Delivering 12 TB of space data per day, Copernicus is the world’s largest space data provider. This high volume presents a serious challenge to analysts. At the same time, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an indispensable and ubiquitous tool for growth and innovation. In this context, the EU-funded AI4Copernicus project will bridge the EU AI on-demand platform AI4EU with Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) platforms to allow innovative players to break new ground. The project will organise, fund and support four open calls for SMEs, facilitating the development of novel, useful and ethical-by-design[1] artificial intelligence innovations (8 small-scale experiments and 9 larger-scale use-cases).