Funding by: Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association
Funding ID: HIL-A15 FERN.Lab
Project executing or management agency:  Helmholtz Association
Funding period: 01.01.2020 - 31.12.2024 with a mid-term evaluation after 2.5 years
Project partners: Industry Partners, Authorities, NGOs

The Helmholtz Association has been funding Helmholtz Innovation Labs (HIL) since 2016. The aim of HILs is to create impact with Helmholtz research outside of the academic setting by harnessing the specialized technology, infrastructure and competencies of the various Helmholtz centres. Through close and iterative cooperation and collaboration between scientists, industry, government agencies, and NGOs, application oriented, user-centered technologies are developed. In 2019, there was a second call for proposals and nine Innovation Labs were financed for a period of five years.

The 5-year funding (incl. successful project evaluation after 2.5 years) enabled the creation of a technology and knowledge transfer team that enables application-oriented, transdisciplinary activities centered around creating impact with remote sensing data outside of the GFZ. FERN.Lab supports transfer activities based on:

• optical, thermal and radar remote sensing data;
• parameter derivation from imaging spectroscopy;
• time-variable evaluations of earth gravity field measurements;
• development of low-cost receivers for GNSS data for high-precision positioning;
• monitoring greenhouse gas emissions;
• sensor simulations and big-data analyses;
• capacity building, training and networking

FERN.Lab provides innovative remote sensing products and services from these priority topics to support applications in environmental monitoring, smart farming, raw material exploration, groundwater monitoring, and infrastructure monitoring.