After having selected 14 new FabSpaces in various countries worldwide at the end of 2017, the FabSpace 2.0 project officially inaugurated the first joint activity of the fourteen new FabSpaces during the FabSpace 2.0 Workshop on Sharing Practices to Spread the FabSpace Spirit. The workshop was held in the Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer Management of Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland. During the workshop, three key words were used as the main focus: Innovation, Simulation, and Earth Observation (EO). FabSpace 2.0 project aimed to stimulate (open) innovation in Earth Observation (among universities, civil society, corporates and public authorities) to make our planet a better place to live in by connecting EO (experts/data/SW) to other communities.
This workshop also placed a specific aim on sharing practices regarding operational and local awareness strategy. In this respect, the FabSpace 2.0 consortium stands ready to assist in the development of a comprehensive growth strategy for the new FabSpaces. The new FabSpaces will help consolidate the FabSpace 2.0 project’s mission all over the World, disseminating the services and helping to address the needs of final users of Earth Observation and geodata-based applications.
Upon officially inaugurated, each FabSpace could offer a “Space Science Shop” service that collects the needs and the societal challenges of external stakeholders (Civil Society Organisations, Public Authorities and Companies), linked to application domains of EO and satellite navigation uses (i.e., Agriculture and Forestry, Energy, Environment and resource efficiency, Intelligent Transport Systems, Smart cities, Health and well-being). The scope is to provide independent participatory research support in response to concerns experienced by external stakeholders, offering a demand-driven and bottom-up approach to the FabSpace facility and screening questions provided by these stakeholders. On behalf of EXCELSIOR, Dr Kyriakos Themistocleous, Stakeholder Manager of the project, represented CUT during the meeting in Poland.
One of the new FabSpaces manager, Prof. Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis from ERATOSTHENES Research Center, Cyprus University of Technology said:
“ The ERATOSTHENES Research Center is excited to have joined the FabSpace 2.0 project. We believe that the FabSpace 2.0 network shares our goals and vision to develop and promote innovative Earth Observation applications and services using open spatial data and geo-information technologies. This provides the ERATOSTHENES Research Center at the Cyprus University of Technology (School of Engineering and Technology) within the EXCELSIOR project (www.excelsior2020.eu) with the ability to become an open innovation centre in the Eastern Mediterranean region and improve its contribution to the socio-economic and environmental performance of Cyprus through the development and application of innovative Earth Observation applications, products and services. We believe that FabSpace approach brings a significant added-value in the promotion of new EO based applications and paves the way for the creation of new start-ups providing job opportunities and professional growth for students and researchers, establishing a mutually beneficial relationship in Europe and beyond.”
