TerraMind Blue-Sky Challenge

TerraMind   Blue-Sky Challenge 🌍✨


organized by IBM and ESA

Submit Your Idea

A bi-monthly award spotlighting the boldest, most imaginative ways to push TerraMind beyond “just another fine-tune”. Whether you’re prototyping a new multi-modal workflow, exploring Thinking-in-Modalities, or inventing a never-seen geospatial application, we want you to share it with everyone.

🎯 What’s in it for you?

  • €1 000 cash for each round winner (June, August, October, December).
  • Grand Final Prize — community prestige and more, decided in January from the four round winners.

  • Potential publication in a joint wrap-up paper and broad visibility across IBM, ESA, and the EO community.

🗓️ 2025 Timeline

Round Submission deadline Pitch & Winner Announcement
130 Jun 2025Early July
231 Aug 2025Early September
331 Oct 2025Early November
431 Dec 2025Early January 2026
Grand FinalMid-January 2026

Deadlines are set to 23:59 Anywhere-on-Earth (AoE).


You can submit or update an entry at any time; it rolls into the next open round until it wins or the challenge ends.

🚀 What we’re looking for

  1. Originality & Impact – genuinely new or game-changing for the geospatial community.
  2. Technical Quality – sound methodology, thoughtful experiments, clear visuals.
  3. Extension of TerraMind – creative use of multi-modal inputs, generative outputs, TiM chains, etc.
  4. Artistic Expression & Narrative – convincing story and immersive visuals.
  5. Open Science & Reproducibility – share code, models, and data splits (or a clear plan for restricted data).

📬 How to submit

  1. Start a new discussion in the Community tab and describe your solution.
  2. Keep it under 1 000 words – include images, tables, and a clear contact email.
  3. Link your repository, longer blog, or paper.
  4. That’s it – we’ll reach out if you’re selected for the pitch.

You can find an example submission here (TODO).

🏆 Selection process

  • The jury short-lists three entries for a 10 min online pitch + 10 min Q&A after each deadline.
  • One winner is declared; non-winners remain eligible for later rounds.
  • The four round winners face off in the Grand Final for the overall prize.

📝 Rules

  • Use TerraMind: your solution must leverage the TerraMind model.
  • One win per working group/individual: you can win only one round, but keep sharing great ideas.
  • Grand-final refinement: each round winner may refine their project before the final decision.

Individuals affiliated with IBM or ESA are not eligible to receive an award.

👩‍⚖️ Jury

Experts from IBM, ESA, and independent researchers with deep experience in geospatial AI.

Need a spark?

Browse community ideas in the Community tab and leave a reaction if you like them.

Have a question?

Open a new discussion titled [Question] topic in the Community tab.


Ready? Share your breakthrough and claim the next TerraMind Blue-Sky Award!