Bulgaria is among the leaders in Europe in the use of satellite surveillance with artificial intelligence
Dr. Vasil Vassilev, remote sensing expert, and Yordan Draganchev, commercial director at TechnoLogica, participated in a discussion on the green and digital transition in Brussels, organised by Amazon Web Services and the NGO Lisbon Council. Those in the audience of nearly 150 people, representing various public and business organisations, were impressed with TechnoLogica’s experience in using artificial intelligence in the monitoring of water volumes in dams, forecasting the operation of hydropower plants and physical risks to the power grid in order to prevent incidents caused by vegetation encroachment (overgrowth of vegetation that threatens the safety of transmission lines).
The event was also attended by MEPs Eva Maydell, at whose invitation the Bulgarian IT company participated in the event, as well as Jørgen Warnborn, and representatives of the European Commission and the UN Environment Programme.
TechnoLogica’s team made a presentation before several key EU institutions, explaining the possibilities and various applications of satellite surveillance and artificial intelligence in important Union policies such as the green transition and decarbonisation. The visit reaffirmed the importance of the partnership between the EU and the real economy sector, without which the achievement of the Union’s ambitious climate goals would be unthinkable.
Yordan Draganchev and Vasil Vassilev visited the European Space Agency (ESA) and has a series of meetings with the management of the Copernicus programme for Earth observation from space, a unit of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Defence and Space (DEFIS). This was an unprecedented meeting between representatives the business community and the body implementing European policies on the use of satellite imagery to monitor the atmosphere, water supplies, agricultural areas and critical infrastructure.
During the discussion, our colleagues, who use data from Copernicus satellites on a daily basis, talked about the advantages of remote sensing in different sectors of the Bulgarian economy. As a result, the European Commission invited TechnoLogica to be a partner in organising a conference on the benefits of Copernicus in the energy sector, to be held on 17 March in Brussels, where our specialists will have the opportunity to share their experience in the application of satellites to achieve concrete results in sectors, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy security and carbon footprint reduction policies.
TechnoLogica’s team also met with officials from the unit responsible for implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI). It turned out that owing to the remote sensing methods and change detection algorithms developed and implemented by TechnoLogica for control of arable areas, Bulgaria is among the EU leaders in the application of satellite monitoring imagery in area support schemes, which is replacing the use of orthophoto maps and on-site inspections, which are rapidly becoming obsolete.
TechnoLogica representatives also visited the European Parliament, where they had an in-depth meeting with Eva Maydell, Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA).
