ESA title

Category: Incubed

The BiDS Award spotlights top European space start-ups

Posted on by mavelar

The BiDS Award, a joint initiative by ESA Φ-lab and ESA BIC Latvia, took place at the 2025 Big Data from Space (BiDS) conference to boost European space start-ups and academia. The award provided visibility and networking opportunities for those working on space-based solutions that address global challenges, facilitating the commercialisation of deep-tech innovations. The winners of the 2025 edition were AgroRisk, SALUTS, and Hyphorest.  

The BiDS Award, organised jointly by ESA Φ-lab and ESA BIC Latvia, took place on 2 October 2025, within the framework of the Big Data from Space (BiDS) conference. This award brought industry, research, and policy leaders together to explore how deep tech solutions and space data can be leveraged to address critical global challenges.

This initiative focused on transforming raw data into knowledge, insight, and foresight, showcasing how advancements on space technologies are boosting data usage to deliver impactful planetary solutions, and providing visibility and networking opportunities for European space start-ups and academia.

While proposals at the intersection of Earth observation and global challenges were central, the scope was broad, encouraging solutions from across the entire space value chain. This included upstream, downstream, and spin-in innovations such as advanced materials, robotics, quantum technologies, satellite communications, in-orbit services, navigation, and AI-driven analytics.

The award’s areas of focus included precision agriculture and food security, environmental sustainability and biodiversity tracking, or sustainable energy and infrastructure monitoring, among many more. The winners were awarded one year of free access to AI-data analytics platforms from Altair (in a total value of € 300.000) and access to satellite imagery from Airbus (valued in a total of € 25.000).

The third place was awarded to Hyphorest (Germany), a Stuttgart-based startup and incubatee of ESA BIC Baden-Württemberg that aims to bring finance to nature by making it easy to invest in restoration, carbon farming, and carbon removal projects that are measurable, transparent, and grounded. Using satellite data, AI, and blockchain, Hyphorest quantifies natural impact such as biomass, biodiversity, CO₂ storage, and ecosystem recovery, while strengthening the role of local and indigenous communities in achieving these goals.

The platform enables companies and individuals to invest in climate and nature-positive projects with measurable outcomes, turning environmental and social impact into a trusted, data-driven asset class. The solution presented at BiDS helps companies invest in nature, track their impact, and report results within their corporate sustainability targets and frameworks. Hyphorest’s mission is to build trust in nature-based investments and make real progress visible to everyone.

“Winning the BiDS Award affirms our belief that space technology is one of the most powerful tools for climate resilience. At Hyphorest, we turn satellite data into living evidence of restoration, making environmental impact measurable, transparent, and investable. Being recognised by ESA Φ-lab and the BiDS community encourages us to keep pushing the frontier where space innovation meets nature,” commented Hojjat Mansourpour, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hyphorest.

SALUTS (Germany) confirmed its position as a leading innovator in the European space-tech ecosystem by winning the second place. SALUTS’ mission is to redefine AI-driven autonomy in space and beyond by transforming space computing with ultra-efficient chips that enhance real-time, in-orbit data processing. Their vision was first recognized in 2023 when SALUTS won the 5th CASSINI Hackathon, an achievement that led to their selection by ESA BIC Bavaria to further develop their winning project.

The innovation that secured their BiDS Award recognition is CHIRB (Computing on Hybrid Interplanetary Relay Basis), a revolutionary advanced AI system that acts as the next-generation mission control centre for space, defence, and industrial AI applications. At the heart of CHIRB is Robot-on-a-Chip, SALUTS’ proprietary AI technology, whose chips are engineered to use 90% less power while providing three times more reliable data processing directly on the device.

CHIRB integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructure, featuring a natural language interface that lets any user simply chat their requests, which are converted by the system into working code and hardware control, thus eliminating the need for complex coding or technical knowledge.

“At SALUTS, ‘We Deliver Autonomy at the Edge and Clarity at Scale’. Our platform, CHIRB, combines ultra-low-power hardware modules with advanced AI software to make complex operations autonomous, efficient, and sustainable. The outcome: faster decisions, lower costs, and more reliable operations,” stated Mohamed Sobhy Fouda, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of SALUTS.

