Young European entrepreneurs are participating in the Copernicus AtmosHack – a competition to come up with ideas that could help to reduce people’s exposure to atmospheric pollution and UV radiation. Participants base their innovations on freely available data from the EU’s Copernicus Programme.

This data includes observations from Copernicus and EUMETSAT satellites, ground-based air quality data, and air quality analyses and forecasts produced by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), implemented by ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts).

The hackathon, organised by Ultrahack, takes place in Helsinki on 16-18 November.

Major problem

Reflecting the importance and topicality of the issue of pollution, the winners can look forward to prizes totalling 30,000 euros.

Judges to nominate the winners include Johannes Flemming from CAMS, Mark Higgins from EUMETSAT and Johanna Tamminen from the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Atmospheric pollution is a major problem around the globe, with WHO’s estimates showing that 91 per cent of the world’s population are exposed to it at least some of the time.

The vast majority of deaths caused by pollution are in developing countries, which have fewer resources available to tackle the problem.

This is why Copernicus is funding the AtmosHack event, which is being organised in collaboration with EUMETSAT, CAMS, the Finnish Meteorological Service (FMI), and the University of Helsinki.

Generous prizes 

Participants are being encouraged to use freely-available data to inform their solutions.

They can decide to develop new mobile or web apps, platforms or other software or hardware solutions; or to add atmosphere-related features to existing platforms. 

Copernicus and its partners will award generous prizes that reflect the importance of the problem of pollution – both today and in the years to come.

For the winners, the award includes a cash prize of €5,000 and acceptance into the Copernicus Accelerator start-up programme with all expenses paid – worth €15,000.

In addition, two teams will win tickets to Slush, a leading start-up event taking place in Helsinki in December. The winning team will also receive free access to WEkEO, the EU’s Copernicus DIAS reference service for environmental data, virtual environments for data processing and skilled user support.

Educational programme

Vincent-Henri Peuch, Head of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said: “We’re looking forward to being surprised! AtmosHack participants will certainly find new ways to use our CAMS products and kick start the development of innovative business ideas.”

Alongside the AtmosHack hackathon, a free online course about monitoring the Earth’s atmosphere was launched on 5 November 2018.

The Atmosphere MOOC is designed for a general audience and aims to explain atmosphere composition how it is monitored.

Every week, participants can learn from educational videos, interviews with experts in the field of atmospheric science, knowledge-based quizzes and interactive content.

The MOOC is created and carried out by CAMS and EUMETSAT and will run for five weeks.

This Article

This article is based on a press release from Copernicus Accelerator. Copernicus Accelerator is an initiative that pairs high-level professionals with young entrepreneurs with innovative Earth observation ideas.