Call for Proposals: New Earth Observation FrontiersEnterprise Innovation Support Fund(NEOFrontiersEISF) – 2nd Cohort

The Department of Science, Technology and Innovation has been instrumental in promoting research capacity
and knowledge production in the Earth Observation (EO) sector through its participation in initiatives such as
the Group on Earth Observation (GEO), which led to the establishment of the South African Group on Earth
Observation (SAGEO). Hence, the New Earth Observation Frontiers (NEOFrontiers) programme was developed
by the South African Space Agency (SANSA) to support the research and innovation in the EO sector.

The NEOFrontiers funding opportunity is a collaborative yet competitive programme for developing capabilities
around new products, services and value-added components. This programme seeks to stimulate collaboration,
cooperation, and innovation in the EO community, both public and private. The NEOFrontiers has been
managed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) since 2020 and is currently supporting innovative
projects that are developing technologies at universities and Science Councils that will benefit the EO sector.

Despite the support for the innovation and technology that has been provided over the years, the uptake of EO
solutions by the government and private sector in South Africa is limited to a few departments and companies
with remote sensing or related data science expertise. In addition, the limited number of EO downstream
companies may be significantly attributed to the slow or update of EO in government and private industry.
Increasing the uptake of EO technologies in South Africa requires South African companies in this sector to
improve their innovation and technology development capabilities.

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