Mission statement

We believe in AI (Artificial Intelligence) that complements, rather than replaces, human intelligence

As application areas go, fields related to Earth Observation tend to be particularly high-impact, dealing with climate change, natural disasters such as floods and wildfires, and the health and resilience of ecosystems. Traditionally, such research fields have relied on domain knowledge provided by experts to make predictions about our planet, such as weather forecasts and crop lifecycles. With the torrent of remotely sensed data available today, new opportunities to take advantage of massive remote sensing datasets have emerged that traditional methods are not equipped to handle. This is where advances in AI (particularly Machine Learning and Deep Learning) can push forward humanity’s abilities to understand, support and, if necessary, steer the course of our planet to a better future. At the same time, a naïve application of data-driven methods for problems as complex and impactful as these is doomed to result in biased and unreliable models. This is why domain experts, as always, remain crucial in this process, and why AI should be there as a powerful tool that supports them in fully taking advantage of the exciting new opportunities we are presented with.

This is the vision of Automated Artificial Intelligence for Earth Observation that we are committed to.

Our research is funded by NWO (NWO-Klein) and ESA OSIP.