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Winning business ideas for satellite applications 
A heads-up car navigation display and a new approach to rainforest conservation were announced as the winners of the eighth Galileo Masters European Satellite Navigation Competition and the new GMES Masters European Earth Monitoring Competition, both supported by ESA. Together with the two overall winners, eight Galileo Masters special topic prizes, five GMES Masters challenge prizes and 23 regional prizes were awarded at the ceremony in Munich, Germany. The prizes were given for the most creative business applications of satellite navigation and Earth monitoring for public and commercial use.
This year’s best satnav application is the ‘True3D™ Heads-Up Display’. Submitted by Juliana Clegg of Making Virtual Solid, this augmented-reality navigation display provides non-distracting, translucent guidance to untrained drivers looking through the windscreen.
Submitted by Dutch geo-information company GEODAN, this new approach to rainforest conservation combines GMES data, crowd-sourcing, social media and ground teams to help halt illegal deforestation. GMES is Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative to provide easily accessible information to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.
Through its Technology Transfer Programme, the Agency sponsors the Innovation Prize for the most promising satnav application that can be quickly developed into a profitable business. In addition to the €10 000 cash award, the winner might be hosted at one of the five ESA Business Incubation Centres, receiving technical and financial assistance to make the idea a reality. From this year’s record 91 proposals, the winner is ‘twofloats’, a proximity service that tracks and tells registered users when they are close to each other. Members would never again miss an opportunity to meet.
In the first GMES Masters competition, ESA was looking for the best proposal for using GMES on mobile phones. The ESA App Challenge prize went to German company EOMAP for their AquaMap, which uses data from several satellites including the upcoming GMES satellite fleet to provide near-realtime, high-resolution information on water quality. Accessible via smart phones and incorporating cloud computing, the service appeals to private users, such as scuba divers and seaside tourists, and professional offshore companies – in fishery management, for example.
Last week’s launch of the first two Galileo satellites is a major step towards full operations of the satnav system. Once operational, it will boost the exploitation of commercial applications in nearly all types of businesses, including the automotive sector, environmental conservation, social media and tourism. ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) The TTPO’s main mission is to facilitate the use of space technology and space systems for non-space applications and to demonstrate the benefit of the European space programme to European citizens. The office is responsible for defining the overall approach and strategy for the transfer of space technologies, including the incubation of start-up companies and their funding. For more information, please contact: ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office European Space Agency Keplerlaan 1 2200 AG, Noordwijk The Netherlands Tel: +31 71 565 6208 Email: ttp@esa.int
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