Once again this year, innovation projects were selected for funding by the GFZ Innovation Fund. The jury chose five projects from the area of technological advancement of devices and processes:

Space weather predictions - Adopting space weather predictions for stakeholder needs 

Current trends in the satellite industry for miniaturization of the satellite hardware and use of off-the-shelf components will make satellites more vulnerable to space weather. Within the project, the project team will approach satellite providers, space agencies, and the aerospace industry to understand their needs and requirements, some of which may currently not be covered by existing space weather prediction centers. This will help to develop new data products and online tools at GFZ later on.

XIAO Logger 

For environmental monitoring tasks, a large number of sensors are available today. Continuos data is being recorded and has to be filed, managed and processed. For that, a cheap, flexible logger system for scientific environmental monitoring has been developed at the GFZ. It is freely configurable and can handle a large number of commercially available sensors. As part of the funding, this logger system shall be developed further and brought closer to marketability.

CO-KaGe 

A contribution to the monitoring of the carbon dioxide emissions and thus to the understanding of the Eifel volcanic system and the risk assessment in the region is the three-dimensional mapping of the carbon dioxide content in the Maar lakes. For this purpose, it is necessary to work with a measurement system suitable for underwater use. A corresponding remote-controlled underwater measuring system, which will further develop a new type of CO2 sensor from the GFZ for use in waters, will be tested and validated as part of the funding.

GEOINT4ENV - solid waste dumps

Addressing illegal waste dumping is crucial for protecting both the environment and human health. Within the project, the ongoing development of the “Waste Dump Explorer”, a remote sensing based monitoring tool, will be assisted by the funding. The tool poses great potential in the monitoring of small-scale waste dump sites by utilizing very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. The project also finances the costs of this commercial data, among other things.

SMARTwater 

Lastly, the SMARTwater project will continue the development of an off-the-shelf automated water sampler for all types of water analysis and with sufficient standards of sampling procedure and storage. The novel version of a smart-controlled water collector is now to be deployed and validated in the field.

The internally funded validation projects will be carried out until the beginning of next year. Another ideas competition is planned for 2024.