The first place was awarded to AgroRisk (Denmark), a climate fintech platform and incubatee of ESA BIC Denmark that quantifies agricultural and financial risks caused by climate change and extreme weather. By combining Earth observation data, weather models, and financial risk analytics, AgroRisk enables banks, insurers, and farmers to assess the climate exposure of agricultural assets at both field and portfolio level.

The platform translates satellite and climate data into actionable financial insights, helping financial institutions comply with new sustainability regulations and supporting farmers in adapting to a changing climate. AgroRisk contributes to food security, climate adaptation, and sustainable finance — leveraging space technology to enable data-driven resilience in the agricultural sector.

“Space data is transforming how we understand and manage climate risks on Earth. At AgroRisk, we use satellite-based insights to translate what happens in orbit into tangible value on the ground — helping banks, insurers, and farmers make smarter, more sustainable decisions. The BiDS Award highlights how space innovation can directly contribute to planetary resilience and sustainable finance,” commented Theodor Christensen, CEO and Founder of AgroRisk.

The winners of the 2025 BiDS Award. From left to right: Sabrina Ricci (AI Ecosystem Coordinator at ESA Φ-lab), Hojjat Mansourpour (CEO and Founder of Hyphorest, 3rd place), Mohamed Sobhy Fouda (CEO and Founder of SALUTS, 2nd place), Theodor Christensen (CEO and Founder of AgroRisk, 1st place), and José Manuel Delgado Blasco (Geospatial System Engineer at ESA Φ-lab). Photo courtesy of ESA/Sabrina Ricci.

A special recognition goes to Andrii Chepurnyi, PhD student at the University of Latvia, who received a prize for his Earth observation-calibration project. As part of the award, he will join the Commercialization Reactor’s Commercialization Dive programme.

Andrii Chepurnyi (middle), PhD student at the University of Latvia, won a special recognition. Photo courtesy of Gatis Orlickis.

“The BiDS Award is another example of collaboration between organisations dedicated to developing the European Space capabilities in Deep Space and Earth Observation. In this occasion, both industry and academia responded positively, as well as partners and sponsors needed to make this award a success. This success, along other parallel efforts, wants to push the limits of Space technology and help develop European champions that proposed solutions to real problems with space technology,” commented José Manuel Delgado Blasco, Geospatial System Engineer at ESA Φ-lab and co-organiser of the BiDS Award.

“In this award, we have collected many brilliant participants addressing problems such as space debris, environmental and atmospheric pollution, and climate change. It has been a pleasure to work with ESA BIC Latvia, Airbus and Altair and I want to thank all the people involved and participants who made this award a success – and a starting point for future collaborations,” José added.

“The success of the BiDS Awards within such a vibrant and diverse ecosystem as the Big Data from Space community confirms how rewarding it is to push the boundaries of space and connect with emerging pioneers of technology. Their contributions help us drive innovation both in Earth Observation and in Space. The enthusiastic response from sponsors, participating companies — including those who did not win — has encouraged us to continue promoting these initiatives as catalysts for new collaborations and interactions,” commented Sabrina Ricci, AI Ecosystem Coordinator at ESA Φ-lab and co-organiser of the BiDS Award.

To know more: BiDS Award, ESA Φ-lab, ESA BIC Latvia

Photo courtesy of Gatis Orlickis

Leadership and technology: AEE boosts Spain’s resilience against wildfires

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Given the scale of the recent wildfires that have significantly affected Spain’s land and ecosystems, the Spanish Space Agency (AEE) has taken the initiative to strengthen the country’s capabilities in prevention, detection, and response. The objective is clear: to turn the challenge into an opportunity to bolster prevention, detection, and response capabilities, ensuring that Spain has the most advanced tools to protect lives, infrastructure, and the environment.

In collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), through its ESA InCubed programme, AEE is launching a pioneering national call for the development of innovative Earth Observation applications.

Read the full article (in Spanish) on www.aee.gob.es.

Improving precision nitrogen management with Messium

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Messium is improving agricultural practices with advanced hyperspectral satellite data. Co-funded by the ESA InCubed programme, the company developed a tool that provides farmers with frequent, accurate insights into crop nitrogen levels and optimal fertiliser use, helping to boost yields, cut costs, and minimise environmental impacts.

