The 2019 Earth Observation (EO) Challenge is now under way. This is the fourth iteration of the competition, conceived by the South African National Space Agency (Sansa), designed to stimulate and promote the local earth observation products and services sector. In this year’s challenge, which closes on October 31, Sansa is partnered by Minerals Council South Africa and DigitalGlobe. The implementing agent for the challenge is the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS).
“We’ve worked with Sansa to conceptualise, design and run this challenge on an annual basis. We’re a company that runs these kinds of programmes,” explains RIIS CEO Davis Cook. “In this challenge, for the first time, we have an industry-specific challenge. We’re looking for high-level solutions, not detailed business plans.”
The EO Challenge has grown significantly over the past four years. The first iteration, in 2015, received 18 submissions. By the third one, last year, the number of submissions had increased fivefold. “For 2019, we’re hoping for 50 to 60 entries on the solutions provider side,” he reports. “We’ve also seen increased interest in the number of corporates and companies on the other side – the people who would buy the solutions. For the first time, we have the involvement of a venture capitalist.”
The growth in the number of entries reflects the greater knowledge of the challenge within the South African EO industry. And the growth in the number of potential customers interested in the challenge reflects the greater recognition of the value and importance of satellite data from outside the EO sector – which was and is one the objectives of the EO Challenge.
“Over time, we’ve learnt how to improve the overall programme, and we’re still learning,” he observes. “In the first two challenges, we just sought to find interesting things people were doing with EO data. With the third challenge, we had a focus on sustainable development, including on water and on air quality. In this challenge, we have brought on board the Minerals Council, and it is focused on environmental management and mining. This includes mine water use, the reuse of former mining land and the rehabilitation of abandoned mines. The aim is to benefit the mining industry and society.”
The judging panel for the challenge includes representatives of the EO sector, the mining industry and venture capital. The submissions will be evaluated in terms of their innovation, potential impact and commercial value. The judging panel will identify a shortlist of finalists who will then make their pitches at an event on November 14 (during Sansa’s second Space for National Development Conference) for the final prizes.
There are two main prizes – one for research organisations and nonprofit companies, and the other for startup enterprises. The winning research or non-profit organisation will receive R100 000 in grant funding. The winning startup will be able to enter talks with the challenge’s venture capital partner for funding ranging anywhere from $50 000 to $5-million. (The challenge’s venture capital partner is Unicorn Southern Africa, of which Cook is also CEO.)
“I think the most important thing for us is that the EO Challenge is a starting block to build up a bigger innovation environment in South Africa focused on space,” he highlights. “Space is one of the fastest-growing sectors worldwide and satellite technologies can help development across the entire continent.”
Earth observation is one of Sansa’s four programme areas. The then Satellite Remote Sensing Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research first began receiving satellite data in 1978 (from the Meteosat 1 satellite). Sansa’s other programme areas are Space Operations, Space Science and Space Engineering. “The space sector actually has a long history in South Africa,” notes Cook.