Federal Minister Hanke: Space start-up "Another Earth" docks with AI Factory Austria AI:AT grants access to European HPC systems, support for synthetic Earth observation models
The AI Factory Austria AI:AT is aiding 'Another Earth', another innovative Austrian deep-tech start-up, in accessing European high-performance computing systems (HPC). The company is developing AI-powered synthetic Earth observation models and is now training them on EuroHPC systems. This demonstrates once again that the AI Factory Austria enables companies to already access Europe's most potent computing infrastructures in a structured, efficient, and supported manner.
Austria in the European space, AI, and data ecosystem
The AI Factory Austria AI:AT is part of the European AI Factories initiative under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and the Horizon Europe programme. The aim is to connect AI and HPC capabilities Europe-wide and develop sovereign key technologies for strategic future fields – including space, Earth observation, and data economy.
“The access to European supercomputers reveals entirely new potential for AI-supported space applications, Earth observation, and sustainable resource management – from climate analyses to monitoring to resilient infrastructure. The AI Factory Austria provides a clear interface for this and enhances Austria's competitiveness. It enables complex applications and builds trust in the technologies of the future,” explaines Innovation Minister Peter Hanke.
Another Earth: AI-powered synthetic Earth observation
Another Earth is developing multimodal diffusion models that generate synthetic Earth observation data: optical satellite images, land usage data, elevation models, and other geo-information. These generated datasets can complement existing Earth observation data – for climate research, energy supply, crisis and disaster management, urban planning, or precision agriculture.
The training models are based on 1.4 million image sections and require – depending on the setup – several thousand GPU hours. The modern GPU resources (A100/H100) are available via EuroHPC systems.
Felix Geremus, founder of Another Earth, explains: “Our models are extremely computationally intensive. Thanks to AI Factory Austria, we were able to gain early access to EuroHPC infrastructure and conduct our experiments on powerful GPU hardware. This access has significantly accelerated our development process and greatly expanded our scope of innovation.”
Karl Kugler, Co-Lead of AI Factory Austria AI:AT: “Another Earth demonstrates how our support model works in practice. As a one-stop- shop, we link advice, technical expertise, computing access, and assistance in the secure application of AI. The structured process ensures that companies can experiment, develop, and validate more quickly – up to scalable business models.”
Markus Stöhr, Co-Lead of AI Factory Austria AI:AT and project manager at Advanced Computing Austria (ACA), emphasizes: “We see that the access works. The processes are established, the support is effective, and the infrastructure is usable. Another Earth is a good example of how we bring Austrian AI innovations to European supercomputers and enable real added values.”
“Targeted support creates innovation dynamics. We are already exchanging ideas with other companies that have similar needs – and supporting them in efficiently implementing their projects within the AI Factory Austria and the European AI Factories network,” says Thomas Mayerhofer, Head of Innovation Center of AI Factory Austria AI:AT.
About AI Factory Austria AI:AT
AI Factory Austria AI:AT is Austria's national platform for applied artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. It is implemented by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology together with Advanced Computing Austria (ACA) and offers businesses, start-ups, and research institutions a central access point to European computing resources, advisory, training, and innovation offers related to AI, HPC, and trustworthy technology development.
The consortium of AI Factory Austria additionally includes: TU Wien, Universität Wien, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU), Universität Innsbruck, Technische Universität Graz (TU Graz), Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (JKU), Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), INiTS – Vienna's High-Tech Incubator and Earth Observation Data Centre for Water Resources Monitoring GmbH (EODC).
About Another Earth
Another Earth develops multimodal AI models for generating synthetic Earth observation data that support data-driven decisions in climate research, energy and land planning, crisis management, and agriculture. More information at: https://anotherearth.ai
Funding Acknowledgement AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) is co-financed by the European High- Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No. 101253078. The Joint Undertaking is supported by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme and Austria (BMIMI/FFG).