Taking place at KAP Europa in Frankfurt, Germany, from 27 to 28 November 2024, the second ESA Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum will bring together stakeholders from the Earth observation and space commercialisation sectors, including end users, space industry players, entrepreneurs, private and public investors and policymakers to discuss and promote commercial opportunities in Earth observation.
The event is an important part of ESA’s broader strategy to enhance the economic return from Earth observation investments to ensure that space technology contributes to sustainable economic growth.
The ESA Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum (ESA CommEO) is a collaborative initiative by ESA’s Earth Observation Programme along with the Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness directorate to foster the commercialisation of Earth observation space technologies and services.
To support the growth of space-related businesses and startups, ESA CommEO features dedicated events, workshops and networking opportunities to connect different stakeholders, providing information and insights on market trends, showcasing success stories and innovative solutions and offering platforms for pitching ideas and business plans to potential investors.
Spain-based companies of any size are invited to participate in the latest Φ-lab InCubed co-funding call, by submitting proposals for the development of groundbreaking and commercially successful products in the Earth observation (EO) field. The call opens on 15 September and the deadline for submissions is 28 October 2024 at 14:00 CET.
InCubed is an ESA co-funding partnership programme run by ESA Φ-lab that aims to fill the gap between business ideas and the Earth observation market, with the support of its signatory Participating States. Focusing 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.
Entities can apply for different levels of co-funding, depending on the type of activity, and will be guided by ESA top-tier experts to create sound products/services from a technical, commercial, and financial standpoint. In this partnership, ESA will act as the partner of the proposing company, with the aim to reduce its development and business risks.
In collaboration with the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), this latest call will open on 15 September 2024 and has a budget of €11 million, of which up to 30% can be allocated to de-risking activities (see its definition here). Proposals should be focused in developing EO innovative and commercially successful products and services. Proposals for Contract Change Notices for ongoing InCubed contracts may be submitted as well and will follow the same evaluation criteria of the new proposals.
Proposals may include non-Spanish suppliers, as long as they are essential for the success of the project. The goal is to demonstrate a strong economical return to the Spanish space sector, including both the lead applicant and their partners and supply chains. Proposed activities may be funded up to 50% of the total cost in the Product Development Cycle, and up to 75% in the De-risking Cycle. 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. Ideas currently being funded by other ESA/AEE programmes are not eligible for this call.
Differing from previous standard procedures, this specific call will not require pitch presentations from applicants. Spanish companies must submit directly an Outline Proposal (Part 1) on the dedicated InCubed platform, which will be ranked based on defined criteria. Those who score above the cut-off point will be invited to submit a full proposal to ESA, together with the letter of support from AEE, which they must do within 4 to 6 weeks after the invitation. Successful applicants identified by the Tender Evaluation Board will be contacted directly by ESA to discuss further contract negotiations.
Interested entities can find out more about this call during the AEE event in Madrid, on 3 September, and enrol via the AEE dedicated link. The call opens on 15 September and theclosing date for submissions is 28 October 2024 at 14:00 CET.
InCubed, a co-funding programme managed by ESA Φ-lab, is supporting agriKOPA – a platform that provides financial services and real-time crop monitoring, being an easy and convenient tool for end users during the agricultural season. This platform is led by agriBORA, a Kenyan-German agri-fin-tech company that aspires to empower small farming businesses in Africa.
ESA InCubed, an ESA EOP co-funding programme managed by Φ-lab, has a proven reputation for establishing contracts to develop pioneering technologies, services, and applications within the Earth observation (EO) domain. Φ-lab and the World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator set up the EO & AI for SDGs Innovation Initiative in 2021 to find commercially viable EO and AI-based solutions to counteract global hunger issues. As a result of the selection process, agriBORA, a Kenyan-German agri-fin-tech company that strives to transform the agricultural business model in African countries, received a grant to demonstrate a proof of concept within the initiative’s theme. AgriBORA further matured its solutions and was then selected for a contract in the context of an InCubed funding call.
