The winner Conor Keegan of Genesys, received his award from Rainer Grohe Exec Director for Galileo Joint Undertaking and Erwin Huber, Bavarian State Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport Infrastructure and Technologies at a prestigious ceremony in Munich, Germany last night (Monday 23 October), attended by more than 400 international guests. Genesys’ winning idea is to use timing signals from navigation satellites to help predict natural disasters like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis and also use them to improve prospecting for natural resources such as oil, gas or underground water.

 
Conor Keegan said: "I am absolutely delighted to have won the coveted award of overall European winner; it’s not only a great morale booster, but will help us transform the idea into a business reality.  Herts Business Incubation Centre (HBIC) has given me tremendous support in defining a business model and securing my Intellectual Property Rights.  Their promotion of the Galileo Masters Competition in the UK has encouraged people like me to come up with many new ideas and potential business opportunities."
 
The Galileo Masters UK Challenge is the UK arm of the European SATNAV Competition, which identifies and supports the best innovative and creative downstream applications of SATNAV technology using GNSS (the new Global Navigational Satellite System) which will reach its full potential with the introduction of  Europe’s new satellite navigation system ‘Galileo’ in 2010.

The 2006 competition was run in 10 countries - the UK, Germany (Bavaria & Hessen), France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium.

In the UK, the UK Galileo Masters Challenge is managed by HBIC, the first Enterprise Hub for the East of England and ESA’s UK Space Incubator, and was sponsored by the East of England Development Agency, Astrium Ltd, Thales, British National Space Centre, the Department for Transport, Mobile Data Association, Location & Timing KTN, the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Institute for Engineering & Technology.

Adam Tucker (HBIC) who manages the Galileo Masters UK Challenge said: "I am extremely pleased that in only the second year of UK involvement in this prestigious competition, the UK Winner has been recognised and chosen as the overall European Galileo Master.

This exciting competition is now starting to capture the imagination of UK businesses, research institutes, and government departments, who are beginning to realise the new business opportunities and markets worth billions of pounds that can be identified and developed through this programme.

We look forward to managing this competition again, for a third year, in 2007 and would like to encourage more of our leading industries to come forward to support and sponsor this significant UK Challenge."

Dr Derek Harris, HBIC Chief Executive stated after hearing of the UK winner being crowned the overall European Winner "I am delighted by the outcome of this year’s competition and the positive feedback we have received from our key industry sponsors, highlights that the Galileo Masters UK Challenge has been a huge achievement and should continue this success in future years."

Quotes in Background for Editors by:

• Dr Stephen Ladyman MP, Minister of State for Transport
• Colin Paynter Managing Director, Astrium
• Richard Ellis Chair of EEDA
• Allan Bell Treasury Minister IoM
• Tim Craine Director, Space Commerce IoM

UK Panel of Experts

• Jon Snyder, Head of Judging Panel, East of England Development Agency
• Richard Peckham, Head of Business Development, Navigation, EADS Astrium
• Mike Short, Chairman Mobile Data Association
• Tim Just, Thales
• Richard Mackie, Head of Telecomms and Space Transportation, BNSC
• Terry Moore, Nottingham University

 

UK STATEMENTS - UK Government
Dr Stephen Ladyman MP, Minister of State for Transport, said "I am delighted that a UK company has won this prestigious pan-European competition and must congratulate the organisers of the competition for encouraging individual entrepreneurs and technical innovation.

This innovative idea, which uses satellite navigation technology to help predict geological disturbances and for the exploration of resources, is another excellent example of the many diverse applications that can benefit from using this technology."

 

EADS Astrium
Colin Paynter, Managing Director of Astrium Ltd., said "Astrium is extremely pleased to be supporting Galileo Masters again.  I am impressed by the quality of the submissions and excited by the business and industrial opportunities proposed, particularly by our UK winner.  Satellite services and applications are becoming increasingly important and integral to our every day lives and Europe’s new Galileo system will enable even more innovative uses for highly accurate timing and position information."

