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The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has launched a call for expressions of interest to set up a database of Venture Capital Entities (VCs) interested in investing in European innovative companies working in the downstream space domain. The goal is to allow start-ups and SMEs in the downstream space segment to connect with investors that may be interested in their products.

Stakeholders from around Europe and the world gathered online on 7-12 December to attend this year’s edition of European Space Week. Despite the constraints put in place by the Coronavirus pandemic, the event was a great success, with over 3000 participants involved in the discussions, plenaries, consultation platforms and award ceremonies that took place during the week.

One of the highlights of Day 3 of European Space Week was the Investors Forum, which brought start-ups/SMEs from a wide range of business backgrounds together with investors interested in innovative EU space technology. In total, 10 start-ups presented their ideas to the panel of investors.

The latest upgrades carried out on the SAR/Galileo Local User Terminals of Spain, Cyprus and Norway, earlier in the summer are helping the International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme transition towards MEOSAR completion.

A session on Horizon 2020 success stories, held on the final day of European Space Week, highlighted some of the innovative projects that took advantage of EU H2020 funding to develop ideas leveraging Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus, or synergies between the programmes, to produce products for the market. The session included some valuable advice for anyone thinking about applying for funding.

In the smart energy grids of the future, all energy market participants will communicate with each other, making energy supplies more reactive. This will bring many benefits, including reduced costs, improved efficiency, and the seamless integration of the distribution of energy sources, including renewable energy. However, for smart grids to operate successfully they will have to be based on a solid and robust synchronisation infrastructure. This is where GNSS comes in.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is launching the 2020 editions of its Galileo User Satisfaction Survey and EGNOS User Satisfaction Survey. These surveys play an important role in the evolution of the EGNSS programmes by feeding users’ needs and requirements into programme development.

Alphamonitoring System, from the joint Italian-French team Alphageomega, has taken the Traditional Geomatics prize in this year’s Geomatics on the Move Competition, while the Integrated Geomatics Prize went to the Greek team 3 Deep Vision for their project Bathymetry from UAV Imagery and Machine Learning. The winners shared in the overall prize of EUR 30,000, with a total of 10 prizes offered in the two categories.

Graniot, a team from Spain, has won this year’s 1st Farming by Satellite Prize. The winning team developed a web application that uses European satellite technologies to help agronomists and farmers monitor crops, reduce water waste and avoid poor fertilisation practices. The Farming by Satellite Prize promotes the use of GNSS and Earth observation in Europe and includes a special Africa Prize.

Angsa Robotics has won the overall prize in the Galileo Masters 2020 with “Clive,” Germany’s first autonomous trash collection robot, which collects small pieces of rubbish left on grass or gravel that would otherwise cause ecological and economic problems.