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Aalto University is participating in the World Challenge Finland competition organised by NASA, ESA and the UN. The purpose of the competition is to develop applications that will improve quality of life on our planet by making use of NASA’s WorldWind platform and open satellite data. We are now looking for innovative teams that are ready to take on the challenge.

The World Challenge Finland competition offers students and industry the opportunity to develop new solutions for promoting world peace, health, education and sustainable development. Use of open source code makes possible the worldwide application of solutions that take on local problems. Open satellite data can be used, for example, for analysing vegetation, mapping terrain and buildings and monitoring traffic. The applications produced during the Europa Challenge competition held last year included , which visualises the effects of climate change, and , which enables the optimal watering of fields.

‘It was fantastic to be involved in the competition! Learning new things, meeting the teams, and making new friends from all over the world were definitely some of the best things about the competition’, says Milda Norkute, one of the developers of the Farmate application, which made it into the final.

The teams that make it into the final will get an expense paid trip to Helsinki. In addition, the teams are also competing for other prizes including a €6000 monetary prize and the opportunity to send a nanosatellite or other technology they have designed to the international space station (equivalent to a €40,000 prize).

Aalto students can receive study credits for participating in the challenge. Study credit arrangements should be made separately with Jaan Praks (jaan.praks@aalto.fi).

If you’re feeling inspired and want to take on the challenge, by 3 August 2018.