Agriculture is a key point for food security in Kenya, and it also provides a source of income. Climate change endangers crop development, which puts the farmers’ way of living at risk. With the support of InCubed, agriBORA is developing agriKOPA, an initiative that relies on the use of data analytics powered by EO satellite data, enabling local agri-merchants to work with agriHUBs – providers that offer climate-smart advisory services, linking financial services, input suppliers, farmers, and the market. The novelty in the use of EO data by agriKOPA is the creation of a score for each farmer, enabling Financial Service Providers (FSPs) to lend credit with more confidence. The loans will then allow farmers to purchase the inputs needed for production.
Albin Lacroix, a Φ-lab InCubed officer, shared his thoughts on the latest mission in Kenya, from 10 to 12 June 2024. This mission included visits and meetings with different stakeholders – agriBORA, Kenya Commercial Bank, and the Kenyan Space Agency.
The mission started with a visit to the agriBORA premises, in Nairobi, focusing on one of the milestones of the project – the factory acceptance test (FAT). This represents the finalisation of the technical development of the service, and the kick-off of the pilot phase, rendering the service operational for test users. “Our meeting about FAT was particularly important for the project, as the service relies on many interactions between farmers, agriHUBs, loan providers, and agriBORA. Together with Kizito Odhiambo, Founder and CEO of agriBORA, and the Kenyan team members, we went through the intricate process pipeline of agriKOPA”, comments Albin.
The second day was spent on two different agriHUBs in Kisumu. The visits to these agriHUBs were the key point of the mission, given that there was direct contact between the InCubed programme, hub managers and farmers, who are the end users of the service. These meetings were held half in English, and half in Swahili, providing feedback on the first pilot tests conducted by agriBORA.
Albin Lacroix says “InCubed is a market-oriented programme and end users are the center of our solution design. Meeting them in person was very important. It was incredibly interesting to hear their daily concerns and the advantages they get from agriKOPA. The added value is immense, from getting good quality material inputs on time to ensuring loans and insurance in the case of bad crop years. The EO aspect is not directly visible to the farmers, but it is crucial for the estimation of the score provided by agriBORA to FSPs, allowing them to trust the smallholder they will lend credit to.” The next step will be the successful conduction of the pilot phase, followed by scaling up.
Albin Lacroix visits two agriHUBs in Kisumu
The third and final day of the mission began with a visit to the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) premises in Nairobi, and a meeting with a KCB representative. KCB is an FSP for agriBORA. After receiving requests for loans, agriBORA does a first round of scanning and filtering of applicants. KCB does a second round of scanning before releasing the loan to the farmer through the agriKOPA platform.
This was followed by a visit to the Kenya Space Agency (KSA). “The goal of the visit was for agriBORA to present their updates. KSA is very excited about this project, given that the topic of smallholder farmers is of great relevance to public authorities in Kenya. These farmers need funds to succeed in their activities and, with the support of InCubed, agriKOPA is the bridge between them and FSPs. KSA representatives also had the opportunity to get familiar with the work developed at Φ-lab and the main purpose of InCubed. Charles Mwangi, Head of the Earth Observation, Research, Education and Outreach Programmes at KSA was present in that meeting with three of his colleagues from KSA”, Albin remarks.
During this three-day mission, Albin Lacroix was accompanied by Kizito Odhiambo, Founder and CEO of agriBORA: “Unlocking access to finance through agriKOPA is a great milestone for us and aligns with our vision of making Africa the agricultural powerhouse of the world. The incredible support from ESA through InCubed and the strong partnerships with local financial service providers have been instrumental in the development phase, helping to de-risk the entire process. We are very excited to start the validation phase during the upcoming short rain season in August.”
