From September 29 to October 3, Riga will host the international conference "Big Data from Space" (BiDS 2025), which will bring together experts from science, politics, industry, and society for the seventh time. The aim of the conference is to promote cooperation and the exchange of ideas to address global issues such as climate change, sustainability, and security.
Space data obtained from satellites is one of the main instruments through which space technology contributes to the economy. Satellite navigation, Earth observation, telecommunications, and other areas are complementary and can be combined with other digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, 5G, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and more.
The first two days of the conference will take place at the Academic Center of the University of Latvia and will be dedicated to hackathons and satellite events – interactive workshops that will promote learning and networking opportunities. The satellite event program and hackathon topics can be found on the conference website here.
From October 1 to 3, the National Library of Latvia will host panel discussions, poster presentations, an industrial exhibition, demonstrations, a B2B event, and other activities. A conference of this scale will provide Latvian scientists with an opportunity to share their discoveries with the international scientific and industrial community, while companies will have the opportunity to present their innovative solutions to professionals in the space sector.
The main themes of BiDS 2025 will focus on the role of big data in addressing climate change and sustainable development, as well as its importance in European and global politics. The conference will highlight how big data can promote development in data science, inspire the creation of new digital technologies, and promote open and FAIR data principles. This conference will be a unique opportunity to engage in discussions that will help shape our future and participate in international cooperation. We invite everyone who works with space data or is interested in these areas to attend the conference and share their ideas.
The conference is organized by the European Space Agency, the European Union Satellite Centre, and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia and Research Latvia, with the support of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency. It takes place every two years, and this year's event in Riga offers an excellent opportunity to highlight the achievements of the Latvian space sector and promote local investments in the international space and science communities. The event is part of the ERDF project "Development of Innovative Entrepreneurship in SMEs."