Space 4.0 conference and festive awards ceremony set for 17th May

On 17^th May 2017, high ranking representatives from the fields of politics, business, and research will attend the INNOspace Masters Conference at Humboldt Carré in Berlin. The event will be devoted to the competition’s theme, 'Space 4.0', and focus on current trends in the space sector, including the New Space Economy and advancing commercialisation. It will also feature discussions on new approaches to international competitiveness and innovative strength. The highlight of the event will begin at 13:30 with the awards ceremony of the second INNOspace Masters, which will be presided over by Brigitte Zypries, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy and Federal Government Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy. Alongside the ceremony, the nine finalists in the competition’s three challenge categories will present their entries shortly before the announcement of the winners.

The INNOspace Masters Conference will be opened by Dr Gerd Gruppe, Executive Board Member of DLR Space Administration, and Dr Wolfgang Scheremet, Head of the Industry Policy Department at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Further speakers will include Prof Dr Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA); Jürgen Ackermann, Secretary General of Airbus Safran Launchers; Steve Lee, CEO of Astrosat, and Dr Gerd Kraft, Director Program Directorate, DLR Space Administration. The afternoon will feature two podium discussions on the importance of cross-industry spin-ins and technology cooperations, along with the opportunities and obstacles in developing new business ideas.

While the conference and awards ceremony are free to attend, those interested are asked to submit their (binding) registration in a timely fashion using the INNOspace Masters Conference Online registration.

INNOspace Masters Ideas Competition 2017

Increased participation reflects growing relevance of 'Space 4.0'

In the second edition of INNOspace Masters, 66 innovative ideas and solutions for optimising the design and production of payloads, satellites, and launchers were submitted in three challenge categories. These ideas came from 146 participants - including start-ups and other companies, universities, and research institutes – in 10 European countries. The number of submissions was 30% higher than the previous year, demonstrating the increased attention and range of influence the forward-thinking INNOspace Masters competition is already enjoying. All of these project proposals underwent several phases of review by a commission of experts. After three finalists in each of the three categories present their concepts to the audience at the upcoming conference, the winner in each category will be announced.

The INNOspace Masters Conference is organised as part of the INNOspace initiative of DLR Space Administration (DLR-RFM). Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen (AZO), an experienced specialist in organising competitions of this kind, carries out INNOspace Masters on behalf of DLR-RFM. The competition’s partners include Airbus Defence and Space and the ESA Business Incubation Centres of Bavaria and Darmstadt.