree.ai provides data-driven insights into these threats to improve decision making by corporations, governments, and the forest industry at large. It does so by combining deep learning algorithms with data on our planet from Sentinel-1 and -2 to ensure scalable and accurate results. 20tree.ai has the ambition, growth, technology, and team to make a positive impact.

Gregory Mygdakos, AgroApps PC“Copernicus Accelerator has been a great opportunity in terms of both visibility and networking. It has enabled us to move our business idea forward and connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs. Furthermore, our highly experienced and supportive mentor contributed significantly towards improving our business model and making valuable connections.”

Indra den Bakker, 20tree.ai“Copernicus Accelerator contributed to the maturity of the 20tree.ai business model and the technology behind it by offering exceptional mentorship. The expertise, commitment, and positivity of our mentor greatly helped 20tree.ai to grow, and our connection to the community provided us with new business opportunities.”

Lluc Diaz, Rhea on behalf of ESA“AgroApps is providing insurance companies with a solution to increase their margins while reducing risks and administrative costs. It will also allow agro-entre-preneurs to access certain kinds of insurance policies. AgroApps is a game-changer that has already

gained traction in attracting big companies to join a pilot phase.”

Steve Spittle, Satellite Applications Catapult“It has been a real privilege to support 20tree.ai. This very competent and highly passionate start-up continues to demonstrate the real power of combining multiple satellite datasets with artificial intelligence to generate accurate and reliable results for the forestry market. This

is a company to watch as they continue to grow and diversify their product range.”


Business Case

Business Case

26 27Marine Big Data Analytics – Smart Maritime Insights Based on EO Data

Maritime Big Data Analytics is an AI cloud service that is leveraging the possibilities offered by marine big data. It acts as an alternative data provider by developing technology solutions that combine data generated by its stakeholders with Copernicus public data. This solves the lack of clarity typically involved in working with marine data due to missing data points in the value chain. Maritime Big Data Analytics seeks to add valuable Copernicus data (CMEMS data products) to support maritime media, the seafood industry, regulatory agencies, and the field of science based on early identification of business opportunities and environmental hazards.

SuperVision Earth – Gas Infrastructure Monitoring from Space

Gas pipelines form the backbone of the energy network. They are, however, still plagued by incidents despite the fact that almost half of them can be prevented by timely remote inspection. Pipeline operators currently use helicopters to scan their entire grid once a month. SuperVision Earth is developing an automatic system that can detect risks in a more timely and affordable manner. It acquires the latest Sentinel-1 and -2 images of pipe-line locations, and when a possible risk is detected, it downloads a commercial image, re-evaluates it, and informs the customer to prevent related incidents.

Isaac Dura, HeraSpace“Being part of Copernicus Accelerator provided the Marine Big Data Analytics project with the visibility and recognition it needed. The business we’re propos-ing focuses on defining a business model that allows for organic growth, which we are working towards using appropriate methods.”

Jan Kolmas, SuperVision Earth“Copernicus Accelerator helped us grow from a group of guys into a registered company. Since we are all first-time founders, the programme gave us an important guide to the start-up world. Both our mentor and the webinars gave us the knowledge and confi-dence we needed in our first year of existence.”

Svend-Olav Carlsen, Hydrogen Rise AG“The fishing industry enables millions of people around the world to earn income. By using Marine Big Data Analytics in combination with EO public data, HeraSpace is helping this industry become more sustainable while reducing related environmental

impacts. I am proud to have provided active support to Isaac.”

Benedikt Seitz, evalu GmbH“Within the first 10 months, this highly determined young team showed their potential to become outstanding entrepreneurs by successfully putting together a strong engineering team, designing an

initial product, securing funding, and even attracting their first customer.”


Business Case

Business Case

28 29DroughtMeasure – Adapting Cities to Climate Change

Most of the world’s cities need to implement major new policies to adapt to the changing climate. World from Space wants to provide them with support via Earth observation solutions based on Sentinel-1, -2 and -5P data. It can help cities better understand their current state, potential threats, and opportunities. World from Space monitors green urban areas, along with their fragmentation and resilience; analyses urban heat islands and critically overheated areas; and measures air pollution above cities. All these aids cities in setting up meaningful policies and goals based on indicators regularly measured via satellites. In this way, a city can effectively monitor its overall progress towards a resilient future. The solution is delivered via a web application to both decision makers and the general public.

Jan Labohý, World from Space“Copernicus Accelerator gave us a great oppor-tunity to meet other European space start-ups. Our mentor helped us monitor possible funding opportunities and think more about our foreign expansion plans.”

Paolo De Stefanis, Day One Srl“Smart cities aren’t really so smart if they can’t take care of their citizens’ well-being, and one of the topics that city planners typically neglect relates to how they can make their cities greener and more sustainable. The next time I enjoy a full day off in a

green park, I’m sure I’ll think about how Jan and Roman are helping municipalities with their service!”

