The Background

Economic growth is the UK’s Government's apex priority, and The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is keen to emphasise its role as an economic department.

One area with significant, yet underutilised potential is Earth Observation (EO). By 2030, the global value of EO data could exceed $700 billion, with a cumulative $3.8 trillion contribution to global GDP between 2023- 2030, while eliminating 2 gigatonnes of GHG emissions. EO data is pivotal to national security, with applications across food security, environmental monitoring and emergency response. It is also increasingly relevant to both public and private sector efforts, driving innovation in nature and green finance, enabling spatial prioritisation, and informing green infrastructure planning.

To foster innovation, Defra's EO team, in collaboration with Innovate UK Business Connect, Satellite Applications Catapult (SAC), Growth Studio, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Space Comm and Telespazio will be hosting the GeoAI Build and Pitch programme. Participants will be challenged to combine EO data, both public and commercial, with other datasets and apply AI tools to build prototypes for innovative, commercially viable products. After a series of workshops and drop-in sessions participants will pitch their prototypes at Space Comm Europe in March 2026. This programme forms part of the GeoAI Festival, a series of activities bringing together innovators, businesses, academics, end users, and public bodies to explore and advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in geospatial applications using EO data.

The GeoAI Build and Pitch programme includes a three-day in person sprint event taking place at Cloth Hall Court, University of Leeds, and a 6-week development period where teams will continue to refine their prototypes while receiving ongoing mentorship as well as training on value proposition design, business modelling and pitch development. Throughout this programme teams will be expected to develop novel products with a clear customer in mind while ensuring they aren’t reinventing the wheel. 

Successful teams will be invited to participate in the GeoAI Build and Pitch programme, taking place between January and March 2026.

The GeoAI Build and Pitch programme offers a unique opportunity to collaborate directly with Defra, AWS, SAC, Growth Studio, Telespazio, Space Comm and other leading organisations. Participants will receive expert mentorship, access to rich EO datasets, and cloud computing credits to accelerate product development. All participating teams will have the opportunity to showcase their prototypes at Space Comm Europe, with the top 5 teams invited to pitch at the Downstream Theatre during the event.

This opportunity is open to innovators who want to use earth observation and geospatial data in combination with artificial intelligence to produce innovative prototypes. This includes innovators, start-ups, SMEs, large organisations, universities, Research Technology Organisations (RTOs), and end users.

We are particularly keen to receive applications from SMEs that already have a product and want to use the 6-week programme to undertake experimental development, de-risk the testing of a new product line, explore access to new markets, develop new business models, or add new services to an existing product. The Build and Pitch programme will incorporate design thinking methodologies to help teams rapidly prototype, test assumptions, and iterate based on user needs. Through a combination of technical mentorship and business support, teams will be guided to accelerate both the technical development and commercial readiness of their solutions.

More detailed information is available when you click Apply/Register.