Representatives of the European world of science and business interested in applying space and robotics technologies will meet on the 13th and 14th of September at the Kielce University of Technology.
The conference accompanies the fifth edition of the international Mars robots competition, the European Rover Challenge. The event is free and only requires registration on the website.
The ERC 2019 international mentoring and business conference is addressed to various sectors and companies – both those that already participate in space projects as well as those interested in starting cooperation with entities from this sector. Participants will have an opportunity to talk about joint projects, share their experiences as well as find potential business partners and employees. The conference will be attended, among others, by Steve Jurczyk from NASA, Gianfranco Visentin, Head of Robotics Department at ESA and PERASPERA Robotics Cluster Coordinator, or Mariella Graziano, Space Systems and Robotics Director at GMV.
– ERC is the only event of this kind in Europe where entrepreneurs can meet representatives of space agencies, biggest European companies from this sector, supporting institutions as well as engineers involved in international space projects – says Łukasz Wilczyński from Planet Partners, the originator and organiser of ERC.
The ERC 2019 conference covers two main topics. The first one is business and entrepreneurship. It will present actual examples of cooperation between companies from the space sector with entities from other industries as well as benefits for local companies that come with the participation in international space projects. This part will also include case studies of applying space technologies in the medical and ICT industry.
– The space sector is undergoing a major change. It becomes commercialised and more and more open to private companies. For business it is a double opportunity. On the one hand, it can become involved in space projects and on the other hand, apply space technologies here, on Earth – says Ph. D Katarzyna Malinowska from the Kozminski University, co-organiser of the conference.
The second main topic of the conference is robotics, including the development of the European Robotics Cluster, PERASPERA, commercialisation opportunities for academic projects as well as using rovers on Earth, for example in agriculture, mining and uniformed service.
– Space robotics is an important, fast growing technological area. It can be seen at the European Space Agency where the European Exploration Envelope Program is one of the flagship initiatives. It works on the Moon and Mars robotics missions such as Mars Sample Return or ExoMars. Robotics is also recognised by the European Commission programmes such as PERASPERA. All the more, such events as ERC play an important educational role and prepare for the participation in European space projects – says Ilona Wojtkiewicz, Development Director at SENER Polska.
More information:
http://roverchallenge.eu/conference/
