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The huge value of the Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) service was underlined in a live demonstration off the coast of Belgium on Thursday 26 September. Operation Shark Bait showed how this vital service can quickly trigger a rescue operation and save lives at sea. Despite a grey day and choppy sea conditions, an emergency rescue was initiated in just over three and a half minutes after intrepid “volunteer victim”, Australian broadcaster and explorer Tara Foster, operated her Galileo-enabled SAR beacon from a small life raft buffeted by the waves just offshore from the port of Ostend.

Have you ever wondered how pilots can land a plane when it is snowing or foggy? The answers lie just five minutes away from downtown Prague.

Over two days in August, to kick off Thai Space Week, GNSS.asia and Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) ran a Galileo and Smart RTK Hackathon – challenging participants to think outside the box. With one hackathon already completed this year, this was a good opportunity to introduce Galileo to a new region and to a new group of enthusiastic innovators.

During a presentation on the EU Space Programmes as enablers for policies requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on 25 September 2019, attendees heard how the European economy is increasingly dependent on space-based services.

The European Union's blue economy is thriving - economic activities related to oceans, seas and coastal areas recorded gross profit of EUR 74.3 billion in 2017. By providing the tools needed to streamline marine navigation and port operations, support fast and effective search and rescue, and monitor the health of the marine environment, Europe’s GNSS and Earth Observation programmes offer crucial services for this vital segment of the European economy.

The Galileo – Accuracy Matters campaign was a worthy runner-up in the ‘Campaign of the Year - Associations & Institutions’ category at this year’s Digital Communication Awards. The first place prize in the category went to Finland’s Capital of Metal campaign, which set out to determine which Finnish city deserves to be known internationally as the Capital of Metal.

Submissions in the MyGalileoApp competitions target applications in 11 innovation areas. European Mobility Week, which is taking place this week, is a good opportunity to take a look at some of the applications addressing mobility-related issues that were shortlisted in the Top 30 in this year’s edition of the competition.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has opened a call for proposals within its Fundamental Elements funding mechanism, targeting the implementation of OS-NMA and/or I/NAV features in close-to-market receivers and/or GNSS user terminals. The deadline for submissions is 31 October 2019.

In September 2019, public authorities will have the opportunity to attend and participate in several informative webinars on Pre-Commercial Procurement and learn about the available funding opportunities on this topic.

Over the past few months, we have published a number of articles highlighting how GNSS is contributing to technological advancements in various transport sectors. Mobility Week is a good opportunity to look back at these and summarise how Galileo and EGNOS are enabling the intelligent transport applications that underpin the mobility solutions of the future.