Φ-lab Challenges is dedicated to organising cutting-edge innovative challenges in partnership with esteemed partners and sponsors. These challenges not only promote the growth and engagement of the Φ-lab community, but also provide a platform for researchers and talented innovators to showcase their work and make a tangible impact in solving some of society’s most pressing challenges.
By leveraging transformative technologies like AI, ML, Quantum Computing, and others, and utilising Earth observation, we aim to exctract valuable insights and information to drive positive change for human prosperity.
Φ-lab Challenges is an initiative of ESA Φ-lab implemented by a consortium of private companies and startups composed of Novaspace (formerly SpaceTec Partners), Planetek Italia, Sinergise, GMATICS and EarthPulse.
A new challenge just launched
Join now!Earthquakes strike suddenly and unpredictably, often causing widespread destruction to infrastructure, buildings, and essential services. Rapid damage assessments can guide emergency responders to the hardest-hit areas, help identify ongoing risks, and support life-saving decisions when time is of essence.
The ESA Φ-lab and the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ invite data scientists, AI researchers, developers and EO enthusiasts from around the world to join the AI for Earthquake Response Challenge – to build machine learning models capable of rapidly identifying post-earthquake building damage using EO data.
Our new Challenge is now open for registrations. Stay tuned and be amongst the first to gain access to our curated dataset when the Challenge fully launches on 11 July 2025.
A new season just started
New name, new season, new exciting challenges. ESA’s AI4EO is back, well kind of – with a new name and logo ESA Φ-lab Challenges is excited to reveal a new series of new challenges! Stay tuned, more information coming soon.
Revisiting and expanding on the #HYPERVIEW challenge!
With HYPERVIEW2, we’re challenging researchers, engineers, and data scientists to explore new ways of making AI interpretable and explainable for satellite data processing, space operations, and Earth monitoring.
#HYPERVIEW2
Join the challenge!Open challenges
PANGAEA
PANGAEA is a new evaluation and benchmarking protocol that covers a diverse set of datasets, tasks, resolutions, sensor modalities, and temporalities. This challenge is open-ended, giving participants the flexibility to explore, experiment, and iterate on their models over time. Alongside the open challenge, we’ll be launching regular Data Sprints – short, high-impact tasks that run for about two months each and focus on specific use cases within the PANGAEA dataset. These sprints will come with their own goals, deadlines, and prizes. […]
EASi Workshop // HYPERVIEW2
The new HYPERVIEW2 Challenge is implemented as part of the Explainable AI in Space (EASi) workshop, that KP Labs, ESA, and the Φ-Lab Challenges team are organising as part of the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI), which is hosted in Bologna, Italy from 25th–30th October 2025. […]
Encouraging Interaction
ESA Φ-lab challenges
ESA Φ-lab Challenges, an initiative from Φ-lab of ESA’s Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, strives to bring the worlds of AI and EO closer to encourage interaction and collaboration.
Artificial Intelligence
When large amounts of data is captured by remote sensing devices on EO satellites, our computers and AI algorithms can be used to help us solve problems. They can learn to recognise patterns and find correlations that humans would otherwise miss.
Earth observation
EO data allows us to gather global information about our planet Earth’s physical, chemical and biological systems via satellites carrying remote sensing devices.
Funded and initiated by
Implemented by
