 Hi, welcome in our lounge. I'm Denise team in the geocommunication and I have a special guest And he is really physical with me here face-to-face I'm happy to say hello to Frank Salzgeber from ESA. Hello. Hello. Thank you very much for being here I'm happy that you are really here. So you really traveled to us from there Non-digital really I took the road. I took the car. Are you a screen? No. Yeah, no, no, no, that's all fine But you have such wonderful place. I cannot switch you off. Yeah, no And I think it's only the drinks which are missing here because otherwise I would stay for the rest of the Congress Yeah, but what do you think of our lounge here? Amazing. Amazing. So the bar maybe but I think we work on that after the show Yeah, after work. The bar and the drinks after work. So we do the interview first. Perfect So I will introduce Frank Salzgeber right now He is head of innovation and ventures office at ESA and Frank is responsible for technology transfer to industry He's overseeing the largest space entrepreneurship network in the world. That's ESA. I mean his team has initiated over 360 industry transfers maybe even more. I don't know. We will talk about that and supported nearly 1000 startups He supports the exploitation of the ESA patent portfolio and promotes the ESA business applications offer Which have supported additional over 600 business cases You see we talk about business cases startups and the European space agency and this is with Frank Salzgeber So Talking about space talking about satellites. So this summer when I looked up at the sky I Saw lots of satellites there. So what do you think? Why do we need them and aren't they enough now? When we're looking for space debris, of course, they're enough. However, Everybody uses satellites without knowing and intergeal is one of the events which we're joining and supporting with our partners for I think nearly a decade already We know weather forecast everybody knows that and intergeal is about navigation But navigation more than just a point on the map on your iPhone on your Android map But navigation gives also the time signal for our electrical grid We wouldn't maybe have not light here if that would be not Tacted by the time signal or connecting the cell phone cells But nowadays with the satellites we which bringing up or we supporting because ESA has really no own satellites So we supporting the building of these satellites We speak about Earth observation and the dish on your roof. That's all technology. That's 25 30 years old The future might be even looking different, which means internet from the sky So your job is to foster the use of space services and technology for the normal industrial use But how do you do that? Yeah, and this sounds much much easier than it is because space in the last Decades were it's like the Adam's family. You know, we are pretty cool. Have a lot of tricks, but we have our limitations and And we have we were freaks for some other people It may be the wrong word, but it was a close group and with the tools which we are developing recently Using these assets for monitoring the earth Understanding our planet connectivity everywhere in the world. This is something where we open it This is the reason why we support startups while our business incubation centers They come with crazy ideas and we're looking to the team the team the team the business case the business model and then the technology Or we have SMEs and other companies. They have a problem in real estate in agriculture And this is the subject you're discussing also, you know, I need to go we say, oh, that's unique Can we help increase their likelihood of success and then we support them with funding? Which and we don't take an equity. I always say we are the nice uncle or aunt with the right address book and a little bit money in the pocket So you just mentioned the startups and they're crazy ideas Tell us about them. What were these crazy ideas? Do you have some in your package? We you can get a let us to know what they are doing I would take three of them at them or four of them which are clear clothes in the neighborhood One is using navigation connection sitting in Munich and I think they're 100 people and 80% of all NBA teams in US are using the device for tracking their sport people, but it's also used by BMW now Is a aerospace building a 22 meter launcher with 100 people in Munich? Lilium aviation. We had the proud to support the team when they were just four boys Making a dreaming to make competition to Airbus now. They're 500 or you which is the head of clear space Which just signed this month a 150 million contract with is a to bring satellites back from orbit Down to earth to reduce the space debris. So I think the message is there They have to win but now it's really the decade of space What do starter startups have to bring with them to? Really overwhelm you with their ideas or when do you say well, okay? We support them. We bring them over the next level What do you need from them? First, I think you have to be a little bit. I would describe it as being stubborn Not to stop when the people say it does not work My previous director general once said to me I'm a mechanical engineer and I'll try to make it now with his friend a French accent and said is it Mechanic engineer you learn when you do something new that you have friction and if you have no friction you do something wrong So we're looking for people which looking for friction because if somebody says that's impossible or I Could not do that because of then you're on the right track So we need to really the people who have also the long-term breath to implement difficult things Software is okay, but hardware is hard. It takes time and trust me space is even harder So how do you experience the create creativity and the competence of this young generation? When we're looking to the portfolio which we have about nearly thousand companies and about 600 business cases our feeling is a little bit that None of them really have a technology problem because they come from great universities I think culture is known for gay tea, which is also amazing Institute So the technology is often not the problem and the survival rate