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Category: Philab

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

Posted on by mavelar

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.

RUDEO: paving the way for a sustainable future with Earth Observation and Blockchain

Posted on by mavelar

The RUDEO Hackathon, funded by ESA Φ-lab and implemented by GMV, took place between 24-25 October 2024, in a hybrid format. Participants were encouraged to propose solutions, leveraging Blockchain and Earth Observation (EO) technologies, in domains such as Climate Action and Resilience, Sustainable Supply Chains and Resource Management, and Risk Assessment and Insurance.

Earth Observation (EO) technologies have become indispensable to address global challenges such as climate change, disaster management and sustainable development. From environmental monitoring and biodiversity conservation to resource management and risk assessment, EO technologies have become a crucial tool for shaping the future. Despite their economic value, EO technologies still have some limitations in their operational efficiency, that could be addressed by emerging technologies like Blockchain.

Why should we integrate Blockchain with EO technologies? Besides its role in Environmental, Social and Governance initiatives, Blockchain can improve data provenance and immutability, ensuring the authenticity and traceability of EO datasets. The tamper-proof nature of Blockchain allows for a secure and verifiable record of data collection and processing, which is essential for applications that require high levels of trust, such as environmental monitoring and disaster response.

In that sense, the RUDEO Project surged as a way to evaluate and demonstrate the potential added value of Blockchain technology within the EO field, in different real-world applications: Climate Action and Resilience, Sustainable Supply Chains and Resource Management, and Risk Assessment and Insurance.The project also included an open-idea challenge, where participants could develop their solutions by using EO and Blockchain in the following areas of focus: sustainability, supply chain transparency, environmental monitoring, humanitarian aid, or urban planning.

This hackathon was organised and implemented by GMV and funded by ESA Φ-lab. Participants received technical and commercial support from ESA Φ-lab Explore and Invest Offices, Romanian Space Agency, research centres, universities and industry.

The winner of the hackathon was CO2 Angels. Within the ‘Sustainable Supply Chains and Resource Management’ theme, the team proposed an app to monitor and manage agricultural emissions using satellite data and blockchain, aimed at improving sustainability in supply chains. CO2 Angels will receive further mentoring support from ESA to scale-up its business ventures.

Of note, BioPolis, a high-school student team, suggested a platform combining EO data and user inputs to provide real-time environmental insights, incentivising eco-friendly actions through blockchain rewards, within the ‘Climate Action and Resilience’ theme.

Read more about RUDEO and its specific activities here. 

To know more: RUDEO Project, ESA Φ-lab

Photo courtesy of Pexels/Julia M. Cameron

Next ESA InCubed Portugal National Call focusing on ‘Earth Observation for Municipalities’

Posted on by mavelar

Supported by the ESA InCubed programme, the Portuguese Space Agency has announced a call for innovative projects to modernise Portuguese cities through the use of Earth Observation (EO) technologies. This InCubed call has a total budget of €1.5 million. The deadlines for the first and second cycle of applications are 12 March and 2 June 2025, respectively.

The ESA InCubed programme plays an important role in growth and competitiveness within the space economies of its Participating States by supporting the development of commercially successful business ventures in the Earth Observation sector. As a longstanding participant in InCubed, Portugal has reaffirmed its commitment by announcing a new call for applications seeking InCubed co-funding.

Building on the ‘EO for Municipalities’ initiative by the Portuguese Space Agency, this new call promotes innovation and the adoption or generation of EO data and services at the local government level, targeting participation from the Portuguese industry.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to, territory and urban planning; climate adaptation and mitigation in urban and rural context; air quality and pollution monitoring; biodiversity monitoring and preservation; forestry management and fire preparedness; natural hazards monitoring and emergency management. The budget for this call is €1.5 million, with no upper limit for individual projects.

Submitted proposals must demonstrate that the proposed product or service will be commercially viable or (pre)operationally ready by the conclusion of the InCubed activity, and they should align with the technical specifications for systems integration outlined by the Agency for Administrative Modernisation, I.P. (AMA), under the framework of the National Strategy for Intelligent Territories (ENTI).

