Barcelona-based geo-analytics company takes top honour at the Hello Tomorrow Summit in Amsterdam with its Wildfire Confirm & Act Pulse, designed to help responders confirm wildfire presence faster and act sooner.
Barcelona/Amsterdam, 12 June 2026. Earthpulse, the Barcelona-based company turning satellite data into usable geo-analytics, has won at the final pitch competition of the ESA Φ-lab Grand Marathon, the European Space Agency innovation challenge dedicated to next-generation Earth Observation for civil protection and humanitarian support. CEO Laura Moreno presented the winning solution today at the Hello Tomorrow Summit in Amsterdam, where the challenge final was held on 11–12 June 2026.
The Grand Marathon, organised by ESA Φ-lab in collaboration with Hello Tomorrow, called on innovators worldwide to design compact, scalable, field-ready solutions that use AI-enabled Earth Observation to detect and confirm short-lived hazards, such as fires, explosions and rapid infrastructure damage and deliver near-real-time, actionable insight to decision-makers and first responders, with particular attention to protecting children and adolescents in disaster contexts.
Earthpulse answered that brief with the Wildfire Confirm & Act Pulse, a new addition to its Pulse solutions family designed specifically for the challenge. The solution combines Earth Observation indicators, weather data, AI models and external confirmation sources to help emergency teams understand whether a situation should be escalated, which areas require priority attention, who or what may be exposed, and what follow-up actions are needed.
Laura Patricio Moreno, CEO and Co-Founder of Earthpulse, said:
The impact of wildfires is decided in the first hours, and responders simply cannot afford to act on uncertainty. We designed the Wildfire Confirm & Act Pulse exactly to close that gap: confirming what's happening on the ground from space, fast, and turning it into intelligence people can actually use. Winning the ESA Φ-lab Grand Marathon is the recognition of our team's conviction that Earth Observation needs to be useful and usable first and foremost, as it only matters when it leads to action.
Chiara Maria Cocchiara, Senior Innovation Officer at ESA Φ-lab, commented:
The Grand Marathon was created to push the boundaries of what Earth Observation can do for society and civil protection. At ESA Φ-lab, this is exactly the kind of innovation we want to bring to decision-makers and operators: a technology that moves from space to the ground fast enough to make a tangible difference. Earthpulse embodied that ambition. By combining Earth Observation, AI and real-world confirmation, the team behind the Wildfire Confirm & Act Pulse has designed a field-ready tool that helps responders act on critical events faster, even when working under pressure. It's a deserving winner, and a clear example of the talent and drive emerging from Europe's Earth Observation ecosystem.
As the winner of the challenge, Earthpulse will receive in total a prize of up to €215,000 for operational deployment alongside expert coaching from ESA Φ-lab and Hello Tomorrow, and international visibility within the Earth Observation and deep-tech community.
The win marks the latest milestone in a strong year for Earthpulse, whose AI-driven geo-analytics already help organisations manage climate and infrastructure risk.
The Grand Marathon is one of ESA's flagship open innovation programmes, run by European Space Agency's Φ-lab in partnership with Hello Tomorrow. It is designed to identify and accelerate the most promising deep-tech solutions in Earth Observation, bridging the gap between scientific innovation and real commercial impact. Being selected as a finalist, from a highly competitive field, is a strong validation of both our technology and the business we are building.
Earthpulse was founded on a simple premise: that satellite and geospatial data should be usable, not just available, helping organisations manage infrastructure risk, meet compliance requirements, and uncover operational insights. SPAI, our geo-analytics engine, and our Pulses are built to deliver exactly that for infrastructure management, compliance, and risk assessment.