EPFL spin-off Gamaya is the winner of the Swiss Economic Award 2017 – The most prestigious prize for young entrepreneurs in Switzerland.Agriculture forms the very foundation of the human civilisation. It is a 5 trillion dollar global industry with 500 billion in net profits. Already today it is responsible for the use of the majority of suitable land and freshwater consumption on the planet. Further availability of these basic resources is diminishing with the rapid growth of human population and the corresponding demand for agricultural produce leading to significant environmental pressures including massive deforestation, biodiversity loss and destruction of natural habitats.But the biggest problem in our relationship with our environment is perhaps not in what we know, but in the myriads of risks and unknowns, large and small that we as individuals and organisations lack the environmental intelligence to foresee and understand.Gamaya aspires to change that. We are utilising a unique combination of sophisticated sensing and computational methods, including airborne hyperspectral imaging, satellite observations and machine learning to help farmers significantly improve the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of the their businesses. Gamaya helps farmers to use less water, fertilisers, chemicals and fuel; improve the quality and quantity of the their production; as well as better prepare for drought, extreme weather conditions and climate change.Switzerland is strategically positioned to play a critical role in the forthcoming environmental intelligence revolution. Switzerland is a host of world-class research ecosystem in key domains including mobile robotics, remote sensing and data science, as well as the home of the leading food production, agrochemical and commodity trading corporations.Gamaya is a spin-off of the Geodetic Engineering Laboratory of EPFL. It is a result of multiple research projects spanning the fields of mobile robotics, remote sensing and environmental monitoring, including the Leman-Baikal expedition sponsored by Dr. Frederik Paulsen. Among other results, the project lead to the development of the world’s smallest and lightest hyperspectral camera. Gamaya was founded in 2015 by Yosef Akhtman, Dragos Constantin and Igor Ivanov and is supported by prominent Swiss investors including Sandoz Foundation, Peter Brabeck Family Office, as well as Seed4equity and VI Partners venture capital funds.