Nitrogen is one of the most essential nutrients for crop growth, playing a central role in plant development, yield, and quality. In that sense, nitrogen fertilisers are crucial for boosting land productivity and sustaining global food demands.

However, the average global Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) on crops is around 45%, with more than half of the applied nitrogen fertiliser lost as nitrous oxide emissions or leached in the form of nitrate into drinking water sources, contributing to groundwater contamination and surface water eutrophication.

Behind this nitrogen loss is the imprecise nature of fertiliser application. Farmers often apply nitrogen at incorrect amounts and times, a practice driven by a lack of real-time data on a crop’s specific needs. To improve both the sustainability and profitability of modern farming, a shift is required – one that moves away from relying on broad, imprecise fertiliser application toward more targeted, data-driven approaches.

Messium, a UK-based start-up, emerges as key player in precision nitrogen management, by using hyperspectral satellite data and artificial intelligence to assess the nitrogen status of wheat crops and address sub-optimal nitrogen use in farming – something that was not possible with previous multispectral/NDVI-based approaches. Nitrogen, like all chemical elements on Earth, reflects and absorbs radiation in a specific set of wavelengths, creating a unique spectral signature – a ‘fingerprint’ – that is identified by hyperspectral satellite technology.

Messium’s methodology is built on real-world data: 20000 geo-referenced samples from wheat crops were collected, matching the collection with hyperspectral satellite imagery. These samples were then analysed to get precise measurements of nitrogen and biomass. Together, this information was used to train Messium’s unique machine learning models, giving them the ability to accurately analyse crop health from above.

Messium makes crop growth models a viable tool for farmers: the company’s innovative hyperspectral solution provides real-time, in-season data on a crop’s nitrogen percentage and biomass, filling the critical data gap that previously rendered these models unusable for decision-making. Messium integrates this live information with weather, soil, and farm management data to create a comprehensive picture of crop health and nutrient needs. From this, growth models predict the crop’s maximum and most profitable yields, calculate the precise amount of fertiliser required, and can even forecast changes in crop status.

Another key point of Messium’s approach is the nitrogen dilution curve, which maps a crop’s nitrogen percentage against its biomass to determine if it has a nitrogen surplus or deficiency, indicating the ideal time for fertilisation. By combining the timing insights from the dilution curve with the optimal quantity from growth models, Messium optimises the amount of fertiliser and timing of application, increasing the average NUE to 80-85%.

The company follows a B2B2F (business-to-business-to-farmer) model: it provides fertiliser companies and precision agri-tech start-ups with nitrogen estimation insights that are seamlessly integrated into their platforms. Then, these partners deliver Messium’s data to end-user farmers and agronomists through their established networks, allowing weekly, more precise fertiliser recommendations without requiring any behavioural changes.

Messium became one of the leading players in the use of hyperspectral technology for agriculture: last year’s trials across Europe and Australia, using more than 13,000 lab-validated crop samples, found that over 50% of fields were incorrectly fertilised, leading to wasted input costs and unnecessary emissions. Messium’s technology enables a data-driven approach to tackle these inefficiencies, supporting commercial farmers as well as broader food security and net-zero objectives.

“At a time when Europe’s food security and sovereignty are more vital than ever, optimising nitrogen fertiliser use is key. At the same time, tackling harmful nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching is essential to reaching net zero,” commented Vishal Soomaney, co-founder and CTO of Messium.

This start-up has achieved remarkable success through its own innovative approach, with the ESA InCubed programme providing valuable technical support and co-funding that helped accelerate its growth. Having reached a minimum viable product with InCubed in February 2025, Messium has secured £3.2 million in private investment and is now starting an extension of its product with InCubed in 2026.

Its success does not stop there: Messium has been collaborating with Open Cosmos – another InCubed-supported company – as a user of the HAMMER hyperspectral datasets, highlighting the importance of the InCubed ecosystem to find new customers, strategic opportunities, and valuable peer-to-peer feedback.