Mentee Mentor

Hawa Dawa – Air Quality Intelligence for Smarter Mobility Planning

Built with real-time data from the company’s own IoT sensors, Sentinel satellite imagery, and other geospatial sources, Hawa Dawa’s air quality maps represent the first step in tackling global air pollution. Their data enables cities to monitor pollutants, design smart air quality measures, and assess the impact of investments. Companies can integrate the data into existing smart city management systems to develop novel solutions such as eco-sensitive traffic routing and speed controls. Hawa Dawa is already live in 20 European cities and, thanks in part to Copernicus Accelerator, has been able to map pollution in parts of the world that had no prior access to air quality data.

Janina Stork, Hawa Dawa“Copernicus Accelerator has provided us with tools to understand the satellite data market better, get access to investors and partners, and sharpen our value proposition in this field. Our mentor was able to support us in setting up the right structures, including for the products we offer outside of satellite data.”

Manuel Koelman, Pirate.global“Hawa Dawa is tackling a serious problem: air pollution. With its air monitoring solution, cities and organisations can get insights into pollution hotspots and take effective action against them. Hawa Dawa’s product vision and technology are impressive; it was a pleasure to work with such a skilled and

ambitious team.”

Mentee Mentor

Business Case

Business Case

30 31GoShip – A Smart, Real-Time Marine Navigation Service

GoShip is an all-platform service that offers small-scale vessels reliable maritime safety evaluations and real-time navigation optimisation for their ocean travels.Users in the fishing industry can benefit from its simple and rapid marine routing to fishery destinations, while sea explorers and travelers can enjoy better and safer experiences thanks to marine risk evaluation and real-time navigation services. Another highlight of this comprehensive solution relates to its multiple data sources, which include Copernicus (Sentinel-1 and -2) and GNSS.

Forestmap – An Integrated Web Platform for Forest Inventories

Forestmap is an e-commerce platform that allows users to make online forest inventories of a specific area. Forest monitoring is essential to ensure conservation and a sustain-able wood supply. Current forest inventories, which are mainly based on field data alone, are expensive, time-consuming, and rarely updated. Forest managers and bioeconomic industries need accurate, cost-effective, and rapid inventories. Forestmap is here to fill this gap by providing users with near-real-time inventories thanks to LiDAR, Copernicus (Sentinel-1 and -2), and other data from the comfort of their computers. With big data, forest management and wood supplies will be easier and cheaper than ever.

Jingyao Su, Technical University of Munich“Thanks to the opportunities and assistance provided by Copernicus Accelerator, we got in touch with other mentees and mentors, which helped us gain business knowledge and make technical improvements. Our mentor was also a big help in guiding our project development plans and teaching us about the business market. His own previous experiences in the Copernicus Accelerator programme enabled us to overcome many problems in our start-up stage.”

José Luis Tomé, Agresta S.Coop“Copernicus Accelerator is giving our business idea a big push. We are gaining lots of different tools and visibility that is enabling us to promote and improve our project. Our mentor has helped us explore several financing sources and interna-tionalisation scenarios. Networking is also one of the most valuable contributions of the programme.”

Dr Steve Owens, Beinn Bike Ltd. (Huli)“The team behind GoShip have developed an innovative shipping solution that helps both the fishing and tourism industries. The Copernicus Accelerator programme has offered unparalleled support, particularly with

regard to business skills that will help the team in the future.”

Pedro Branco, Virtual Angle BV“Agresta is revolutionising the way that forest inven-tories are managed with Forestmap – a quick and cost-effective tool designed for this exact purpose. As an associated work cooperative with a strong focus on innovation and research, the Agresta team is bring-ing technology to market that will define the future

of sustainable ecological management in the forestry sector.”


Business Case

Business Case

32 33DeepFlow – Supporting the Analysis of Large Data Sets

DeepFlow makes it possible to train a deep neural network with large pools of data and find similar patterns in thousands of new input images. Thanks to the integration of its framework with the Copernicus programme through the DIAS platform, users can access free-to-use images captured by Sentinel and Landsat satellites. Based on these satellite images, DeepFlow supports insurance companies in settling claims more quickly, cheaply, and efficiently. Its deep-learning mechanism is able to automatically train the network automatically to effectively identify floods, fires, and any damaged areas in satellite pictures and detect how much a given area was destroyed without the need to inspect the damage on-site.

SPACE-IRR – How Much Water for Irrigation?

