TerraMind Blue-Sky Challenge
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 Jun 2025 | Early July |
| 2 | 31 Aug 2025 | Early September |
| 3 | 31 Oct 2025 | Early November |
| 4 | 31 Dec 2025 | Early January 2026 |
| Grand Final | Mid-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
- Originality & Impact – genuinely new or game-changing for the geospatial community.
- Technical Quality – sound methodology, thoughtful experiments, clear visuals.
- Extension of TerraMind – creative use of multi-modal inputs, generative outputs, TiM chains, etc.
- Artistic Expression & Narrative – convincing story and immersive visuals.
- Open Science & Reproducibility – share code, models, and data splits (or a clear plan for restricted data).
📬 How to submit
- Start a new discussion in the Community tab and describe your solution.
- Keep it under 1 000 words – include images, tables, and a clear contact email.
- Link your repository, longer blog, or paper.
- That’s it – we’ll reach out if you’re selected for the pitch.
You can find an example submission here.
🏆 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?
Where do I find more information on TerraMind?
We provide details in our pre-print and the model is available on Hugging Face.
Can I submit more than one idea?
Yes—submit as many innovations as you like, but remember that each team or individual can only win one round.
Do I have to open-source my code and data?
Yes and no. It's not mandatory, but we value it in the spirit of open science and reproducibility during the evaluation.
Can I reuse work already published elsewhere?
Yes, you should even link to the published work in your post.
Still unclear?
Open a new discussion titled [Question] topic in the Community tab.