SMART project wins first edition of AI Moonshot Challenge

The first edition of the AI Moonshot Challenge named Call SMART project as the winner of Call , which was awarded €500,000 to develop a solution that uses satellite data and artificial intelligence to combat ocean pollution. The winner was announced on Thursday, December 3, during Web Summit 2020.

The SMART project was the proposal presented by the consortium led by CERENA-IST, which includes the Laboratory of Underwater Systems and Technology (FEUP), Associate Laboratory for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Hydrographic Institute, and MIT-Portugal. It proposes the application of several advanced concepts of Artificial Intelligence, with a particular focus on "Physics Informed GANs and Deep Neural Networks," and combining them with satellite images to develop a solution that mitigates the problem of plastic in the ocean.

Using satellite data from the Copernicus program, the SMART team aims to determine the appropriate frequencies for detecting plastic in bodies of water. This information will be complemented by advanced models that simulate ocean behavior to increase the probability of detecting plastics, a task made difficult by the size of the debris and the resolution of currently available satellite images.

The AI Moonshot Challenge, promoted by the Portuguese Space Agency in cooperation with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Unbabel, the European Space Agency (ESA), the National Innovation Agency (ANI), and Web Summit, is an international Call that aims to find disruptive ideas that combine satellite data and artificial intelligence to detect plastics in the oceans. The Call have a new edition in 2021, whose rules for participation will be announced shortly.