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The ESA Φ-lab Newsletter #17 | June 2025

CHARTING NEW PATHS FOR EARTH OBSERVATION INNOVATION

Dear Φ-lab community,

Φ-lab is thrilled to invite you to Φnnovation Summit 2025 – a dynamic, community-driven gathering where ideas meet action. From 28 to 30 October at ESA-ESRIN in Frascati, Italy, this is where bold thinkers, pioneering researchers, and visionary entrepreneurs will come together to reimagine what is possible in Earth Observation.

The Φnnovation Summit is designed for those eager to explore how disruptive technologies – from Machine Learning and Quantum and Edge Computing to Immersive Visualisation and Cognitive Space – can transform the way we monitor, understand, and respond to the challenges of our changing planet.

Expect a rich mix of plenary talks, interactive workshops, fast-paced PechaKucha sessions, and open Fishbowl dialogues – formats chosen by you, the attendees. We are honoured to welcome high-level ESA leaders, along with a line-up of international innovators and experts who are redefining the boundaries of what Earth Observation can achieve.

Beyond the sessions, the Summit offers opportunities to pitch fresh ideas, tackle real-world challenges, and spark new collaborations through networking moments like Innovation Speed Dating and social events under the Italian sky.

This is your chance to rethink, disrupt, and advance the next chapter of Earth Observation. Join us in Frascati this October – and be a part of what comes next.

Don’t miss the opportunity to apply for ‘Call for Φdeas’, an initiative sponsored by ESA Φ-lab to stimulate transformative innovation in the Earth observation sector, which encourages the submission of groundbreaking ideas that can make an impact in scientific fields like Earth Science, green-tech, climate-tech, and sustainability, institutions, NGOs or in the commercial sector.

Happy readings,

The Φ-lab team

LATEST FROM THE LAB

ESA AND IBM COLLABORATE ON TERRAMIND

The first version of TerraMind, a powerful next-generation AI model designed to help us better understand and protect our planet, was released on Earth Day. By combining different types of data about our planet, it can deliver accurate answers to questions about climate and nature. From spotting methane leaks to tracking changes in forests and land use, TerraMind is set to play a key role in tackling some of the current environmental challenges. Don't miss the opportunity to apply for the TerraMind Blue-Sky Challenge!

From prototyping to new multi-modal workflows, exploring Thinking-in-Modalities, or inventing a never-seen geospatial application, this challenge invites participants to share their ideas with the Earth Observation Community.

23 - 27 June – ESA Φ-lab took the stage at LPS25 in Vienna, presenting breakthroughs in Foundation Models, AI-driven weather forecasting, EO commercialisation, quantum computing, and new outreach initiatives, among others. Relive some of the Living Planet Symposium moments below.

4 - 6 June – Giuseppe Borghi, Head of the ESA Φ-lab Division, gave a keynote about how AI can become a strategy to understand and protect our planet. Sabrina Ricci (AI Ecosystem Coordinator at Φ-lab) and José Blasco (Commercial EO System Support Engineer at Φ-lab) presented the activities run within Φ-lab’s Explore and Invest Offices. Chiara Cocchiara, Senior Innovation Officer at Φ-lab, participated in a debate about innovation in the space sector vs. innovation on Earth, moderated by Φ-labber Sabrina Ricci.

13 - 15 May – Giuseppe Borghi, Head of the ESA Φ-lab Division, gave a keynote about how AI is redefining the dynamics of Space Economy. Carlos Urbina Ortega, End-to-End System Engineer at Φ-lab, presented the InCubed programme and how the European Space Agency supports innovation and entrepreneurship in the space sector, promoting the development of solutions based on satellite technologies and data.

5 - 7 May – Organised by ESA Φ-lab and held in ESA-ESRIN, Frascati, Italy, this workshop brought together leading experts from AI, geospatial science, climate and remote sensing. The recordings of the event will be available soon.

