The European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)-on behalf of the European Commission- has just launched the 3rd call for proposals for Positioning and Navigation Applications in the frame of EU's FP7.

The total value of this call is €38mln. An announcement can be found on the following link: click here.

This call aims to maximise the number of participants and reach organisations in many areas, and create interest towards the whole ICT, Transport, Mobility, SME, Security and Space communities.

You will find more information here

You can directly register on this link

PosiTim is the winner of last year's (2009) European Satellite Navigation Competition for the region of Hessen and the ESA special price. One of the main goals of PosiTim is to commercialise the ESA GNSS software package called NAPEOS. The distribution of NAPEOS licenses coupled with an intensive one week training course are corner stone's for the PosiTim high accuracy GNSS services business.

The very first NAPEOS Training Course will be held from October 25 to 20, 2010, at the hotel Lopesan Costa Melonera, located on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain.

Fore more information please visit the PosiTim web-site: http://www.positim.com/nap_training.html

PosiTim is under business incubation at the ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany. The ESA BIC is run by the Centre for Satellite Navigation in Hessen (CESAH).

Click here to register: www.galaxia-park.eu

ESA Investment Forum 2010

Organised by ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) in collaboration with Europe Unlimited, the ESA Investment Forum 2010 follows the previous and highly successful editions taking place at the EuropeSpace Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands and in La Hulpe, Belgium.

For its 4th edition, the ESA Investment Forum will foster investment and partnership opportunities by bringing start-up companies using space technology, applications or services in a non-space environment, together with finance and investment communities while highlighting the business potential of such blends.

In recent years, we have witnessed that transfer of space technologies back to commercial applications generates countless business opportunities. The leading example is satellite-based services becoming one of the most promising sectors of business profit, highlighting the potential in spinning space technology back into Earth applications.

The Forum plays an active role in the European innovation scene and it constitutes an exceptional setting for exploring collaboration opportunities while providing a privileged insight into space research for prospective commercialisation.

The SMEs being selected to participate in this event are businesses that build a significant portion of their growth and competitive advantage on the utilisation of a broad spectrum of technologies originating from space and their application in diverse industrial sectors.

All information can be found on Europe Unlimited webpage: http://www.e-unlimited.com/events/view.aspx?events_pages_id=701

On 15th and 16th September 2010, Bordeaux Technowest Aéroparc organises the frist European affairs convention on UAV: the UAV Show Europe 2010.
UAV SHOW EUROPE is the first affairs convention among all actors from the UAV sector at the international level, with the objective to link supply and demand.

Business meeting, workshops, conferences and dynamic shows on the testing zone of the Camp de Souge are planned during this two-day programme, where exchanges will be on the expectation and development of tomorrow's civil applications, in the domains of watch, life-saving training or security.

Further information here.

Participation package here.

Entrepreneurs have the chance to win prizes totalling a million euros in this year's European Satellite Navigation Competition. ESA will award a special prize of €10 000 for the best idea and support the business start up at one of its four incubation centres.

Now in its seventh year, the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) is boosting ideas for innovative satnav application and services. More than a thousand ideas were submitted over the first six years, many of which have turned into new businesses in Europe.

Since 2005 ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) has been a partner in the competition and for the past two years it has offered a €10 000 ESA Special Topic Prize.

At the BICS they will be assisted by ESA experts, and will have access to space technologies and laboratories. But the support does not stop there. After incubation, TTPO will help the companies to acquire funding through its biannual ESA Investement Forum and the new Open Sky Technologies Fund.

The 2010 contest began on 1 May, and closes on 31 July; comeptitors are invited to submit their ideas online at ESNC's website.

The competition is being organised by Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen, which since 2009 has been responsible for running the fourth ESA BIC.

For more information on the 2010 ESNC competition, visit: http://www.galileo-masters.eu

Satcom industry and experts from European Member States and Canada are invited to submit ideas for future satellite communications research and development activities. All submissions are confidential.

The Call For Ideas is issued every year by ESA's Telecommunications and Integrated Applications (TIA) directorate to create the annual Workplans for the Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme elements 1 and 5.1. Submissions to the Call For Ideas are reviewed and selected by the ESA Telecommunications team with support from experts from other ESA directorates.

Ideas and suggestions should be submitted by 28 May 2010.

Valuable input from the satcom industry and experts helps ESA establish relevant Workplans that will meet the future satcom needs of Europe and Canada. Once the ideas are selected and developed into activities for the ARTES 1 and ARTES 5.1 Workplans, competitive Invitations to Tender (ITT) are issued throughout the following year for these activities.

All ideas and suggestions are welcome; however, in the case of ARTES 5.1, the panel will be paying particular attention to development in the following areas:

• Higher Capacity for Space and Ground
• Convergence to IP: Satellite and Terrestrial Integration Techniques and Technologies
• Techniques and Technologies for Services

For further details on these areas, click here

Please submit your ideas and suggestions by using the Call For Ideas online form. Click here to access the form or use the link located in the column to the right.

ARTES 1 activities focus on: supporting the definition of the strategy
of ESA in the field of telecommunications and its impact on European and Canadian industry; the next generation of telecommunication satellite systems and the associated development roadmaps including in orbit demonstration or validation; addressing the integration of satellite networks with terrestrial ones, and supporting standardisation activities through  the involvement of special interest groups.

ARTES 5.1 focuses on research and development of new technologies and techniques in telecom satellites, ground and user equipment for future or evolving satcom systems. Please be aware that ideas related to satellite telecommunication applications fall outside of the scope of the ARTES 5.1 programme, however ideas relating to applications can be submitted for ARTES 1. Activities in these ARTES lines receive 100% funding. The ARTES 1 and ARTES 5.1 Workplans for 2011 will be published at telecom.esa.int in early 2011.

For more information on ARTES 1 and ARTES 5.1 see the links located in the left menu bar. For contact information, visit the links located under related links in the right menu bar.

*Due to the volume of ideas usually received in response to the Call For Ideas, individual feedback will unfortunately not be possible. Your ideas are highly valued and gratefully accepted.

ESA's Technology Transfer Programme's booth 'ESA Space Apps' at this year's Hannover Fair will present a number of impressive spin-offs and technology transfers, illustrating the huge untapped potential of advanced space technology for European non-space business.

"With 'ESA Space Apps' we wish to draw the European industry's attention to the great number of existing innovative space technologies available," explains Frank M. Salzgeber, Head of ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO).

'ESA Space Apps' will be at booth number D56 in Hall 2 at the Hanover Fair 2010 in Hanover, Germany, from 19 to 23 April. The booth is organised jointly by ESA and the German company MST Aerospace, which on behalf of ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office, leads TTPO's Technology Transfer Network, a consortium of five European companies dedicated to transferring space technology to more earthly applications.

ESA and its broker network of companies have already implemented more than 230 technology transfers.

Ten companies will present their successful technology transfers showcasing the huge potential and opportunities of technologies, systems and expertise used in Europe's space programme.

Currently the European satellite navigation system Galileo is under development, with a planned operational availability from end 2013. Therefore the development of Galileo based applications and products becomes more and more important. With GATE a ground based realistic test bed was developed, especially covering the needs of receiver manufacturers and application developers. 

GATE is especially for the use of the following target groups who would like to perform tests of products and applications before the full operability of Galileo:

• Developers of Galileo receivers, resp. combined receivers for Galileo/GPS).
• Developers of applications for Galileo, e.g. Location Based Services (LBS), Telematics etc.
• Professional users of navigation and positioning technologies and services

GATE is funded by the German Aerospace Centre DLR. 

More information: http://www.gate-testbed.com/