Enhancing Earth Observation capabilities of the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence on Disaster Risk Reduction through Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a major impact on many sectors and its influence is predicted to expand rapidly in the coming years.

One area where there is considerable untapped potential for AI is in the field of Earth Observation, where it can be used to manage large datasets, find new insights in data and generate new products and services.

AI is one of the missing core areas that need to be integrated in the EO capabilities of the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence (ECoE).

AI-OBSERVER project aims to significantly strengthen and stimulate the scientific excellence and innovation capacity, as well as the research management and administrative skills of the ECoE, through several capacity building activities on AI for EO applications in the Disaster Risk Reduction thematic area, upgrading and modernising its existing department of Resilient Society, as well as its research management and administration departments, and assisting the ECoE to reach its long-term objective of raised excellence on AI for EO on environmental hazards.

A close and strategic partnership between the ECoE from Cyprus (Widening country) and two internationally top-class leading research institutions, the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) from Germany and the University of Rome Tor Vergata (UNITOV) from Italy, will be achieved, leading to a research exploratory project on the application of AI on EO for multi-hazard monitoring and assessment in Cyprus.

Moreover, CELLOCK Ltd. (CLK), the projects industrial partner, will lead the commercialisation, exploitation and product development aspects of AI-OBSERVER and its exploratory project outputs.

All outputs will be disseminated and communicated to stakeholders, the research community, and the public, assisting the ECoE to accomplish its exploitation goals, by creating strong links with various stakeholders from academia and industry in Cyprus and beyond, that ECoE will capitalise on, long after the end of the project.