FabSpace Darmstadt starts with a great Opening of their first Startup week. OB Jochen Partsch special guest.

On Monday, 26.6. the FabSpace team Darmstadt launched its major innovation event for 2017. The Startup week was being planned for almost half a year and was originally kicked off at the booth of Software AG during CeBit 2017 together with the federal ministry of economic affairs Brigitte Zypries and the former German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter. Software AG is also supporting and sponsoring a trip to Silicon Valley for the best solution.

The Opening was a big success with more than 50 attendees during the entire day. Next to Software AG FabSpace welcomed EUMETSAT, Merck, T-Systems and Hessen Trade & Invest as additional sponsors. Beside the opportunity to take part in the FabSpace bootcamp the best solution can also win a trip to Silicon Valley sponsored by Software AG.

The team of FabSpace Darmstadt arranged a mixture of exhibition together with several presentations and a relaxing lounge to create a unique startup atmosphere. The modern and purist auditorium of the TU Darmstadt Campus was used to host the first day.

Jürgen Powik (Software AG) and Sascha Heising test the relaxing conditions in the “lounge”, carefully watched by Prof. Matthias Becker and Dr. Damian Bargiel.

On top of that the FabSpace team also welcomed a special guest the mayor of Darmstadt Jochen Partsch. He underlined the importance of the local FabSpace in Darmstadt and its connections to several institutions. Furthermore, he also pointed out the role of earth observation for the upcoming tasks fostered by “Digitalstadt Darmstadt”. The identified fields of applications, like smart transportation will also be a new playground for FabSpace. To find out more about Digitalstadt click here.

The major of Darmstadt, Jochen Partsch during his introduction speech at FabSpace 2.0 Darmstadt Startup week. (photo: Thomas)

After guest speeches by Jochen Partsch, Prof. Becker and Dr. Zimmermann (both FabSpace 2.0) the audience listened to a keynote by Michael Linke from ESA/ESOC who talked about Earth Observation applications.

Prof. Matthias Becker talks about the benefits of the FabSpace for the university. (photo: Thomas)

Dr. Frank Zimmermann welcomes everybody in the name of cesah GmbH. (photo: Thomas)

In his Keynote Mr. Linke was trying to draw the big picture to give impressive examples of what earth observation can do. Of course, he focused also on the various benefits of the Copernicus program and data from the sentinel satellites.

Michael Linke during his speech highlighting the importance of Copernicus program and sentinel data. (photo: Thomas)

The format with its open design during lecture time was made to allow students to stop by and have a look, which was also very successful. After lunch, the event continued its innovative structure with time to network at the booths of the sponsors and parallel listen to presentations, which was also a big point.

Thomas Schüller from EUMETSAT (photo: cesah)

“The interest of the participating students was impressive, both on EUMETSAT data and services but also on EUMETSAT as a work place”, describes Lothar Schüller from EUMETSAT the atmosphere of the first day. You can also watch the video of the first day to see some highlights.

Afterwards the 12 participants followed an introduction for the upcoming days by Bayzidul Islam and Sascha Heising. Beside some organizational aspects the focus was on a balanced team building and the definition of challenges that the teams want to tackle. The 1st workshop day will start with a one hour webinar sponsored by T-Systems and a brainstorming session to unmark the field.

The fruitful atmosphere of the opening event of the FabSpace 2.0 Darmstadt Startup week. (photo: cesah)