Planet Labs, a provider of daily data and insights about Earth, announced that they have solidified a Strategic Partnership with Arizona State University (ASU) to facilitate climate action through education and research, workforce development, and a science-first approach toward innovation.
Since 2016, Planet and ASU have collaborated on significant programs including the Planet Incubator Program within ASU’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, the development of the Allen Coral Atlas, as well as two of the founding partners in the creation of the Carbon Mapper mission. In early 2019, ASU became Planet’s first campus-wide university partner, and since then, over 30 peer reviewed journal articles have been published by ASU using Planet products.
Planet and ASU continue to be leaders in creating an ecosystem for 21st century learning and innovation focused on accelerating scalable climate-action and mission-oriented business. This partnership will align their shared strategic focus to train and hire world class talent and be a catalyst to innovations in science, technology, and the use of space for increased sustainability of life on Earth.
Planet’s and ASU’s expanded Strategic Partnership has three key tenets. First, Talent and Certifications: establishment of an intern program that will bring ASU students into Planet and bring Planet onto ASU’s campus for mentoring across several of ASU’s schools. Second, Research & Innovation: ASU has committed to fund expanded research using Planet data and to seed a new “ecopreneur” program. Third, Community Investment: Planet is co-locating inside ASU’s Walton Center for Planetary Health for interns, future hires, and growth of Planet’s engineering team at the center of ASU’s multidisciplinary community focused on climate action.
“ASU has been at the forefront of innovative education and partnerships for the past 20 years. We’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with ASU at the Walton Center for Planetary Health and forge innovative solutions to accelerate humanity toward a more sustainable, secure and prosperous world,” said Planet’s co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Robbie Schingler.
“Collaboration between industry and academia is critical to economic success,” said ASU President Michael Crow. “Arizona State University has invested in opportunities to advance these connections by creating the Walton Center for Planetary Health, a high-performance research facility to foster an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge generation and leading-edge research across more than a dozen intellectual focal areas. ASU is eager to deepen our work with Planet with a focus on finding the most sustainable solutions to our biggest global challenges.”