“With ESA InCubed’s support, we’ve turned Messium from a proof-of-concept into a commercial solution that helps farmers boost profits, cut emissions, and protect soil health for future generations. This collaboration has fostered strong partnerships with organisations like Open Cosmos and shown the real-world impact of space-enabled innovation. We’re excited to continue working with the ESA team to scale these solutions across Europe”, added Vishal.

Crop nitrogen (left, in %) and biomass (right, in kg/ha) in a field under analysis. During the season, the percentage of nitrogen in the crops can vary from 6 to 1%, and crop biomass can go as high as 16 t/ha. Messium’s in-depth analysis of a field at any point in the season allows for better nitrogen management. Credits: Messium analysis of Open Cosmos hyperspectral data.

Michele Castorina, Head of the Φ-lab Invest Office and InCubed Programme Manager, commented: “The collaboration between these two InCubed-supported companies is a clear indication of the programme’s success. InCubed cultivates an ecosystem where these ideas can connect, grow, and create new commercial value. By enabling the development of Messium’s product, we have demonstrated how European space technology can be transformed into a viable business proposition. Their solution is a perfect example of the innovative synergy we foster, showing how InCubed’s support further attracts significant investment needed to scale.”

“At Open Cosmos, our mission is to tackle Earth’s most pressing challenges with actionable data and connectivity from space,” stated Alberto Perez Cassinelli, Vice President of Data at Open Cosmos. “By providing Messium with our advanced hyperspectral data from our OpenConstellation, we are empowering their nitrogen analysis technology to deliver real value to wheat farmers worldwide. This collaboration demonstrates how space-based innovation can translate into practical, real-time insights that improve agricultural efficiency, sustainability, and food security.”

The banner image shows a NDVI-based approach from multispectral satellite imagery previously used by farmers to assess the status of their crops (left) vs. crop nitrogen (kg/ha) provided by Messium, based on hyperspectral satellite imagery (right). In the right image, lower crop nitrogen levels are represented in red and higher crop nitrogen levels in blue. Messium’s weekly insights provide the nitrogen percentage in the crop, the biomass of the crop (t/ha), and the total nitrogen in the crop (t/ha), all at a 5 x 5 m resolution.

To know more: ESA Φ-lab, Messium

Photo courtesy of Messium

Living Planet Symposium Extra News: Day 5

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ESA’s Living Planet Symposium came to a close today, concluding a week of networking, discussions and meeting of curious, scientific minds.   

Today, one of the focal points was thermal imaging instruments, which are critical for monitoring land-surface temperature – and will be carried on upcoming missions such as the upcoming Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Mission. ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission celebrated passing its 15-year milestone in orbit – the mission has helped improve weather and climate models.

Three new contracts were signed for ESA’s InCubed programme, which is central to the agency’s efforts to turn promising concepts into successful Earth observation services, strengthening Europe’s position in this rapidly evolving sector. 

Read the full article on www.esa.int.

Unmissable Φ-lab moments at LPS 2025

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At this year’s Living Planet Symposium, ESA Φ-lab will present its innovations and initiatives at the forefront of Earth Observation. Make sure not to miss our key moments.

The European Space Agency’s Living Planet Symposium (LPS) is one of the world’s largest events dedicated to Earth Observation (EO). LPS25 – this year’s edition – will take place from 23 to 27 June, in Vienna (Austria), gathering scientists, policymakers, and industry experts to share the latest research, satellite-based applications, and innovative technologies addressing environmental and societal challenges.

As part of this dynamic programme, ESA Φ-lab will be actively involved, presenting its next-generation solutions at the intersection of EO, transformational innovation, commercialisation for human prosperity, climate action, and sustainability, among others.

Curious about Φ-lab? Make sure to pass by the Φ-lab corner at ESA’s stand (Main Hall, ground floor) to meet the team, discover how Φ-lab drives cutting-edge research and disruptive technologies in Earth Observation, and learn about opportunities for collaboration.

Here are Φ-lab’s must-sees:

1. The future of geospatial data discovery and use

The rapid growth of EO data availability calls for new approaches to efficiently manage, analyse and extract meaningful insights from heterogenous and enormous satellite datasets. In this context, self-supervised learning and foundation models are emerging as transformative tools, offering unprecedented capabilities for detecting patterns, changes, and anomalies across the planet.

