The Galileo satellite navigation system is one of the most important European innovation projects. It is of great significance to the economy, because it provides the basis for numerous satellite-based products and services.
The "Forum for Satellite Navigation" provides nationwide support to the cooperation between the regional initiatives that exist in Germany. The platform is designed to provide a wide-scale exchange of experience and information and result in the nationwide interconnection of businesses, the scientific community, trade associations, public authorities and users. In this context, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs sees itself as a facilitator and patron of the "German GNSS Network".
The focus is on the following activities:
On 10 May 2006, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs hosted the first meeting of the regional German Galileo initiatives in Berlin. Since then, the initiatives have met around four times a year, with the meetings hosted by their members on a rotating basis. These meetings give the companies based in these regions an opportunity to present their ideas and projects.
The members exchange their experience of projects and events, discuss a coordinated approach on how to present themselves to the outside world and attract funding, identify synergies and discuss new processes of business development and coordinated project development.
In September 2006, the SatNav Forum and the regional initiatives, with their respective priorities, presented themselves to a larger audience for the first time at the information event staged by the National Contact Point for Space on the 7th EU Framework Research Programme, which focused on Galileo.
This was followed by presentations of the networks and cooperative schemes at regional events organized by the network partners. The regional initiatives jointly demonstrated their competencies in satellite navigation in March at the Cebit 2007 at the GNSS Joint Stand under the name of "GNSS Network Germany". In the future, the Forum also plans to present its activities at the European level, with the aim of contributing its capabilities to funding projects and clusters together with potential international partners.
The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs complements its function as a facilitator and patron by regularly staging user conferences. In addition to companies that are purely technology developers, these conferences also provide a wider range of users with information about the possibilities of Galileo, so that they can use them in the development of new products and services.