EUSPA back on the road for a series of September events

After a year of digital events, EUSPA greeted autumn with two events in physical format. Startup OLÉ and European Rover Challenger were two great opportunities for EUSPA to showcase EU Space success stories and opportunities to the old and new EU Space community.

Providing satellite-based services to a broad spectrum of industries has always been at the core of EUSPA’s mission. To do so, and to keep abreast of their needs, the agency has since its inception been interacting with users through various fora, consultation platforms, industry days and exhibitions. While last year found our EUSPA teams wired to digital events, this September our colleagues hit the road to introduce our revamped agency to the EU Space community.

‘’Engaging in live events with users whose businesses and operations rely on GNSS and EO data, is pivotal for the development of a robust downstream space sector. EUSPA stays in the know by closely monitoring market trends and adapting, devising and implementing strategic plans that guarantee the market uptake of the EU Space Programme,’’ says Fiammetta Diani, Head of Market Development at EUSPA. ‘’Every year, we try to participate at events across Europe to bring ‘’more space’’ to entrepreneurship and innovation,’’ concludes Diani.

While observing all the necessary hygiene measures, our EUSPA team flew to Salamanca, Spain and Kielc, Poland for two special events:

Sparking space entrepreneurship at Startup OLÉ

Held in Salamanca, Startup OLÉ is a conference that brings together start-ups, accelerators, investors, and public institutions, and through activities such as matchmaking, panels and roundtables, helps them develop synergies and secure financing opportunities. EUSPA hosted a panel on innovative solutions driven by space data, which featured Marco Nisi, Head of Integrated space-based solutions at Sistematica S.p.A. and CEO of  SARA Project and Iñigo Adin, Director of the Electronic Systems and Communications Group at CEIT (Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Técnicas de Gipuzkoa)  as main speakers. Both Nisi and Adin talked about their experience with developing projects under the H2020 funding mechanism, challenges and lessons learned.

Mike Rhodes, CEO at Allerayde and previous participant in #MyGalileoSolution competition explained how thanks to EUSPA he managed to develop a prototype much faster and why such innovation competitions are a great booster for start-ups.

#EUSpace robotic solutions turning the planet greener

The European Rover Challenge is a prestigious space and robotics event combining international competitions of mobile robots with scientific and technological shows. Sunday September 12th was dedicated to robotic solutions and Earth protection. Justyna Redełkiewicz, Head of Sector LBS, Market & Technology at EUSPA presented the agency’s new scope as well as the key contributions of the EU Space Programme to environmental protection.

From IoT and Augmented Reality to autonomous robotic systems, space data is enabling many of the current market and tech trends. Robotics rely on various sources to position themselves and navigate ranging from LiDAR sensors to GNSS data. The contribution of Galileo’s positioning services and the extra precision guaranteed by EGNOS help robotic applications optimise their routes and thus calibrate their overall performance.

In the past, EUSPA has funded various robotic ideas some of which include, GreenPatrol,  a robotic solution for Integrated Pest Management in Greenhouses, and 10Lines, a Galileo-enabled autonomous parking lot solution. 10Lines robots can strip parking lots seven times faster than current processes, requiring less supervision, eliminating the time-consuming measuring and pre-marking phases while significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

Next stop…Copenhagen for Tech BBQ (Denmark, 16th and 17th of September): the festival for tech start-ups and entrepreneurs to promote innovation and technology in the Nordic start-up ecosystem.

See you all there!

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