The main objective of BETTER is to implement an EO Big Data intermediate service layer devoted to harnessing the potential of the Copernicus and Sentinel European EO data directly from the needs of the users. BETTER aims to go beyond the implementation of generic Big Data tools and incorporate those tools with user experience, expertise and resources to deliver an integrated Big Data intermediate service layer. This layer will deliver customized solutions denominated Data Pipelines for large volume EO and non-EO datasets access, retrieval, processing, analysis and visualisation. The BETTER solutions will focus in addressing the full data lifecycle needs associated with EO Big Data to bring more downstream users to the EO market and maximise exploitation of the current and future Copernicus data and information services. BETTER developments will be driven by a large number of Big Data Challenges to be set forward by the users deeply involved in addressing the Key Societal Challenges. The World Food Programme, the European Union Satellite Centre and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Zurich working in the areas of Food Security, Secure Societies and GeoHazards will be the challenge promoters. During the project each promoter will introduce 9 challenges, 3 in each project year, with an additional nine brought by the “Extending the market” task, in a total of 36 challenges. The Data Pipelines will be deployed on top of a mature EO data and service support ecosystem which has been under consolidation from previous R&D activities. The ecosystem and its further development in the scope of BETTER rely on the experience and versatility of the consortium team responsible for service/tool development from DEIMOS and Terradue. This is complemented by Fraunhofer Institute’s experience in Big Data systems, which brings to the consortium transversal knowledge extraction technologies and tools that will help bridge the current gap between the EO and ICT sectors.

At ThinkingEarth, we view the Earth as a complex unified and interconnected system. To harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we use cutting-edge techniques, including deep learning, causality, eXplainable AI, and physics-aware Machine Learning. We leverage the predictive abilities of Self-Supervised Learning and Graph Neural Networks to develop task-agnostic Copernicus Foundation Models and a Graph representation model of the Earth. We demonstrate the potential of these assets through small-scale downstream Spotlight Applications, as well as large-scale use cases that integrate distributed industrial and user non-EO datasets. These use cases address ambitious problems with high socio-environmental impact and new business growth opportunities, such as accelerating Europe's clean energy transition and independence from volatile fossil fuels, understanding Earth's processes by modeling causal Earth system teleconnections, and assessing and modeling the impact of current and future Climate emergency in biodiversity and food security.

Various forms of malnutrition, including hunger, micronutrient deficiencies and non-communicable diseases caused by unbalanced nutrition, threaten food security in Africa. The project HealthyDiest4Africa is based on the central hypothesis that diversification of the food system helps to combat all forms of malnutrition while minimizing its environmental footprint. To this aim, we will monitor dietary diversity in eight African countries representing different regions, and develop target group-specific metrics to measure the diversity of the food system and its health outcomes. A production-oriented cluster of the project will explore environmentally sustainable options to diversity food production that specifically address the nutritional requirements identified for the target populations. This includes the development of novel and biofortified crop varieties, utilization of orphan crops with high nutritional value, and diversification of cropping systems and food processing technology. We will link these efforts with a consumption-oriented cluster exploring the consumer acceptance, food safety, and nutritional health effects of diet diversification options. The best solutions that contribute to healthy diets via diversification while also promoting environmental health will be up-scaled via a network of food system stakeholders in eight African countries. HealthyDiets4Africa will also devise communication and policy strategies to maximize outreach and impact of diversified food systems. Thereby the project will help to develop safe, healthy and affordable diets by adopting a diversification strategy that will simultaneously reduce the pressure of food production on the environment.