The Big Data from Space (BiDS) 2025 conference will be held from 29th September to 3rd October in Riga, Latvia, marking the seventh edition of this globally recognized event. The official call for papers and satellite events is now open, and interested participants will find all the latest updates on the conference website at https://www.bigdatafromspace2025.org.
As a leading platform for cutting-edge discussions on the intersection of space, data science, and technology, BiDS 2025 will bring together experts from industry, academia, EU institutions and governmental entities to explore and learn how space-driven insights and foresight, and synergies between diverse space domains and technologies, can provide a robust foundation for evidence-informed decision-making. A highlight this year is the shift towards industrial competitiveness, security, and resilience, alongside covering all space domains, including science, navigation, Earth Observation (EO), and more.
Organized by the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Union Satellite Centre (EU SatCen), and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), with Research Latvia and the Ministry of Education and Science as local hosts, BiDS 2025 will foster collaboration and inspire the exchange of ideas that bridge new insights in space analytics and technology, while also responding to critical societal needs. As the conference rotates its location biannually, BiDS 2025 will also highlight Latvia’s space sector, allowing participants to explore the local contributions to the global space and data science communities.
Stefanie Lumnitz, ESA Chair Representative, Horizon Europe Earth Observation Scientist at ESA emphasizes: “Big data from space provides opportunities to explore and create innovative solutions to global problems. BiDS 2025 will be a great platform for exchanging ideas that could improve our future, and I am excited that we can meet in Riga this year".
Key Highlights of BiDS 2025:
- Satellite Events: Interactive workshops and sessions to enhance learning and networking.
- Code Sprint: A high-energy, collaborative coding challenge to learn open source software development and jointly design innovative solutions.
- Keynote Speakers & Invited Panel Discussions: Distinguished thought leaders from space sciences, deep tech industry, and policy.
- Research Presentations: Adressing novel technological developments and applications tackling pressing issues such as climate change, the EU Green Deal, and the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Demo Area & Industrial Exhibition: Showcasing breakthrough technologies from industry in space, geospatial and deep tech.
- Poster Sessions: Engaging opportunities for researchers to present their work.
Objectives
Together, we want to explore and learn how space- driven insights and foresight, and synergies between diverse space domains and technologies - Earth Observation, Space Science, Weather, Climate and Planetary Observation, Navigation, Positioning and Telecommunications, Mission Operations and System Engineering - can provide a robust foundation for evidence-informed decision-making. These insights are critical in addressing global societal challenges, including climate change, sustainable competitiveness, and civil security.
- Showcasing and investigating the impact of Big Data from Space on society’s grand challenges, such as climate change, as well as key policies at the European and global levels, including the European Green Deal and the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Identifying breakthrough data science technologies that accelerate space-based Big Data insight and foresight, transitioning from research and innovation to operational applications.
- Promoting open science and innovation, interoperability of solutions, and cross- disciplinary collaboration, building on open and FAIR data principles, digital trust, cloud-based technologies, and Data Spaces.
- Discussing the future of space data and technology, identifying next game-changers, technological advancements, and establishing an innovation roadmap to maximize the benefits of space-derived data and technologies.
The 2025 edition of BiDS will not only focus on the technologies enabling insight and foresight from Big Data, but explore how Big Data from Space-driven innovation can enhance competitiveness, support evidence-informed policy, and benefit society and the economy. Today, the accessibility of global, free, and open space and geospatial data is expanding through EU initiatives such as the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, Destination Earth (DestinE), the Common European Data Spaces, and the AI Factories, or ESA’s Digital Twin Earth program. Additionally, advancements in Deep Tech, including quantum computing, neuromorphic sensing, and connected computing in space, are paving the way for new disruptive applications. These developments will drive additional value and impact across research, business, and policy domains.
Themes
As with past editions, BiDS 2025 is open to contributions covering all aspects of Big Data from Space, including technical developments, applications, and emerging trends. BiDS 2025 will focus on the following core themes:
- Big Data from Space-driven transformation in policy and society: solutions, analytics and technologies that influence decision-making processes and societal outcomes;
- Developments addressing cross-earth and space domain challenges: leveraging Big Data from Space to tackle climate change, security, adaptation, industrial sustainability, resilience, biodiversity, health, interlinkages between all of them and other pressing societal challenges; Exploiting synergies of various space domains, for example exploiting benefits for space for security (i.e. climate security) and security for space (i.e. secure communication).
- Exploiting synergies across space technologies: Data processing in Space Science, Navigation or Telecommunications; Space missions and big data challenges; New data and methods in support of open science and innovation.
- Digital policy and responsible technology development: algorithmic governance, open innovation, explainability, trustworthiness, auditability, and addressing bias in AI-driven systems; Policy frameworks and their impact on services and industry (i.e. the AI Act); AI and technology and ethics, both in space and on Earth; Green AI and computing.
- Cloud-native and digital infrastructures for big data: How big could big data be through small, federated and interactive solutions; scalable data management, access, processing, and visualization; challenges in interoperability, federated learning, provenance, data security, privacy, sustainable computing, and the role of Dataspaces.
- Advanced processing paradigms: Multimodal AI, foundation models, data fusion, data assimilation, knowledge extraction and data valorization, data mining, search engines, incorporating multiple-criteria decision analysis for real-world applications;
- Enabling foresight with new methodologies and technologies: digital twins, forecasting, simulation, predictability science, explainable AI, natural language processing or virtual reality;
- Disruptive technologies shaping the future: Deep tech innovations, including quantum computing, neuromorphic sensing, real-time analysis of big-data streams, structured/unstructured data fusion, or hybrid high-performance computing.
The conference is organized within the framework of the ERDF project No. 1.1.1.1/1/24/I/001 “More Efficient Implementation and Management of Latvia's Science Policy”.
