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Once a year, EUSPA invites the public during its Open Days! Are you planning on attending?

EU Space Week 2022 was full of informative sessions, insightful keynote speeches and interesting demos from space-based companies. Here’s a taste of just some of what happened.

At a recent interactive workshop, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) gave a new impetus to the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between the two organisations to set common operational principles for scaling up investments in downstream commercial applications related to Global Navigation Satellite Services (GNSS). Under their MoU, signed in 2019, the GSA and EIB are exploring the investment potential for the so-called New Space Economy, with a view to supporting a higher private sector involvement in GNSS innovation-based pilots and projects, thereby contributing to high-skilled jobs and European value-added, while implementing the EU Space Programme.

Following the challenges of 2020, this year will be a key year for the EU Space Programme, European GNSS Agency (GSA) Executive Director Rodrigo da Costa said at a panel discussion at the Munich Satellite Navigation Conference, which was held online on March 16-17. The GSA executive director went on to outline some of the upcoming events to look forward to in the year ahead.

On Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22, it has become a tradition for us to take a look at how the European Space programme, Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus, is helping to protect the environment by driving innovation and enabling solutions that increase efficiency across a wide range of sectors, from aviation and maritime transport to energy and engineering. However, it is in the agriculture sector in particular that synergies between the three EU space components are helping to reduce the environmental footprint.

A European-wide survey aimed at identifying user requirements and use cases for future EU GOVSATCOM services was launched by Member States and EU agencies within the ENTRUSTED project, coordinated by the GSA. The survey is targeted at governmental and institutional users managing security-critical missions, operations and infrastructures. Information will be collected between April and June this year. The survey results will provide key elements to consolidate and prioritise the user requirements for the EU GOVSATCOM programme. For more information, click here.

The 2021 edition of the Galileo Masters opens for submissions on April 19. As in previous years, the 2021 competition is looking for services, applications and business cases that use EGNSS (Galileo and EGNOS), either alone or in synergy with other space components, to tackle important challenges faced by business and society. Want to take your EGNSS-based innovative idea from the drawing board to the market? Click here for more information.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is launching the Space Crossroads, a series of online broadcasts where we will discuss how space is inspiring entrepreneurs and start-ups, enabling new ideas to scale up. The series will feature contributions from industry leaders, experts, investors and big players, who will share their space experience. The format will also allow for Q&As and networking opportunities. Sounds intriguing? Then see you at our first Space Crossroads!

The Galileo programme has reached an important milestone, with an estimated 2 billion Galileo-enabled smartphones sold until today. This is an incredible achievement, when we think that the first Galileo-enabled smartphone only hit the market in 2016, and shows that the market has been quick to trust and embrace the advantages that Galileo offers.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has launched a new Call for Proposals for the “Acceleration of EGNOS Adoption in Transport”. The objective of the Call is to foster EGNOS uptake in the European aviation, maritime, inland waterways and railway sectors. The deadline for submissions is 19 July 2021. An informative webinar on the call will be held on 23 April; to register, click here. For more information on the call, click here.