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Innovation & Technology Request

Lithuanian governmental organization is seeking a solution how to create a real-time satellite image of Lithuania

Country of Origin: Lithuania
Reference Number: TRLT20200721002
Publication Date: 31 July 2020

Summary

Lithuanian governmental organization working on statistical data management is responsible for preparing agricultural statistical indicators. Currently the data is collected from questionnaires and registries but comes with many drawbacks. The organization is seeking to have a full and almost real-time satellite image of Lithuania constructed from various real-time European satellite images. Potential cooperation types might be license or technical cooperation agreement.

Description

Lithuanian governmental organization is working on statistical data collection, storage, management and analysis. The organization focuses on environmental and geographical data for agriculture industry. 



When preparing agricultural statistical indicators, the organization is currently using data collected from questionnaires and registries. Such data collection methods have both pros and cons. The main advantage is the guarantee of quality, but the drawback is lack of speed, efficiency and granularity. Moreover, this information is not extensive, since not everyone registers their crop lands​. These data collection methods result in agricultural statistical indicators which are not up to date and their refresh frequency is low.



The organization is seeking to have a full and almost real-time satellite image of Lithuania without obstacles such as clouds, to ensure updated, extensive and granular statistics. To this extent, the freely accessible satellite data shall be used to prepare the satellite map of Lithuania. Satellite data used by European institutions responsible for statistics is updated every few days. However, the quality of land images is deteriorated by clouds, but the effect could be mitigated by automated removal of cloudiness and combination with images from different days.



The solution that the organization is seeking should perform various tasks, such as: 

- Using satellite data (i.e.​ Sentinel2), assemble separate images into a full, coherent map of Lithuania; ​

- Automatically recognize clouds and replace the obstructed places with other recent images;​

- Keep the map up to date with the latest satellite images.

An important aspect of the solution is that the statistical data collected with the tool will have to meet elevated standards in the international context. Moreover, data will have to be presented as or be convertible to standard data formats. A solution fulfilling all requirements should be able to automatically and precisely identify land with crops and should have a sufficient quality to be used in formulating official statistics.



Together with the development of a successful solution comes opportunities for commercialization. Tools that assemble maps from images and suppress images exist – nonetheless they require manual effort for cloud recognition and the substitution of obstructing elements. Full maps without clouds also exist, but their updating is usually limited to once a year. There is thus a gap in the market for a tool that would solve the challenge presented beforehand. Such a product would be easily scalable and demanded by foreign institutions collecting statistical data. 



Possible type of partnerships between selected start-ups or growth companies may be for example licence agreement (buy a license) and technical cooperation agreement (need a technology to be developed).



IMPORTANT NOTE: This technology request is part of an innovation challenge and is published on an open innovation platform. The innovation challenge is focused on encouraging the creation and use of innovative solutions for the government. The application deadline is September 11th. If a company/startup/innovator expresses interest in cooperation with this Lithuanian organization before closing date, it will be guided towards this open innovation platform where it can submit a proposal. The proposed solutions are presented at the Pitch Day, where all stakeholders gather in order to hear pitches proposed for the challenge. The best pitches are then selected after consultation with a panel of judges – experts that understand what will have the biggest impact. The selected teams proceed to the next phase of the innovation challenge – Accelerator process in which their ideas become prototypes and later products. If the solution is working properly, the governmental organization is ready to start the procurement processes.

Expertise sought

The solution that the organization is seeking should perform various tasks, such as: 

- assemble separate images into a full, coherent map of Lithuania; ​

- automatically recognize clouds and replace the obstructed places with other recent images;​

- keep the map up to date with the latest satellite images.

A solution fulfilling all requirements should be able to automatically and precisely identify land with crops and should have a sufficient quality to be used in formulating official statistics.

Requested partner

Lithuanian governmental organization is looking for start-ups and SMEs with ideas that fit the conditions of the desired solution outlined through this challenge.



The cooperation model may vary and might be, for example, license agreement or technical cooperation agreement. However, the exact form of cooperation shall be defined between the partners.