Following the open call in 2017 to expand the network, FabSpace 2.0, the open-innovation network for geodata-driven innovation, with the participation of EBN, EBN members BIC Lazio and Aerospace Valley among other partners, has expanded its network worldwide with 14 new FabSpaces, each one composed of an University or an educational institution:  

• Bordeaux FabSpace (France) - Bordeaux INP, NSEIRB-MATMECA School of Engineers, Talence;
• Brest FabSpace (France) - GIS Bretagne Télédétection (IMT Atlantique), InnovationBrest, Plouzané;
• Nice FabSpace (France) - Université Côte d'Azur Le Grand Château, Faculty of Sciences; SKEMA Business School Nice;
• Venezia FabSpace (Italy) - IE4ST – Istituto Europeo per lo Sviluppo Tecnologico, Venezia;
• Torino FabSpace (Italy) - Politecnico di Torino, ITHACA, Torino; 
• L’Aquila FabSpace (Italy) - The Center of Excellence CETEMPS of the University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila; 
• Pavia FabSpace (Italy) - Università Degli Studi di Pavia, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale e dell’Informazione, Pavia;
• Prague FabSpace (Czech Republic) - Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague;
• Castellon de la Plana FabSpace (Spain) - Universitat Jaume I, Institute of New Imaging Techniques Castellon de la Plana;
• Vilnius FabSpace (Lithuania) - Vilnius University, Faculty of Chemistry and Geosciences, Institute of Geosciences Vilnius;
• Yerevan FabSpace (Armenia) - National Academy of Sciences of The Republic of Armemia, Institute For Informatics and Automation Problems, Yerevan;
• Yaoundé FabSpace (Cameroon) - EUREKA Geo, Institute de Formation Professionnelle Spécialisé dans les métiers de la Géomatique;
• Limassol FabSpace (Cyprus) - Cyprus University of Technology, Eratosthenes Research Center, Limassol;
• Noordwijk FabSpace (The Netherlands) - Space Solutions Foundation and Wageningen University and Research, Earth Informatics, Noordwijk.

By participating in FabSpace 2.0, EBN and other FabSpace members get the opportunity to work towards making the universities open-innovation centres for their region, where students, researchers, and entrepreneurs have free access to FabSpace data platform, and can design and test their own applications. Students, researchers, and entrepreneurs have the chance to network with project managers in industry and public authorities, civil society organisations and other representatives of civilians, helping them gain comprehensive insight into the market, develop innovative solutions and contribute to business development of the region.

Those FabSpaces joining the current ones will play a role in consolidating FabSpace 2.0’s mission all over the world, disseminating the services and helping to address the needs of final users of Earth Observation (EO) and geodata-based applications. Opening at the beginning of 2018, they will join the existing FabSpace 2.0 network. Marcello Maranesi from University of Rome Tor Vergata, the leader of the FabSpace 2.0 network dissemination, believes expanding the FabSpace 2.0 network will bring additional growth and evolution of the network.

As one of its core activities, each FabSpace offers a “Space Science Shop” service and organises Fabspace 2.0 challenges to collect the needs and the societal challenges of external stakeholders (civil society organisations, public authorities and companies), linked to application domains of EO and satellite navigation uses (i.e., agriculture, energy, environment, smart cities, health, etc.). FabSpace participants (mainly students) will try to address these challenges, using the FabSpace data provided.

The international FabSpace 2.0 network will be officially launched at the beginning of 2019. Stay tuned for future opportunities.

About FabSpace 2.0

FabSpace 2.0 aims at making universities open innovation centres for their region and improving their contribution to the socio-economic and environmental performance of societies.

To achieve these general objectives, the FabSpace 2.0 concentrates on one research area with high expected socio-economic impact: data-driven innovation, with a particular attention to Earth observation data.

The partner universities work together with co-located Business Incubation Centres of the European Space Agency (ESA BICs), one of them being EBN Member ESA BIC Lazio. ESA BICs aim at inspiring entrepreneurs to turn space-connected business ideas into commercial companies, and provide technical expertise and business-development support.

More info: https://www.fabspace.eu/