Maxar partnered with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a global educational nonprofit focused on bringing the power of entrepreneurship to youth in low-income communities, to sponsor a Climate Mapping Challenge as part of NFTE’s annual World Series of Innovation (WSI).
NFTE WSI is a global educational experience that challenges young people ages 13 to 24 to think big and come up with ideas for new products, services or initiatives that can advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Challenges include developing solutions that help enable access to clean water, defining the future of work, and providing more opportunities for financial education.
Participants have until December 11, 2022, to submit ideas for their challenges for WSI. The three-highest scoring entries in each category receive cash prizes of up to $1,500.
The Maxar challenge focuses on Goal 13 of the SDGs—Climate Action. The challenge asks students to think about innovative ways to use maps and satellite imagery to help communities understand and adapt to the impact of climate change. Satellite imagery and geospatial data enable us to monitor our changing planet, including changes in the built environment and human impacts on nature. Analysts can use this data, in combination with artificial intelligence and machine learning, to analyze patterns and even predict changes in the future that could be important for achieving SDG targets.
Tony Frazier, EVP and GM of Public Sector Earth Intelligence at Maxar, who is also a board member at NFTE, welcomes local students to NFTE WSI Innovation Day at Maxar’s office in Herndon, Virginia.
In support of the challenge, Maxar is hosting two Innovation Days with students: one on-site at Maxar’s office in Herndon, Virginia, and another virtual event. Led by Maxar volunteers, these Innovation Day events offer students the opportunity to kickstart the creative brainstorming process and formulate their challenge solutions. Coaches lead an interactive activity and another brainstorming activity to help guide students through the process of designing a solution to the challenge.
More than two dozen students participated in the on-site event on Nov. 2, 2022, including from James Madison Middle School in Roanoke, Virginia. By the end of the day, the students generated a range of exciting applications of satellite imagery to help address climate change. The virtual event is taking place in December, with another full cohort of students expected to attend.
Maxar is proud to participate in this program as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting innovators of the future and leveraging our technology and expertise to help build a better world.
Solutions for monitoring the environment.
How geospatial intelligence can help address critical sustainability goals.
Learn more