 

EEDA - East of England Development Agency
Richard Ellis, chair of the East of England Development Agency, said: "The Galileo Masters UK Challenge is a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of the very best ideas coming out of the UK, positioning us as leaders in innovation on a European platform. The competition feeds perfectly into our regional programme of driving innovation in science, technology and research across the East of England, so we are very supportive of HBIC, one of our regional enterprise hubs, running the competition."

 

Isle of Man
Treasury Minister Allan Bell MHK welcomed the announcement of the award at the Galileo Masters UK Challenge - Europe’s SATNAV Competition and said "it was further evidence of the sophistication in the sector on the Island."

Tim Craine, the Island’s Director of Space Commerce said "this award will raise the profile of the Island’s space industry still further and will hopefully attract other operators to take a look at what the Island has to offer"

"The Isle of Man Government is totally committed to growing and developing the space industry on the Isle of Man.  There is total commitment from the Chief Minister down and earlier this year, Tynwald, the Island’s Parliament voted unanimously to spend nearly a million pounds to market the sector over a two year period.  The Island is home to the subsidiaries of four of the worlds leading satellite operators and is keen to expand this list.  The Isle of Man introduced zero corporate tax for satellite companies some 4 1/2 years ago and does not charge any form of insurance tax"

 

HBIC - UK MANAGEMENT ORGANISATON FOR ‘GALILEO MASTERS UK CHALLENGE’
HBIC is identifying and encouraging the technology of the future and developing it for the marketplace of today.

It works with new businesses, corporate partners and academia, to develop new intellectual property and advance the latest technologies and has built up an outstanding reputation for quality, service and professionalism within its complex network of contacts in the region.

In its relationship with business, HBIC assesses the resources that are required through a number of proven programmes or products and then introduces a ‘roadmap’ of support, which will assist the business in moving to full commercialisation.

This is achieved by working closely with some of the best known companies in the world and bringing together the right programme packages to facilitate business success.  These packages include Business 2 Business, Brokerage, Technology Transfer, Supply Chain Management, its own 2i Programme and other innovative UK & European projects.

HBIC’s involvement in the UK Galileo Masters Challenge is largely due to the recognition of its quality of service and its selection by ESA as the UK’s Space Incubation and Enterprise Centre, located in Stevenage, the heart of the East of England and the UK.

HBIC recognises that:
"Technology evolves and adapts to the demands of our daily lives and our regional culture. Technology therefore makes our culture possible, but only those innovations which fulfil, or satisfy, our needs and enable other technologies to develop are the ones that are likely to survive and flourish. HBIC understands this and works not only with the technology, but also with the people, the entrepreneurs, to ensure it connects and interacts with the needs of society today and for the future."

 

GEOSYNCH™ - EUROPEAN GALILEO MASTER WINNER 2006
What do volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis all have in common? Apart from their devastating effects of loss of life and economic damage, all three are caused by changes in the earth’s crust; and there is still no reliable system to predict when they will strike.  The worst recent example is the tsunami on 26 December 2004 in the Indian Ocean that took the lives of almost 300,000 people in countries as far apart as Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Somalia.

A new system proposed by Genesys Consultancy from the Isle of Man has been proposed that could help to predict such events.  American GPS satellites and the future European Galileo satellites will enable the transition of extremely accurate timing signals that can be received around the globe.  The timing signals can be used to measure the speed of sound underground, in particular in earthquake or volcano prone regions; variations in the measured speed of sound will indicate changes in the subsurface state, stress and composition.  These variations could be used as an early warning system for earthquake or volcanic events.

The proposed seismography system GeoSynch™ consists of seismic wave sources and receivers placed on the earth’s surface around the danger zone, all equipped with GPS receivers.  The sources will transmit a seismic wave underground and note the GPS time of transmission, and the receivers will measure the GPS time when the wave is received.  The GPS timing signal accuracy will ensure that the waves’ speed can be precisely measured and their variations tracked over time.

The system can also be used for natural resource prospecting, such as oil, gas or groundwater surveying.  Seismography systems are already used for these purposes, but integrating the GPS timing information will allow surveys that are more accurate, less costly and more flexible.

Genesys Consultancy is a space and aeronautics systems engineering company based on the Isle of Man.

 

Source: Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre - Business & Technology Centre
For further information please visit www.hertsbic.co.uk and www.galileomasters.co.uk