The GoldenRAM (G-RAM) project will provide easy exchange of accurate information on Raw Materials in the European Union and partnering resource-rich countries for organisations engaged in the mining industry and public stakeholders. The project will develop an Earth Observation Platform (G-RAM platform) leveraging novel Artificial Intelligence (AI) Natural Language processing in combination with advanced, proprietary Artificial Intelligence Knowledge Packs (AIKPs) which simplify complex computation workflows and provide seamless access to a unique and validated combination of geological and remote sensing data, domain expertise, and multipurpose mapping technologies for geological and mining industry stakeholders. Especially, the introduction of AIKPs plays an important role in advancing the TRL of state-of-the-art solutions and enabling their wider adoption among the industry and stakeholders. The G-RAM platform will be demonstrated in 6 field trials in Finland (2 sites), Sweden, Romania, Ukraine, and Portugal creating a compelling value proposition for implementation across the mining industry value chains and improving responsible and sustainable supply of CRMs: Co, Li, REE, P; PGMs Pd and Pt; as well as Cu and Ni to Europe. The project will increase the raw material investment potential for Ukraine by promoting exploitation prospects via the G-RAM platform therefore supporting implementation of the Roadmap for EU-Ukraine Strategic Partnership on raw materials. The consortium brings together interdisciplinary expertise fit to solve the challenges related to the building of large-scale ICT platforms, geologic and remote-sensing know-how, benchmarking, market analysis, business modelling and result dissemination, and will include 4 academic/research centres, 5 SMEs, and 4 end-users, supported by a strong External Advisory Board of experts in geosciences and mining.

4Growth aims to contribute to the uptake of digital and data-driven solutions in agriculture and forestry by (i) documenting the current state-of-play and projecting the future evolution (forecasting and foresight) of the sector, (ii) making insights available to the wider community of decision makers and value chain actors – through the 4Growth Visualisation Platform, (iii) collecting a wide range of ground truth data and identifying key factors or constraints for uptake, and (iv) producing sets of key policy recommendations and best practices to encourage/facilitate further uptake. To successfully fulfill its ambition and carry out the proposed activities, 4Growth brings together a highly-motivated team of 13 partners from 9 EU Member States, with strong proposition and extensive involvement in digital agriculture and forestry activities.

Emerging industries, as high-potential growth sectors in early stage development, can be effectively supported by cross-sectoral cluster-facilitated innovation towards the creation of new value chains and the opening up of new markets. Earth Observation-derived information has been widely proven to improve productivity (e.g. reduced fertiliser, pesticide, water, labour inputs in precision agriculture), outputs (e.g. solar farm yield), and eco-friendliness (e.g. carbon footprint monitoring of industrial activities) in the emerging food, energy and environment industries. In designing, developing and delivering sustainable services that meet the needs of these industries, European SMEs need to be supported in accessing knowledge, capital, technology and markets. Recognising this need, PARSEC aspires to build a cross-sectoral/cross-border ecosystem whereby SMEs and innovative start-ups will gain: Access to knowledge (provision of a holistic portfolio of support services, including market, technology and investment training/ information as well as tailored coaching support); Access to technology (through three large scale demonstrators, acting as enablers for the development of new EO-based products/services); Access to capital (an innovative selection and funding scheme to ensure selection of high-potential ideas); Access to market (incl. cross-border and cross-sectoral matchmaking, investment readiness, export promotion). By providing access to these resources, PARSEC will concretely contribute to the establishment of new value chains bustling with innovative SMEs that can translate the large public investments in the Copernicus programme and numerous sector specific initiatives (related to food, water, energy, climate change, biodiversity, etc.) into applications and services meeting user needs and market demands, for the benefit of European economy and society.

The overall objective of CopHub.AC is to create a knowledge and innovation hub with several nodes (secretariat, research briefs, knowledge landscape, outreach, sustainability) to focus and link ongoing R&D activities in Copernicus-relevant academic fields, and to sustain the innovation process from academia to businesses on the highest possible scientific and technical level, with a clear commitment to a full thematic and geographic coverage for a Europe-wide boost in space uptake. The CopHub.AC consortium led by PLUS / Z_GIS will provide the following objectives: i) foster the enlargement of the Copernicus Academy ecosystem through a well-orchestrated set of tools and structures; ii) reinforce the R&I capacities of Copernicus Academies and channel their outputs within an improved format of research briefs; iii) inform industry, educational networks, authorities and the citizen about Copernicus and its societal benefits. iv) promote capacity building of and connectivity with the Copernicus Relays Network; v) promote the long-term impact and sustainability of the Copernicus Academy network through the establishment of a secretariat, a monitoring process and a forward looking roadmap. A duration of 24 months is envisaged. During the second year, the EC will be provided with recommendations for the continuation of the activities under long-term funding.

The overall objective of APOLLO is to develop a commercial platform that will provide a suite of farm management advisory services specifically designed to address the needs of small farmers. APOLLO will use state-of-the-art methodologies for the calculation of agricultural parameters based on EO data, taking advantage of the improved spatial and temporal coverage of the new Sentinels. APOLLO will produce data on agricultural parameters through available EO, meteorological, and auxiliary data. Especially for the calculation of soil moisture, SAR images will be used for the first time with Sentinel-1, making it possible to obtain maps with a spatial and temporal resolution not achievable before. Based on the agricultural parameters calculated, a suite of farm management services (tillage scheduling, irrigation scheduling, crop growth monitoring, and crop yield estimation) will be developed, and will be delivered through a web and mobile interface. The service requirements will be elaborated in close collaboration with end users. APOLLO services will be cost-effective and affordable, thanks to access to free and open Copernicus data, an automated processing chain for the delivery of agricultural variables, independence from the need for ground-based sensors, and the pioneering use of Sentinel-1 data for estimating soil moisture information. The APOLLO platform and business case will be validated through pilot testing in Spain, Greece, and Serbia, with the participation of small farmers, agricultural consultants, farmers’ associations, and SMEs providing farm management services. A business strategy for the take-up of APOLLO will be developed, assessing the operational sustainability of the platform based on market revenues. According to the preliminary business plan developed, APOLLO has the potential for a Return On Investment (ROI) of 18% - 51% in 3 years (for the low and high uptake scenario, respectively).