SPACE-IRR will be a mobile application for measuring irrigation from space. Irrigation is the major source of water consumption on our planet, accounting for 70% of the water withdrawn worldwide. Despite this, it is unknown how much water is used for irrigation due to a lack of ground data. For the first time, SPACE-IRR will use satellite observations derived from the Copernicus satellites Sentinel-1 and -2 to measure how much water is being used for irrigation every day at field scale. Companies, farmers, and national agencies involved in agricultural water management will benefit from SPACE-IRR, as it will be a leading solution for better water use in agriculture.

Katarzyna Lipka, KP Labs“Copernicus Accelerator gave us the chance to evaluate our product idea, refine our business case, and make it more attractive to clients. Our mentor supported us in developing our business plan and business contacts. This enabled us to network with great teams and put us in touch with potential clients at an early stage.”

Luca Brocca, SPACE-IRR“Copernicus Accelerator brought valuable business focus and insights to the SPACE-IRR project. The mentoring helped us develop a business vision for the project, identify potential customers, learn more about European funding instruments for start-ups, and incorporate new ideas into the project.”

Elzbieta Jablonska, ARDITO Consulting Ltd.“Copernicus Accelerator helped the DeepFlow team focus on a clear path forward. I’m very pleased to have supported Katarzyna and her colleagues; they are a highly driven team that combines technical skills with a broad vision and business

approach. I look forward to seeing the project progress.”

Inês Plácido, Science Park Graz“As an early-stage start-up mentor, I was glad to intro-duce a very bright research mind to the business world. I believe the work we did in Copernicus Accelerator

was crucial in fostering sustainable future business based on Copernicus.”


Business Case

Business Case

34 35ONEWAVE – A Tsunami Verification System from Space

Deep Blue Globe is developing ONEWAVE, a system that will verify the occurrence of tsunamis by detecting threatening waves from space. With this system, Deep Blue Globe will provide a service to national and international authorities with relevant information about the positions and movements of tsunamis, which will help local populations react in time.The potential of Sentinel-3 altimetry data will enable ONEWAVE to monitor open ocean areas around the world that the current tsunami warning systems are not fully covering. With support from the Indonesian space agency (LAPAN), ONEWAVE has already been awarded an ESA contract involving a feasibility study.

Fuelcast – Maximising ROI Through Vessel Digitalisation

Due mainly to human error, ship systems are not properly logged and optimised for fuel economy. The complexity of different operation modes leads to machine failures and the wastage of fuel and other chemicals. Fuelcast is building an app for managing energy production and usage and recording data through image processing. The app will then use data sheets and AI to create efficiency maps for each operation mode. The app’s electricity management feature saves an average ship 4% (EUR 100,000/year) of its operating expenses, and it can also make propulsion engines 15% more efficient. Satellite data, meanwhile, can provide advice on propeller combinations in different sea conditions.

Mario Castro De Lera, Deep Blue Globe Ug“The Copernicus Accelerator programme introduced Deep Blue Globe to a large network of potential customers and investors. Through our mentor, our company established an important connection to a mayor, worked on a solid business case, and helped us reach a higher level of maturity.”

Mattias Nilsson, Fuelcast AB“Being part of the Copernicus Accelerator program provided Fuelcast with insights into the satellite industry while expanding both our network and our imagination. The bootcamp in Marseille was a fantastic event – one of the best moments in building our company.”

Alexander Kaptein, Airbus Defence and Space GmbH“Deep Blue Globe has understood that the challenge with tsunami warnings lies in the numerous false alarms produced, which have resulted in people simply no longer reacting to such warnings. When applied in a novel, near-real-time way, Copernicus data can be used to identify and verify tsunami waves travelling across the ocean. LAPAN – Indonesia’s space agency and one of the first major players in this space – has agreed to collaborate with Deep Blue Globe on developing the

concept further. When we look back a few years from now, we’ll hopefully wonder why this approach had not been taken before!”

Parul Madan, e-navik GmbH“Fuelcast is reforming the shipping industry through a mobile application and AI that simplify reporting and energy management. The mobile application will significantly reduce operating costs, increase ease of use on any vessel by providing insights into engine efficiency,

and make it possible to share decisions and engage in successful collaboration.”


Business Case

Business Case

36 37SoilEye – 3D Soil Moisture Maps for Optimal Precision Irrigation

SmartCloudFarming is developing a cloud-based AI solution – SoilEye – that uses Sentinel-1 and -2 images to generate 3D soil moisture maps for optimal precision irrigation in agriculture. Imprecise irrigation gives rise to immediate negative effects for farmers, including soil salinisation, decreased crop quality/quantity, and input extra costs (fuel, labour, water). SoilEye’s AI creates 3D soil moisture maps with 2D area resolutions of less than one hectare and soil depths down to 90 centimetres at up to 95% accuracy for use by farmers and agricultural stakeholders. The optimal precision irrigation provided by SoilEye can increase revenue by 30%.