Proposals can be submitted at any time, with two evaluation cycles per year. The first evaluation cycle is scheduled for March 2025 and the second one for June 2025. Two online webinars to explain InCubed opportunities in Portugal will take place on 3 March 2025 and 5 May 2025.

“Launching targeted national calls allows us to collaborate closely with our Participating States to drive Earth Observation innovation within individual countries, and the ‘EO for Municipalities’ initiative from Portugal highlights the strong dedication to support commercial initiatives”, commented Michele Castorina, InCubed Programme Manager and Head of the ESA Φ-lab Invest Office. “We are committed to working closely with our Participating States to expand financing opportunities for Europe’s EO sector, and we look forward to receiving innovative proposals from Portuguese companies.”

Further details can be found on the Portuguese Space Agency website. Applicants should summit their proposals on the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) by 2 June 2025.

To know more: ESA InCubed, Portuguese Space Agency

Photo courtesy of Pexels/Diogo Miranda

Revealing urban secrets with the #MapYourCity Challenge

Posted on by mavelar

The #MapYourCity challenge is an initiative supported by ESA Φ-lab in the framework of the AI4EO challenges. The 2024 edition took place from 02 April to 14 July, bringing together researchers and coders, and driving a positive change through the use of artificial intelligence technology (AI) and Earth observation (EO) data for automated building age detection. 

Every building has a story. From its requirements to characteristics such as architectural style, construction techniques and design philosophies, knowing the condition of a building is essential to maintain its structural integrity and safety. In particular, the age of a building is a very important variable to consider during renovations or preservation efforts. Age-related structural and safety issues may require a rapid and tailored action that prevents potential hazards and improves urban city planning policies.

As cities continue to grow, comprehensive and organised monitoring of building age becomes a very difficult task. Manual sampling and strew-view observations are often tedious and time-consuming, being compromised by ongoing construction and demolition projects that alter the urban landscape and obstruct clear views of buildings.

In that sense, the #MapYourCity Challenge emerged as a way to revolutionise the monitoring of urban environments. Supported by ESA Φ-lab, together with Novaspace, EarthPulse, Sinergise and Planetek Italia, this AI4EO challenge took place from 2 April to 14 July 2024, leveraging the use of EO data and AI automation and offering a detailed and diverse perspective on our cities, from street level to satellite view.

Participants were challenged to create their own innovative solution, by training a deep-learning model capable of accurately estimating the construction year of any given building. To achieve this, they were provided with a training dataset – a large group of data used to train AI models, so they can process information and accurately predict outcomes.

This particular dataset, curated by MindEarth, included information from urban buildings in five different countries and over a 100-year timespan, such as building footprints (from EUBUCCO), date of building construction, street-level imagery of the building façade (provided by Mapillary), medium-resolution cloud-free Sentinel-2 images, and very-high resolution (VHR) images by ESA Third Party Mission Airbus Pléiades. Ultimately, the goal was to estimate the age of a building using only top-view perspectives, so that the developed system could be applied at scale.

A total of 123 teams registered for the challenge, with 30 teams actively participating and more than 300 submissions. The winners of the challenge were announced during URBIS2024: the third place was given to Caroline Arnold, from DKRZ (Germany); Tran Hoang Ba from Axelspace (Japan) won the second prize; and the grand prize was awarded to Eric Park, Hagai Raja Snulingga and Steve Immanuel from TelePIX (South Korea). The winners were rewarded with a cumulative prize of € 5000.

Estimating the age of a building is, without a doubt, a task improved by the outcome of this challenge. Nevertheless, the type of approach developed during the competition can also be applied to other important characteristics in a building: the BEE-AI project, funded by ESA and developed by MindEarth, “aims to enrich existing energy certification processes by offering a comprehensive view of urban energy efficiency at the level of individual buildings.”

“Being part of the #MapYourCity Challenge was an exciting journey for MindEarth. Curating the datasets and seeing how participants used them to create innovative AI models for predicting building age was truly inspiring and rewarding. The results showcased the synergy of technical skills tackling this key urban challenge and underscored the immense potential of combining AI and Earth Observation to address real-world issues”, says Alessandra Feliciotti, Project and Operations Manager at MindEarth.

