Young space entrepreneurs have been offered support for
their ideas on using satellite data to improve life on Earth after
taking part in a Dragons’ Den style event with leading
industry experts.
The 11 young people earned the opportunity to put their concepts
to the panel at the Satellite Applications Catapult at the
Harwell Campus, Didcot, after winning the UK Space Agency’s
SatelLife Challenge.
They were offered a mix of support including an offer to build a
prototype of their product, thousands of pounds worth of space on
Amazon Cloud Services, access to data, business development
advice and a visit to a satellite factory.
Sitting on the panel of judges was Stuart Martin, CEO of the
Satellite Applications Catapult, Adina Gillespie, Head of
Applications at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, Nick Appleyard,
Head of Applications at the European Space Agency, Brendan
Bouffler, Manager AWS Research Cloud Program, at Amazon Web
Services, Kumar Pancholi, Business Development Manager at
Sterling Geo and Karen Roche, Business Development Director of
data company Kx.
Emily Gravestock, Head of Applications Strategy at the UK Space
Agency, said:
This competition has proved it doesn’t matter how old you are
or what your background is. If you’ve got a great idea and
you’re prepared to work hard you can make it in the space
sector. Our space industry experts were blown away by the
variety and high standard of the ideas and have offered some
amazing opportunities to our winners. I’m excited to see where
these ideas will go in the future.
The overall winner of the competition was 13-year-old , from Lincolnshire, who
was inspired to look at what satellites could do for coastal
change after seeing how flooding had affected some family
friends.
James had already been awarded £10,000 and met British ESA
astronaut Tim Peake as part of his prize and was offered business
development support from KX and Amazon Cloud Services, as well as
support from ESA and the Satellite Applications Catapult.
The other winners who presented their ideas to the panel were:
- Chloe Hewitt, 19, from Solihull – Warehouse identification,
using satellite data to accurately identify and map disused
industrial buildings. Chloe was offered $5,000 worth of support
from Amazon Cloud Services and support making contacts from the
Satellite Applications Catapult.
- Isla Richards, 16, Buckinghamshire – Medical Satellite
Programme, combining a GPS tracker and heart monitor to get help
to people who are in the stage before a cardiac arrest. Isla was
offered to have her idea turned into a prototype at the Satellite
Applications Catapult.
- Elliot Vale, 22, and Tia Mountain, 20, from Worcestershire –
GeoRescue, an app for people who live in or travel to high-risk
natural disaster areas. They were offered business development
support from ESA and the Satellite Applications Catapult to take
their idea from concept to delivery.
- Lauren Paton, 15 and Ella Sheffield, 16, from Devon – Using
satellites to monitor the movement around prisons to improve the
UK prison system. They were given advice and connections with
companies that could help.
- Jacob Lelliott, 15, and Paul Grimwade, 15, from Oxfordshire –
SATUS, an app which pulls together information which is local to
you on tourism, health services and the environment. They were
offered business support and advice on how to market their idea.
- Jack Threlfall, 15, from Buckinghamshire – Mineral mining and
identification, using imaging and other techniques from
satellites to identify minerals and then explore the opportunity
to mine them. He was offered a visit to Surrey Satellite
Technology Ltd to see a satellite being built.
- Razzia Gafur, age 21, from Newcastle – Imaging in Space,
using satellite data to support virtual reality activities.
Razzia was offered business support.
The SatelLife Challenge was a competition looking for
inspirational ideas, from those aged 11 to 22, linking satellite
and space data and its application to everyday life.
The competition, intended to support the development of science,
data handling and technological skills, was split into three age
groups, offering prizes of £5,000 for the age categories with the
overall winner receiving £10,000.