ReASSESS – Measuring and Mapping Post-Disaster Recovery Process via Satellite Data and Machine Learning

ReASSESS provides a service that assesses post-disaster recovery processes. A cost-effective alternative to ground-based recovery assessment, it also helps investors track their resources during and after recovery. ReASSESS offers a remote-sensing-based solution for mapping the recovery process. Its target groups include insurance companies, donors, and governmental sectors that are involved in disaster recovery. Customers can obtain a quick overview of what is happening across an affected city over time, all on the same map.

Michele Bandecchi, SmartCloudFarming GmbH“I have had more than my fair share of good luck during my time in Copernicus Accelerator. For example, I had the pleasure of being coached by an exceptional mentor who guided me through important entrepreneurial and developmental steps. I also connected with two other mentees who eventually became part of my working team.”

Mohammadreza Sheykhmousa, ReASSESS“The Copernicus Accelerator program provided us with the materials and training our start-up needed, along with access to its Europe-wide network. Our mentor also helped us engage with relevant networks in the Netherlands and gave us some innovative ideas regarding our business plan.”

Niels Dietzsch, Fraunhofer Venture“Soil health is the key component in ensuring a sustainable food supply for the world’s growing population in the face of climate change and pol-lution. SmartCloudFarming will provide new levels of insight to applications like precision farming, soil management, insurance, and trade by providing 3D soil quality information and integrative data-driven

solutions for more sustainable environmental development. We have to make this vision a reality!”

Victor Rijkaart, CGI Netherlands B.V.“Working with Mohammadreza and his team was a chance to interact with some brilliant minds with great energy. Adding intelligence to post-disaster recovery through EO and ML creates a great deal of value. It also scales geographically – think climate change, for

example. The team has made important steps towards understanding the market and presenting their proposition to end users.”


Business Case

Business Case

38 39GMS-GIS for Insurance and GMS-GIS Flood Mapping Module

Processing large amounts of data has become important for every business. While many organisations are struggling to embrace new technologies, they are processing larger amounts of data each day and almost all of it has a geolocation component. Flycom Technologies wants to bring advanced GIS, remote sensing, and location- based functionalities to the fingertips of everyday business users. In light of this mission, it has developed the web-based geographical information system GMS-GIS, which is used in industries ranging from telecommunication to insurance.

Dust Monitoring Services – Working Towards a 360-Degree View of Dust

Dust Monitoring Services (DMS) is an EO-based service that focuses on providing historical, real-time, and nowcast information related to dust storms in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. The service is centred on improving solar park management and adding value to transport security services. Accessible via API, WMS, and FTP requests, DMS ensures companies’ ability to feed valuable EO information into their existing systems. Among others inputs, the service processes Copernicus CAMS and more than 2,000 satellite images per week at present. Its historical analysis also includes more than 500,000 images from the last 15 years.

Nejc Dougan, Flycom Technologies“With the help of Copernicus Accelerator, we have introduced new satellite-based products to our clients, met amazing people, and formed new connections. Some have already proved most valuable. Our mentor also supported us in reaching the next phase with our solution.”

Pablo Marzialetti, Silex Clouds Srl“Being part of Copernicus Accelerator provided Silex Clouds SRL with the visibility we needed to present our service in our main region of interest. Our mentor offered us his expertise in the field of regional funding, networking, and potential partnerships in order to increase the potential development of our activities.”

Sylvester Kaczmarek, NASA“Spaceborne remote-sensing data is rich in information, but many things are not visible even to a trained expert. With the help of AI, it is possible to “see” things that are not visible to the naked eye, and “look” all over the globe at the same time. Flycom’s team is passionately

pursuing its aim to generate location-based intelligence through different data domains in combination with AI.”

Prof Jose Antonio Blanco, Excelenzia/UPM“Silex Clouds’ DMS service enables managers of solar parks to optimise energy production in dusty or sandy conditions. A recent test with an early adopter has made considerable progress, which portends great success for

this project. Pablo has enormous technical skills, and I’m very pleased and proud to support him!”


Business Case

Business Case

40 41ARICS – Using AI and EO to Detect Changes in Land Use Over Time

ARICS is an AI-driven platform that utilises Sentinel data to detect abnormal land use changes resulting from construction, deforestation, or other illegal activities. Its results are derived from advanced time-series analysis of EO images (Sentinel-2 or other VHR images). ARICS presents these images in a web application in which additional spatial data, such as permitted or protected areas, is overlaid to provide valuable insights to local, regional, and environmental agencies. The platform can thus dramatically reduce the time and costs required to detect changes in land use compared to traditional change detection methods involving human intervention.

