The second edition of the competition for the best technology transfer of space technologies to terrestrial applications, Get Space Inspired 2023, was closed with a ceremony at the Czech Space Week space innovation fair.
The competition, announced by the Technology Centre Prague in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), brought a number of new ideas for the use of technologies developed for space applications. A large part of the transferred space technologies came from the database of patents offered by ESA for further use and commercialisation. The areas of proposed terrestrial applications ranged from aeronautics, energy and environmental protection to medical technology and data processing.
The main prize of the competition carried with it a financial support of EUR 20.000 for further development of the project and went to Zuzana Snížková with her project YUKI Filter. The project describes a new way of using a patented fluid filter used in fuel systems in space missions. The idea of producing the filter using metal 3D printing and its application in the chemical industry also impressed the evaluators with its sophisticated business plan.
Second place and the award of EUR 10.000 went to Petr Kouřil with his project FLY IS FUN. The project again uses the ESA patent. The patented know-how is an algorithm for machine learning and position refinement calculated using GNSS network signals. The proposed use is in the field of navigation for sport pilots. The more accurate calculation of the vertical position of the aircraft will allow the use of a digital application as an alternative to instrument landing system (ILS) using radio beacons.
The project SATPLANNER by Daniel Paluba, a researcher at the Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Cartography, Faculty of Science, Charles University, was supported with EUR 5.000 for his project. The SATPLANNER project integrates a patented system for analysing Earth observation data using time series into a mobile application. The app will offer the results of the analysed data to travel agencies, event organisers and other companies which will use the current and predicted data to plan their activities in different geographical areas. In this way, they will avoid potential risks and create optimised business plans when designing their activities.
The Get Space Inspired competition is becoming a regular autumn event in the field of promoting technological innovation, technology transfer and space activities. We can only hope that space technology will inspire us again in 2024.
