I am writing to request an augmentation to NASA grant NNX16AM38G, seeing green. The purpose of the project is to assess and improve NASA earth observations applications in the U.S. Business sector.…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center awarded a $180,238 grant to the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Inc. (IGES), a non-profit organization, to assess and improve NASA Earth observations applications in the U.S. business sector, with a focus on the agriculture, financial services, water, and health sectors. The grant, titled "Seeing Green," supports the convening of workshops with private and public sector stakeholders, developing a database of private sector users of NASA and other U.S. government Earth observation data, and completing a final report on the findings. The grant is an augmentation to an existing NASA grant, NNX16AM38G, and there was no set-aside designation.

I am writing to request an augmentation to NASA grant NNX16AM38G, seeing green. The purpose of the project is to assess and improve NASA earth observations applications in the U.S. Business sector. Seeing green focuses on the U.S. Agriculture, financial services, water, and health sectors. Since the project commenced, iges has convened two workshops engaging more than 35 private and public sector representatives, including some of the nation S largest earth observation data users and applications developers as well as newer cutting-edge data analytics companies such as bayer, bloomberg, IBM, descartes labs, and amazon web services. These workshops have yielded valuable insights into how companies are using NASA and other USG data, enabling factors, trends, and ideas for improved engagement and future increase in data applications. Results of the workshops have been captured in two detailed meeting summaries. In addition, progress has been made on developing a database of US companies using NASA and other USG EO data. As NASA does not track private sector users, this product will provide NASA with specific companies, contacts and short summaries of how this EO is being used. As noted during our october 31ST meeting, the work that iges has conducted thus far has shown a high level of sophistication in the agriculture and financial services sectors where users and uses have been relatively easy to identify as there is a long history of weather and land cover applications. However, the level of sophistication in the private sector water and health sectors is lower and as a result, more difficult to capture. The data analytics and information technology sector is well represented throughout all of the sectors. Consistent with the original scope of work, iges is requesting an augmentation to NASA grant NNX16AM38G to: 1. Conduct more in-depth examination of the water and health sectors; 2. Conduct two additional workshops (water and health); 3. Further expand the private sector users and applications database; and 4. Complete, deliver, and broadly communicate the expanded final report and findings.