Φ-lab has built a strong expertise in using powerful AI models. The latest example is the joint ESA/IBM Research Europe release of TerraMind, a next-generation geospatial foundation model designed to help us better understand and protect our planet.

AI is reshaping EO, enhancing data analysis, discovery, and interaction through multimodal data and language models. In the session “AI and Earth observation – where to now?”, Φ-lab Visiting Professors will share the latest advances and lead a thought-provoking debate on the future of AI in remote sensing.

During the session “Foundation Models for Earth Observation: Current solutions with less labelled data to improve environment monitoring and future perspectives to revolutionize geospatial data discovery and utilization”, you will learn about three of the latest Φ-lab-supported projects on the topic of foundation models for EO: TerraMind, FM4CS (Foundation Models for Climate and Society) and PhilEO.

EVE (Earth Virtual Expert) is a large language model (LLM) developed to support the EO and Earth Science communities. It builds on open-source LLMs, trained on billions of curated EO data tokens and fine-tuned with tailored datasets. Designed to assist both expert and non-specialists, EVE makes complex EO knowledge accessible to everyone through natural language processing. In the session “EVE: A Comprehensive Suite of LLMs and Data for Earth Observation and Earth Sciences”, attendees will discover how EVE was built, explore its capabilities, and learn how to interact with it for their own applications.

Ensuring AI technologies are explainable, trustworthy, and physics-aware is essential. “Explainable AI for Earth Observation and Earth Science” will explore cutting-edge advancements in Explainable AI methods across diverse data types, including SAR, optical, and hyperspectral data. Attendees will discover innovative strategies to bridge data gaps, address physical inconsistencies, and promote responsible, ethical AI use in support of Earth Action initiatives.

2. Advancing weather and climate forecasting with Machine Learning

The monitoring and prediction of Earth’s weather and climate systems have seen remarkable progress in recent years. With the growing availability of high-resolution satellite data and sophisticated in situ sensors, we have now access to an unprecedented amount of data about our planet’s interconnected systems. Machine learning and deep learning techniques are transforming the way we interpret, model, and forecast the complex dynamics of Earth.

“Machine Learning for Earth System Observation and Prediction” will bring together researchers exploring the latest AI-driven approaches in environmental science. It will highlight innovations in data assimilation, climate prediction, and the development of large-scale, data-driven Earth system models.

3. Investing in commercial ideas that change the way we see our planet

Great ideas need more than ambition. They need backing, and this is where the ESA InCubed programme steps in. By blending co-funding, technical expertise, and commercial and industrial guidance, InCubed is a key tool of ESA’s EO commercialisation strategy to effectively bridge the gap between vision and commercial success in the EO sector.

As the demand for agile EO solutions grows, public-private partnerships are emerging as a powerful model to accelerate innovation and optimise resources. “New approaches to support commercialisation” will gather industry and institutional voices to explore the opportunities of new approaches, but also address challenges such as goal alignment, intellectual property, and data access.

“Enhancement of EO products using advanced multi-instrument and multi-platform synergies” will focus on methods that exploit synergies between complementary observations, modelling and multi-sensor data, using data from missions like Copernicus’ Sentinels, EarthCARE, MTG, EPS-SG, PACE, among others.

“Commercial Earth Observation Missions: Embracing New Paradigms and Innovative Models” will explore new commercial EO mission concepts designed to meet both institutional and market needs. With examples of business models – from public-private partnerships to fully private ventures – this session will offer insights into the evolving commercial EO landscape.

Driven by new climate regulations such as EU ETS and CBAM, the demand for accurate GHG monitoring is rising. “Opportunities in the Earth Observation Market: A Focus on GHG Monitoring” will focus on the commercial opportunities at the intersection of Earth Observation and climate policy, featuring an overview of the regulatory landscape, and a panel discussion with EO companies developing services to meet emerging compliance needs.

4. Harnessing Quantum Computing for a smarter, greener future

Quantum Computing (QC) promises to process vast amounts of information more efficiently than classical systems, creating new opportunities for climate modelling, environmental monitoring, and the analysis of highly complex, interconnected natural systems. By accelerating data processing and enabling new types of simulations, quantum technologies could improve the accuracy of climate predictions and support more responsive decision making in the face of global challenges.

