Wed, 07 Sep, 2016 12:01:16 AM FTimes – STT Report, Sep 7  Photo – Lehtikuva. The European Space Agency (ESA) has offered Finland an opportunity to set up Arctic business incubators aimed at creating businesses based on space technologies.
There are already similar incubators in 16 other ESA member states.
Every year, ESA supports around 130 new business projects and has already created more than 400 new companies.
Ministry of Employment and the Economy Director General Ilona Lundström at an event on Tuesday said the purpose of the incubators is to take advantage of investments in research to develop new businesses.
According to Lundström, the Finnish business field is now ready to take advantage of new opportunities.
ESA Director Eric Morel said Arctic issues will increasingly move to the forefront of ESA operations.
“The problems of the Arctic region cannot be solved in space. But very few Arctic problems can be solved without space,” Morel said.
Finland’s future incubators may not be placed together in one location, but they may also serve as a network, Lundström added.
What is clear is that one key place for a new incubator is Sodankylä, which is home to a Finnish Meteorological Institute satellite service.
Sodänkylä collects and archives data coming from a number of satellites observing the northern hemisphere. This near real-time data is openly available online for Finnish and international users.
“Open and free data allows the creation of new services,” said the satellite service’s Research Professor Jouni Pulliainen.
The data can be used, for example, for weather services, flood forecasting and maritime transport. For example, information on the thickness of sea ice and iceberg movement in the Arctic will become increasingly important as maritime transport in the Arctic picks up.
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