after five years is still over 86 percent at the moment Which tells for me that we don't take enough risk We have to help the most in the business case because long term you have to make money or When you are a social enterprise the business case could be something else is maybe not money But you have to fund your activity and this is I think that the problem often our cases have and It's not the first one or two million venture funding that that goes pretty smooth So it's really to see where is the niche? Where's the possibility? Where to place? My idea in the green field Hi, welcome back to integer expo lounge life right now here with me a special guest from ESA space solutions Frank Salzgeber head of innovation and ventures office of ESA. Hello Frank. We are back again So we were talking about you and your team and that you initiated over 360 industry transfers But also supported nearly 1000 startups and I wanted to know which one of them is his favorite Which is a difficult one and I have to add it's not me It's really the network and our partners have really supported the companies and and it's hard to choose but After some discussions in my brain with the left and the right side There's one which called wombat, which is a gentleman. We have supported. I think 12 13 years ago and the initial idea was that he was getting the information of the huge trucks in open copper mines these caterpillars which takes a several tons of stone and and to get the live data in the position so Connecting to integer and transmit that to the headquarters but they realized that they that the big trucks are not a problem is the driver, which is the problem and they're working on a harsh environment day and night and and sadly also accidents happen from time to time and also even more sad people dying in accidents with these as a driver So they decided to have a system which takes the vital data of the driver and the geo position of the truck And if this is unstable the driver will be replaced by a colleague So everybody was very happy because the family was happy to drive off course himself and also the copper mine company because when you have an accident you close the mine for two days and Why I like this company so much that they have spread across the world and now coming back And we kept contact after 12 years over the years and now they have a new device Which takes the sound of your voice and out of that sound they can tell you what is your stress level? You know and that is for planes for drug drivers for lorry drivers Super interesting and it's one of the most innovative companies in the mining industry And what I like that you keep contact is like your aunts niece niece kids You know as a parent when you have done everything, right? You get your Hanukkah Christmas Ramadan Card that you got your phone on your birthday that you know that in their support Something was really good. Otherwise, they would not stay in contact And this is the reason why I love this case so much and we have more of course they keep in contact But I think after certain years still working and having new ideas then you come really to a Cycle and and you become really good in things what you do because then you start to have impact Wow, this is a really good story and 13 years is a really long Connection between the two of us to two of you. Yes, there's no strict business. Yeah, perfect Let's have a look at earth observation look at the is a said the is a Copernicus and sentinels and they he helped to keep track of the status quo in land use and Environmental destruction or what is going on with them? So first we it's not our satellites is the satellites we have the honor to build for the European Commission and we just said yesterday a webinar with mr Aschbach, which is the director of Earth's observation the biggest directorate by the way what we have and I think Europe is unique with The data we offer and we offer more and more data for free combined with supporting missions and You said it's about 350 terabyte a day which we get and then redistribute and even duplicate and the good thing is This is in all industries and it's in real estate where we have companies It's everywhere and it gives visibility because you cannot cheat from space and it's not the visible light It's also the invisible light and that the trend what we see. It's not that we built one Application for one customers and the companies you just named in the brief before They're working on that they're working on the end to end You know if you have a problem, you don't have to buy your own satellite You just get it out of a platform and I think that is the big big change So it's really the time of Earth observation at the moment when we look at topics that are all relevant to us like climate change mass urbanization the population the pollution and Well, how can the developments from aza help to solve the reality? Pressing problems like these of course looking with my previous head of technology transfer, which was dying more in the past Issa or space works not like the car industry in kilowatt. We look in the milliwatt So we are really good making out of the last Thing something our stuff has to be light That I think is from the technology side when we're looking from the satellite side. I always have the example if you go to your Family doctor or your doctor because you have a certain pain He will measure you. You know, what is the temperature? what is the blood pressure and first getting data because out of the data You can do the prescription. What is wrong with you and what is the cause? Yeah, and this is the reason why we need data from satellite if somebody says there is no deforestation in Brazil Then we can show it's wrong If somebody says there is no traffic jam or illegal fishing then we can say it's wrong if somebody says Deep water rising has no oil spill then we can say it's wrong So first it gives visibility to everybody and that's a powerful tool If it gives visibility, we can move the next ways and start to work on it and change and influence First we have the visibility to react So space is just a camera on a very high statif looking down to earth and giving us the big pictures and Normally I use