Online info session primarily for aviation sector will take place on February 23, 2023, 10am – 12pm CET. The session will present space technology transfer opportunities in the aviation sector along with ESA SPARK FUNDING financial initiative.
Register here. Attendees will receive the event link prior to the event.
The contest organized by the European Space Agency and its Technology Brokers suggesting to propose an idea of a space technology or patent applied in non-space solution revealed its winners. Two awards were to be issued at the occasion of Space2Business 2022, a voucher of 10 000 EUR to the 1st place winner and a voucher of 5 000 EUR to the 2nd place winner.
A jury set up from the ESA Technology Transfer office, the Czech Ministry of Transportation, Czech branch of ESA BIC and Technology Broker decided to award the 1st place prize to SOLAR FOCUS project by Krištof Šaman. His idea presents a stowable reflective foil for solar panels based on ESA patent Deployment Mechanism for Solar Concentrators. SolarFocus increases efficiency of solar power plants on caravans, camper trucks and ships. This easy-to-use solution is compatible with current hardware, takes 20 minutes of installation time and remains low cost. The main value is 45% increase in solar efficiency.
The 2nd place prize was awarded to THERMOSOLAR HIVE project by Jan Rája, Apis Innovation s.r.o. His project focuses on solving a mite problem: mites are world-spread insect killing every bee colony if no treatment provided. The chemical treatments are currently pesticides and acids. Mites are however becoming resistant to the current treatments. By placing Phase Change Material Compound patented by ESA on the top of a beehive, the bee colony becomes saved from mites in a specific temperature that will not let the mite survive. The proposed solution is ecological, self-sufficient and sustainable.
Both projects proved to be innovative, technologically feasible, fostering sustainability and backed by a business plan.
Get Space Inspired contest aims to support the use of space technologies in non-space industries and to motivate companies to address their technological needs by applying know-how developed primarily for the space sector. There are 2 prizes to be allocated, the first place will be awarded with 10 000 EUR, the second place will receive 5 000 EUR.
Application deadline: November 25, 2022.
The contest will select and award the best proposal for the adaptation (technology transfer) of space technology in terrestrial applications.
How to participate
Get inspired by the know-how used in space applications and submit a project presenting its application in the non-space sector.
Use the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Patents Database as a source of technological innovations in space.
The space innovation used in the project proposal does not have to come from the ESA database, any know-how that has been used in space or has been developed primarily for space applications can be used.
Use the Get Space Inspired application form below to describe your idea for applying the space technology and submit it to SparkFunding@tc.cz no later than November 25, 2022. There is no required scope of information submitted, the competitor shall submit relevant information to best meet the evaluation criteria.
The application form will be a single document consisting of the cover letter, application form and any attachments. Please apply in English.
Received applications will be evaluated by an expert jury and the results will be announced during the Czech Space Week event Space2Bussiness on November 29, 2022.
Evaluation criteria for technology transfer projects
The criteria for evaluating technology transfer proposals are following:
The organizer of the competition will propose the nominations of the expert jury and announce this nominations at the time of the closing date for competition proposals.
The jury only announces winners of the 1st and 2nd prizes and does not announce other rankings or evaluation of individual participants.
Awards
The best space technology transfer projects will receive a financial award:
1st place – 10 000 EUR
2nd place – 5 000 EUR
Transfer of the prize money will take place within 60 calendar days of the announcement of the competition results.
Who can participate
Entrepreneur, university or research institute based in the Czech Republic.
Competition rules
Technology transfer projects must be technologically and economically feasible applications of Space technology. The competitor shall describe the terrestrial technological problem and its solution by space technologies application. Provider of the space solution is ESA or any company providing its technolgy solution in space technology sector. Participation in the competition does not establish any contractual relationship between the competitor and the owner of the space know-how and between competitor and competition organizer either. The competitor is obliged to use only information available in public sources and databases.
Space For Hydrogen seminar presented the activities of the ESA Technology Broker and the possibilities to support the transfer of technological know-how in the space and hydrogen sector. The seminar launched a financial initiative ESA Spark Funding programme, dedicated to support an initial transfer and deployment of innovative technologies.
Space technologies and the automotive industry have a lot in common. ŠKODA AUTO Digilab and the Technology Center CAS thus hosted an event where 15 companies can benefit from this synergy.
In 2022, At an occasion of an online webinar, ESA Technology Broker activities along with ESA Ambassador and Spark funding were presented. The webinar focused specifically on space technologies with the potential of use in the automotive industry. Attendees could benefit from the introduction of European startups presenting opportunities for the automotive industry.
The companies presented their development of space components, sensors and software that the automotive industry is generally familiar with. The event of Škoda Meets Space was organized by TC CAS, specifically by the ESA Technology Broker team, along with ŠKODA AUTO Digilab and Czech Ministry of Transportation, which fosters the national space program. ŠKODA AUTO Digilab executes development of digital services for mobility, communicates with international startups, SMEs and universities in order to innovate and expand the range of mobility options.
Gate2Space has been an annual conference since 2014. The most recent event – the 8th Gate2Space conference took place as part of the Czech Space Week 2021 festival, which was traditionally organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation of the Czech Republic.
The conference was focused on the possibilities of involving Czech entities in space activities.
Speakers presented European Space Agency (ESA) programs, ESA Technology Broker project, ESA and EU satellite navigation and telecommunications programs, how space cooperation works in Europe, information on the ESA Spark Funding financial instrument, the Horizon Europe program and Enterprise Europe Network services in the Czech Republic.
A lecture on the direction of the Czech Republic in the field of future space activities was a part of the conference.
See previous years:
2020:
https://www.tc.cz/cs/akce/konference-gate2space-1
2019:
https://www.tc.cz/cs/novinky/prezentace-z-konference-gate2space-2019
2018:
https://www.tc.cz/cs/novinky/uskutecnil-se-paty-rocnik-gate2space
2017:
https://www.tc.cz/cs/pro-media/foto/fotogalerie/gate2space-2017
2016:
https://www.tc.cz/cs/novinky/prezentace-z-akce-gate2space
2015:
https://www.tc.cz/cs/akce/pozvanka-na-seminar-gate2space-2015
Could space technologies contribute to city development? The first Space 4 Cities event was an opportunity to discuss such opportunities. Co-hosted by the TC CAS and the Ministry of Transportation, Czech Republic and ESA, 70 city and region representatives attended a series of space technology presentations.
Apart from ESA representatives, the presentations were held by speakers from the Ministry of Transportation, Czech Republic, CzechInvest agency, TC CAS and Czech Technical University in Prague, as well as by the private sector representatives. The presentations focused on proven space to ground applications, such as satellite data for city monitoring and development (GISAT), analysis of local climate for green and effective buildings (Let’s Earth), satellite tools for sustainable cities (World from Space), applications of drones for smart cities (Aleego).
The Technology Center CAS was honored to host a round table with Rick Tumlinson, who is considered to be the biggest visionaire in the current space conquest. Together with representatives of R&D and technology we had the opportunity to discuss business related to space technologies and Czech – American business cooperation opportunities. Apart from the business representatives, the government representatives were guests at the round table.
Rick Tumlinson co-founded several enterprises focusing on space technology R&D, contributed to commercial policy establishment in the space industry (so called NewSpace industry), and was present at founding the International Space University in France. Despite having a broad range of activities, Rick currently dedicates most of his time to Deep Space Industries (DSI), a company he founded in 2013 in Silicon Valley. DSI researches space and mining technologies for the future mineral mining on asteroids. Czech company Metatron Global, a.s., was a participant of the round table as it is an investor of DSI.