DLR Environment, Energy & Health Challenge

DLR is looking for innovative solutions that use Earth observation data to support sustainable management of our limited natural resources and foster human well-being.

The Finalists 2022

Discover the best submissions to the DLR Environment, Energy & Health Challenge below. Please note, that finalists are presented in an alphabetically order of their submission title.

State-of-the-Art Simulation for Effective & Sustainable Wildfire Management

Team: Agata Malinowska, Charlaine Roth, Thomas Eames, Ashley McDougall

While the increasing occurrence of wildfires worldwide is becoming an important subject in the climate change mitigation conversation, in the majority of developed countries, everyday fire management still relies mostly on suppression tactics. FireDynamo is a simulation tool that facilitates effective decision-making in the event of a wildfire. It also provides insights into the risks of wildfires in any area long before an emergency occurs. The platform is fuelled by high-resolution satellite data that provides information on the environment and the distribution of single plants that enable the spread of wildfires. Using known plant properties, a precise map is simulated that shows how a fire is likely to spread from a specific ignition point.

Urban Green Tracker for Cities and Real Estate

Team: Rowan Steele, Imeshi Weerasinghe, Charlotte Wirion, Frankwin van Winsen, Thierry Nicola

In the current climate situation, residents are looking for one thing above all else when they search for a new home: a healthy, green and resilient neighbourhood. This is a dramatic shift for the real estate industry and city authorities, as it creates a demand for real estate listings that not only share information about the price and location of properties, but also on their green credentials.
To prioritise and justify their budgets, municipalities need to identify zones which are ill-prepared for extreme heat or where urban greening is behind schedule.
WEO tackles this situation with Urban Green Tracker, which gives users near-real-time information on the coverage, health and impact of urban green on climate risks.
Neighbourhood ‘greenness’ is measured by tree cover, vegetation diversity, vegetation and grass health, soil permeability, the presence of green roofs, and more. These indicators are then linked to land surface temperature to measure the risk of extreme heat and provide indications of changes in flood risk.

Want to know the winner of this year`s challenge?
Then join the Space Awards @ NSE – New Space Economy Expoforum 2022 in Rome on 1 December.

The Challenge 2022

In the light of global change, pandemics as well as climate change a sustainable management of our planets resources is more important than ever. DLR is looking for innovative solutions to achieve this goal. Areas of particular interest to DLR are:

Environmental Management: Identifying environmental issues and managing natural resources
Sustainable Resource Management: Monitoring and improving the use of natural resources, as well as generation, distribution, or consumption of energy
Health Promotion: Identifying, monitoring and / or providing solutions to foster human health or mitigating epidemic impacts.

Besides using Earth observation satellite data from Copernicus and DLR missions, participants are encouraged to supplement their ideas with other sources of data, such as information generated by crowd-sourcing, social media or in-situ measurements. Solutions should support professionals working in these areas, inform the public, or empower public authorities to take action and solve issues on a local, national, or global scale.

Rewards 2022

Cash Prize

The winner will receive a cash prize worth EUR 5,000.

Additional Reward for the Overall Winner 2022

Cash Prize

EUR 10,000 if your concept gets selected as Copernicus Masters 2022 Overall Winner

Evaluation Criteria 2022

Benefit for society

Does the idea foster human wellbeing, health and/or sustainable resource management?

Copernicus Relevance

How significant is the use of sentinel satellite data for the realisation of the idea?

Innovation

What is in particular new about the idea?

User acceptance

Is the idea of practical use to users or the general public? Would they use it?

Feasibility

Is the idea technically feasible?

About the German Aerospace Center (DLR)

The Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) works in all fields related to satellite data handling from data reception, algorithm development and near-real-time services to disaster monitoring and environmental mapping in order to achieve a practical implementation of Earth observation applications and services. As such, the EOC is involved in many aspects of Copernicus’s design, implementation, and operations. In determining the focal points of its research, DLR is to a large extent guided by the demand for new products and services developed in close cooperation with industry entities. It also invests in promising technologies and offers its research and development capacities to partners for their own use.