Two out of the six challenges included in the #myEUSpace competition are targeting solutions that will power Europe’s efforts to become climate neutral by 2050.
The EU space technology has a fundamental role in the delivery of innovative solutions and #myEUspace competition is the perfect tool at the fingertips of entrepreneurs and visionaries with deeper technical knowledge of EGNSS and/or Copernicus. In the "Our Green Planet" challenge "environmental entrepreneurs" are tasked with developing trailblazing solutions to address environmental challenges, promote sustainable life, consumption and production, but also mitigate climate change, by relying on space services from the EU Space Programme.
Since their inception, the EU’s flagships, Galileo and EGNOS have been contributing to the rollout of sustainable transport modes by reducing emissions, when optimizing routes in the air, on land and at sea. In particular, the use of satellite navigation systems such as Galileo, in road vehicles, can reduce journey times by more than ten per cent, and thus contribute to cutting down emissions. Likewise, geospatial data by Copernicus can also be used to improve site selection of assets such as solar panels or wind turbines. Imagery from the Sentinel satellites offers greater situational awareness and help mitigate risks such as vegetation encroachment on power grids and turbines.
EUSPA supporting EU Green Deal objectives
The EU Green Deal is a multilayered package of well though-out policies and initiatives aimed not only at reversing climate change but also shifting the European economic model to a new more sustainable path. To do so, significant investment is needed in new digital technologies that will help curb greenhouse gas emissions, support the development of green infrastructure and promote the circular economy model. The two challenges are, to a large extend, interlinked with the objectives of the Deal.
For this particular challenge, EUSPA will rely on the expertise of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) when reviewing the proposals. The ECMWF is a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing global numerical weather predictions and other data for our Member and Co-operating States and the broader community. ECMWF operates two services from the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) while it also contributes to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS).
EUSPA has previously founded applications with an eco-friendly approach such as the autonomous robotic solution 10Lines, or ThunderFly, a drone performing atmosphere analyses, leveraging services and data from Galileo and Copernicus.
Farming by Satellite in line with the Farm to Fork Strategy
The aim of the challenge is to promote Galileo, Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Copernicus, the EU Earth Observation (EO) services in agriculture.
Grassland and cropland together make up 39 % of Europe's land cover. Today’s agricultural landscape is facing the challenge of producing enough food to respond to a rapid world population growth, while reducing its environmental footprint in terms of emissions, soil degradation, water consumption, fertilizer and pesticide application. To tackle these challenges more and more farmers and agriculturists across the European Union resort to precision agriculture.
When working in synergy, Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus contribute to smart and sustainable farming techniques. With around 70% of new GNSS tractors using Galileo and another 97% using EGNOS, the EU space technology is becoming the preferred technology for precision farming in Europe. With Galileo’s capability of combining signals from other constellations (GPS, GLONASS) and with corrections coming from EGNOS coupled with the upcoming Galileo High Accuracy Service, service provision becomes more seamless than ever. EU farmers are able to steer their machinery precisely and, fertilise exactly where needed. Thanks to the joint usage of EU Space assets, it is estimated that EU farmers can save up to 20% of pesticides and fertilisers.
The "Farming by Satellite" challenge is built around the unlimited opportunities the EU Space Programme components generate to the benefit of agribusiness. Participants are asked to get creative and come up with solutions to manage the variability of agricultural production, improve crop yield, reduce environmental impact and optimize the food chain in line with the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy and Green Deal.
For more information about the competition, the next steps and the evaluation criteria please consult our page here.
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