It was recently reported that UK and the EU have concluded negotiations to allow the UK to re-join the important Horizon Europe research programme. Regaining access to this source of funding and international scientific expertise was welcome news to the entire scientific community.
Alongside this boon was also the news that the UK will also re-join the Copernicus programme, the European Earth Observation programme. Copernicus provides a state-of-the-art capacity to monitor the land, sea and atmosphere of the Earth. The wealth of satellite data produced by Copernicus will help the planet tackle the ever-present threat of climate change and environmental damage.
Of course, raw data itself is of little use. What transforms raw data into practical applications - with commercial benefits - is innovative technology developed by leading scientists. This includes advanced AI algorithms based around computer vision that can process the raw satellite data to discover important insights about the Earth.
Industry and innovators, including those in the space sector, show continued interest in the development of valuable new IP to make best use of exactly the type of data that Copernicus provides. Indeed, as reported in our 2023 AI report, there has been a significant growth in patent applications directed toward computer vision technologies in the last five years, indicating that there is still active innovation in this area.
If you have any questions about Intellectual Property relating to satellite data or data processing algorithms, we would be more than happy to speak with you.
"The UK's association to Copernicus comes at a crucial moment," the statement continued, "where the Copernicus space infrastructure and its information services will evolve further and their contribution to understanding and acting on environmental and climate change related challenges is more important than ever."
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