DiGOS GmbH was awarded the Innovation Prize Berlin Brandenburg 2019 by Brandenburg's Minister of Economic Affairs Jörg Steinbach and the Berlin State Secretary for Economic Affairs Christian Rickerts on Friday, 29.11.2019. DiGOS has been spin-off from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ in Potsdam in 2014. DiGOS's main field of activity is the construction and installation of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) stations. SLR provides highly accurate distance measurements between a ground station and a satellite using laser pulses. Future activity domains of DiGOS are laser communication with satellites and monitoring of dangerous space debris.

The Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Prize is awarded by the Brandenburg Ministry of Economics, Labour and Energy and the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Enterprises and is endowed with 10,000 euros each. Out of 206 applications, the 17-member jury awarded the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Prize to a total of five outstanding submissions in the 36th year of the Innovation Price award.

The core competencies of DiGOS are design, system integration and tailor-made hardware and software engineering for satellite laser ranging stations. Over the next two years, DiGOS will set up and hand over two turnkey stations; one for the Japanese space agency JAXA at the Tsukuba Space Centre, the other for the European Space Agency ESA on Tenerife.

Jens Steinborn and André Kloth, Managing Directors of DiGOS GmbH: "We are absolutely delighted that we have won the Innovation Award and are extremely pleased about the recognition by the jury. The award once again clearly shows the innovative strength of our team and that our developments are heading into the right direction. The trustful and fruitful cooperation with the GFZ in particular has enabled DiGOS to lead the highly complex, interdisciplinary topic of 'satellite laser ranging' to economic success. We would like to further intensify this successful cooperation between science and industry in future projects".

Sven Weickert, jury member 2019: "Europe and Japan's space agencies rely on high-tech from Potsdam. A good example of how scientific know-how can be translated into economic success".

Reinhard Hüttl, Scientific Executive Director of the GFZ: "I am very pleased about this great success of DiGOS and congratulate. This award proves once again that the research on System Earth that we conduct at the GFZ can also be translated into innovative applications that are successful in the market".

Igor Zayer, ESA project manager: "I congratulate DiGOS on the well-deserved innovation award and look forward to the commissioning of the laser station on Tenerife next year and hopefully more to come".

Further information:
DiGOS - Geophysical & Geodetic Observation Systems

Innovation Award Berlin Brandenburg

GFZ spin-off DiGOS nominated for Innovation Award Berlin-Brandenburg, GFZ-News, 8 November 2019

Image:
The DiGOS team with Brandenburg's Economics Minister Prof. Dr. Jörg Steinbach, from right to left: Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach, Diana Baranowski, Paul Meier, André Kloth, Peter Schreiber, Erik Günther, Sven Bauer, Thomas Schlegel, Julia Kirchner, Albrecht Schulze (Photo: Paul Hahn/Innovation Prize).

Scientific contact:
DiGOS Potsdam GmbH
Telegrafenberg
14473 Potsdam
Phone: +49 331 288 1133
E-mail: info@digos.eu

Media contact:
Dipl.-Phys. Philipp Hummel
Public and Media Relations
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam
German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ
Telegrafenberg
14473 Potsdam
Phone: +49 331 288-1049
E-mail: philipp.hummel@gfz-potsdam.de
Twitter: @GFZ_Potsdam