In the “HPC and Quantum Computing” Insight Session, experts will discuss how quantum technologies are beginning to transform the way we work with EO data. It will also explore hybrid quantum-classical approaches, which combine the strengths of both computing paradigms.

“Joint ESA-GRSS initiatives for the exploitation of Earth Observation data” will focus on the work developed by the Quantum Computing for Earth Observation Working Group, an initiative that is part of the IEEE-GRSS Technical Committee QUEST (Quantum Earth Science and Technology) and operated in collaboration with Φ-lab. This project fosters collaboration between the QC and EO communities and is working to turn the promise of QC into practical, impactful applications for EO, through joint research, open knowledge exchange and hands-on projects.

5. Smarter satellites, faster insights: inside the Φsat-2 mission

Designed to test new mission concepts and onboard data processing using advanced AI processors, ESA’s Φsat-2 is an innovative nanosatellite that runs multiple applications directly in orbit. Equipped with a high-resolution multispectral instrument, it supports tasks like cloud detection, vessel classification, wildfire monitoring and image compression.

“The ESA Φsat-2 mission: an AI empowered 6U Cubesat for Earth Observation” session will present the mission’s status, AI demonstrations, and opportunities for the community to engage. Make sure not to miss the Φ-lab-led presentation: “All4One or One4All? Tailoring Onboard AI with NAS and Foundation Models”.

6. Where future careers in Earth Observation begin

To secure the future of Earth Observation, it is essential to engage and inspire young professionals today. The “Exploring Space Opportunities with ESA Φ-lab and EUSPA: Pathways for Students and Young Professionals” session is designed for students and young professionals eager to enter the European space sector, with a focus on innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.

The session will introduce two key institutions: ESA Φ-lab and EUSPA, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme, which manages operational EU space services like Galileo, EGNOS, and Copernicus.

The Grand Marathon, organised by Φ-lab, is an innovation challenge rewarding scalable, market-ready solutions addressing climate events and infectious diseases, with a focus on younger populations. Launched in November 2024 and held in partnership with Save The Children and Hello Tomorrow, the competition celebrates the power of AI-based technologies and blockchain for global resilience.

The “Grand Marathon Finalists pitching and award” session will host the final pitch between the two top teams – GEOMATYS and Plastic-i – who will receive € 50.000 each and compete for the € 150.000 first prize.

Join Φ-lab at LPS25 and take the opportunity to connect, explore new possibilities, and be part of the conversation driving the next wave of Earth Observation innovation.

To know more: Living Planet Symposium, ESA Φ-lab, TerraMind, FM4CS, PhilEO, EVE, InCubed, QUEST, Φsat-2

Photo courtesy of ESA

Join ‘Call for Φdeas’ and make your transformative mark in Earth Observation

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‘Call for Φdeas’ is a call for ideas sponsored by ESA Φ-lab to stimulate transformative innovation in the Earth observation sector. This call encourages the submission of groundbreaking ideas that can make an impact in scientific fields like Earth Science, green-tech, climate-tech, and sustainability, institutions, NGOs or in the commercial sector. Selected ideas can receive up to € 1.000.000 in funding and the deadline for submissions is 31 August 2025.

In a rapidly evolving world, Earth observation (EO) plays a vital role in understanding and addressing global and local challenges. To keep pace with emerging needs and technological advancements, it is essential to look for fresh perspectives and novel approaches. Funding calls such as ESA Φ-lab’s ‘Call for Φdeas’ create valuable opportunities to explore untapped potential for transformative innovation in the Earth Observation domain.

‘Call for Φdeas’ is open to research and academic institutions, NGOs, commercial entities (start-ups, SMEs and LSIs), international collaborators, among others, to propose ambitious, forward-thinking initiatives that will have an impact in scientific fieldslike Earth Science, green-tech, climate-tech, and sustainability, institutions, NGOs or in the commercial sector.

The main targets for this call are ideas with transformative potential, not incremental innovation. Selected ideas are expected to deliver significant technology progress and/or impact the reference sector/market/system by a different use of current technologies.

