EGNOS: Creating opportunities for entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs with a commercial plan to use the EGNOS satellite navigation signal have a chance to make their vision a reality by applying for the Special Topic Prize for the most promising EGNOS application idea, which the GSA offers as part of the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2010.

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the EU’s satellite-based augmentation system, provides Europe’s industry with the ability to create new applications or modify existing ones using its enhanced precision and other features. EGNOS corrects the GPS signal, making it more accurate while also sending an integrity message as to whether it is performing at standards suitable for use in situations where lives could be at stake.

As part of this year’s European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) again calls for entrepreneurs to submit their most promising EGNOS application idea for its Special Topic Prize. Last year a proposal for leisure navigation software for smartphones won the prize. A maritime personal rescue tracker application won in 2008.

The GSA is looking for promising satellite navigation applications that make use of EGNOS signals or services and meet the following criteria:

– The application should deliver end-to-end functionality to customers using new or existing equipment and systems.
– Positioning should be a key enabler of the application.
– GPS and EGNOS should be the primary means of positioning.
– EGNOS functionality should be used.
Uniqueness and originality of the idea, its business potential (including technical feasibility, commercial feasibility, size of addressable market and time to market), and the credibility of the team’s management are also considered by the award jury.

The award will provide the winner with access to an incubation centre of his or her choice within the EU for up to six months. The winner will also have the option of extending their incubation period for an additional six months. The prize is worth up to €20,000 per sixmonth period.

Pedro Pedreira, the GSA’s Executive Director, states that the agency’s engagement in ESNC is part of the GSA’s overall task to foster new applications for EGNOS, and, later on, Galileo. “The applications must provide economic and social benefit to Europeans and to European industry. Don’t be shy to explore new avenues,” Pedreira says “That is what we are looking for.”

The winner of the 2008 EGNOS Special Topic Prize, UK-based Sci-Tech, has since built a working prototype of their real-time tracking and retrieval system for persons who have fallen overboard at sea. The prototype was demonstrated at Galileo Application Days in Brussels earlier this year.

Nogago, the GSA’s winner in 2009 has just been accepted for the Business Incubation Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The company has already moved into the premises of the ESA Business Incubation Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, where they will receive support to further developing their mobile navigation companion for outdoor activities.

More information
For more general and technical information about EGNOS go to the official EGNOS Portal (www.egnos-portal.eu). The Portal provides a one-stop point of access, information resource and forum for all those developing and using satellite navigation equipment and applications.

The Portal can help developers create the latest location-based application or software for aviation, road, agriculture, maritime and location-based services. The Portal is an online source for up-to-date news, information and solutions.

EGNOS’ Open Service was launched on 1 October 2009 and is available to anyone with a GPS receiver compatible with satellite-based augmentation systems. For more information on the GSA’s Special Topic Prize and to submit ideas for innovative EGNOS applications please go to: http://galileo-masters.eu/index.php?anzeige=special_prizes_gsa.html before 31 July.

Press contacts:
European Satellite Navigation Competition
Ulrike Daniels
Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen
Sonderflughafen Oberpfaffenhofen, Gebäude 319
82205 Gilching
Germany
Tel.: +49(0)8152-9099047
Fax: +49(0)8153-987555
daniels@anwendungszentrum.de
European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)
Donna Reay
Head of Information and Outreach
Rue de la Loi, 56 (L-56, 08/85)
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 298 52 10
Fax: +32 2 296 72 38
Mobile: + 32 498 98 52 10
Email: donna.reay@gsa.europa.eu
http://www.gsa.europa.eu
Note:
Additional information on EGNOS and Galileo is available at http://www.gsa.europa.eu and www.esa.int/esaNA

Image material: http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?mission=EGNOS&type=I

About the GSA
The European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA), a European Community agency, works with the European Commission on a range of market development activities aimed at helping European entrepreneurs and businesses commercially exploit EGNOS and Galileo. Partnering with the European Satellite Navigation Competition, an international ideas contest looking for commercially viable application ideas in the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) sector, is one of the GSA’s many promotional activities aimed at high tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

http://www.gsa.europa.eu

About the European Satellite Navigation Competition
The European Satellite Navigation Competition is an international innovation contest that awards the best ideas for applications in satellite navigation. The competition has been organised by Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen (AZO) since 2004 and is oriented toward companies, entrepreneurs, research institutes, universities and private individuals. As part of the competition, AZO has established a network that has since expanded to 22 regions worldwide. The network connects technology hubs and companies that boast some of the most important players in the fields of incubation, prototype and product development, market development, and idea management for applications related to satellite navigation. Meanwhile, aerospace clusters and other regional initiatives involved in the network give entrepreneurs crucial access to potential partners and investors.

Having begun with three partner regions, this year’s ESNC will be held in 22 high-tech regions all over the world: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Nice / Sophia Antipolis, Prague, South Holland, Madrid, Lombardy, Australia, Taiwan, Great Britain, Øresund, Gipuzkoa, Valencia, Switzerland, and Israel as well as newcomers Aquitaine, USA, Brazil and the Arab Middle East & North Africa (MENA).

The ESNC intends to further strengthen international collaboration among these regions, particular with regard to the development of applications and services made possible by Galileo, Europe’s satellite navigation system. The competition is held under the patronage of the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology and is supported by the European BIC Network (EBN). The main winners of the ESNC – the GALILEO Master, the special topic prize winners, and the 22 regional winners – will be recognised at a state reception to be held at the Munich Residenz on 18 October 2010.

www.galileo-masters.eu