On November 7, 2017, the awarding ceremony for the prestigious Copernicus Masters competition organized by the European Commission and the European Space Agency was held in Tallinn, Estonia. The winners in the Copernicus Sustainable Development Challenge category were Sylwia Nasiłowska, PhD and Mariusz Kacprzak, MSc Eng. from the Remote Sensing Department, who presented an innovative web and mobile application for monitoring bee activity (BeeNebulaApp®).
The BeeNebulaApp® is the first product of the NebulaSystem® precision farming series developed at the Institute of Aviation. The application developed by our scientists uses the Sentinel meteorological data supplemented with terrestrial and airborne sensor data to provide the user with information on the safe use of plant protection products. Automated reports are delivered via the BeeNebulaApp® mobile application.
The jury decided to award the BeeNebulaApp® since the application proposes innovative applications that meet societal needs in the context of overall sustainability goals – particularly focusing on a very specific area: sustainable bee protection. The award was presented by the Director of Policy and Space Research, the Copernicus Program and the Defense of the European Commission, Philippe Brunet.
It is estimated that about 11 million agricultural holdings in the European Union can benefit from the BeeNebulaApp®, as existing law prohibits spraying during bee activity.
The app will make it possible to use pesticides more precisely. This will help to increase honey production, improve yield and contribute towards environment protection.
Global data provided by the BeeNebulaApp® will be accessible to anyone in a simple and affordable format. The application developers hope their product will help to build a network of interactions between beekeepers, farmers and politicians to reduce the negative impact of farming, while respecting the needs of farmers.
For further information contact:
Mariusz Kacprzak, MSc. Eng.
Manager of the Remote Sensing Department
Phone: (+48) 22 846 00 11 ext. 896
E-mail: mariusz.kaprzak[at]ilot.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
Sylwia Nasiłowska, PhD
Remote Sensing Department
Phone.: (+48) 22 846 00 11 ext. 835
E-mail: sylwia.nasilowska[at]ilot.lukasiewicz.gov.pl