Selected ideas can be used to populate future ESA Φ-lab workplans or as input for other ESA programmes (e.g., FutureEO, InCubed). ‘Call for Φdeas’ offers a maximum funding of € 1.000.000 per idea and co-funding is encouraged. For more information, please refer to ‘Evaluation Criteria’ in the dedicated Call for Φdeas channel on the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP).

Ideas should fall into three categories: ‘Exploratory Ideas’ (to investigate novel, unconventional or unproven EO-related concepts, including technologies, mission studies or EO applications), ‘Capacity Building’ (to build the competences, techniques, or ecosystems needed to mature promising disruptive EO ideas), and ‘Innovation Impact’ (to translate a mature idea into a transformative solution ready for adoption for an identified use case).

This is a recurrent call and accepts new submissions twice a year. For 2025, a single round of submissions is foreseen, and the submission phase deadline is 31 August 2025 COB.

By encouraging diversity of ideas, ‘Call for Φdeas’ helps ensure that the Earth observation sector remains dynamic, relevant, and responsive to the complex realities of our planet.

To know more: ‘Call for Φdeas’ OSIP, ESA Φ-lab

Photo courtesy of ESA

Emerging European thermal imaging firm enjoys global success

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OroraTech, a leading supplier of thermal sensing data and predictive wildfire solutions, has been subcontracted by Spire Global to develop a Canadian wildfire monitoring service as part of a major government contract. 

Spire Global, a space-based data, analytics and space services provider, is leading the project, with OroraTech – which has worked closely with ESA in recent years to hone its capabilities – preparing the constellation’s instrumentation. This marks an important milestone in the growth of the emerging Germany-based company. 

This achievement demonstrates the shared objective of ESA and the European Commission to empower growing European data providers to scale their operations and achieve commercial success in the global Earth observation marketplace. 

Read the full article on www.rapidresponse.copernicus.eu.

Norwegian EO industry lifts off with new ESA InCubed national call

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Norway-based companies of any size are invited to participate in the latest InCubed call by submitting proposals for the development of groundbreaking and commercially promising products in the Earth Observation (EO) field. The call opens on 15 April and the deadline for submissions is 27 May 2025 at 14:00 CET.

ESA InCubed is an Earth Observation commercialisation programme managed by ESA Φ-lab that aims to boost entrepreneur initiatives in the Earth Observation (EO) sector, supported by its signatory Participating States. With a focus on leveraging the benefits of EO data and services, InCubed provides co-funding for the development of any elements of the EO value chain, namely full satellites and constellations, platforms, payloads and instruments, ground segment-based systems, and downstream applications and value-added services. 

Depending on the type of activity, companies can apply for co-funding support and will be guided by ESA top-tier experts to create sound products/services from a technical, commercial, and financial standpoint, with ESA acting as the de-risking partner.

In collaboration with the Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA), the upcoming Norway national call will open on 15 April 2025 and has a budget of €2.1 million. Proposals should be focused in developing innovative and commercially successful EO products and services.

Norwegian companies with innovative ideas leveraging EO data or developing relevant EO technologies may apply. Universities and research institutes with no commercial interest in the project may be funded up to 100% of their costs if those do not surpass 30% of the total activity funding. Business ideas currently being funded by other ESA/NOSA programmes are not eligible for this call, unless for complementary tasks.

Interested Norwegian companies should submit an idea pitch on the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP), which will be ranked based on defined criteria, including the understanding of InCubed’s objectives; quality and completeness of the business and technical proposals; adequacy of the management approach, planning and co-funding; and level of experience. Qualifying pitches will be invited to submit a full proposal to ESA. Successful applicants will be contacted directly by ESA to discuss further contract negotiations. The first evaluation cycle will be in June 2025.

Interested companies can find out more about this call during the InCubed meeting at NOSA, in Oslo, on 7 April, and enrol via the NOSA dedicated link. The call opens on 15 April 2025 and the closing date for submissions is 27 May 2025 at 14:00 CET.

To know more: ESA InCubed, Norwegian Space Agency

Photo courtesy of ESA

The 2nd ESA CommEO retrospectives: Setting the Course for Europe’s Space Future at CM25

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As the upcoming ESA Council at the Ministerial Level draws near, relive ESA’s strategy to advance Europe’s leadership in the global commercial Earth Observation market, discussed during the 2nd ESA Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum.

