As both a conference and a trade fair, European Space Solutions will enable public officials and business leaders to debate the space challenges of the years ahead. The three-day event in London this December will also feature the European Space Expo, the showcase for satellite applications.
The event will focus on the many ways business can be fuelled by space applications. By bringing together policy makers associated with Galileo and other space programmes, businesses can learn about satellite technology’s wide range of innovations and services, from broadcasting and telephoning to in-car satellite navigation systems, security, and a myriad of other applications.
Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani and business tycoon and space travel advocate, Sir Richard Branson will be among the list of key speakers. Although they come from different worlds, they represent two sides of new interest in space technology. Branson’s Virgin Galactic group is currently building commercial suborbital spacecraft that are expected to offer private space flights from the end of 2013, potentially spurring a new global interest in space travel.
Shortly afterwards, from 2014, initial services from the Galileo satellite programme will become operational, enabling a wide array of faster, more accurate and more reliable satellite services. Both Branson and Tajani will focus on the framework for ensuring growth in the space sector at the high level plenary session on 3 December, along with David Willetts, the British Minister for Universities and Science.
Bringing businesses together to benefit from space
The event will involve 11 half-day seminars on Europe's satellite navigation and Earth observation programmes that have the potential to drive growth in downstream markets. Panel participants will look at particular sectors like healthcare, agriculture, land, air and maritime transportation, financial services, and more. The seminars will be user-led, focused on the business sectors rather than space, and speakers will come from the business area concerned exploring how EU space flagship programmes Galileo and GMES can be harnessed to fuel economic growth.
Developers and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) can take part in a ‘Business Support and Development Fair’ where they will learn about financing, legal issues, EU funding, business incubation opportunities, and intellectual property rights (IPR). The fair will also offer technical support related to Galileo, Europe’s satellite-based augmentation system (EGNOS) and Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).
The London Institute of Space Policy and Law will also host a parallel event looking at how space-derived data can supply useful, and at times the only, record of events at a particular time and location. This black box-type service may prove to be invaluable in law enforcement and in implementing accords like carbon cutting measures.
Space Expo in Horse Guards Parade
European Space Solutions will be complemented by the London leg of the European Space Expo, the travelling exhibition of all that satellite technology offers us. The 300 square metre interactive Expo – organised by the European Commission and the GSA – shows the many ways space technology has changed our lives, for example how in-car satellite navigation systems can help direct us to aiding emergency services during natural disasters.
This will be the seventh stop for the Expo after Copenhagen, Toulouse, Helsinki, Brussels, Vienna and Larnaca (Cyprus). And it could hardly have chosen a more grandiose venue: Horse Guards Parade, the marching ground facing St James Park, Whitehall, the Foreign Office and Downing Street and the Old Admiralty Building.
The Expo will also host a special event, 'Space Solutions for Assisted Living' on December 3, with Vice President Tajani and other key figures from related government and NGOs. The Expo will display devices and mobility equipment based on satellite navigation technology that makes lives of the elderly and persons with disabilities easier in mobility, transportation, activities of daily living, education, employment and other related areas. Innovative applications will be demonstrated to show how space supports independence and safety for citizens with disabilities. European Space Solutions will take place at Central Hall, Westminster Storey's Gate, London, 3-5 December. Registration is now open.
European Space Solutions will take place at Central Hall, Westminster Storey's Gate, London, 3-5 December. Registration is now open.
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European Space Expo will be at Horse Guards Parade in the nearby St. James's Park, 3-9 December.