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EARLY ADOPTERS

To ensure the products developed within the project serve the needs of future users, we work closely together with African Early Adopters.

3-fold role of the Early Adopters within ARIES

  • Co-design: Through a series of in-depth interviews, detailed user requirements (in terms of product specifications, system requirements and operational requirements) will be captured and will form the basis during product and system development. Regular feedback loops will be organized to steer ongoing developments
  • Validation: Through the provision of in-situ observations from existing agricultural test sites, the Early Adopters will be key to properly validate the innovative EO algorithms and products.
  • Testing: Once the developed algorithms have been deployed in an operational , cloud-based processing system, the Early Adopters will further test the operability and potential for integration with their own monitoring frameworks. 

    5 African Early Adopters

    Five partner organizations have been identified that are willing to participate, together covering Eastern, Western and Southern Africa:

    • AAH (Action Against Hunger ; Niger): Non-governmental organization fighting against hunger. Products that provide information on drought susceptibility and crop water management are helpful for their work to ensure food security.
    • AGRHYMET (Niger): Regional center specialized in applied science and techniques for agricultural development and natural resources. Algorithms for drought and agricultural monitoring are at the heart of the institution.
    • AKTC (Zambian Agricultural Knowledge and Training Centre): Supports the building of resource-saving agriculture. State of the art products for water resources management of agricultural areas is what they mostly need.
    • RCMRD (Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development ; Kenya): Non-profit intergovernmental organization instrumental in capacity building, mapping, remote sensing, GIS and natural resources assessment. Knowledge of state-of-the-art EO products and services is important for this organization.
    • AfriGEO (EO research group within RCMRD ; Kenya)

    Next to these five Early Adopters, two additional research organizations in Zambia have expressed their interest into the project and will be receiving regular updates on the project's progress:

    • University of Zambia
    • Copperbelt University School of Natural Resources in Zambia