On the occasion of the Φ-week event, the European Space Agency (ESA) is organising a Bootcamp for aspiring entrepreneurs supporting the development of innovative business ideas using Earth Observation (EO) from space to address some of the information needs of the food and energy sectors.
The first ESA Φ-week Bootcamp will be held in Frascati (near Rome, Italy) on 11-13 November 2018. Hosted by ESA/ESRIN within the framework of Φ-week, the Bootcamp is an intensive 3-day event where participants are provided with the tools to develop their own innovative EO idea and startup concept.
The Bootcamp will highlight some elements on how ESA is addressing FutureEO capabilities, highlighting how to respond to a rapidly changing landscape of EO science and technology.
Participants will co-design innovative EO solutions within the recently created Φ-lab, which aims to enable the rapid development of new EO ideas and prototypes capitalising on new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).
About the Φ-week Bootcamp
The Φ-week Bootcamp provides a platform for developing innovative applications and startup concepts linking EO with the information needs of the food and energy sectors.
The vast amount of satellite data and their applications have the ability to transform businesses and quality of life today more than ever before. EO data from satellites provides us with essential tools to better manage the environment. These data can help to increase agricultural productivity and sustainability by means of precision farming techniques, and can monitor productivity and efficiency all along the agricultural value chain. In the energy sector, these data can provide us with vital information to ensure more sustainable energy generation, which relies on low-carbon energy generation and increasing our share of renewables, exposing ourselves to climate variability due to climate change.
Participants will explore how to make best use of this big data. They will meet with startup founders, learning about the opportunities and challenges in setting up a company. The goal is to give participants the key skills, as well as contacts, for developing innovative business models or designing their own start-up. Being a side event of the ESA Φ-week activities, participants will be joined throughout the event by a wide range of representatives from ESA and European scientific community and industry.
Data innovators are encouraged to register at: http://phiweekbootcamp.space Applications will be reviewed and all selected individuals will then be invited via email.
About the ESA Φ-week
The European Space Agency (ESA) is organising a Φ-week event on space, with a particular focus on EO. The aim is to review the latest developments in Open Science trends and kick-start innovative activities of the recently created Φ-department looking at FutureEO, and its associated Φ-lab aiming to identify, support and scale bold EO ideas. The event will be hosted in ESA-ESRIN from 12-16 November 2018. Further information can be found at http://phiweek.esa.int
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