Nicolas Longépé, Earth Observation Data Scientist at Φ-lab, comments the outcome of the initiative: “By bringing together the worlds of artificial intelligence and Earth observation, this challenge promoted not only the growth and engagement of the AI4EO community, but also provided a platform for researchers and developers to showcase their work and make a tangible impact in solving the challenges posed by increased urban growth and the lack of appropriate methods to monitor the conditions of buildings in an optimal way.”

Know more about #MapYourCity and other Φ-lab-supported challenges at www.ai4eo.eu.

To know more: ESA Φ-lab, MindEarth, AI4EO Challenges

Photo courtesy of Unsplash/Mohit Kumar

ESA Φ-lab and Altair join forces to drive innovation in Earth observation

Posted on by mavelar

ESA has signed a letter of intent with Altair to encourage the development of Earth observation (EO) commercial products and services. The collaboration will target companies supported by ESA Φ-lab, the InCubed EO commercialisation programme, ESA-PhiLabNET, ESA Business Incubation Centres (ESA BICs) and ESA Technology Brokers, within the ESA Partnership Initiative for Commercialisation (EPIC) framework.

ESA Φ-lab plays a pivotal role in driving innovation and commercialisation in the European EO sector, by providing technical, commercial and financial support to a large group of enterprises through the ESA InCubed programme and other numerous research initiatives. Its contributions go beyond funding and guidance, extending to the formation of strategic partnerships that offer essential business and commercialisation services.

One of such partnerships, established through the ESA Partnership Initiative for Commercialisation (EPIC), was secured with the German division of Altair, which provides software and cloud solutions in simulation, high-performance computing (HPC), data analytics, and AI, and has decades of global experience and reach in the space and newspace sector. Altair is used by primary companies and emerging startups to develop, test, optimise, and build their innovative products, including satellites, launchers, sensors and antennas, probes and rovers.

The partnership between Φ-lab and Altair, within the ESA-Altair Space Acceleration Programme, is focused on the development of a dynamic and thriving EO commercial ecosystem, by making use of digital engineering, AI and data analytics tools, and increasing awareness of EO-based services.

“This collaboration with Altair marks a significant milestone in our mission to push the boundaries of Earth observation exploration and technological development”, comments Giuseppe Borghi, Head of the Φ-lab division. “Together, we aim to leverage the use of HPC and data analytics for the advancement of groundbreaking projects, creating new possibilities within the space research field and enhancing Europe’s position as a leader in Earth observation innovation.”

Further details about this partnership and the two offers for start-ups and large companies provided within the Φ-lab-Altair partnership can be found here.

To know more: Φ-lab, InCubed, ESA BIC, ESA Technology Broker, Altair

Photo courtesy of Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk

MAPTCHA – a platform where citizen science meets Earth observation for fast emergency responses

Posted on by mavelar

Every second counts when disaster strikes. Whether it is a wildfire or an earthquake, extracting crucial information from satellite data in a fast way is paramount for an effective emergency response. Supported by ESA Φ-lab, the MAPTCHA project will revolutionise the way first responders make informed decisions and potentially save lives during natural catastrophes.

Imagine you are about to sign up for a new service or make a purchase online, and suddenly you face the following challenge – “Select all the images with traffic lights”. Sounds familiar, correct? This is Human CAPTCHA (hCAPTCHA – Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), a digital gatekeeper designed to distinguish human users from automated bots.

Now, consider the following scenario: you are looking at a satellite-derived image and you see a fire starting to develop. What if there was a quick way to flag this occurrence, enabling fast responses and informed decisions from emergency teams? This is exactly what MAPTCHA, a citizen science-based project, is trying to accomplish. MAPTCHA – just like “CAPTCHA”, but for “Maps” – is being developed by Osir.io and RSS-Hydro, in collaboration with ESA Φ-lab.

So, let’s take a look at the general MAPTCHA system: it starts by screening natural disaster events from various Internet sources and then collect relevant information such as the area of interest (i.e., the region affected), date of the event and event type (e.g., wildfire) and progression.