Michele Castorina, Head of the Φ-lab Invest Office, comments: “this collaboration between InCubed and agriBORA has accelerated innovation in the EO, agriculture-related domain, providing agriBORA with cutting-edge satellite technology and expertise. Together, we are revolutionising farming, empowering smallholdings, and boosting productivity and sustainability. This is a leap towards a smarter, more resilient agricultural future.”
ESA and the UK Space Agency are pleased to announce a new joint funding call ‘InCubed2 – Innovation in Public Services with Satellite Earth Observation’ for all UK-based entities developing innovative and commercially viable Earth observation projects. The deadline for pitch proposal submissions is 12 September 2024.
InCubed is a co-funded programme run by ESA’s Φ-lab Invest Office, focusing on initiatives that exploit or enhance the value of Earth observation imaging and data. With the support of its participating Member States, InCubed funds a wide scope of activities, ranging from satellites to ground and downstream applications.
Successful applications receive personalised guidance from world-class experts to develop technical, commercial and financially viable products. Currently, 140 activities are in the pipeline and about 10 satellites are under development. One of these projects was launched in 2023 and three others are planned for launch in 2024.
In collaboration with the UK Space Agency (UKSA), the latest funding cycle will be open exclusively to the UK industry. Following the success of last year’s call, this round will be dedicated to activities with the underlying theme of ‘Innovation in public sectors use of Earth observation data’.
Following last year’s calls for proposals in the United Kingdom and Spain, seven new InCubed activities have now commenced. Addressing needs over the full range of the Earth observation value chain, the activities demonstrate how customer-oriented Earth observation solutions provide technological advances and tangible societal benefits.
With its co-funding of market-oriented development activities, the ESA InCubed programme is a key enabler for the financing of ventures that improve European competitiveness in Earth observation (EO). In cooperation with its participating Member States, InCubed periodically issues national calls in order to boost EO innovation and investment in specific countries.
InCubed national calls were launched in Spain and the UK last year. Both were met with an enthusiastic response, and InCubed then initiated a comprehensive evaluation process in conjunction with the space agencies of each country. The result so far is that five Spanish and two British companies have been awarded InCubed co-funding for new activities.
These activities cover both upstream and downstream applications, from instruments, data transmission and onboard software in the space segment to data processing and even an entire satellite mission. They respond to significant technical challenges, such as achieving timely intelligence extraction from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, the need for higher resolution sensing in Thermal Infrared (TIR) cameras and the difficulty of reducing aerosol interference in methane detection.
Commercial EO España-style
The new activities from Spain encompass important developments in satellite technology. SATLANTIS’s TALISMAN is a 16U cubesat mission carrying a short-wave infrared (SWIR) optical instrument coupled with a liquid crystal polarimeter. The combination is designed to enable point-source methane detection – a vital activity for climate change mitigation – while minimising the impact of aerosol scattering. EODDL-LYNX from SENER builds on the company’s previous InCubed activity to integrate an active electronically steerable antenna with a payload data transmitter. The antenna will not only enhance downlink throughput and flexibility, but also provide a more compact, lightweight solution compared with mechanically steered variants.
Madrid-based Crisa will develop the power conditioning module of its NICE instrument control unit for satellites. The power conditioning module will complete the jigsaw of NICE’s core functions, alongside the payload controller and standard discrete interface module. Deimos Space’s Insight4EO picks up on the emerging trend of edge computing onboard satellites by providing a processing and intelligence services package for LEO EO missions. The activity is aimed at facilitating realtime decision-making, increased mission autonomy and higher data throughput.
In the downstream data processing segment, ATR4PAZ from Hisdesat will tackle the thorny issue of rapidly deriving meaningful insight from SAR data. Focusing on the security and intelligence sector, ATR4PAZ will simulate objects of interest on existing SAR imagery in order to train a machine learning to detect those features.
UK-side sustainability solutions
Like its Spanish counterparts, the British contingent also includes an innovative instrument in the form of SPIRIT, an ultra-compact, high-resolution, wide-field-of-view thermal infrared camera to be developed by Supersharp. SPIRIT imagery will be used to produce heat maps with an unparalleled revisit rate to monitor the energy usage of buildings worldwide.
