Space technology is “down” to Earth and has new applications, the … – Public.en

The program of business incubation that bring to the Earth space technology already supports 11 startups, with the new projects to apply spatial knowledge in golf courses and home deliveries, among other ideas.

The Business incubator of the European Space Agency in Portugal, led by Instituto Pedro Nunes (IPN), Coimbra, already supporting 11 business ideas that apply the technology used in the space, informed the director of the Department of the Valorisation of Knowledge and Innovation in the IPN, Carlos Cerqueira, who was speaking at the end of the ceremony of commemoration of two years of the program.

The program helped create five new businesses, and there is another “about to enter”, with the aim of supporting 30 startups by 2020, she said.

The BlueCover will create a bracelet “for golfers, which measures the swing” so that the athlete be able to “improve the way you practice” mode, the Connect Robotics works on the use of drones for deliveries “in the last mile to people living in remote areas” and the Findster develops a bracelet for monitoring of children and domestic animals, he said.

In the new companies, there is also a project that wants to combine the waiting time in airports, with the possibility of network with possible investors or clients (Waterdog) and a probe “in a more simple and automated” to be used in aquatic environments (Matereo).

The objective of the programme in Portugal is to support six companies per year, that “receive support to create their first prototype,” explained Carlos Cerqueira, stressing that the 50 billion euros of financial assistance that each project receives aims to “speed up” the entry of the products or services on the market.

Of the companies created in the first year, there are already some that “conducting sales on the market and with validation” on the part of clients, there may still talk about “big business,” he stressed.

The Business incubator of the European Space Agency in Portugal provides support to 30 companies, the idea is that these are able to generate 240 jobs and raise capital in excess of 6.5 million euros.

In the six companies entering the incubation in the first year, there are ideas for the application of aerogel used in satellites in “situations of elevated temperatures on earth, as it is the case of pipelines, the use of satellite data on drones (unmanned aircraft) for the collection of indicators that are more efficient for agriculture or the use of the technology of the sensors thermocouples of nanossatélites for the creation of energy with the movement.

in addition To financial support, the three centers involved – IPN, Science and Technology Park of University of Porto and DNA Cascais – pay for two years, the incubator service and technical support in the creation of a business model to each company.