The 2nd ESA Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum (ESA CommEO) brought together investors, institutions, entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes from the Earth Observation (EO) sector. This event offered the perfect opportunity to discuss the strategic priorities for the upcoming ESA Ministerial Council (CM25).

As CM25 approaches, ESA reiterated its ambitious strategy for the coming years, focusing on strengthening collaborations with the European Union to ensure alignment in space initiatives, and reinforcing science ambitions, particularly in Earth science, to address critical global challenges. ESA underscored its role in supporting policy development, enabling informed decision-making across sectors, and is committed to advancing resilience, safety and security activities to safeguard the sustainability of space operations and protect vital infrastructure on Earth and in orbit. 

As demonstrated by the 2nd EO Commercialisation Forum, one of the main pillars in ESA’s strategy is to boost commercialisation, positioning Europe as a global hub for space entrepreneurship and investment. In fact, some of ESA’s Earth Observation flagship programmes – such as Digital Twin Earth, ESA InCubed and FutureEO – were extensively discussed during the forum.

The ESA Digital Twin Earth (DTE) proposal for CM25 aims to reduce barriers for accessing and using EO data while integrating the novel capabilities of ESA Member States into the DTE development lifecycle. Built collaboratively with the community, it leverages state-of-the-art technology and industrial excellence to drive environmental sustainability, establish best practices and measure impacts through broad participant collaboration. The programme seeks to explore cutting edge technologies such as quantum computing and AI, while advancing a geographically distributed framework for collaborative DTE component development and local reuse.

The ESA InCubed programme, an Earth Observation Programme managed by ESA Φ-lab, has established itself as a fast and effective mechanism for supporting innovation in EO, funding 140 activities. The ESA InCubed programme has promoted several successful national calls – in countries like the UK, Spain and Portugal – engaging a broader range of stakeholders and aligning projects with regional priorities.

InCubed has been a catalyst for venture capital investments in New Space start-ups, amplifying its impact beyond initial funding. This programme has not only driven growth in the Earth Observation sector but also enhanced its credibility with industry stakeholders, solidifying its position as a key player in the European commercial space ecosystem.

FutureEO, a world-leading R&D programme for the preparation, development, management and use of ambitious EO research missions and data also set its strategic commercial objectives for 2026-2028: to strengthen industrial competitiveness, address critical technology developments and Earth Action, and to reinforce ESA’s role as enabler and customer.

As a first buyer or initial anchor customer, the ESA Third Party Mission (TPM) programme enables New Space EO data to be opened to the broader European scientific community for innovative research and pre-operational application developments, including green commercialisation and Earth Action. More than 17.700 research application development and incubation projects have used TPM data since 2008, highlighting the programme’s role in supporting EO data commercialisation.

EO data buy is a powerful way to support the European EO industry. Through data buy, ESA assesses the quality of commercial EO data, allowing for capacity building, enhanced recognition, trust amongst data customers and investors, and stimulation the synergy between commercial and public EO missions.

The insights gained from this forum will shape ESA’s strategy for CM25, paving the way for Europe to strengthen its position and thrive in the highly competitive global EO sector.

See the full “ESA CommEO Approach Towards CM25” session here.

To know more: ESA CommEO, ESA Φ-lab, ESA InCubed, ESA Third Party Missions, Digital Twin Earth, FutureEO

Photo courtesy of Marc Jacquemin Photography

InCubed launches highlight ESA’s support for innovation

Posted on by mavelar

Three InCubed satellites have launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, highlighting ESA’s role as partner to industry and its support for business and technology innovation.

InCubed, the ESA Earth observation programme for ‘Investing in Industrial Innovation’ managed by ɸ-lab, focuses on developing innovative and commercially viable products and services that generate or exploit the value of Earth observation imagery and datasets.

The launch took place on 14 January on a SpaceX Falcon 9, Transporter 12, which placed multiple small and nano satellites into Sun-synchronous orbits.

With the launch site approximately 200 km to the North-West of the wildfires that have caused huge damage to northern areas of Los Angeles in the past week, it’s apt that one of the InCubed satellites offers improved detection for wildfires.

Read the full article on www.esa.int.