New name, new season, new exciting challenges. ESA’s ‘Φ-lab Challenges’ is back, with a new name, excited to reveal a new series of new challenges. This is an ESA Φ-lab initiative implemented by a consortium of private companies and startups composed of Novaspace (formerly SpaceTec Partners), Planetek Italia, Sinergise, GMATICS and EarthPulse.

27 April - 2 May – Φ-labbers Peter Naylor, Nikolaos Dionelis, and Patrick Ebel, Internal Research Fellows at Φ-lab, were present at the EGU General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, where they presented some of Φ-lab’s work on the temporal evolution of the Petermann glacier surface elevation, the PhilEO Foundation Model, and small agricultural reservoirs detection with satellite data. Relive the event below.

Join ‘Call for Φdeas’ and make your transformative mark in Earth Observation

Call for Φdeas is a call for ideas sponsored by ESA Φ-lab to stimulate transformative innovation in the Earth observation sector. This call encourages the submission of groundbreaking ideas that can make an impact in scientific fields like Earth Science, green-tech, climate-tech, and sustainability, institutions, NGOs or in the commercial sector. Selected ideas can receive up to € 1.000.000 in funding and the deadline for submissions is 31 August 2025.

As part of the research outcomes stemming from the Protocol of Intent signed between ESA and INPE, Gabriel da Rocha Bragion, ESA International Research Fellow, will spend 12 months at ESA Φ-lab developing methods for estimating carbon stocks from biomass, using SAR data and machine learning techniques.

AI FOR GOOD GLOBAL SUMMIT 2025

7 - 11 July – Held in Geneva, Switzerland, the AI for Good Global Summit is the United Nations’ leading platform on Artificial Intelligence to solve global challenges. Φ-labber Sabrina Ricci will present an ESA challenge on Foundation Models for Sustainable Development Goals. Valerio Marsocci, Internal Research Fellow at Φ-lab, will give a talk on “Benchmarking Geospatial Foundation Models to advance solutions for global challenges”.

15 July – ESA Φ-lab and ESA Scale Up are pleased to announce the launch of the InCubed Ambassador activities in Italy, with STAM appointed as the national Ambassador. As the ESA InCubed Ambassador for Italy, STAM will help startups, SMEs, and innovators access the programme by providing tailored business coaching, strategic guidance, and support in shaping high-potential business cases. The Ambassador will also help identify key EO enablers and guide applicants in preparing impactful proposals. Register for the launch webinar to discover how ESA and the InCubed Ambassador for Italy can help you turn your ideas into high-potential EO projects ready for funding.

29 September - 3 October – The Big Data from Space 2025 (BiDS) event convenes key stakeholders from industry, academia, EU institutions and governmental entities to explore the evolving landscape of space, big data and related emerging technologies.

SysNova Challenge

ESA’s new SysNova challenge, “Innovative mission concepts enabled by disruptive computing paradigms”, is looking for ideas that could yield transformative benefits for current missions or enable novel applications in Earth observation and beyond. Up to five ideas will be selected for a six-month study with a budget of € 100,000 each. The deadline for application is 14 September 2025.

ESA Φ-lab and the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ invite data scientists, AI researchers, developers and EO enthusiasts from around the world to join the AI for Earthquake Response Challenge – to build machine learning models capable of rapidly identifying post-earthquake building damage using EO data. The challenge is now open for registrations, and it will be fully launched on 04 July 2025.

The EVE pilot programme is an opportunity to test-drive the latest advancements in AI, designed specifically for EO and Earth Science. As part of the EVE pilot, participants will gain early access to the cutting-edge Mistral 3.1 24B model, fine-tuned for EO and Earth Science applications. They will be amongst the first to experience new features, including an intuitive chat interface and seamless session memory, making your interactions smoother and more productive. If you want to take part in the pilot phase to help evaluate EVE's capabilities, register to participate using the link below.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD

External photos and images courtesy of ESA, IBM Research Europe, ESA, We Make Future, AI Week, ESA, Φ-lab Challenges, European Geosciences Union (EGU), ESA, ESA/Y. Sigalou, AI For Good, ESA, ESA, ESA, Φ-lab Challenges, EVE