GALACTICA has hosted its Final Event in Barcelona, on 16th February 2023. Galactica which aims is to demonstrate the viability of new industrial value chains regarding the textile and aerospace sectors based on advanced manufacturing across the EU, has held the final event in Barcelona with more than 110 attendees.
The GALACTICA final event has been held in parallel to the EBAN IMPACT Summit in order to synergize the participation of both communities.
The event started with a general overview of the project and achievements by the project coordinator and other consortium members, focusing on the best practices and the new value chains generated in the project. Then the project officer explained new funding opportunities through open calls and the 1st part concluded with the announcement of open calls of other running projects in which the partners of Galactica are also members.
The event followed with interesting keynote speeches more focused on technologies and aerospace as:
- Innovation at the intersection of sectors: why it is worth to keep an eye on other sectors when innovating.
- Investing in DeepTech: challenges and opportunities
- Startups, acceleration and sustainability in the aerospace sector: a framework for DeepTech sectors
- Super-entrepreneurship, SpaceTech and building the world we love.
After a networking break the five selected orbital projects presented their pitching and answered the questions of the jury members:
- MVRPT – Aerospace
- NOC-STRUT – Textile
- SolarCube – Aerospace
- Iroony hemp textile materials by Ionic Liquid-based manufacturing- Textile
- AMPERE – Aerospace
The Orbital Projects voucher had supported the demonstration of new cross-sectoral value chains connecting the different sectors of GALACTICA with initial market tests of the products and services developed.
After lunch the Director General for Innovation, Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship at Generalitat de Catalunya explained how the Catalonia region is driving impact entrepreneurship and investment.
In the afternoon Lutz Walter (ETP) presented:
– Innovation trends in the textile industry
And participated in a round table of 5 textile experts around Sustainability and circularity in the textile industry: challenges and outlook.
At the end of textile round table the five selected Pioneer presented their pitching and answered the questions of the jury members:
- ABEP- Aerospace
- certBLOC – Textile
- rCF – Textile
- Impact protection using green composite s- Aerospace
- BiomX- Textile
The Pioneer Acceleration voucher has supported the exploration of new cross-sectoral value chains with focus on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Meanwhile we had also a poster exhibition with the results of 20 of the projects, and three awards under poster category.
After a short break the Jury members take a decision, and we had final ranking list:
Orbital:
| Project | Country | Sector | Award | Ranking |
| SolarCube | Italy | Aerospace | 20000 | Winner |
| Iroony | France | Textile | 9000 | Runner- up |
| AMPERE | Spain | Aerospace | 9000 | Runner- up |
The winner, SolarCube has developed Origami-inspired deployable solar panels. Solar Cube has grown with Galactica. They were the winners of the student teams on the 1st Hackathon, they created a company and get a Pioneer in the 1st Call and an Orbital in the 2nd Call.
Pioneer:
| Project | Country | Sector | Award | Ranking |
| Impact protection | Portugal | Aerospace | 12000 | Winner |
| ABEP Kreios Space | Spain | Aerospace | 7000 | Runner-up |
| rCF | Spain | Textile | 7000 | Runner-up |
The winner, Impact protection, has developed a composite with a higher capacity to absorb and dissipate the impact energy. This was achieved through the combination of natural fibres, natural foams, and smart materials.
And the winning posters:
ROBOCORK – 5000€ (Aerospace)
CIRCULAR FUNTIONAL -2500€ (Textile)
The Galactica Consortium thanked all attendees for the participation and all companies and stakeholders involved throughout the Project, who showed that the work pursued within the project had a real impact!
Congratulations to all the winners! They are super entrepreneurs, find solutions and push the limits of technology (Fabrice Testa)
The final event concluded with a networking cocktail at Pier 01 with all participants.