London company Messium will develop an application for monitoring the Nitrogen concentration in wheat crops. Based on satellite-derived hyperspectral data and custom machine learning models, the interface will complement in-situ measurements and help in the adoption of variable-rate fertiliser distribution for more efficient nutrient management and reduced nitrous oxide production.
“Launching targeted national calls enables us to work hand in hand with our Participating States to stimulate EO innovation in individual countries,” commented Michele Castorina, InCubed Programme Manager and head of the ESA Φ-lab Invest Office. “These latest Spanish and British calls have yielded groundbreaking activities that not only include contributions to the green agenda, but have also captured the direction of travel in EO technologies with such topics as edge compute, payload downsizing and high-capacity data transmission. I therefore expect these developments to make a valid contribution to Europe’s commercial space arena.”
ESA is working with European New Space company OroraTech to demonstrate how data from its temperature-sensing FOREST-2 mission will facilitate the aims of the Copernicus programme.
The Munich-based thermal intelligence specialist was one of nine firms selected as European Emerging Copernicus Contributing Missions (CCMs) in June 2023, following a recruitment drive designed to encourage – and capitalise on – New Space growth in Earth observation. In complement to the Sentinel family, this group of providers will soon supply commercial data to Copernicus to help address key environmental and societal challenges impacting European citizens.
OroraTech was first supported by incubation programmes ESA BIC Bavaria and ESA Kick-Start, and in 2022 was awarded funding from ESA InCubed for the development of its upcoming FOREST-3 CubeSat – all of which served as important stepping stones to the firm joining Copernicus.
As part of its extensive efforts to nurture innovation in Earth observation technologies and applications, ESA Φ-lab is providing its supported companies with preferential rates agreed with two leading cloud-service suppliers in collaboration with the ESA Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness Directorate. Scaleway will provide start-ups with a cloud storage and business services package, while Ellipsis Drive is offering deals on its cloud spatial-data management platform.
ESA Φ-lab is a major driving force behind innovation and commercialisation in European Earth observation, lending support to businesses of all shapes and sizes through the ESA InCubed programme and various research initiatives. Help comes not only in the form of funding and technical and commercial support, but also in the creation of purpose-driven partnerships that deliver essential business and commercialisation services. Two such arrangements, drawn up in collaboration with the ESA Partnership Initiative for Commercialisation (EPIC), have now been agreed with premier cloud-service providers Scaleway and Ellipsis Drive.
French company Scaleway supplies cloud infrastructure and services to over 25 000 customers, including more than 700 European start-ups. CEO Damien Lucas explains the nature of Scaleway’s offer within the ESA partnership agreement: “Qualifying businesses from ESA’s portfolio will be fast-tracked through the selection process of our Startup Programme. Upon acceptance, they will have access to a wide range of perks, including cloud credits to be spent on our public cloud products, dedicated expert advice and access to our global community.
“We’re very proud to play our part in helping European space-sector entrepreneurs establish their business systems and we look forward to working with the commercialisation teams in ESA on joint promotional activities.”
Ellipsis Drive provides a cloud-based B2B tool for ingesting, organising and accessing spatial data, with web-based visualisations and integrated use via a myriad of plug-ins, packages and applications. Based in the Netherlands, Ellipsis Drive has hosted data for over 400 customers to date and currently has around 2500 users managing and consuming spatial content from its platform.
“We see partnering with ESA as a clear win-win scenario, giving start-ups access to our spatial data management, visualisation and integration service on very favourable terms, while also enabling us to tap into a broader customer community in the space sector,” says Ellipsis Drive’s Rosalie van der Maas. “We’re offering up to 100GB of free storage for the first year, with substantial discounts for larger plans and subsequent periods.”
