Copernicus Masters 2020 Submissions Open 1 April

The temperature is rising – hottest winter by far

The Copernicus Sentinel satellites are monitoring Earth’s environment. In January, the Copernicus Climate Service stated that the global temperature was warmer than any previous January. Copernicus, the most comprehensive European Earth observation programme, offers open and free access to data for the development of solutions tackling important challenges faced by business and society today. This holds great potential for the creation of innovative products and services in a wide variety of domains and gives companies, entrepreneurs and startups huge opportunities to create sustainable solutions. The Copernicus Masters awards prizes to applications and services that use Copernicus data to fight important environmental and societal challenges. Submissions for 2020 open on 1 April.

Oberpfaffenhofen, 1 April 2020 – This year, the global temperature was warmer than any previous January on record, although it is almost the same as January 2016 at 0.03°C warmer. For Europe, it was the warmest first month on record, about 0.2°C warmer than the previous warmest January in 2007, and 3.1°C warmer than the average January in the period 1981-2010. The Copernicus Climate Change Service also reported that average temperatures were especially high over large parts of north-eastern Europe, in some areas more than 6°C above the 1981-2010 January average.

Copernicus is the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme, looking at our planet and its environment for the ultimate benefit of all European citizens. Contributing towards the sustainable management of the environment, Copernicus services deliver free, near-real-time data at a global level. The demand for such Earth observation (EO) data is exploding, especially since innovative solutions for today’s challenges such as climate change, food security or water supply are crucial.

The Copernicus Masters 2020 – Europe’s leading innovation competition for EO – is in search of outstanding applications, solutions, and services from future-oriented SMEs, startups, universities and individuals in the fields of business, research, and higher education that tackle important challenges faced by business and society.

From 1 April to 30 June, participants in the Copernicus Masters 2020 can submit their innovative EO application or service to 9 challenges offered by the following world-class partners: European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission (EC), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Planet, BayWa, Airbus with sobloo, and the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). At the same time, they have the possibility of entering up to 13 brand-new Copernicus Prizes co-funded by EC with up to EUR 10,000 each.

“ESA measures the pulse of our planet. Earth observation helps us to better understand what happens on Earth and simultaneously provides a solution to monitor our planet. In order to solve current environmental and societal challenges, we need to invest in innovation. The Copernicus Masters is an innovative driver for future-oriented applications and services using EO data. It supports the commercialisation of businesses and creates new results,” states Josef Aschbacher, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes. ESA is an initiating partner of the Copernicus Masters and has set a challenge every year since 2011.

Participants can demonstrate their innovative use of EO data across a wide variety of challenge topics, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud computing, data analytics, health, smart farming, and digital transportation – to name just a few.

“Since 2011, the Copernicus Masters competition has evolved into the leading innovation competition for promoting user uptake of EO data in a commercial, societal and sustainable context. This year, the European Commission is contributing 2 new challenges and co-funding the brand-new Copernicus Prizes with up to EUR 10,000 each. This makes the Copernicus Masters even more attractive,” adds Thorsten Rudolph, Managing Director of AZO, the competition organiser.

Together with cash prizes, challenge winners will receive access to an international ecosystem of leading Earth observation organisations, substantial satellite data quotas, and individual business development support. The Overall Winner will receive an additional cash prize of EUR 10,000.

For more details on this year’s challenges, prizes, and partners, please visit www.copernicus-masters.com.

About the Copernicus Masters

AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen launched the Copernicus Masters in 2011 on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA) and with the strong support of world-class partners. The Copernicus Masters is an international competition with the objective to drive Copernicus user uptake of Earth observation (EO) data and thus respective business cases. With partners such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission (EC), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), CGI, Planet, BayWa AG, Stevenson Astrosat Ltd., Airbus, and the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), the competition awards prizes to innovative solutions for business and society. With the expansion of the Copernicus Space Component every year, new prize categories enable solutions that tackle global challenges. For more information www.copernicus-masters.com

About AZO – Your Partner in Competition & Innovation

AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen is an international networking and branding company initiating the most important space-related innovation competitions with more than 15,000 participants, over 200 industrial & public stakeholders and 400 international stakeholders. The Masters Series, presented by AZO, consists of the Galileo Masters, Copernicus Masters, Space Exploration Masters, and INNOspace Masters. AZO also organises the Copernicus Hackathons by the European Commission. AZO runs a very successful business angel network, which invested more than EUR 50 million of venture capital in 2018. Additionally, AZO manages its ESA Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) Bavaria. This incubation programme has supported more than 150 company foundations solely in Bavaria to date. For more information, please visit www.azo-space.com