Students of ITC at the University of Twente win Space & Water Nexus Hackathon with tool to assess Brown Rot risks in potato fields

Six teams worked with challenge owners on solutions for water, infrastructure and agriculture. All six projects will be supported as teams pursue further testing, cooperation and business development.

Noordwijk, 3 October 2026 — SATUrN Tech, a team of students at the University of Twente’s Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), has won the Space & Water Nexus Hackathon with BruinRadar, a prototype that combines satellite observations and Dutch environmental data to identify flooded potato fields and help assess potential Brown Rot risks. 

Held from 1 to 3 October at CometLab in Noordwijk, the event connected students, researchers, developers and entrepreneurs with organisations seeking solutions to roadside fire risks, soil compaction, wastewater pollution and flooding-related crop disease risks.

The hackathon was organised by dotSPACE Foundation, operating as Groundstation.space, in collaboration with FIERCE, an EU-funded project helping small and medium-sized businesses use space data and services to develop environmentally sustainable solutions. Over three days, teams worked with challenge owners, mentors and experts to develop their projects, examine user needs and prepare their final presentations.

“This is actually my first hackathon,” said Unnat Parande, a member of SATUrN Tech whose studies focus on disaster resilience. “For me, it was personally a great opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and work on something that is entirely out of my area of expertise.” Parande also valued the opportunity to speak directly with the challenge owners, which helped the team better understand the problem and develop a solution grounded in their needs.

The winning team addressed a challenge provided by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA): identifying potato fields where flooding may have introduced Brown Rot through contaminated surface water. The challenge called for information on which fields had flooded, how much of each field was affected and whether the water came from surrounding waterways or rainfall. Historical satellite observations could also help establish whether a field had flooded previously when an infection is discovered later.

BruinRadar combines satellite radar imagery with field boundaries, elevation data and rainfall information to address these questions. The prototype aims to identify areas potentially at risk of Brown Rot introduction through flooding and help public authorities investigate possible pathways of disease spread.

“It’s great to see how enthusiastic students got to work with our case. Nice to think along and help them on their way,” said Rob Broekman, Head of Remote Sensing & Data Acquisition at the Innovation Lab of NVWA.

The winning team receives a €2,500 cash prize, a prototyping workshop at CometLab and follow-up support, including a personalised funding opportunity scan, introductions to the local startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem, and media exposure. dotSPACE will also help the team prepare an application for the FIERCE Financial Support Programme, which offers eligible SMEs up to €50,000 for specialised external services supporting development, testing and commercialisation, subject to eligibility and selection requirements.

The six teams worked on four challenges:

• Preventing Roadside Fires: Supporting Tool for Roadside Management (Rijkswaterstaat)
• Actionable Insights on Soil Compaction (AeroVision B.V.)
• Granular Insights into Wastewater Discharges (Water Natuurlijk Rijnland)
• Identifying Risks of Brown Rot Infection in Potato Fields after Large-Scale Flooding (NVWA)

Challenge owners worked with teams throughout the hackathon, answering questions and giving feedback on their approaches. For Rijkswaterstaat, which also supported the Dutch CASSINI Hackathon in April, this continued involvement offers a way to encourage practical uses of satellite data and cooperation between educational institutions and startups.

Reflecting on that support, Arthur Maring, Advisor Digital Innovation Lead at Rijkswaterstaat, said: “We want to do more projects about data from space, to focus on the ground.”

Hackathons complement Rijkswaterstaat’s existing pilots and projects with commercial companies.

The Netherlands Space Agency (NLSA) also supported the event. “For me, it’s always good to see young people getting enthusiastic about innovation and using satellite data to try and find solutions for modern-day problems,” said Ramon Peeters, Senior Advisor Applications and Technology Transfer at NLSA. “For quickly getting an insight into whether satellite data can be used to solve a problem, hackathons are a great instrument to use,” he added.

Participants contributed experience in Earth Observation, water research, software engineering, artificial intelligence, design and business development. The hackathon offered a place to exchange that knowledge, apply it to unfamiliar problems and learn directly from potential users. 

Companies could also use the three days to work on applications of their existing technology, discuss requirements with potential users and assess business opportunities. 

Jan-Paul Bultmann of erlkonig.ai, from Bremen, and Fabio Lagona of Trible.Space, from Munich, arrived with experience from previous hackathons. They first met at a hackathon in Bremen, where their collaboration began, and attended the EIT Water Hackathon in Munich before coming to Noordwijk. The Space & Water Nexus Hackathon matched their interests in water, space and connecting data across different systems.

Bultmann described the event as well organised. “Great people, really interesting conversations, very inspiring,” he said.

Bultmann and Lagona are considering establishing their startup in the Netherlands. For Bultmann, who previously worked at a startup in Amsterdam, the hackathon offered an opportunity to meet people and get a fresh impression of the Dutch startup community. Noordwijk and Leiden are among the locations they are considering as a base.

Electronics engineer Yoan Trendafilov and physicist Valentin Kichukov, both from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, travelled together from Bulgaria to participate. Kichukov works in the Institute of Electronics’ Laboratory of Laser Remote Sensing, where satellite data could complement his work on atmospheric aerosol measurements. The hackathon offered him an opportunity to learn more about data science and meet people working with satellite information. “We can use satellite data to improve our analysis,” Kichukov said, describing his motivation for attending. He added that he would return home with new knowledge, new friends and good memories.

Teams had access to the Satellite Data Portal (hosted by NLSA) and Open Dataspace Lab (ODL). Hosted by dotSPACE and developed under the leadership of NVWA and Rijkswaterstaat, together with partners in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, ODL enables organisations to share access to datasets and algorithms while retaining control over their source data. The platform is co-financed by the Province of South Holland.

“Through ODL, we made the challenge owners’ datasets available in one place, organised by challenge, including data that was not publicly available. Teams could find what they needed and combine satellite data with other sources. The hackathon also gave us direct feedback on how participants use the platform and what we can improve,” said Friso van der Burg, Technical Product Owner at Open Dataspace Lab.

The event offered a practical setting to test ODL with different users and applications, helping its continued development respond to the needs of researchers, companies and public organisations.

The event follows the Dutch CASSINI Hackathon held at CometLab in April, continuing dotSPACE’s work to connect space expertise with needs in water and other sectors. Support will continue for all six projects, with teams receiving help to identify contacts and opportunities for further development, testing and business development.

“We want to thank all the challenge owners for their tremendous support throughout the hackathon,” said Martijn Seijger, initiator and board member of dotSPACE Foundation. Challenge owners and teams will stay in touch to discuss the results, opportunities for further testing and possible next steps for cooperation.

The learning element also connects with the EU-funded ROOT project, which strengthens career guidance, upskilling and reskilling in Earth Observation. Participants have been invited to the ROOT Living Lab kick-off on 26 November 2026 at De Titaan in The Hague.

The hackathon was organised with support from the Municipality of Noordwijk, Rijkswaterstaat, NVWA, NL Space Campus, NLSA, the Province of Zuid-Holland, the Economic Board Duin- en Bollenstreek, Holland Rijnland, InnovationQuarter, Water Natuurlijk Rijnland, AeroVision, and Kansen voor West / European Union.

Organisations interested in working with the teams, contributing expertise or discussing a future challenge can contact Groundstation.space at hackathons@groundstation.space.