Submission Period for Galileo Masters 2020 Now Open

While completion of the Galileo constellation is still in progress – the last four Galileo satellites are scheduled for launch at the end of 2020 – the European Space Agency (ESA) is already looking ahead to the system’s second generation. In fact, the first ideas, first studies and first technology developments started four years ago. The Galileo Masters competition is fostering the development of new business cases, service delivery and applications based on Galileo/EGNOS. This year’s edition incorporates the brand-new Galileo Prizes powered by the European Commission (EC). The submission period for entries opened on 1 April 2020.

Four years ago, ESA started to talk extensively to the member states and European GNSS Agency (GSA) and has examined the wishes from the market in order to look ahead to Galileo’s second-generation system. Galileo II will proceed in steps and will involve very advanced satellites with many new capabilities. The current trend sees all GNSS moving towards delivering a more powerful signal that is easier to detect, more robust, more difficult to interfere with and easier to process, thus saving processing power in smartphones and other navigation devices.

Due to a constantly connected society contributing to a huge increase in the number of devices connected to navigation satellites, the satellite navigation market is still growing significantly. Thus, the priorities are shifting from the deployment of infrastructure to service delivery across the globe.

Galileo GNSS data to tackle challenges

The Galileo Masters awards prizes to such services, applications and business cases that are using Galileo GNSS data to tackle important challenges faced by business and society. Well-known space stakeholders and – brand-new this year – Galileo Prize Partners co-funded by the European Commission (EC) are set to award prizes worth over EUR 750,000 in total. The main target group includes SMEs, start-ups, universities and individuals in the fields of business, research, and higher education, who are welcome to submit their solutions and product solutions. Entries have opened on 1 April 2020. Submissions can demonstrate their innovative use of GNSS data across a wide variety of challenge topics.

The partners of the 2020 edition are GSA with three challenges, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). In addition, participants choose from up to 30 international Galileo Prizes co-funded by EC with up to EUR 10,000 each.

"Those who enter the Galileo Masters benefit in particular from our global space ecosystem, which provides them with tailored support in developing their business concepts and bringing them to market," explains Thorsten Rudolph, Managing Director of AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen, the competition organiser. “With the brand-new Galileo Prizes, participants have the possibility of receiving support and additional prizes at a country, region or institution of their choice”.

In addition, the Galileo Masters is complemented by the Galileo Incubation programme (formerly the E-GNSS Accelerator) co-funded by EC to empower the transformation of great business cases into commercially viable solutions through a tailored business incubation programme. The top six winners of the Galileo Masters 2020 will gain access to this incubation prize worth up to EUR 62,000 each if eligible.

For more details on this year's challenges, prizes, and partners, please see www.galileo-masters.eu.