Active and future projects

Explore some of our on going and future cases and projects. 

PARALLEL INNOVATION DEVELOPMENT

Umbilical Design has initiated a project named "Parallel Innovation Development" (PID), with the purpose to accelerate space technology commercialization.

The idea for the project was initiated through a dialogue with ESA. Umbilical Design has over the years identified a need on the market to get in touch with space technologies that are at research state. The purpose with PID is to develop a process where non-space companies can follow the innovation development of a space company in order to develop new products and achieve space technology transfer. Through funding from the Swedish National Space Board a project has been put in place where Umbilical Design is to develop the process for PID and execute a pilot to test PID as process. The pilot is done together with Umbilical Design’s technology partner ÅF, property company Humlegården Properties and Swedish space company APR Technologies.

ASTROSTADEN – THE ASTRO CITY; TESTING SPACE TECHNOLOGY IN BUILDINGS

Umbilical Design was granted funding by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to execute the project the Astro City. Partners in this project are ÅF and Humlegården Properties. In this project three space technologies will be tested and implemented in the properties of Humlegården Properties. The purpose of the project is to find new applications for space technology that can contribute to sustainable city development.

INTERACT – DEVELOPING DRONES FOR THE ARCTIC REGION

Umbilical Design is a work package leader in the Horizon 2020 project Interact. Umbilical Design’s task is to increase awareness on the possibility of drones for the Arctic region, and promote the use of drone technology at arctic research stations. Drones could become a key tool for different atmospheric measurements.

The consortium consists of 46 partners, and the project Interact is centred on research in the Arctic region. One of the purposes with the project is to monitor environmental and ecosystem change. Umbilical Design will work with technology partner ÅF in the Interact project in order to come up with requirements for drones used in extreme Arctic climate, and organize a workshop at a forum for managers at the research stations. At the workshop over 70 research station managers will participate. Umbilical Design’s ambition is to investigate general technology needs for arctic environment, to take further and develop projects to achieve space technology transfers.

CHRISTER FUGLESANG SPACE CENTER

In June 2013 Umbilical Design initiated a Swedish delegation and visited NASA Ames, San Francisco. The delegation consisted of 11 people, among them Swedish ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang as well as representatives from Swedish businesses and academia. During the visit the delegation was given the opportunity to visit the sustainable building NASA Sustainability Base. The NASA Sustainability Base uses NASA innovations originally engineered for space travel and exploration; the 50,000 square-foot Sustainability Base is simultaneously a working office space, and a showcase for NASA technology and sustainable construction. The sustainability bases uses water 90 % more efficiently than comparable conventional buildings. The idea of creating a sister building to the Sustainability Base in Sweden was presented by Umbilical Design during this visit.

The sister building is currently being planned and will become the Christer Fuglesang Space Center (CFSC) located in Stockholm, with the mission to inspire about space and create a multifunctional building open to the public. The building will integrate space technologies from ESA as well as NASA. An association is in place to drive CFSC forward and to make the building happen, its board consists of 7 experts in different areas among them Cecilia Hertz, Managing Director of Umbilical Design. The Christer Fuglesang Space Center will be a visible symbol for human exploration of the unknown beyond the known.