Genius 100 Foundation and the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Applications have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to support the development of innovative services that leverage space technologies and data to deliver social impact to unserved communities.
ESA and Genius 100 Foundation will work together under the new MoI to enable communities around the world to be liveable and resilient, and to thrive.
The MoI will support the incubation, development and piloting of innovative applications that make use of space technology, such as Earth observation and satellite communications and navigation, to deliver socio-economic impact to unserved user communities.
ESA has previously collaborated with Genius in the fields of education and uplifting rural communities. Now, in this renewed partnership, Genius will act as a catalyst by: gathering demand from user communities and stakeholders; liaising with end-user communities to assess the conditions for exploration of future applications; and helping to federate and establish the demand ecosystem. This will ensure any applications developed under the MoI can be exploited in a sustainable way.
The applications will focus in particular on: education, health and sanitation, art and science for social impact, the circular economy and natural resource management.
“This agreement will create opportunities for companies based in ESA member states to showcase the potential for space-based applications to address highly societal impactful issues through viable business models,” says Magali Vaissiere, ESA Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications.
“The collaboration with the European Space Agency fits and contributes to the vision we have for our foundation,” explains Julie Toskan, CEO of Genius 100 Foundation . “This supports our ecosystem of purpose-driven initiatives, strengthening and establishing new ways to enhance social impacts from an economic, technological and ethical point of view.”
As the first step in this cooperation, Genius and ESA plan to set up initiatives to address improvements in remote health provision and communities in the second half of 2020.
About Genius 100 Foundation
Genius 100 Foundation, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, is an active and engaged community of 100 exceptionally imaginative and impactful people, including scientists, artists, philanthropists, innovators and other paragons of excellence in their own disciplines. What unites them is two qualities: they are both great thinkers and greater doers.
About ESA and ESA BASS
The European Space Agency is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organisation with 22 Member States. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. ESA Business Applications and Space Solutions focusses on the commercial exploitation of space assets, data and capabilities by addressing technical feasibility and business development. This includes the development of operational services for a wide range of users through the combination of different systems, and support for existing businesses and the creation of viable new companies.