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Redefining Agricultural Insurance Services Using Earth Observation Data. The Case of Beacon Project

  • Emmanuel LekakisEmail author
  • Stylianos Kotsopoulos
  • Gregory Mygdakos
  • Agathoklis Dimitrakos
  • Ifigeneia-Maria Tsioutsia
  • Polimachi Simeonidou
Conference paper
First Online:
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Part of the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology book series (IFIPAICT, volume 554)

Abstract

BEACON is a market-led project that couples cutting edge Earth Observation (EO) technology with weather intelligence and blockchain to deliver a toolbox for the Agricultural Insurance (AgI) sector with timely cost-efficient and actionable insights for the agri-insurance industry. BEACON enables insurance companies to exploit the untapped market potential of AgI, while contributing to the redefinition of existing AgI products and services. The Damage Assessment Calculator of BEACON employs remote sensing techniques in order to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of agri-insurance by: (i) increasing the objectivity of the experts field inspections; (ii) reducing the cost of field visits and (iii) increasing farmers’ confidence in the estimation results, given the significant economic impact of erroneous estimation. This paper provides an analysis of different type of EO data and remote sensing techniques implemented in the operational workflow of BEACON that can be used by AgI companies to provide safe and reliable results on storms, floods, wildfires and droughts damage on crops.

Keywords

Agricultural Insurance BEACON Earth observation data 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 821964.

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Copyright information

© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2020

Authors and Affiliations

  • Emmanuel Lekakis
    • 1
    Email author
  • Stylianos Kotsopoulos
    • 1
  • Gregory Mygdakos
    • 1
  • Agathoklis Dimitrakos
    • 1
  • Ifigeneia-Maria Tsioutsia
    • 1
  • Polimachi Simeonidou
    • 1
  1. 1.AgroappsThessalonikiGreece

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