ESA-CNES 7th International Workshop on On-Board Payload Data Compression

The On-Board Payload Data Compression (OBPDC) workshop brings together professionals working in the field of Payload Data Compression to share the latest ideas and developments, and pave the way to tackle future technological challenges.

This virtual Workshop is co-organised by the European Space Agency (ESA) and CNES with the support of the National University of Athens (https://en.uoa.gr/), and will take place on 21-23 September 2020.

It includes:

  • Free virtual participation with high interaction between presenters and attendees
  • 3 half-days to ease attendance of OBPDC main contributors
  • Round tables on selected topics to foster innovation and idea generation
  • Participation via social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter #OBPDC2020
  • Collaboration with the MDPI Remote Sensing journal’s special issue entitled “Remote Sensing Data Compression” through the workshops Journal Special Section

When: 21 – 23 September 2020
Where: online


To know more about it: https://atpi.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/obpdc-2020/eventwebsite

ESA Φ-week gets digital

The Φ-week is an interactive conference organised by ESA with a focus on Earth Observation (EO) Open Science and Future EO. The conference is an opportunity for emerging space investors, tech leaders, entrepreneurs, space scientists and EO researchers to explore new prospects for cutting-edge technologies.

The Φ-week is hosted at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ESRIN site in Italy. In 2019, the event gathered 600 people from 38 countries and included over 80 oral presentations, 150 posters, and 40 exhibitors. The Φ-week also included a variety of side events such as workshops, round tables, hackathons and start up tables.

This year’s event will be entirely virtual due to the COVID-19 restrictions and focus on the concept of “Digital Twin Earth’’ – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven digital replica of our planet. This replica leverages the full power of AI, Earth Science and Modelling, cloud computing and Earth-scale environmental, societal and economic data into actionable insights for scientists, political and economic decision makers.


Follow InCubed at the ɸ-week 2020:

  • “Downstream Industry for Digital Twin Earth – II” Session

Wednesday 30 September

Amanda Reagan, Head of the ɸ-lab Invest Office and responsible for InCubed management, will chair a session dedicated to the Downstream Industry for Digital Twin Earth with representatives of a few companies co-funded by InCubed such as Charlotte Kelly (Techworks Marine), and other commercial actors such as Peter Platzer (Spire), Adina Gillespie (GHG sat) and Marco Esposito (Cosine).

  • “Growing European Earth Observation Business: Funding Opportunities and the Investor Perspective” side event

Friday 2 October

The Φ-lab Invest Office team, responsible for the management of InCubed programme, will present the different opportunities of funding for activities related to EO. Some venture capitalist will also give their perspective, and time will be left for interaction with the audience and attendee’s questions.


When: 28 September – 02 October 2020
Where: online

To know more, see the full programme and register: https://phiweek.esa.int/

The Portuguese InCubed Proposals Campaign has been launched

Investing in Industrial Innovation – InCubed Call for Portuguese companies – focused on developing end-to-end spaceborne capabilities to provide commercial products and services related to the Atlantic Chapter of the Blue Worlds is now open.

This Campaign is a means for Portuguese organisations interested in submitting an Idea Pitch to InCubed.

The focus of Portugal within the InCubed is to develop national end-to-end spaceborne capabilities aiming to contribute to a dedicated satellite constellation to provide commercial products and services related to the Atlantic region, through international cooperation, and contributing towards the Blue Worlds vision.

Activities submitted will have to comply with the guidelines where some of the expected topics coming from the Blue Worlds vision are considered together with other expected specific national objectives for the activity to be proposed.

Portuguese companies have time to submit their proposals on ideas.esa.int until September, 10th .


To know more about:

ESA International Space Days

The European Space Agency (ESA) invites members of the space community to attend its first ever online Industry Space Days (ISD) event, 16-17 September 2020.

The ISD is organised to foster cooperation between different actors in the entire space sector. Due to COVD-19, the event is now going ahead virtually instead of at ESA ESTEC.

During the online ISD companies and organisations can attend:

  • Pre-scheduled business-to-business meetings (B2B) via an online platform, a timesaving and efficient way to establish new contacts. You can already find members of the InCubed team on the platform.
  • A web-streamed conference with contributions by ESA, industry, and industry associations.
  • ESA presentations and workshops about business opportunities and future activities.

The event is open to entities from ESA Member States, Cooperating States and Associate States as well as to companies from outside this perimeter if they intend to act as “buyer” to procure European products and services.

Amanda Reagan, Head of the Φ-lab Invest Office, responsible for InCubed programme management, is one of the confirmed speakers and will present commercial Earth observation opportunities, InCubed and ɸ-lab activities.


When: 16 – 17 September 2020
Where: online


To know more, see the full programme and register: https://isd.esa.int/