Green Bridges – Mapping Out Potential Conflicts with Animals

As human activities become more extensive, encounters between human and animal activities are increasing, including with regard to animal road crossings and habitat interference. Green Bridges is modeling the natural centers and migratory corridors of wild animals such as boars, foxes, and roes into the city of Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. The system is able to map out potential conflicts between animals and humans and structural activities. Copernicus Sentinel-2 datasets are used and fed into the Green Bridges system, which in return indicates the resulting impacts and provides analysis for managing, rerouting, and projecting migratory corridors. The data is plotted in a graphical user interface and GIS that can ultimately be accessed by end users, including enforcement agencies and regional authorities.

Gabriel Mavrellis, Geospatial Enabling Technologies“Copernicus Accelerator provided us with valuable in-sights into the EO market, as well as project exploitation tools and strategies that have enabled us to maximise the impact of our solution and reach our target market. In addition, new business opportunities have emerged that we expect to explore in the future.”

Peter Pastorek, Geomodels Slovakia“Coming from an IT and GIS background, the Copernicus Accelerator programme offered great insights into daily business aspects such as marketing and pitching business ideas. We continuously discussed our business plan with the assigned mentor, and he guided us on how to prioritise and focus on the most important points of the plan.”

Paul Bhatia, University of Nottingham“ARICS is an excellent example of how Copernicus data can provide vital services to public administra-tions and authorities. Empowered by EO data from the Sentinel hub, geospatial intelligence on land use changes is vital in enforcing safety and security.

Well done to the GET team on delivering a great service!”

Steve Zerafa, Netserv“It was a great pleasure and experience working with Peter and seeing his ability to put the Green Bridges business plan into action. Copernicus Accelerator has proven to be a great platform for helping this

kind of start-up develop and mature into a successful business.”


Business Case

Business Case

Green Bridges

42 43Breeze Technologies – Air Quality Sensors, Data and Analytics Cloud

Breeze Technologies is a leading provider of modern air quality sensors, data, and analytics tools for corporations and cities. The start-up provides tailored advice to improve local air quality based on a catalogue of more than 3,500 clean air interventions in both urban and indoor environments. Sensor data is merged with satellite data from Sentinel-5P and other sources to achieve the highest possible coverage, accuracy, and quality of service. Through Copernicus Accelerator, Breeze’s team had access to mentoring and contact with senior corporate managers to drive its further growth.

Spatial Farm – Eliminating Waste in Farming with Satellite-Based Fertilizer Recommendations

Today, over 55% of nitrogen goes to waste, leading to environmental and crop damage. Vultus addresses this problem with its method to prescribe nitrogen fertilisers (patent pending). Based on current and historical satellite data from Sentinel-2, its algorithms determine the optimal spread of fertilisers for each individual field. As a result, farmers can reduce their use of nitrogen by 30% and save an average of EUR 7,500 per year. Thanks to Copernicus data and acceleration services, the analysis Vultus provides is now globally operational for major cereal crops. It is being scaled through a network of partners across Europe and Asia that enables it to cover 9.5 million hectares.

Robert Heinecke, Breeze Technologies UG“It is our mission to make our cities, buildings, and communities more liveable by making local air quality levels transparent and achieving a 10-fold increase in the effectiveness of clean air action plans. Copernicus Accelerator supported us in integrating EO data to make our solutions even more valuable to our customers.”

Robert Schmitt, Vultus AB“During the acceleration programme, Vultus has developed its technology and commercial plan and managed to raise venture capital from top-tier investors. The programme has also helped us build new partnerships, disseminate our technology, and assemble a venture-fundable organisation.”

Michał Dżoga, Intel Corporation“Breeze Technologies provide complex solutions for air quality sensing and analytics. The company is led by a professional team of young, passionate people who are demonstrating a highly innovative approach to vital environmental challenges. The

Copernicus Accelerator program enabled them to make significant progress and gain traction with clients.”

Alain Arnaud, Mercator Ocean“The strength of the Vultus project lies in its strong knowledge of what its target sector needs. Unlike the classic techno-push that too many start-ups focus on, Vultus addresses real industry needs and societal concerns. To do so, it uses state-of-the-art technology and new concepts of remote sensing

while merging different data sources. This makes Vultus a successful company that is ready for further VC investments.”


Business Case

Business Case

44 45CybELE – Cyber Environmental Law Enforcement

CybELE aims to improve the management of environmental legal cases by empowering legal experts with satellite data (notably Sentinel data). At present, the absence of available and reliable data that can serve as evidence remains a major obstacle to ensuring the compliance and enforcement of environmental law. CybELE provides evidential support in the form of satellite data on environmental cases that is processed and analysed in near-real time to save end-users the time and money otherwise required for research. The company supplies the public and private sectors, including law firms, insurance companies, law enforcement agencies, and civil society organisations.

