Nov 6, 2018, 8:34 PM
The final day of the week will focus on space for business
6 November 2018
Media are invited to the Φ-week, a five-day international event organised by ESA on innovation and its applications to Earth observation and other space domains, to be hosted at its Earth observation centre in Frascati, Italy, from 12-16 November 2018.
Φ-week (with ‘Φ’ pronounced ‘fee’ or ‘fi’) combines plenary sessions with traditional scientific workshops, roundtables, hackathons and inspirational talks. It will connect communities from multiple disciplines to explore how space and Earth observation can benefit from the latest digital technologies and review the latest developments in ‘open science’. It is designed to seed ideas for new ventures and applications by demonstrating how emerging technology can be harnessed to bring data applications to life.
The event is a unique forum for leading scientists, engineers, managers, space operators, industry, academia and policy-makers. Keynote speakers will discuss issues such as developments in launchers, integrating High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) and Earth observation satellite data, the Earth observation geospatial revolution and levers of the new space economy.
The week will kick off the development of European research agendas on artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum computing and virtual reality for space and Earth observation.
Hosted at the recently created Φ-department and Φ-lab, these will identify the challenges to deploying these technologies in space and earth observation.
The opening session of Φ-Week, titled ‘Space for Earth’, will take place on 12 November from 09:00 to 10:30, with special contributions from ESA Director General Jan Wörner, ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director of Space Transportation Daniel Neuenschwander and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
The full programme and a list of speakers is available at phiweek.esa.int/agenda. In parallel, a three-day Φ-Week Bootcamp will give budding entrepreneurs and researchers the tools to create their own space start-up. The themes for this year are space, food and energy. The final day of the week will focus on space for business.
Media are invited to attend the overall conference.
