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Satnews Daily
August 19th, 2019

New Space Technologies Being Sought by Amazon Web Services and Deloitte in the Gravity Challenge in Adelaide


Amazon and Deloitte will spearhead a search for new space technologies across a variety of industries at an inaugural hackathon event in South Australia next month.

The Gravity Challenge will bring together space thought leaders and businesses across eight industries to collaboratively solve real-world problems using cutting-edge space technology and data. To be held on September 30 in Adelaide, South Australia, participants will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Deloitte space capabilities to design and build solutions to real industrial, social and environmental problems. The challenge will also kick off Space Week, which runs in Adelaide until October 4 and includes the 8th Space Forum and the 19th Australian Space Research Conference.

Registrations are now open for the Gravity Challenge in the areas of Mining & Energy Resources; Defence, Security & Military; Agriculture and Meteorology; Banking & Insurance; Telecommunications & Connectivity; Health & Life Sciences; Transportation, Logistics & Smart Cities, and; Travel & Tourism.

Businesses and corporate organisations are being encouraged to sponsor problems, while entrepreneurs and researchers can now register their interest in taking part in the Gravity Challenge.

South Australia has been a significant player in the nation’s space industry and is home to major Tier 1 defence companies and several emerging space start-ups, including Fleet Space Technologies, Inovor Technologies and Myriota, which have all announced new Internet of Things initiatives this year.

Deloitte’s Australian Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Rob Hillard, said many different industries had high-value challenges that needed addressing now and that Industries such as defence, mining, insurance and agriculture are facing increasingly difficult problems today. However, a lot of companies don’t know that space data and solutions can be applied to almost any industry. Business are now being encouraged to put forward their most pressing issues to see if Australia’s best innovators can solve them, accelerating return on investment and creating new market offerings.

Story by Andrew Spence, The Lead South Australia