Young space entrepreneurs take part in Dragon’s Den style pitch fest
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Twenty two youngsters, aged between 13 and 21, were offered the chance to pitch their proposals to a panel of leading space industry experts after winning the SatelLife Challenge featured in BBC Breakfast on the 26th June. The competition winners were offered help to turn their ideas into a reality and shared how they see satellites improving life on Earth. The experts offered a range of support to develop the ideas including funding, patent advice and invitations to discuss job opportunities as well as introductions to the other relevant experts for further help. The winning ideas included a GPS wristband uses satellite location data and communications services to that identify the locations of swimmers and surfers in the sea and an app to map changes in urban areas using satellites and algorithms, identifying where building is taking place and potential sites for development. Emily Gravestock, Head of Applications Strategy UK Space Agency, said: The standard of presentations provided by the students was exceptional, even better than some companies who pitch to us. We’ve seen the future of satellite applications from these young people, and I’m excited to see what they could achieve over the coming years. Dr Nick Appleyard, Head of Downstream Business Applications at ESA, said: With the capabilities of satellites developing so rapidly, new ideas for services that use their data and connections are coming thick and fast. We’ve seen that the ideas of UK’s young, tech-literate generation are just as achievable as those being developed by mature companies, addressing challenges for vulnerable people and in our own daily lives that could never have been solved before The other judges on the panel were Stuart Martin, Chief Executive of Satellite Applications Catapult, Adam Brocklehurst, Patent Attorney at K2 IP Limited, Adina Gillespie, Institutional Strategist at Earth i and Karen Roche, Business Development Director at Kx Technology. A group of school children from Cornwall and a student from Wiltshire were the overall winners of the SatelLife Challenge. Ellie Jones, Jessica Knight, both 15, Summer Jeffery and Emily Haddrell, both 14, from Truro, scooped £7,500 for the best group entry with their Surf Safe concept. Ieuan Higgs, from Chippenham, received £7,500 for the best individual entry for his Infrastructure Planning and Development Analysis Tool and a further seven entries were awarded £5,000. |
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Terramonitor launches a satellite-based map stream of planet Earth
HELSINKI - June 28, 2018 - Terramonitor, the leading space data company, announces the first ever constantly updating satellite-based map of the Earth. The technology that combines open-source satellite images with artificial intelligence and machine learning, is developed with data from the European Space Agency (ESA). The service is especially useful for industries that rely on accurate geographical data, such as forestry, agriculture and infrastructure.
Viewing the exact geographical situation of the globe has been difficult and expensive, and only accessible for large corporations. Previous solutions have relied on proprietary satellites, skyrocketing the price of space data. Terramonitor pairs ESA’s openly available satellite images with AI - showing the planet at unprecedented accuracy and a sustainable price-point. Terramonitor is free for research, and can be used to understand the impact of natural disasters.
The unique technology of Terramonitor results in an affordable, up-to-date and high resolution map of the globe - a streamed map that can be viewed in a web browser or integrated with an existing system. Terramonitor’s global map mosaic is constructed by combining 100 million images and auto-updating them constantly. Furthermore, geographic information services (GIS) often rely on outdated images that can be several years old. By integrating Terramonitor, all GIS maps can be auto-updated instantaneously.
“We’re proud to launch Terramonitor today. In a world where climate-change is being debated, people and companies need accurate and up-to-date information about the globe. Our technology makes space-data usable and affordable for everyone. By utilising artificial intelligence with open satellite data we’re able to show the world in an entirely new way. We’re excited for what the future holds, as we’re just beginning our mission to democratise space data.” Joni Norppa, CEO & co-founder Terramonitor.
“We believe that the Terramonitor solution is able to fuel innovative business services in the forestry, agriculture and environment domains. By pairing images provided from satellites with their AI-based technology, Terramonitor shows an accurate and timely map of the globe,” Elia Montanari, ESA Business Applications.
About Terramonitor
Terramonitor is the leading space data company - with a mission to democratise space data. The company pairs open-source satellite data from the European Space Agency with artificial intelligence to show the world from a space-eye view that is up-to-date and precise. Based in Helsinki, Finland, the company’s partners include the European Space Association. For more information, please visit www.terramonitor.com. Leave your guesswork to the ground.
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Philips acquire ESA Business Applications funded RDT
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) a global leader in health technology, announced recently on the 13th of June that it had acquired Remote Diagnostic Technologies, a UK-based leading innovator of advanced solutions for the pre-hospital market. This represents an important financial exit for ESA Business Applications investment in RDT.
