The European Association of Aerial Surveying Industries (EAASI) has officially opened submissions for the 2026 edition of its Outstanding Thesis Award, an initiative aimed at promoting academic research capable of generating practical value for the geospatial industry.
Now in its third year, the award – known as Spatial Business Bridge – highlights postgraduate projects that successfully connect geospatial innovation with real-world business applications. The initiative reflects the ongoing evolution of the sector, where the focus is increasingly shifting from simple data acquisition to integrated workflows based on analysis, interpretation and operational use of spatial information.
According to EAASI Secretary General Marcos Martínez, previous editions demonstrated how university research can contribute to solving concrete industry challenges, strengthening the relationship between academia and the aerial surveying sector.
The association also sees the award as an opportunity to support the development of new professional skills capable of transforming technical expertise into measurable business impact. The programme is coordinated by EAASI’s Student and University Engagement Committee, chaired by Patrik Meixner, and forms part of a broader strategy focused on workforce development and innovation.
Applications are open to postgraduate researchers at master’s, PhD and post-doctoral level who submitted a thesis or equivalent research project to a European university between 2024 and 2026. The submission deadline is set for 31 August 2026.
In the previous edition, the award was presented to Weixiao Gao from Delft University of Technology for his PhD dissertation Semantic Understanding of Urban Scenes from Textured Meshes, focused on automated methods for semantically enriched urban modelling and advanced photogrammetric 3D data processing.
Additional information about the award and application process is available on EAASI.
