Global Network Promotes Innovation in Satellite Navigation

Online, May 17, 2010 (Newswire.com) - On 1 May 2010, the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) began its seventh search for the best application ideas in its field. For a three-month period culminating at the end of July, innovators from all over the world will answer the call to devise new products and services based on satellite positioning. This area is virtually unlimited in its scope of potential application, having contributed to optimisations in a broad array of industries in recent years.

In starting the European Satellite Navigation Competition in 2004, AZO established a network that has since expanded to 21 regions worldwide with the following three new regions that joined the ESNC in 2010:
- USA, organised by Inside GNSS magazine, which reaches out to an international audience of product designers, system integrators, technical managers, manufacturers, and service providers as well as GNSS policy makers.
- Arab Middle East & North Africa (MENA), organised by the Arab Science & Technology Foundation (ASTF) which supports and facilitates scientific and technological innovation in the Arab world.
- Aquitaine/France, organised by TOPOS Aquitaine, a non-profit organisation that fosters networking and collaborative activities to further develop regional ventures and activity in the downstream GNSS market .
The ESNC thus connects hubs of technology and company foundation that boast some of the most important players in the fields of incubation, prototype and product development, market development, and idea management for applications related to satellite navigation. Meanwhile, aerospace clusters and other regional initiatives involved in the network give entrepreneurs crucial access to potential partners and investors.

For the first time, this year's ESNC is offering a special prize that targets users who test and validate products and services in Living Labs. Currently, 212 such facilities all over the world comprise a network that is committed to user-generated open innovation, as well as providing additional support to participants in ESNC 2010 and, in particular, imparting experience from user industries.

In addition, numerous further sponsors will award their own special prizes for solutions in specific areas. The GSA, for example, is looking for promising applications for the GPS augmentation system EGNOS, while the ESA is to award its prize to a business idea that can be realized both quickly and sustainably. NAVTEQ, the world's leading provider of digital map data, is searching for innovative location-based applications for mobile phones and other portable navigation devices, and the ESNC title sponsor, T-Systems, will award the GMES Masters prize to applications that combine dynamic earth observation data with satellite navigation. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is sponsoring a special prize for next generation navigation application.

The idea database of this year's European Satellite Navigation Competition is accessible on 1 May at www.galileo-masters.eu. The site already offers all of the information available on the competition, partner regions, and special prizes.

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