Munich will be the place to be for the European space community in early November. The Bavarian capital will host the European Space Solutions conference from 5 to 7 November: an event that includes the Awards Ceremony for the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2013. The city will also be visited by the European Space Expo at the same time.

Tuesday 5 November will see the opening of the European Space Solutions conference in Munich. This major three-day event brings together business interests, the public sector, and users and developers of space-based solutions to discuss how to drive growth in the European space sector.

Interaction between developers and users will allow both sides to gather insights on current developments, discuss the needs of society and see where space-based solutions can contribute.

The event also lets potential new users of space-based solutions see how space technology can make a real difference to their business and find out about the range of business support and finance opportunities that are available to boost exploitation of space technologies.

Packed programme

Tuesday afternoon will see the opening plenary session with presentations from high level European policy makers and a roundtable discussion involving business leaders. In the evening the prestigious annual awards ceremony for the Copernicus Masters and European Satellite Navigation Competition 2013 (ESNC 2013) will take place.

Wednesday and Thursday of the conference will see sectorial application sessions on the Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus programmes with five half-day user sessions focusing on specific space applications for Road and Traffic Management, Environmental Protection, the Marine Environment and Maritime Transportation, Emergency Response, and Sustainable Energy.

Opportunities for obtaining business support and finance for entering the space-based market will also feature in special sessions including the European Space Agency Investment Forum, pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings and SME coaching workshops.

Munich ESE

The European Space Solutions event will host the Bavarian stage of the European Space Expo (ESE) tour. This travelling interactive public exhibition has been touring Europe for the past year showcasing the many and varied ways that the European Space Programme, and its flagship projects for satellite navigation (Galileo and EGNOS) and earth monitoring (Copernicus), are improving all citizens’ quality of life.

The ESE will be open to the public from 5 to 10 November in Bavariapark in front of the Verkehrsmuseum (Transport Museum) and next to the Space Solutions conference venue: the Alte Kongresshalle. All the venues are on the west side of Munich very close to the site of the city’s famous Oktoberfest. The nearest metro (U-Bahn) station is Schwanthalerhöhe.

The ESE will also be the venue for the official conference reception to be held on the evening of Wednesday 6 November.

The night before ESNC 2013 will take place. This year’s competition has the motto "Take the Next Step with Your Business Case" and boasts prizes worth around €1 million that will be awarded to individuals and teams of entrepreneurs from industry, research, and universities for their enterprising value-added space-based business applications.

Competition entrants benefit from cooperation with partner regions worldwide and key stakeholders including the European GNSS Agency (GSA).

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More information:

The European GNSS Agency

EGNOS Portal

European Space Solutions Conference

ESNC 2013

European Space Expo (EC)

European Space Expo (GSA)

European Commission - Satellite Navigation

European Commission - Bringing space down to earth