Great success for the finals of the 5th edition of ActInSpace®, the international competition dedicated to space applications

Press Release | Toulouse, February 16th 2023

The awards ceremonies for ActInSpace 2022®, the major international hackathon aimed at imagining the products and solutions of tomorrow using space data and technology, took place on 13 and 14 February, at the Palais des festivals in Cannes, France, in partnership with the Cannes Pays de Lérins urban community.

Launched by CNES in 2014, co-organised by ESA since 2016 and operated by Aerospace Valley, ActInSpace® aims at developing entrepreneurship, especially among young people, by fostering the creation of start-ups offering services based on space technologies, for the benefit of citizens, employment and our planet.

For its 5th edition, the competition gathered this year 1,700 participants in 65 towns over 34 countries on the 5 continents, showcasing 410 projects for start-ups using space technology, data and infrastructures.

ActInSpace® 2022 was supported by 9 international sponsors: Airbus, AirZeroG (VIP Sponsors), Air Liquide, Eban Space (European Business Angels Network), ESSP (European Satellite Services Provider), EUSPA (EU Agency for the Space Programme), OVHcloud and Sopra Steria. Thales Alenia Space was the official partner for the international finals.

The international Final and the France Final designated 2 winning teams, for the quality of their projects. The 2 prizes this year were awarded by CNES and all the partners of ActInSpace®:

• The ActInSpace® International Grand Prize, a zero-gravity flight in the A310 ZERO-G aircraft, was awarded to NEXUS AZERBAIDJAN, for its project aimed at optimising aircraft routes to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
• The ActInSpace® France Grand Prize, the chance to attend a space launch at the Guyane Space Center, was awarded to TREE FOR LIFE KOUROU, a project aiming at combating soil erosion.

In addition to the 2 winning teams, all participating teams will have the possibility to be supported for the launch of their start-up, by the Connect by CNES service and the partner incubators, especially the ESA BICs and Tech The Moon.
Since the 1rst edition of ActInSpace®, over 30 start-ups have been launched, in various host countries, included several great success-stories such as Panda Insight UG (Germany, winner 2018 – a smartphone app for a tailored health routine), Kermap (France, winner 2016 – a satellite analysis of ground occupation) or O’sol (France – deployable solar generator).