in my presentation the picture from our astronaut colleagues and you see Earth with the river of Nile and Sinae and You see the little blue and the 100 kilometers, which is our atmosphere and then the deep dark and you see how vulnerable earth is and From an area where normally you have wars and fights And I think this is what we have to learn also from our an astronaut and from space seeing the big picture That we have to solve it because we're sitting all in the same spaceship called earth. I Was lucky because three years ago. I was at the lounge of the Sentinel to be it was there was journalists were invited to join How the Sentinel to be was launched and I Had an interview with Thomas Reiter there and he great guy Yes, he's a great guy and he used nearly the same words you used and he opened my eyes because he transmitted all these Pictures he saw from the planet our blue planet how vulnerable it is and how we changed the way the way we live how it gets it gets more brown and dirty and He says you see it clearly, but nothing changes on earth And he also said it's so hard when you see it clear And you see the data and you see the facts and you have the picture But to transmit it into political decisions and also in the mind of the people that Is it's do it's such a long time period until this change? I think it was mr. Cantwell said The German word is vernunft ist wirklich so the sense is real so I think we should hope in mankind that Sorry that we there's a point where we overcome that and where we understand that and The best way is to show a picture Not just words So yeah, just drink something and I will ask you one last question here in our expo lounge for now so Yeah, when we're looking at those challenges, we just mentioned and also the challenges in the digital economy How much will space influence it and where are the challenges? Where do you see them from your point of view? I said it before it's a decade of space and Space has become the backbone of our digital society if you switch off the satellites We will be all in trouble and The challenges is that maybe we're missing the big picture and Germany is a good example we're working on on Jaya X I think is this data platform But on the other side you have companies like Amazon ground stations which get these mass of data in their cloud already on the other side you have companies like hyper Starling from SpaceX connecting the last billions of people that we have everywhere In the world a internet connection for movable things On the other side we have companies like the Deutsche Telecom. We're saying we have 5g But when you're looking of the of the earth again, what will be the 4g coverage at the moment 5% 6% 5g will cover maybe 4% 3% and my answer is what is with the rest of these 96% is there nobody? moving walking flying shipping so and therefore I think we have to think a little bit more More holistic a little bit more. What is the solution for everything because otherwise in Europe or in Germany? We will lose it At least the connection to to the new trend of technology because connectivity It's not only the dish on on the roof. We will have I don't know is with your kids my kids They don't walk TV. They walk YouTube and Netflix. So it's about internet Everywhere and the problem when they have when we go on vacation. How good is the Wi-Fi? So therefore, I think we have to be a little bit more realistic and in digitalization We just started and and the good example is the corona crisis. Look to all the restaurants filling out paper forms That is that's a technology of the last Thousand years, so I think this we have to overcome and we have to be a little bit more Giving more power to crazy ideas that we say because we have them here You have that with the companies in your organization and people watching office. Let's let's implement it and implement the future Yeah, I have one very last question. You just mentioned it We have about 230 exhibitors companies even startups or long-term exhibitors from interview who went this way with interview to start in that digital exhibition because usually they were learned to stay in a booth to have their square meters to present their exhibitions and What do you think? How where will it go into the future? Will we stay digital? Will we be hybrid? Will there be exhibitions? What do you think how will we meet our exchange or do business in the next or in the near future? I think Change is the salt in the soup called destiny. So it changes good because in evolution There are only two passes involved for die-out. Yeah, this is evolution and you cannot cheat evolution We try it in governments with stone subvention other things, but you have to change. It's part of life So for personally, I think it will be hybrid and it will bring new challenges It will bring new opportunities So and we have to adapt that or like my grandma and a lot of other people said learning making out of lemon lemonade so take the best out of it use it as a chance and Younger companies or in the mind younger companies or startups. They adapt much quicker than huge organizations So that forces you to organizations to work more with the startups and giving them a helping hand So I would say it is a big chance and we just have to take it Yeah, this is what our company also said when we were forced to Cancel intergeal and say no we cannot meet because of the corona pandemic. It's not possible travel restrictions It's not safe enough to meet 100s or 1000s of people in one exhibition hall So our boss said right now we are a startup You should think as a startup act as a startup and just be like a startup and this really helped us because within Nearly three months. We developed this platform We're now thousands of visitors meet hundreds of exhibitors and we have several stages and the conference and everything is happening Right now while we are talking and you do it very well or like this Chinese saying a diamond is a piece of coal Which has become something valuable under pressure. Thank you very much. Thank you This was Frank Salzgeber from ESA space solutions Frank. It was a pleasure talking to you Thank you very much for joining us at the intergeal expo launch 2020. Thank you