PARTNERS
The Data Quest is only possible because of our partners.
About our Partners
Minderoo Foundation
Minderoo Foundation Wildfire and Disaster Resilience Program is excited to be the Challenge Partner of the Bushfire Data Quest 2020. With this year’s fire season fast approaching and communities still feeling the disastrous effects of Australia’s bushfire crisis last summer make our collective work - including piloting new ways of preparing for and responding to disasters more vital than ever. Minderoo Foundation’s experience working on the ground in fire affected communities this year has highlighted that existing technology and systems leave us ill-equipped to deal with large-scale disasters like fire, flood and other unforeseen challenges. We know further threats and shocks will come in the future, and this is why we need new approaches to lift national resilience. The Bushfire Data Quest 2020 builds on the excellent work many are already doing in this space, tackling change through the system as a whole, and supporting out of the box thinking and solutions. I’m pleased that we can support the great minds that have come together to solve parts of the problem and trial new methods to overcome the grand challenges we face in this area.
Adrian Turner, CEO Minderoo Foundation Fire Fund
NSW Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer
The Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer is pleased to be supporting FDL’s first Australian ‘challenge’, the Bushfire Data Quest.
FDL’s collaborative, data-led approach will not only consolidate our historic knowledge in this crucially important environmental area, but also allow for the development of strategies to plan for, and mitigate, future bushfire events.
Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer
NSW Treasury
The NSW Treasury helps guide the State’s growth for the benefit of the people who live, work and study in NSW.
Our work includes responsible management of the State’s finances and assets, boosting trade, investment and tourism, developing industry, supporting jobs growth, improving service delivery to the community and increasing living standards.
NSW represents over 40% of businesses and 38% of startups in Australia with space-based capabilities. These NSW companies generate 40-50% of Australia’s space-related export revenue, with around 30% of employment in the industry based in the state.
DUG
As the clock ticked over to welcome in the year 2020, we watched in horror as bushfires ravaged our country. More than 20% of our native forests burned, an estimated one billion Australian animals perished, lives were lost, and homes destroyed. All that we held so dear as Australians was severely damaged.
The Data Quest aims to push the frontiers of research and develop new tools to help solve some of the biggest challenges that humanity faces. This year’s Bushfire Data Quest 2020 is indeed addressing a challenge close to our hearts.
The team at DUG is excited to be part of a collaboration of industry, technology, science and research that will push the boundaries of conventional thinking in the quest to discover real solutions to improve our planet. We are honoured to provide the technology platform that will be the launching pad of truly powerful thinking.
Dr Matthew Lamont, Managing Director
ANU institute for Space
Using AI and geospatial data, the Bushfire Data Quest has the potential to unlock new ways to protect Australian, communities and wildlife from devastating bushfires. We are proud to support this collaborative and innovative effort which has the potential to enhance worldwide bushfire management and prevention.
We look to support initiatives with the potential to solve profound problems and save lives. We are honoured to be part of the extremely valuable work of the Bushfire Data Quest. With only a few months until the next bushfire season, Data Quest could have an important role in protecting our nation.
The Australian Space Agency, in partnership with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Bureau of Meteorology, has established a taskforce which has engaged with emergency management agencies, state and territory governments, and the research community. The taskforce is working together to understand the role of space-based Earth Observation to support planning, response and recovery efforts related to bushfires and consider opportunities for the future.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Macquarie University is an enthusiastic supporter of interdisciplinary research and is providing logistical support to the Data Quest.
Geoscience Australia are Australia's pre-eminent public sector geoscience organisation. They are the nation's trusted advisor on the geology and geography of Australia. They apply science and technology to describe and understand the Earth for the benefit of Australia.
NorthWest Nazarene University provides an opportunity for the University’s Computer Science Department to apply their ongoing geospatial research into the application of artificial intelligence for mapping issues relevant to fire ecology.
UNSW Canberra Space is leading innovative Australian research in space, with facilities to enable end-to-end space mission capability
Fireball is a leader in detecting and mapping wildfires using space and ground based imaging systems.
Planet operates the world’s largest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites to image the entire planet daily.
The Bureau of Meteorology is Australia's national weather, climate and water agency. Its expertise and services assist Australians in dealing with the harsh realities of their natural environment, including drought, floods, fires, storms, tsunami and tropical cyclones. Through regular forecasts, warnings, monitoring and advice spanning the Australian region and Antarctic territory, the Bureau provides one of the most fundamental and widely used services of government.
The 2020 Bushfires Data Quest is powered by FDL
This initiative is joins a family of FDLs around the world. FDL US is hosted by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA in partnership with NASA Silicon Valley. FDL Europe is hosted by Oxford University, in the United Kingdom, in partnership with ESA ESRIN and ESA ESOC.
Each FDL is independently funded by space agencies and partners with no sharing of funds.
Space agency support is supplemented with other partners and a broad faculty in each region of experts in cutting-edge AI and research scientists. FDL outcomes, although generated over a short period are world class - with FDL results pushing state-of-the-art for machine learning application.
FDL creates public-private partnerships, working with commercial partners such as Google Cloud, IBM, NVIDIA, and Intel who provide expertise and the computing resources necessary for rapid experimentation and iteration in data intensive areas.
FDL Aus/NZ is in the process of building a new regional program in Australia and New Zealand driven by an FDL Aus/NZ steering group. FDL Aus/NZ has been building a research faculty and founding partners across the region since late 2019. We expect to hold a full 8 week research sprint in the summer of 2021.
How does it work?
FDL brings researchers from the cutting-edge of AI and data science, and teams them up with their counterparts from the space sector for an intensive eight-week research sprint, based on a range of challenge areas. The results far exceed what any individual could develop in the same time period, or even in years of individual research.
A key aspect of our success is the careful formation of small interdisciplinary teams focused on tackling specific challenges. Each team is composed of at least two space researchers and two data science or AI researchers, selected by our world-class network of mentors. During the research and development sprints, the teams are supported by team leads and experts.
FDL has a global presence, in previous years the residential research sprint has been at the SETI Institute/NASA Ames, Mountain View, California, USA and the University of Oxford, England, UK.
The support from our partners in the public and private sector allows us to offer PhD and post-doctoral researchers the opportunity to work on real-world problems in an interdisciplinary environment, supported by leading experts, and cutting-edge hardware.
What topics do you focus on?
Over the past four years, FDL’s research teams have worked on challenges under five key mission areas: Planetary Defence, Living with our Star, The Moon for Good, Mission Control for Earth, and Are we Alone?
For the 2020 research sprint we are developing challenge questions that build on previous missions, and also looking at new areas including Clouds and Aerosols, ML on Board and Constellations.
How do you select the challenges?
In order to ensure that we are tackling questions that have the potential to have a real-world impact, we have developed close links with scientists, researchers, industry and humanitarian organisations. We invite our partners and network to the “big think”, where they can share their thoughts on the latest developments in their fields, issues that need attention, as well as network with other members of the community. The big think meetings take place at the start of the year in the USA and Europe, and provide the initial ideas for challenges, data-sets and resources.
Following the big think, we invite key partners and experts to help us distil these ideas into distinct challenge questions for the teams to work on during the research sprint.
How can I get involved with the Frontier Development Lab?
The main way to get involved with Frontier Development Lab is to apply to be a participant and take part in one of our research sprints, but there are plenty of other opportunities to stay in touch and support the programme.
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The FDL program is run by Trillium Technologies Inc.