Sentinel Hub wins Copernicus Masters prize

Now in its sixth year, this internationally renowned competition seeks fresh ideas for services, business concepts and applications based on Earth observation satellite data.

The vast amounts of data produced by Europe’s Copernicus programme and its Sentinel satellites open the door to countless products and applications in a wide array of business sectors. 

The awards ceremony, which included awards for the European Satellite Navigation Competition, took place yesterday in Madrid, Spain.

The winning idea, Sentinel Hub, was designed by a team from Slovenia’s Sinergise. Along with the service’s ease of use, it can be integrated into any geographic information system and is now poised to improve daily work for developers, scientists and other target groups.

The team takes home a €10 000 cash prize.

ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Josef Aschbacher, said, “According to a recent PwC study, Copernicus has become the third largest data supplier in the world. Sentinel data access is full, free and open to all users worldwide. 

“Sentinel Hub significantly simplifies the way users can access and process satellite data. With applications like these, the competition has again clearly demonstrated its potential to drive the innovative use of Earth observation data and make the Copernicus programme accessible to new user groups.”

As well as Sentinel Hub, winners in seven categories were awarded prizes totalling €600 000 in the form of cash, consulting, data packages and other benefits. The winners also have the opportunity to ready their ideas for the marketplace at one of ESA’s 16 business incubators across Europe.

For the first time this year, the Copernicus Accelerator invites 40 Copernicus Masters finalists to take part in a tailored eight-month mentoring programme to help advance their business ideas.