Business Planet looks at the EU's big plans to boost start-ups working in Europe's space economy.

The winners from Croatia, Norway and Switzerland have been announced in the European Commission’s Galileo Drawing Competition. The three winning children will each have a Galileo satellite named after them. They have also been presented with a certificate and a high quality 1:25 model of a Galileo satellite.

The European Commission is pleased to announce that Nikolina Rudić has been selected as the winner from Croatia in the Galileo Drawing Competition.

Business Planet looks at how the EU's space programme, principally through its Earth Observation component Copernicus and its satellite navigation system Galileo, has been deployed to strengthen Europe's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space is looking for recommendations for quantum technology research and innovation (R&I) activities for space systems. These ideas can range from basic research to demonstration and validation in the operation environment, as well as studies. The objective of this call is to identify critical areas of R&I where EU investment is needed to enable EU self-sufficiency.

The European Commission has released a stakeholder consultation report on potential satellite navigation upstream research and development (R&D) to be funded under the Horizon Europe programme. The report follows a workshop held on 13 September 2019 at the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) in Prague, Czech Republic.

The European Commission is launching a call for proposals to establish a Galileo Information Centre in Mexico to cover a region comprising of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela).

On 30 September, the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) organised a joint industry day on “quantum communication infrastructure (QCI) for Europe – space segment”. This event was aimed at helping European industry and researchers develop the necessary technology for this emerging sector. The main goal was to share and discuss various options for potential space infrastructure for different use cases with QCI stakeholders.

This call for tenders is for a study on the system architecture of a quantum communication infrastructure (QCI). It is part of the Quantum Communication Infrastructure Initiative launched by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology.

The European Commission is launching a call for proposals to establish a Galileo Information Centre in Mexico to cover a region comprising of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela).

We are launching a call for ideas to gather recommendations in satellite navigation upstream research and development (R&D) activities, to help identify European capacities and weaknesses in this field, and to design a multi-annual R&D roadmap accordingly.

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals for the organisation of the Copernicus and Galileo Prizes competition for 2019-2021. This competition aims to promote industrial innovation and the uptake of European Earth Observation and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technologies downstream across Europe and beyond.

The European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a Contribution Agreement on Space Technology Activities that will enable them to provide in-orbit demonstration and validation services to the space sector. These services allow industries to effectively test new technologies in orbit, reducing the time it takes to bring them to market.