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RDT’s portfolio of emergency care solutions powered by Space such as the Tempus Pro (above, in use during the return to Earth of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet) will complement Philips’ Therapeutic Care business and strengthen its leadership position in the EUR 1.4 billion resuscitation and emergency care market.
“We are committed to investing in and expanding our resuscitation and emergency care offering, and with the acquisition of RDT we can boost our capabilities and portfolio in this vital area of healthcare," said Arman Voskerchyan, Business Leader for Therapeutic Care at Philips. "With its focus on the prehospital market, RDT’s portfolio of emergency care solutions will enable Philips to grow its presence in this market, as we further build our health technology portfolio and extend the range of connected, data-driven solutions we offer to our customers.”
“We are delighted to become part of Philips and continue on our journey that began over 20 years ago”, said Graham Murphy, CEO of RDT. “Our mission is very much aligned with Philips’ own, as we are committed to transforming the delivery of care and improving patient outcomes driven by customer-focused innovation. Together, we will continue to enable prehospital caregivers to make a real difference to patient outcomes everywhere.”
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European Space Agency and the Toilet Board Coalition Partnership
The European Space Agency and the Toilet Board Coalition partner to leverage Space Technologies to accelerate the Sanitation Economy in developing markets
The Toilet Board Coalition (TBC), the world's first business-led platform focused on accelerating the Sanitation Economy, has announced a partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) to utilise the technologies of space to help address the global sanitation crisis.
Sanitation is also an important issue for astronauts in space. Through this partnership, the TBC will gain a better insight and understanding into space technologies and will assess potential synergies for the Sanitation Economy.
The Sanitation Economy monetises toilet provision, products and services, biological resources, data and information to provide benefits across the economy and society. As part of this, the Smart Sanitation Economy, which will be the focus of this partnership, refers to digitised sanitation systems that optimise data for operating efficiencies, maintenance, plus consumer use and health information insights.
Charlie Beevor, Chairman, Toilet Board Coalition said: “It’s not every day that we see a partnership between a sanitation coalition and a space agency. However, working together will provide the expertise and insights needed to better understand the full potential of the Smart Sanitation Economy. Whilst its currently the least developed element of our strategy, we also think it could have the biggest impact on addressing some of the most-pressing sanitation challenges around the world.”
Cheryl Hicks, Executive Director, Toilet Board Coalition added: “Today, 2.3 billion people do not have access to sanitation. We need big, and innovative approaches to disrupt our current trajectory. The Smart Sanitation Economy seeks to leverage new technologies to drive new value from sanitation systems, which is exactly what we aim to do with the ESA.”
The ESA's Business Applications team supports the development, implementation and pilot operations of downstream space-based services. These are applications that utilise data from existing space assets in combination with terrestrial technologies to deliver sustainable services for the benefit of user communities. Acting at the intersection of innovation and business, ESA Business Applications helps stakeholders in addressing commercial and technical risks throughout the application development lifecycle, thereby transforming commercially promising space-based concepts into operational, profitable and self-sustaining applications.
“Our preparatory work has identified several areas which could benefit from the utilisation of space technology and data. For example, opportunities to establish preventive health information systems by combining health data from smart sensors on toilets with environmental data and disease risk factors provided by satellite Earth Observation data” said Davide Coppola, European Space Agency.
A twelve-month feasibility study will be launched with a call for proposals from interested companies. This will assess the technical feasibility and viability of space-based services in support of sanitation for developing economies through the Sanitation Economy, and will establish the roadmap for service implementation through potential follow-on demonstration projects. The project will explore space technologies, which can transform sanitation into the ultimate early warning system for health issues, as well as satellite monitoring of natural resources, such as water and soil.
About Toilet Board Coalition (TBC)
Founded in 2014, the TBC is a unique business-led partnership with the ambition to address the
global sanitation crisis by accelerating the Sanitation Economy. In November 2017 the TBC launched
new evidence demonstrating the rise of the Sanitation Economy as a call to action for global
business leaders to join in un-locking these new markets: Introducing the Sanitation Economy, The
Sanitation Economy in India, The Circular Sanitation Economy.
Website: www.toiletboard.org
For
Toilet Board Coalition inquiries, please contact:
Jasmine Burton: burton@toiletboard.org or +41 79 901 5594 in Geneva.
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