The U.S. Forest Service (USFS)-National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Virtual Pitch Fest, virtually hosted in early June 2020, was a creative collaboration inspired by the need for virtual connection due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The pitch fest provided a platform to share ideas and spark new collaborations around using NASA’s remote sensing data products and tools to meet pressing land management needs. During the pitch fest, representatives from NASA and the USFS highlighted key opportunity areas for increased NASA-USFS coordination and collaboration to support sustainable natural resource management. Participants shared and voted for ideas to pilot NASA technology to help address priority land management issues. Up to five ideas from the pitch fest will be selected with the goal of coordinating support in the form of expertise, tools, and knowledge to streamline these efforts. The virtual meeting was attended by 319 people from around the globe and had nearly 60 ideas submitted.
Pie chart showing affiliations of participants in the June 2020 the U.S. Forest Service- the National Aeronautical and Space Administration Virtual Pitch Fest. The bar chart on the right further splits out the Government agencies.