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Newsletter #1 | July 2021

Dear Φ-lab community,
This moment has finally come: we are ready to launch our first newsletter!
From now on, every three months, this will provide you with our latest news and achievements, offer a glimpse into what the future holds for the Φ-lab and our community, and highlight news around the world that can be of interest to innovation driven actors in Earth observation.

This newsletter is part of our communication effort together with the new website (philab.esa.int), the various events we are organising (e.g. ESA ɸ-week, Quantum Algorithms and Machine Learning for huge Data Analysis, Simulation and potential Earth observation Applications workshop organised with ELLIS etc.) and the growing Φ-lab LinkedIn community by which we want to build opportunities for you to be part of our transformational journey. You are also welcomed to browse the website of the Φ Department, of which the Φ-lab is a Division, at https://phi.esa.int for information on other activities to prepare the future of EO.

Thanks to our Invest Office, we pay a lot of attention to promote and kick-off even more commercially-oriented activities, on top of the 29 already started. Investing in Industrial Innovation (InCubed) is a great success and has seen a rapid growth: even though the first co-funding contract has been signed less than three years ago, the programme has already grown to over €100 million. Four activities – Sat4Flood, Spacecloud Framework, SIG4EO and EO-PLUGIN – have now concluded, of which three are already generating revenue. Many other activities are currently in the pipeline and we will do our best to give leverage to all participating companies and institutions by bringing to the table the technical expertise portfolio of ESA and our unique position as a space networking hub.

A lot of effort is in spreading the word about InCubed and its opportunities for the commercial Earth observation. For example, the national Φ-lab Industry Days we organised, with Norway, Finland and Estonia being the most recent ones, have attracted a good deal of interest, and we are already seeing real impact as a result. Following this success, new Φ-lab Industry Days will be organised in the coming months! We will provide you with details in due course, naturally!

With a more “research-oriented” focus, via its Explore Office, Φ-lab has organised the workshop on Quantum and Physics Based Machine Learning in cooperation with ELLIS, and opened the calls for abstracts for the ESA–ECMWF Machine Learning for Earth System Observation and Prediction Workshop and for the Complex Data Challenges in Earth Observation workshop co-organised with IARAI, both to be held in November, and we are preparing for the ESA Space App Camp 2021.

These are just a few examples of what is going on. To find out more about our events, in particular Φ-week, and to keep receiving Φ-lab highlights, plus a selection of ESA and worldwide space-related news, check out our newsletter and stay tuned for the next edition.

Thank you for being part of our community and enjoy!
Ville Meskus, James Wheeler and all the Φ-lab team

OUR NEW WEBSITE IS ONLINE

In March 2021, we launched the Φ-lab website. Find out more about us and our mission, activities and flagship programes. You can also read our publications, connect with the lab community and follow the latest News.

WE ARE PREPARING FOR Φ-WEEK

The European Space Agency is organising the fourth edition of Φ-week
on 11–15 October 2021. This year main theme will be the Earth Observation New Space economy and its associated innovations. The event will be virtual and free-to-attend for the public and in person for the invited speakers.

Participants registrations are now open.

EXPLORE OFFICE

Our goal is to enable a connected network of talents that brings together expertise and ideas from researchers, industry, ICT players, innovators and start-ups to foster learning from EO data with new technologies for a more sustainable planet Earth.

INVEST OFFICE

Our aim is to fill the gap between your labs bright idea and the market. The Φ-lab Invest Office provides you with equity-free co-funding, technical and business support, together with promoting you and your idea to succeed among investors and in the market.

Luxembourg-based company RSS-Hydro joins InCubed family with FloodSENS

FloodSENS aims to develop an algorithm that identifies flooded areas under partial cloud coverage in optical satellite images, using ML and auxiliary high-resolution data from drones, digital elevation models, as well as water flow algorithms.

OHB joins forces with ESA Φ-lab to boost the Earth Observation commercial market

With the common objective to explore transformational technologies targeting the growing Earth observation commercial market, ESA Φ-lab and OHB have signed a Letter of Intent to define their basis for cooperation.

Primo Space Fund and ESA Φ-lab signed an agreement to boost New Space Economy

Primo Space, a venture capital fund specialising in investments in the New Space Economy, and ESA have signed an agreement with the aim of joining efforts to support the growth of start-ups in the Earth observation Space Economy commercial sector.