FabSpace 2.0 Greece team of the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) has recently joint forces with the MaGOS team, 1st and 3rd place Award winner of the Local and International legs of ActInSpace® 2016 and the 2nd place Award winner of the COSMOTE Hackathon 2018, to integrate the MaGOS input device with Virtual Reality (VR) 3D Geographic Information Systems, a case that will open up the horizon for immersive geo-informatics and earth observation solutions.
The MaGOS team which comprised of of Mr. George Profitiliotis (an alumnus of the NTUA), Mr. Gregory Agriopoulos, Mr. Konstantinos Anastasakis, Mr. Vasilapostolos Ouranis and Ms. Elena Veli proposed during the COSMOTE Hackathon 2018 challenge a novel VR input device in the form of gloves, based on state-of-the-art wearable electromagnetic sensors, that will allow 3D designers to sculpt and model their digital creations in a VR environment in a more user-friendly and efficient manner.
The proposed product could also target multiple side market verticals. One such side-market case that is currently being explored jointly with the FabSpace 2.0 Greece team that comprised of Dr. Iosif Paraskevas and Mr. Haris Marantos (under the supervision of Prof. Dimitrios Soudris). Dr. Iosif Paraskevas from the ICCS, the FabSpace 2.0 Greece Manager said: “We have learnt about the initial idea of MaGOS and we discussed with them on how this glove could give an added value to the use of EO data. Indeed, the brainstorming was spontaneous, and we agreed to work together on this. We, as part of FabSpace 2.0, are very happy to provide MaGOS with technical know-how, not only about EO data, but also regarding embedded technologies (for which ICCS is well-known). Additionally, and through FabSpace 2.0 network, it is easier for MaGOS to contact EO related companies in order to understand their needs. We hope this teaming with MaGOS to create an even more fantastic product, and we also hope to find more start-ups which currently do not use of EO data, but with huge potential if they take into account that they can use EO data in order to enhance the quality and functionality of their products; to this end this is one of the main goals of FabSpace 2.0 project”.
Mr. George Profitiliotis, PhD candidate at the National Technical University of Athens and Innovation Officer of the MaGOS team stated the following: “The MaGOS product has been constantly evolving since its initial conception two years ago, during the ActInSpace® 2016 competition. Throughout its development, our team has been actively researching and exploring promising target markets to construct use cases where our product would make a substantial difference. The application of the MaGOS interface to VR 3D Geographic Information Systems for the enhancement of EO data visualization and for the ease of its manipulation is such a case. By collaborating with FabSpace 2.0, we believe that our product will soon offer a game-changing solution to the EO community”.
Together with the 2nd Place Award, the team was awarded a cash prize of €5.000 and incubation services by the Athens Centre for Enterpreneurship and Innovation, which will be utilised for the advancement of their product's prototype. To know more about MaGOS product, please see here: http://www.qnq.gr/history.html
FabSpace 2.0 is proud to join forces with MaGOS team to enhance their product innovation. With its growing networks, FabSpace 2.0 will continuously support similar start-ups and business ideas to stimulate open innovation in Earth Observation to make our planet a better place to live in, which is the main project purpose.
About FabSpace:
FabSpace 2.0 is the open-innovation network for geodata-driven innovation – by leveraging Space data in particular, in Universities 2.0.
Its Work programme topic addressed INSO-4-2015: Innovative schemes for open innovation and science 2.0 b) Academia- Business/Public/CSO knowledge co-creation Coordination and support action. The FabSpace 2.0 project 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 project offers to concentrate on one research area with high expected socio-economic impact: data-driven innovation, with a particular attention to Earth observation data.
In the six European regions covered by the consortium, partner universities work together with co-located Business Incubation Centres of the European Space Agency (ESA BICs). ESA BICs aim at inspiring entrepreneurs to turn space-connected business ideas into commercial companies, and provide technical expertise and business-development support.
This consortium, completed by TerraNIS – the French company that operates the European Group of Enterprises for a Network of Information Using Space (EUGENIUS) – and IDGEO – provisioning continuous trainings in Geomatics – and the European Business Network (EBN), will be a key success factor for the project.
In addition, FabSpace 2.0 selected 14 new FabSpaces in December 2017 located in various countries worldwide including France, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain, Lithuania, Armenia, Cyprus, The Netherlands, and Cameroon. These new FabSpaces expanded the FabSpace 2.0 network from its first founder FabSpaces in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Poland. The international opening of the FabSpace 2.0 network is underway and will be extended worldwide.
This project began on March 1st 2016 and will last 3 years. It is under the lead of Univ. Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier (UPS). For more information, visit https://www.fabspace.eu.
ActInSpace on 27 June, 2018 in Toulouse