Linda Forest – Predicting Forest Growth with Satellite Data and Machine Learning

The Linda Forest product predicts forest inventories more accurately than conventional methods and enables buyers and sellers of wood to use resources more efficiently. Its customers include large forestry players that need accurate data for planning and harvesting. Linda Forest leverages Sentinel-2, Copernicus Land Monitoring, Elevation Model, and Forest Cover data. Combining all the available data sources, it uses AI algorithms to model growth and inventories. Its predictions dramatically reduce the error rate in inventories. Copernicus, meanwhile, is a great reference that is giving the product credibility with customers.

Robin Bouvier and Romain Torres, CybELE“Thanks to the Copernicus Accelerator programme, CybELE has been able to develop many business and technical partnerships across Europe. Our mentor has also provided particularly useful support for our start-up’s daily work.”

Rolf Schmitz, CollectiveCrunch“The Copernicus process and the feedback we received helped us sharpen our proposition, and winning the 2018 Copernicus Masters Land Monitoring Challenge gave us great credibility. During the mentoring programme, we also participated in a funding round, and Copernicus was part of our story. The mentoring programme guided our approach to patenting our solution.”

Dimitrios Matsakis, P.L.A.N. Ltd.“I am particularly glad to support CybELE, which has a young, highly motivated team that is focusing not only on tech, but also on attracting talent. It is not a surprise that CybELE won the overall Copernicus Masters in 2018 and was accepted into the Copernicus

incubation programme in 2019. I wish them every success as they take their next ambitious steps!”

Aymeric Vienne, Mathys & Squire“CollectiveCrunch is an interesting start-up with a clear value proposition: making the use of wood resources more efficient. Protecting their innovation with patents is crucial to their competitive position.

For me, helping their patent filing progress was an interesting challenge.”


Business Case

Business Case

46 47BirdWatch – The Diversity of Life from Space

Biodiversity loss is a big threat to humanity. It paints a bleak picture of a world in which the essentials of life are endangered by species and ecosystem decline. The measurement and visualisation of this biodiversity is still quite challenging, especially at larger scales.BirdWatch provides a new way to estimate changes in the suitability of habitats on a country-wide scale by combining Copernicus Sentinel-2 data and professionally acquired bird observation data with powerful machine-learning algorithms.

Dr Annett Frick and Sascha Gey,LUP – Luftbild Umwelt Planung“The Copernicus Accelerator programme gave us new perspectives on how to embrace our opportunities and the confidence to take them further than we had ever expected. We gained a lot of experience in economics and product development. Our mentor also provided us with multiple new business connections, along with a fresh new look at our project and how to raise people’s awareness of it.”

Olivia Czetwertynski, Becomewide“BirdWatch is a crucial project to help detect and mitigate biodiversity loss and thereby impact human welfare. It was such a good opportunity to

participate in the growth of a meaningful project with a great team.”


TSAR AI – An AI-Driven Emergency Management Platform

Earth observation data can help coordinate emergency responses, but damage assessment reports take many days to create, which limits their effectiveness. TSAR AI is a platform that makes use of artificial intelligence to process SAR data (Sentinel-1, TerraSAR) and create detailed damage reports on a frequent and autonomous basis. It reduces the time necessary to produce disaster maps by a factor of 10 while making it possible to monitor far larger areas. NGOs and CEMS are the initial target customers, but the abilities of the platform can be expanded to cover adjacent domains such as agriculture, resource mining, and infrastructure support.

Seva Matselyukh, OPT/NET B.V.“Copernicus Accelerator was a perfect fit for us, insofar as it helped guide us in establishing a clear and accurate view on commercial viability. It also opened some doors with key accounts and decision-makers.”

Steve Lee, Astrosat“It has been great to work with OPT/NET over the course of the acceleration programme. In this time, TSAR AI has matured into a client-ready product,

and we are looking forward to continuing our mutually beneficial partnership in the years to come!”

Business Case

Business Case

48 49Alladin – Just-in-Time Production for Farming with EO Data

After each year’s harvest, 30-50% of fresh farm produce is wasted – that’s 1.3 billion tonnes. The primary reason for this huge wastage is a lack of synchronisation between farm production and market demand. Alladin is a predictive production intelligence tool for growers and procurers that addresses this problem. It uses satellite data to predict yields and market data to predict demand. This information is combined to generate information about what to grow, as well as when and for which markets. The resulting benefits include reductions in food wastage, resource optimisation, and higher margins for farmers. Alladin = profitable, sustainable farming.

Suvrajit Saha, klimazone Labs UG“Getting into Copernicus Accelerator was a huge boost of confidence that helped me discover new possibilities in EO. I got to meet new collaborators, and my very experienced mentor guided me through difficult times. Copernicus Accelerator is an excellent door-opener to the space sector, and I’m proud to be an alumnus of this programme.”

