SOLNA, Sweden (Swedish National Space Agency PR) — AI Sweden and the European Space Agency, ESA, will open a lab for advanced technology development, Φ-lab Sweden (pronounced as the Greek letter “phi”), for AI in new space applications and applications for Earth observation. The lab is first out as a spearhead lab within a major European collaboration on space innovation and will be inaugurated in the spring.

The lab brings together industry, investors and researchers to strengthen the European space research and space industry sector in what is known as Earth observation and AI. This work is complemented by the work that takes place in the Swedish Space Data Lab, which includes the Swedish Space Agency, Luleå University of Technology, RISE and AI Sweden.

What attracted ESA to Sweden is AI Sweden’s knowledge and the cluster that works with an AI technology called edge learning. The technology creates the opportunity to train AI models directly in e.g. satellites. This saves money and resources because you do not have to send the massive amount of data that the satellites collect down to earth.