After three years in development and a successful demonstration project supported by the European Space Agency, SoilEssentials Ltd and Deimos Space UKreleased KORE, a new cloud-based land management platform at the end of 2017. A new generation of precision farming service, it combines many monitoring means (including satellite) and agronomic tools and yet affordable and simple to use.

Primarily used by agronomists and farming companies, KORE allows the modernisation of practices for effective management of land use, including: yield and crop sensors, disease models and growth models.

Combining multisensor satellites including ESA’s Sentinel Satellites, UAV imagery, tractor-mounted sensors KORE guarantees the availability of data regardless of weather and cloud conditions.

Customers have commented on the ‘perfect layout’ of the system and how easy-to-use it is once the basic principles are understood.

One KORE customer said “I help manage multiple farms and a simple check in to KORE first thing in the morning keeps me informed of the status of all the crops under my care”.

Friday, March 16, 2018 — World Sleep Day — Ectosense, a digital healthcare solutions pioneer incubated at imec.istart and focused on the advancement of sleep disorder care, announces that it has secured € 1.5 million in seed funding in a round led by Saffelberg Investments, a leading Brussels-based private equity group. Several industry executives and entrepreneurs will participate in the round.

Under the umbrella of Satellite for 5G Initiative, ESA – together with 16 satellite industry leaders, agreed to join forces by signing a Joint Statement in June 2017 and demonstrate the major opportunity for the space sector to deliver parts of the future generation of 5G networks and services.

The initiative covers a wide range of activities, from service trials in sectors such as transport, public safety and media, to applications developments, standardisation and interoperability demonstrations. In this context, we are announcing an open call for proposals covering:

• Technology Developments and Validation Trials (development of a 5G integrated satellite terrestrial system or of its components)

• Applications Development and Vertical Pilots (activities related to the development and demonstration of services based on 5G networks and space systems)

A comprehensive set of guidelines covering technical and implementations aspects of the proposal has been released. You can find it attached below, together with the Proposal Template.