Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Innovate UK Business Connect, and partners invite innovative solutions that leverage Earth Observation (EO) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable smarter spatial planning and sustainable land and ocean use. Solutions should address pressing challenges such as infrastructure development, habitat protection, and climate resilience with the aim of supporting spatial decision-making, environmental monitoring, and risk reduction. The goal is to develop commercially viable products that deliver accurate, actionable, insights to planners, regulators, and developers, ultimately improving outcomes across environmental stewardship, regulatory compliance, and sustainable development.
Defra’s EO team, in collaboration with Innovate UK Business Connect, Satellite Applications Catapult (SAC), Growth Studio, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Telespazio will be hosting a three-day in-person Build and Pitch sprint event taking place at Cloth Hall Court, University of Leeds (13-15 Jan 2026). This will be followed by a 6-week incubation period. These activities form 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.
Participants will be challenged to combine EO data, both public and commercial, with other datasets and apply AI tools to develop concepts for innovative, commercially viable, products. Teams will be expected to develop novel products with a clear customer in mind while ensuring they aren’t reinventing the wheel. Solutions must be cloud-native and software-only.
All selected teams will have the opportunity to showcase their prototypes at Space Comm Europe, 4-5 March 2026 in London.
This opportunity page invites applicants to develop solutions in response to targeted challenge statements under the theme “Next-Gen Spatial Planning” focusing on how EO and AI can improve the sustainable use of land and ocean resources for infrastructure development. See below for a full list of challenge statements: proposed solutions must align with at least one of these.
Two further challenge areas are available: “Unlocking Nature-Based Markets with EO & AI” and “Harnessing GeoAI for a Resilient and Sustainable Agri-Food System”. You are welcome to apply to multiple challenge areas.
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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.
Government participants are welcome as mentors or facilitators, but not as competing teams.
Collaborative proposals are welcome, and collaborations may also be formed during the sprint event.
All participating organisations must be UK-registered entities. International collaborations are permitted where the main applicant is a UK-based entity.
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.
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Land and ocean resources are under growing pressure from human activities such as the building of roads, ports, housing, and energy projects, as well as expanding agriculture and urban development. These changes can disrupt ecosystems and biodiversity, disturbing the natural balance of these environments. Climate change, combined with the loss of wildlife and habitats, further aggravate and intensify these challenges. To address these effectively, spatial planning must strike a careful balance between competing needs, such as food production, nature restoration, infrastructure development, and environmental protection, ensuring that progress remains both sustainable and responsible.
There is also a growing need to mitigate environmental and operational risks throughout the planning and development process. EO technologies offer powerful tools to help meet this need by enabling more cost-effective, scalable, and repeatable monitoring and decision-making. These technologies can help planners, developers, regulators, and environmental consultancies make more informed decisions, reduce risks, and deliver better outcomes.
This challenge invites participants to use EO to develop solutions that support smarter land use, more efficient infrastructure development, and stronger environmental monitoring.
Some intended outcomes include:
- Improved ecosystem resilience and connectivity.
- Enhanced regulatory confidence and compliance.
- Smarter, nature-positive land decisions.
- Maximising benefits from infrastructure and management interventions.
- Reduced planning and survey burdens, along with their associated costs.
Early detection of environmental risks. - Maximising the impact of land management interventions.
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We invite solutions that bring clear relevance and practical value to the achievement of Spatial prioritisation and planning: Using Earth Observation (EO) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support the sustainable use of land and ocean resources for infrastructure development. Solutions to the below challenge statements should be applicable across a variety of planning and regulatory scenarios, including diverse terrains, weather conditions, and operational contexts spanning land and ocean environments.
- How to support spatial planning so that we can optimise land use for food production, ecosystem resilience and connectivity, and nature-based solutions, and track the impacts of changes to these over time?
- How to identify and map areas suitable for woodland creation or agroforestry so that we might support targeted investment and grant eligibility (e.g., stem density thresholds)?
- How to verify habitat improvements (e.g., woodland creation under Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)) so that we can automatically detect failures to deliver promised enhancements within development sites?
- How to improve confidence in identifying and classifying habitat types, especially in complex or transitional covers such as scrub, for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) reporting?
- How to enable the aggregation of smaller-scale Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) improvements into saleable units, unlocking new mechanisms to monetise nature recovery efforts and support agricultural transitions?
- How to conduct surveys and impact assessments for renewable energy projects (e.g., offshore and onshore wind farms) so that we can reduce their cost?
- How to improve site selection and regulatory compliance for infrastructure (including offshore wind), so that we can enhance efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and mitigate physical risk?
- How to detect early warning signs of ecosystem tipping points so that we might build ecosystem resilience?
There are also a number of cross-cutting challenge areas to consider:
- How to combine EO data with other data types?
- How to make product interfaces accessible to the desired market while avoiding jargon?
- How to suitably present uncertainty to provide trusted outputs?
- How to demonstrate the product has a good return on investment?
- If it is a novel product, how would you validate demand?
- How to utilise AI tools to reduce workflows?
- Where can EO reduce the need for manual surveys while maintaining accuracy?
- How to enable end-users with limited EO skills and tools to use outputs effectively?
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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.
All selected teams will:
- Receive expert mentorship from leading organisations including Defra, AWS, SAC, Growth Studio, Innovate UK Business Connect (IUKBC), Space Comm and others.
- Receive access to credits for cloud computing services for the duration of the GeoAI Build and Pitch programme.
- Have access to a wide range of EO datasets.
- Participate in a 6-week development phase featuring workshops on value proposition design, business modelling, and pitch development, delivered by Growth Studio.
- Showcase their prototype at Space Comm through a technical presentation in a co-hosted showcase area.
- Be included in the final GeoAI Festival report and communications.
- Gain visibility across all partner networks and broader audience at Space Comm.
- Network with a diverse range of stakeholders and partners.
Top 5 winners will:
- Receive tailored Commercialisation Credits redeemable against SAC’s Space Commercialisation Engine valued at up to £80k per company. These credits will support teams in developing market ready products and preparing for future funding opportunities.
- Be shortlisted to pitch at Space Comm 2026 in a dedicated showcase session at the Downstream Theatre, part of one of the UK’s leading space and tech events.
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- Launch of the Build and Pitch Programme: 15 October 2025
- Deadline for applications: 9 November 2025
- Application assessment period: 11 November 2025 – 21 November 2025
- Selection and notification of finalists: 25 November 2025
- GeoAI Build and Pitch Sprint event at Cloth Hall Court, University of Leeds: 13 – 15 January 2026
- GeoAI Build and Pitch Business Development Workshops delivered by Growth Studio: 21 January 2026, 28 January 2026, 4 February 2026, 11 February 2026 (may be subject to change)
- Submission video pitch and deck: Due in February 2026
- GeoAI Festival Showcase at Space Comm Europe: 4 and 5 March 2026
- Pitch Event at Space Comm Europe (selected participants only): 4 March 2026
- Technical Support Drop-in Sessions: Weekly throughout January and February 2026
For further info, including terms and conditions, application guidance, technical requirements, IP conditions, and assessment criteria, visit the Innovation Exchange site at the link below.