In December of 2021 NSO launched a competition to challenge the private sector to improve the uptake and use of open access geodata for the benefit of sustainable land and water use.
In two phases, taking less than one year, participating firms in the challenge were tasked to obtain insights in the development of digital advisory services. Together with local partners from African and Middle Eastern countries that have a development relationship with the Netherlands the participants in this challenge innovated a range of services that promote Food Security.
The Lessons Learned during this challenge will be published in an upcoming publication co-authored by Bopinc (knowledge partner and provider of TA during this challenge).
Compared to the longer running and ambitious G4AW projects, this challenge allowed NSO to promote the use of open and free geodata for a specific purpose, and to investigate the impact of short term innovation projects in support of food security and sustainable land use.
February 2023, little over a year later, the challenge ended and the three finalists all managed to produce a new service based on open access geodata. In the following blogs the participants reflect on the resulting services that focus on landscape management, irrigation advice, and water management, and their experience with developing these services within the short timeframe of the competition.
Mapworks - Landscape Diagnostic Report
Future Water - Satellite Open-Source Irrigation Advisory (SOSIA) tool
eLEAF - Water Consumption Dashboard
Leveraging Open Geodata for Decision Making in Agriculture, Landscape, Climate, and Water