The concept of business opportunities based on space technologies and resources has been around for years. From Daffy Duck dealing with Marvin the Martian, to Star Trek, Star Wars, and Space 1999, to the Martian Chronicles, pop culture has reflected (and profited from) our collective desire to interact with space.
Technology is now catching up with our imagination. While we might not be planting flags on the Planet X, many of those far-fetched ideas, once the realm of the science fiction writer, are entering the realm of possibility. We are in an era where technologies and knowledge can begin to break us out beyond the old model of NASA and space exploration and move us into a new model of space-derived technology commercialization within nimble entrepreneurial ventures and big business alike.
The 8th Continent Project was created to organize and accelerate the emergence of Space 2.0 commerce -- providing funding opportunities, access to talent, networking and market knowledge to companies and individuals interested in space-derived technologies that deliver new products and services of benefit to us right here on Earth.
The 8C Project started forming in 2006 when Director Burke Fort, on loan from the University of Texas at Austin, was invited to convene a series of workshops at the Colorado School of Mines to broaden the scope of its highly successful Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space (CCACS). The result was the 8th Continent Project. Fort, with former Center director Michael Duke, current Center director Angel Abbud Madrid and support from the Colorado School of Mines leadership, launched this new initiative to advance and serve companies utilizing space program-derived technology and resources in a wide range of commercial applications, and not just those located in space.
In addition to significant institutional investment by the Colorado School of Mines, the 8th Continent Project has won support from the Colorado Governor's Office of Economic Development, DigitalGlobe, the Keiretsu Forum angel investor network, the University of Colorado's Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, Metzger Associates Public Relations and intellectual property law firm Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP.
One of the 8th Continent's first accomplishments was the creation of the 8C Business Plan Competititon, formerly named Lunar Ventures. This global competititon challenges university students in business, engineering and science to collaborate in creating business plans employing Space 2.0 technologies in new ventures that are competitive in today's capital markets.
Similarly, the 8th Continent Aerospace Business Incubator provides new and emerging Space 2.0 companies with access to the talent, capital, market intelligence and professional networks they need to succeed.
The 8th Continent Project's name is a reference to space as the next frontier, the next "continent" to be explored and utilized. The tagline, "Bringing Space Down to Earth," describes the concept of simplifying the process for companies and individuals to grow and prosper through a fully integrated organization that connects all the pieces of the puzzle. Through its chamber of commerce, funding network and research center, the 8th Continent Project brings together all the resources necessary to develop emerging Space 2.0 industries.
