European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) awards applications, services and new ideas that are using Galileo GNSS data to manage important challenges faced by business and society with prizes worth over EUR 1 million in total within more than 20 challenge categories. Once again ESNC is waiting for innovative business ideas from Estonia, to help put them on the fast track with help from the largest innovation and incubation network dedicated to satellite navigation.
“Satellite navigation is essential for precise and reliable positioning and for businesses such as Taxify, Waze, Milrem Robotics, Google Maps to ensure the quality of their services. Accurate positioning service is also vital for the internet of things, artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, smart city solutions, etc., “said the leader of the ESNC in Estonian region Andrus Kurvits from Tartu Science Park. “Most of the daily challenges can be solved by using data collected by satellites – accuracy, reducing labor costs are just a few of the benefits,” Kurvits added.
“For Taxify, navigation is the key feature of both mobile application, where the map is visually most salient, as well as the software, where the majority of work is with coordinates. Choosing the optimal route allows us to provide a better, faster, and cheaper service, “said Taxify’s head of the development team Rain Johanson.
Since 2004, the competition has selected 307 winners in total. They were chosen out of more than 11,500 entrants from 90 different countries, who submitted over 4,000 cutting-edge business ideas. Through an unparalleled network, including the ESA Business Incubation Centres, other incubators across Europe and the E-GNSS Accelerator co-funded by the European Commission, the ESNC plays a decisive role in the realisation of these promising ideas by supporting the foundation of startups and creating high-tech jobs.
The competition in Estonia is led by Tartu Science Park and Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol. For the third time the winner of the Estonia Challenge will be awarded a cash prize of 5,000 EUR for product development or market testing. In total, the prize pool for the competition is over 1 million euros.The European Space Agency’s business incubation centers in Tallinn and Tartu offer the winners a possibility to continue developing their business idea in a dedicated incubation program with additional 50,000€ in incentive funding. From there, companies will be able to access the E-GNSS Accelerator, launched by ESNC four years ago, which is a unique opportunity for businesses and startups to develop their business idea into a global success.
The ESNC and Copernicus Masters awards ceremony “Space Oscars”will take place on 4th of December during European Space Week in Marseille, France. This major event brings together the world’s leading space innovators from the fields of business, politics and science. The event is a unique opportunity to present the innovative space applications to industry experts.
All businesses, research institutions and students are welcome to submit their innovative business ideas using satellite navigation. The fields include but are not limited to sports and tracking, road and traffic management, safety and security, energy, aviation, logistics and many more individuals and entire industries alike can benefit from satellite navigation. To enter the competition you will need to complete a short and simple admission form on the ESNC homepage (http://www.esnc.eu) until 31 July 2018.
