Copernicus acceleration programs to boost businesses based on Earth observation data

COPERNICUS, the Earth observation program of the European Union, is the world's largest geospatial data provider, with a current production of twelve terabytes a day. The possible uses of this data, many of which are made available to citizens for free, are multiple and can have a place in various economic sectors: from promoting political decision-making to improve sustainability or emergency management to optimize transport or agricultural management. Its economic potential is therefore immense. But starting a business that uses this kind of data is not always easy.

In this context, COPERNICUS START-UP PROGRAMME was born, to help entrepreneurs and new companies to promote new businesses based on the data offered by the Copernicus project. The program consists of four components: prizes, hackathons, acceleration program and incubation program.

• The Copernicus Prizes support the generation of new applications and business ideas. Aimed at entrepreneurs, start-ups and students, they are awarded in the context of the Copernicus Master project. In 2019, participants have had the opportunity to win prizes with a total value of more than 450,000 euros and additional benefits such as coaching, technical support or marketing assistance. To do this, they had to solve a series of challenges posed by partners such as Airbus, the European Space Agency (ESA) or the German Ministry of Transport.
• Copernicus Hackathons are events in which programmers and subject-matter experts collaborate to develop software solutions based on Copernicus data and services that solve global social and economic problems. In this regard, the European Commission funds 20 Copernicus hackatons every year throughout Europe, which can be organized by any organization that is running for it.
• Copernicus Accelerator is a 12-month acceleration program that welcomes 50 new entrepreneurs every year in the European territory. During the program, each participant has the help of a mentor who offers a personalized guide to achieve a commercial objective (for example, participate in an incubator programme or obtaining a first client). The program begins and closes with two BootCamps, where all participants meet their mentor and can expand their contacts network. In addition, participants have at their disposal a virtual training program with new online courses every month.
• Copernicus Incubator is the incubation program for start-ups that are less than 5 years old. Each year, the program grants 50,000 euros to 20 European companies, to finance its consolidation. In 2020, three new rounds of financing will take place in February, May and October.

To these programs we must add other initiatives such as Copernicus Relay and Copernicus Academy. Copernicus Relay is a program made up of organizations that coordinate and promote local activities around the Copernicus program, while Copernicus Academy connects European universities, research institutions, business schools and private organizations from the countries participating in the program, facilitating collaboration between them. You can read more about both programs and the role of Spain in them in this article.

In short, thanks to all these activities, the development of innovative applications and products increase to make the lives of European citizens and other places in the world easier. In the use cases section of the Copernicus website you can see some of the projects carried out based on the information provided by the program, which can inspire you to dare to innovate with the geospatial data provided by Copernicus.