Further details on these offers and how to take advantage of them will be communicated to InCubed and other ESA Φ-lab-supported companies in the near future, and will also be distributed via the ESA BIC and ESA Technology Broker Network.
Michele Castorina is InCubed Programme Manager and head of the ESA Φ-lab Invest Office: “The fact that ESA creates partnerships for the benefit of European start-ups is testimony to the across-the-board helping hand that the Agency provides to the space industry. Cloud storage and spatial data hosting are especially relevant for commercial Earth observation, and I fully expect these services to be a significant asset to InCubed-co-funded businesses as they scale up their operations.”
“Having the right tools for their business infrastructure is a vital stepping stone to market success for early-stage enterprises,” added Joana Kamenova, Commercialisation Officer and lead for EPIC at ESA. “This type of collaboration helps to advance the growth of the European space ecosystem, and we will actively promote Scaleway’s and Ellipsis Drive’s offer packages to our networks.”
Our oceans and seas are a substantive source of economic activity, and it is within this context that ESA InCubed has released a thematic call dedicated to the globally significant maritime sector. Open until March of this year, the campaign focuses on developing innovative products and services using Earth observation for areas such as maritime security, transportation, pollution and fisheries.
As part of its remit to co-fund European commercial development across the entire Earth observation (EO) value chain, the ESA InCubed programme periodically issues thematic calls with particular focus areas. Last year saw the launch of a Cultural and Natural Heritage call, while the latest campaign is on the maritime sector.
The world’s oceans are home to a major component of the global economy, not only in terms of trade and transportation, but also energy and food production. Around 90% of international trade occurs through maritime routes, and some 50 000 merchant vessels are currently in operation across the globe. Europe’s blue economy is worth nearly €650 billion per annum, and the continent has some of the world’s largest harbours and boasts a number of major shipping companies. But our oceans are also subject to sizeable societal issues and challenges, including marine plastic pollution, climate change effects, overfishing, security issues and illegal migration.
The InCubed Maritime Call seeks to address these challenges by inviting participants to submit ideas for innovative EO solutions that will help to ensure a green and sustainable maritime sector. The call divides the sector into specific areas of interest:
Security and emergency
Finance and Insurance
Renewable Energy
Construction
Transportation
Pollution monitoring
Fisheries and acquaculture
Further details on these areas, along with the global and European maritime landscapes and how the sector can derive enormous benefits from EO services, can be found in two highly valuable new reports commissioned by ESA:
These reports give a wealth of useful information, helping applicants from both within and outside the maritime sector to submit ideas for the call under the seven areas of interest. Responses are welcome from individuals, companies and academia in InCubed participating states.
Idea pitches will be assessed based on criteria such as the level of innovation, the credibility of the business opportunity and the quality and completeness of the proposal.
Details of the call can be found on ideas.esa.int, and the closing date for entries is 29 March 2024.
The global company Spire, which specialises in using continuous global monitoring to track aircraft, ships and weather patterns using a large constellation of CubeSats, is now an ESA Third Party Mission.
As Earth’s population continues to grow, acquiring high quality data to help to predict the movement of the world’s resources is a priority. A specialist in this field, providing radio frequency datasets in near real-time, Spire Global recently announced that it has officially joined ESA’s prestigious Earthnet Third Party Mission (TPM) programme. The data portfolio that Spire provides will include GNSS-RO polarimetric data (PRO) from the ESA InCubed co-funded PROGRES activity.
MANTIS, the first satellite mission to be supported from concept to liftoff by ESA’s Earth Observation InCubed programme, has been launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. MANTIS carries a high-resolution multispectral camera coupled with a powerful AI processing unit. Intuition-1 was also launched on the same rocket and will similarly demonstrate the advantages of onboard AI capabilities, in this case in tandem with a hyperspectral imager. The satellite’s machine learning algorithms were developed under the ESA-funded Genesis project.
The two satellites lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US, at 18:49 GMT (19:49 CET, 10:49 PST) on 11 November.