Martin Giese, XPRENEURS incubator“Klimazone is an exciting company in predictive production intelligence that is leveraging satellite data to support sustainable farming. It was a pleasure to advise the founder in the areas of product-market fit,

financial planning, and team development and to see the company mature.”


Hurricane Unwinder – Intensity Forecasts from Satellite Images

Hurricane Unwinder provides improved intensity forecasts for hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical cyclones. The technology is based on machine learning and a large database of high-resolution satellite images, including those from Sentinel-2 and -3. Potential customers for these forecasts include the disaster management and insurance communities. They can use the forecasts to avoid physical and financial damages, which amount to several billions of Euros in total each year.

Svante Henriksson, Hurricane Unwinder“The Copernicus Accelerator programme has helped us find our first pilot customer, obtain funding for the project, and gain insights into both the market and the many funding instruments available. Having an active and well-connected mentor on board has been very useful in planning the long-term R&D, operations, and fundraising of our company.”

Dr Francois Spiero, CNES“My mentee and I have had numerous useful and friendly interactions over the months we’ve been in contact. I note with pleasure that my mentee’s project has progressed significantly during the mentorship

period. We are thankful to the Copernicus Accelerator programme for making this type of progress possible.”

Business Case

Business Case

50 51Flightform Insights – Producing New Data for the Energy Industry

The planning and pre-planning phases of offshore wind projects consume significant amounts of resources and time. Flightform Insights will help developers improve their decisions on location, co-location, and turbine configuration. It applies spatial analysis and computer vision algorithms using a combination of location-based data, historical generation data, Sentinel-1 and CMEMS data. Clients can reduce their costs and generate more revenue over the lifetime of their projects.

Tatiana Suarez, Flightform Insights Ltd.“The Copernicus Accelerator programme allowed us to expand our connections within the Earth observa-tion community while also providing valuable access to computing resources and business coaching. Our mentor was very supportive and always available. He shared good advice from his own experience as an entrepreneur in the geospatial sector.”

Dr Christopher Lowe, Beinn Bike Ltd. (Huli)“Flightform Insights aims to disrupt the energy sector and overcome a real challenge that exists in the industry today. If they succeed on their journey, their platform will

be a major step forward for those who shape how we use the world’s valuable resources.”


Myriad – The First Commercially Viable, Fully Autonomous Drone

Myriad wants to make Earth observation data accessible to everyone at any time and location at the push of a button. Its drone is the first scalable ground station of its kind in the world. Thanks to the methods it applies, Myriad is capable of instantly providing the first on-demand maps of Earth at unprecedented resolution without any effects of cloud coverage. It is initially targeting industrial areas that require high-resolution maps, which is where it uses Sentinel satellite imagery to prioritise drone mapping. Myriad thus gives customers the best possible up-to-date imagery of their industrial premises and infrastructure while showing every minor change in the area from day to day.

Tryggvi Stefansson, Svarmi ehf.“Copernicus Accelerator has opened many doors for our business and given us some very welcome recognition for our idea. Getting advice from our experienced mentor (who has already founded and exited a company in this space) has also been invaluable for us, along with all the connections we have made.”

Peter A. Grognard, Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics“Svarmi is an exciting start-up that is providing solutions for monitoring Iceland’s dynamic geothermal activity with autonomous drones. The proposed solution has significant potential in connection with industrial applications around the world. I enjoyed

working with this technically adept team, which was also receptive to advice on non-technical matters.”

Business Case

Business Case

52 53Michał Dżoga, Intel CorporationNiels Dietzsch, Fraunhofer VentureOlivia Czetwertynski, BecomewidePaolo De Stefanis, Day One SrlParul Madan, e-navik GmbHPaul Bhatia, University of NottinghamPedro Branco, Virtual Angle BVPeter Grognard, Von Karman Institute for Fluid DynamicsPhilippe Lattes, Aerospace ValleyDr Reinhard Schulte-Braucks, European Commission, ret.Dr Richard Hilton, IndependentRuediger Suess, German Aerospace Center (DLR)Simon Chambers, AxsysnavStefan Scherer, GeocledianSteve Spittle, Satellite Applications CatapultSteve Lee, AstrosatSteve Zerafa, NetservDr Steve Owens, Beinn Bike Ltd. (Huli)Svend-Olav Carlsen, Hydrogen Rise AGSylvester Kaczmarek, NASALic.Tech. Teemu Tares, Envia Oy Ltd.Prof Dr Thomas Blaschke, University of SalzburgVictor Rijkaart, CGI Netherlands B.V.Willem Bulthuis, WBX Ventures

