The European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), also known as the ‘Galileo Masters’, has opened for submissions in its 15th edition. The competition, which aims to foster the development of new ideas, service delivery and applications based on Galileo and EGNOS, will be officially launched during the inauguration of the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on May 16.
Navigation information has become an essential part of our daily lives. With the launch of Galileo Initial Services over a year ago, the sale of approximately 75 million Galileo-ready smart phones in 2017, and the fact 95% of chipsets on the market are currently Galileo-compatible, priorities in satellite navigation have shifted from infrastructure deployment to service delivery.
Tapping into this priority shift, the ESNC seeks to award applications, services and new ideas that use Galileo GNSS data to respond to important challenges faced by business and society. With this in mind, from now until July 31 the ESNC will be searching for the most forward‐thinking applications based on satellite navigation.
In this year’s competition, various institutions and regional partners are set to award prizes worth a total of over EUR 1 million within more than 20 challenge categories. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is proud once again to be a part of this year’s event – the 10th consecutive year that the GSA has been a main partner in the competition and awarded a Special Topic prize.
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“The European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) has always been ahead of its time. I am especially excited to see GNSS-based ideas boosting innovation in the field of Smart Cities, the Internet of Things, Mobile Health, and many other applications. GSA has been a partner of the Competition since its early days, and we are looking forward to the creation of more innovative ways to harness the benefits of European GNSS,” GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides said.
Two tracks
There are two tracks in the 2018 competition: regional and special prize challenges. The main target groups are SMEs, start-ups, universities and individuals in the fields of business, research, and higher education. Submissions can demonstrate the innovative use of GNSS data across a wide variety of challenge topics. Together with cash prizes, challenge winners will receive access to an international network of leading GNSS organisations, a crowd investment platform, and business development support.
In addition, the ESNC is complemented by the E-GNSS Accelerator, which helps transform great ideas into commercially viable solutions through a tailored business coaching service. All winners of the ESNC 2018 will gain access to the E-GNSS Accelerator, if eligible.
“We're proud of the active role the ESNC is playing in the commercialisation of GNSS products and services," said Thorsten Rudolph, Managing Director of AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen, the competition organiser. "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. This is an excellent demonstration of how the innovation competition functions as a European deal flow pipeline for Earth observation."
For more details on this year's challenges, prizes, and partners, please see www.esnc.eu.