The shortlisted projects cover eight of the 11 innovation areas open to submissions. The innovation areas with the most selected projects in the second round of the competition are Mapping, GIS and Agriculture, with a total of eight projects, followed by Augmented Reality and Games, with four.

A taste of what to expect

The applications target a wide range of societal and environmental challenges and needs. The need to move more efficiently around our cities is something we have all experienced. Addressing this, one of the apps in this year’s competition monitors traffic lights and provides optimal speed recommendations, enabling drivers to arrive at the lights just as they turn green. Another matches people looking for parking spots with others leaving a spot, reducing headaches for drivers and benefitting retailers in areas with bad parking conditions.

It’s not just smart mobility needs that are addressed – one app helps farmers to visualise their in-field positions, providing constant feedback to optimise their work, while another helps drone users perfect their skills, supporting them in taking the best flight decisions.

There when you need it

One team is developing an app that sends distress signals even when the user is no longer able to access the device. Another crowdsources the location of your favourite products and delicatessens, while another integrates augmented reality and blockchain for geomarketing and an out-of-this world customer experience.

Mixing gamification, crowdsourcing and positioning can lead users to new worlds, but also help them experience their familiar spots in a completely different way, or empower users to overcome obstacles and find a tailored experience that suits their needs.

All in all, the applications in this year’s competition are impressive in terms of the range and scope of the challenges that the address, they might not change the world, but they certainly have the potential to become solutions that improve our lives, make our societies more inclusive and help protect the environment.

Next steps

The 30 selected projects will now work on developing a beta version of their app until 15 July 2019. The beta versions will then be reviewed and the 30 shortlisted projects will be narrowed down further, with a maximum of 10 teams being selected to advance to the second development phase.

During the second development phase the projects should work on delivering a finalised version of their app with 100% functionality and a report of testing results. At the end of the phase, the application should be already available for download on the Google Play and Apple platforms.

The best ranked projects from the second development phase will be invited to the finals, to be held in October 2019, where they will present their application to the GSA evaluation board. Following the presentations, theaward will take place, with the first-place winner receiving a EUR 100,000 prize. The runner up and third place finishers will receive EUR 50,000 and EUR 30,000 respectively.

Information partners

MyGalileoApp has three key information partners. Geoawesomeness is a blog about geospatial technologies and everything related to them, providing constructive commentary on all that is happening in the geo-industry. Secondly, Aerospace Valley is a major innovation cluster in France in the fields of aeronautics, space and embedded systems, with members from industry and academia. Finally, Spaceoneers, an initiative of Design & Data GmbH, seeks to spur creativity and innovation within the space sector in Europe.

"Geoawesomeness is delighted to see the creativity and ingenuity of the 30 shortlisted projects to emerge from the MyGalileoApp competition. At Geoawesomeness, we are always on the lookout for the next big idea in the Geospatial industry and these shortlisted projects certainly have us excited! We wish the teams the very best for the next stages," Managing Editor Muthukumar Kumar said.

Philippe Lattes, deputy director for Space Sector at Aerospace Valley commented: “At Aerospace Valley we are supporting startup creation and development of new services using space. Acting together with a European Agency like GSA is a powerful way to support young startups and promote European innovations.”

Spaceoneers Editor-in-Chief Ryan Laird had this to say: “At Spaceoneers we are always keen to follow the creativity and innovation within the space sector in Europe. We’re very excited to see the diversity of ideas from this competition and look forward to following the next stages.”

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