We are counting down the days until the end of this year’s Copernicus Masters competition. Over 700 participants submitted their innovative solutions and various prizes will be awarded to the winning teams. But there can only be one Overall Winner! Who will be chosen this year – and what are past Overall Winners up to now?
From 19 April to 19 July 2021, more than 700 innovators from all over the globe submitted their solutions to this year’s Copernicus Masters competition. After a three-month evaluation phase, pitches, discussions, and debates, the most ingenious solutions have been chosen by the expert juries. Now, the countdown is running for 14 December, when all of the winners will be announced to the public at this year’s Space Day. Challenge and prize winners will receive access to an international ecosystem of leading Earth observation organisations, substantial satellite data quotas, and individual business development support including cash prizes.
But, as every year, the most eagerly anticipated announcement is the declaration of the Overall Winner of the Copernicus Masters competition. During the evaluation process, partners and experts from all Challenges and Prizes come together to select one cutting-edge idea that stood out among all of the submitted solutions. The winning team will receive the title of Overall Winner 2021 – and an additional EUR 10,000 cash prize.
The Overall Winner 2021 and the other winning solutions will be announced and celebrated at the Space Day 2021 on 14 December. The online event is free and accessible via registration. It is targeted at stakeholders and partners in space innovation networks as well as space enthusiasts around the globe. Participants selected by the 19 prize partner regions will pitch their innovative concepts in the Space Pitches and the winners of the 10 Challenges will be awarded virtual trophies by high-level space stakeholders from the AZO Partner network, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Planet Labs Inc., BayWa AG, Airbus, UP42, Portugal Space and the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), at the Space Awards.
Which of the 2021 Finalists, featured on the respective Challenge websites, will take home a prize – and who will be chosen as the Overall Winner? To shorten the wait until 14 December, we want to highlight the past three Copernicus Masters Overall Winners and their successful, very diverse solutions.
Three years ago, CYBELE was chosen as the Overall Winner in 2018 thanks to its use of Copernicus data from Sentinel-1, -2, -3 and -5 to empower the management of legal environment cases. The company combines legal expertise, software development and Earth observation technology as well as providing satellite-related expertise to support all aspects of environmental compliance (impact assessment, risk assessment, legal audit, damage evidence, law enforcement).
In 2019, Green City Watch was chosen as the Overall Winner, using Sentinel-1 and -2 data for vegetational analytics and urban flood risks to map, monitor and manage urban trees. Since its beginnings, Green City Watch has worked with over 30 cities across the world to improve their urban forests with its open-source geoAI collective building geospatial software. Its mission is to radically change the way nature and biodiversity are valued, to bring transparency to local government, and to regenerate cities.
With its solution that provides accurate, standardised, and actionable data to monitor and protect reefs, Reef Support was selected as the Overall Winner for 2020. It is an online monitoring and predictive maintenance tool that uses AI and satellite imaging to track coastal reef health and prevent beach and aquaculture pollution. The platform offers guidelines for crowd and pollution control, debris management and coral restoration, and can also be used for strategic planning and resource management in aquaculture farming. It offers a user-friendly, subscription-based service that is available for both iOS and Android.
All Copernicus Masters winners, including the Overall Winners, are featured in our Hall of Fame: https://copernicus-masters.com/hall-of-fame/
To register for the Space Pitches and Space Awards, please visit: https://copernicus-masters.com/awards/
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