EscapeWar.net

1. 27 ongoing military conflicts in 2023
2. 238 000 dead because of the conflicts in 2022 (dw.com)
3. 117 000 000 people suffer from acute food insecurity as a result of armed conflict

With recent bombings in the Gaza Strip, ongoing war in Ukraine, and countless other conflicts on the Earth we don't even hear much about, millions of innocent civilians are put in danger. Some of them decide to run right away, but for others, the bond to their household and homeland is too strong, so they remain there, surrounded by increasing chaos, threatened to lose their houses and lives at any time.

As people in occupied territories risk being left without access to food, water, and humanitarian services, it is important for us to establish a system to warn civilians in advance of impending enemy attacks, as well as to offer safe migration routes and a map of shelters. 

💎 Idea

The EscapeWar.net is a service intended to protect these people by assessing risks and indicating when and how it is necessary to flee. It will identify areas of impending danger based on the detection of indicators such as bombing sites and tank movement on satellite images. Users themselves will also be able to notify the system of impending danger: spotted military equipment, soldiers, and damages. After verifying and summarising the information processed the system will then alert people in those areas that they need to escape before they will be fully surrounded by the oppressor forces, and suggest the safest escape routes, locations of nearest shelters, and places with safety kits. It will also work from the other end to alert humanitarian aid workers about areas that require immediate assistance, and suggest to them how to safely get to the people who need help. Of course, the system will have to scrutinuously verify the identity of individuals who will be bestowed with that information, so it would not become available to the oppressor.

🛰️ EU space technologies

The functionality of the EscapeWar.net service relies on Sentinel-2 satellite images. With the help of remote sensing, we identify the spectral signature of a bombing site,  which later could be done by a machine learning system. The processed data is adapted to assess damages related to the war and to detect advancing troops. To seek out optimal escape routes, we have built up the A* algorithm to penalize paths crossing through dangers. Further project development will probably require direct collaboration with The UN World Food Program to implement the area evaluation with SKAI. In its final shape, the system should be capable of searching for safe routes, both for pedestrians and vehicles (it could also be used to navigate unmanned vehicles that the World Food Programme is working on developing):

• To get from a house that's in temporary danger to a safe place (e. g. bomb shelter, humanitarian aid unit, different part of a city without ongoing military action)
• To leave an area permanently by using an established escape corridor
• To reach people in a prospective danger zone from outside
• To get out of the war zone completely through any exit possible (open-ended search)

⛑️Space for International Development & Humanitarian Aid

Our idea aims to address the problem of understanding and predicting forced migration. 

Creating an accurate system of advance warning of an impending invasion will not only save civilian lives but also make it possible to organize safe humanitarian corridors. 

In this way, our project will contribute to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for all (Sustainable Development Goal 16) by using information for integrated Decision-Making and preventing violence against children.  

🤼Team

Jakub Morawski - CEO. Leadership, Project Management, and Technical Development. Holds a bachelor's degree in Astronomy, has relevant experience in coding and running Hackathon projects. 

Adrian Walczak - Technical EO Service Development. Experienced computer scientist, specializes in data analysis algorithms for path-identification. 

Victor Lopez - CTO - Product development. Bachelor in geosciences, geographic information system manager, in charge of Sentinel-2 data processing and analysis. 

Mariia Utkina - CMO. Marketing and Communication Officer. Master in engineering geology, searching for relevant data information, Business modeling, and Value engineering.

Sarah Cader - CDO. UI and UX Creative. Master in Astronomy, actual start-up project manager. Hands-on understanding of user needs.