Mentors Alain Arnaud, Mercator OceanAlexander Kaptein, Airbus Defence and Space GmbHAymeric Vienne, Mathys & SquireBenedikt Seitz, evalu GmbHDr Christopher Lowe, Beinn Bike Ltd. (Huli)Dimitrios Matsakis, P.L.A.N. Ltd.Elzbieta Jablonska, ARDITO Consulting Ltd.Federica Mastracci, Telespazio S.p.A.Dr Francois Spiero, CNESHans van ‘t Woud, BlackShoreHinnerk Gildhoff, SAP SEInês Plácido, Science Park GrazJose Alcocer, Firstday GmbHProf José A. Sobrino, University of ValenciaProf Jose Antonio Blanco, Excelenzia/UPMLaura Moreno Patricio, Independant consultantLluc Diaz, Rhea on behalf of ESALuísa Bernardes, Portugal Social InnovationDr Manfred Krischke, CloudEO AGManuel Koelman, PIRATE.globalMarc Leminh, CLSMartin Giese, XPRENEURS incubatorMatthew Edwards, European Space Agency (ESA)Matthieu Lys, Airbus Defence and SpaceMd Bayzidul Islam, FabSpace 2.0

Mentees

Alan McLarney, RelyMapAlejandro Carbonell, CelsiusAlexander Gunkel, RoadEOAneta Ruzik & Katarzyna Lenart, VINUM 4.0Dr Annett Frick & Sascha Gey, BirdWatchAschwin van der Woude, UrbanZeeBastian Kubsch & Michele Bandecchi, SmartCloudFarming GmbHCarsten Deyl & Sandino Moeniralam, Sheriff.ai Christos Tsatsoulis, SATSHIPAIDr Conrad Bielski, RiscognitionDaniel O’Connell, WindAI Dave Jones, Sandbag Devleena Bhattacharjee, QresQ Elisa Erioli & Sebastiano Pratellini & Silvio de Colle, Scuba ScubadooDr Eloise Marais, TRACEErik Seume, AConInsightFilip Rojs & Nejc Dougan, Flycom TechnologiesFilippo Iodice & Mario Monaldi & Matteo Perrotta, UptoEarth GmbHFrancesca Larosa, BalanceShiftDr Francesca Pietracaprina, EDENGatis Bolinskis, DynlandGregory Mygdakos, AgroApps PCIndra den Bakker & Anniek Schouten, 20tree.ai

Isaac Dura, HeraSpaceJanina Stork, Hawa DawaJeffrey Wallace, LifeLineJingyao Su, GoShipKerry Phillips, Sub Terra IntelligenceLouis Baron von Freytag-Loringhoven & Karsten Wiertz & Jan Kolmas & Sebastian Bußmann, SuperVision EarthLuca Brocca & Paolo Filippucci, SPACE-IRRMario Castro de Lera, Deep Blue Globe UgMattias Nilsson, Fuelcast ABMichał Zachara & Katarzyna Lipka, Deep FlowMohammadreza Sheykhmousa, ReASSESSNur Algeet Abarquero& José Luis Tomé, FORESTMAP Pablo Marzialetti, Silex Clouds Srl Panagiotis Symeonidis & Gabriel Mavrellis, ARICSPeter Pastorek & Martin Galis & Jozef Nováček, Green Bridges Richard Barre, BuildSpot Robert Heinecke, Breeze Technologies UGRobert Schmitt, Spatial FarmRobin Bouvier, CybELERolf Schmitz, Linda ForestRoman Bohovic & Jan Labohý, World from SpaceSuvrajit Saha, AlladinSvante Henriksson, Hurricane UnwinderTaras Matselyukh & Vsevolod Matselyukh, TSAR AI Tatiana Suárez, Flightform InsightsTryggvi Stefansson, Myriad

54 55Copernicus Start-up Programme Overview

Designed to promote start-up creation and growth in the down-stream sector, the Copernicus Start-up Programme accompa-nies start-ups from the generation of a business idea to its full commercialisation. The programme consists of four components:

The Copernicus Prizes The Copernicus Prizes support the generation of new busi-ness ideas and are awarded in the context of the Copernicus Masters competition. The Copernicus Masters is an international competition that awards prizes to innovative solutions, devel-opments and ideas for business and society based on Earth observation data.

The Copernicus HackathonsThe Copernicus Hackathons are sprint-like events in which com-puter programmers and subject-experts collaborate intensively to develop software, based on Copernicus data and services in response to global problems (e.g. climate change, public health).

The Copernicus AcceleratorThe Copernicus Accelerator aims to speed up the uptake of Copernicus by fostering the development of innovative com-mercial space applications and products. It offers a unique coaching service to help start-ups turning their ground breaking ideas into commercialised solutions.

The Copernicus IncubationThe Copernicus Incubation Programme will support the most innovative and commercially-promising business applications based on Copernicus data and services by giving EUR 50,000 to 20 European start-ups every year, to finance their incubation in an organisation of their choice.

A Look Back at the Opening Bootcamp 2018

Copernicus Prizes

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