Next, the system identifies and retrieves new Sentinel-2 data that are associated with the detected events. These data are pre-processed to convert the multispectral data into false-colour composition that can be better interpretable by the human eyes, tiled in small patches, and then distributed to ‘Human Platform’. This service provided by Intuition Machines allows hCAPTCHA-based annotations, accessible to the entire global population with Internet access. The annotations provided by ‘Human Platform’ are stored and can then be visualised through a mapping tool that enables interactive map exploration.

Annotations are a crucial part of the system. In machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), image annotation is the process of labelling images to train AI and ML models. This practice often involves human annotators that assign relevant classes to different entities in an image. For instance, a person can be asked to identify vehicles in a set of images – just like in an hCAPTCHA test. The resulting data from that identification (or annotation) can help train AI/ML models that can recognise and detect vehicles and discriminate them from pedestrians, traffic lights, or potential obstacles on the road to navigate safely.

By taking advantage of the massive volume of crowd-sourced image annotations, MAPTCHA seeks to significantly speed up the process of gathering information on damaged areas, resource allocation and displaced populations, empowering first responders and allowing informed decision making.

Its value goes beyond emergency situations: the massive volume of annotations generated by the platform will serve as a rich training dataset for ML models. This can significantly improve the capabilities of AI-powered Earth Observation applications, leading to advancements in fields such as environmental monitoring, resource management and climate change analysis.

In a collaboration with NASA for the FireCapture project, MAPTCHA is focused, for now, on early fire detection. Several Copernicus Emergency Management Service wildfire events in Bolivia, Spain, Chile and Mexico were used as study cases.

For the events in Chile, for instance, preliminary tests showed that around 60 annotations per minute were being collected, up to a total of 73 000 annotations. These tests showed that automated bots have difficulties accessing and interpreting Sentinel-2 imaging after the pre-processing step, as compared with what happens when a bot tries to identify traffic lights, demonstrating the reliability and added value of MAPTCHA.

“MAPTCHA can do both: adapt rapidly and process very large amounts of Earth Observation data to provide actionable insights for first responders,” says Ron Hagensieker, Founder of Osir.io. “Essentially, this project represents a significant leap forward in Earth Observation, offering a powerful tool not only for crisis response, but also to proactively safeguard our planet for the future generations.”

Guy Schumann, Founder and CEO of RSS-Hydro also states that “Rapid and accurate data extraction from satellite imagery is crucial during catastrophes such as wildfires, floods or earthquakes. By harnessing the collective intelligence of a vast network of users, MAPTCHA demonstrated how online antibot technology can boost Earth Observation data uptake, with huge potential to optimise disaster response.”

“The MAPTCHA initiative paves the way for a future where citizen science and AI converge to unlock the full potential of Earth Observation data”, comments Nicolas Longépé, Earth Observation Data Scientist at Φ-lab. “By facilitating the access to image annotation and continuously improving AI models, we gain a deeper understanding of our planet, developing sustainable solutions for the challenges we currently face”.

To know more: ESA Φ-lab, Osir.io, RSS-Hydro

Photo courtesy of Unsplash/Nejc Soklic

EO MakerSpace: crafting the future of smarter Earth observation systems

Posted on by mavelar

The Earth observation (EO) domain is undergoing a disruptive transformation featuring onboard intelligence and innovative sensing capabilities. With the support of InCubed, ESA EOP co-funding programme led by Φ-lab, IngeniArs is implementing EO MakerSpace – an initiative dedicated to AI on edge for the development of EO smart sensors.

The space sector is currently experiencing a technological and business evolution driven by increased demand and specialised advancements, such as onboard intelligence. Through the use of advanced AI techniques to process information directly on spacecraft, onboard intelligence promises to deliver more efficient, agile, autonomous, and reconfigurable Earth observation (EO) systems. ESA Φ-lab has a track record of developments in this area, as depicted below.

Timeline of Φ-lab-powered satellites and constellations

The latest research efforts have been committed to exploring the use of AI on edge for EO applications, such as the early detection of natural disasters, vessel incidents, and gas leaks. Onboard intelligence is also capable of identifying low-quality data, like cloud-covered satellite data and remote sensing images with limited information of interest, discarding them to save downlink data bandwidth to the ground station.

Leveraging the full capabilities of AI on edge in EO systems needs the development or enhancement of both space-related software and hardware. These improvements are essential for seamless integration with innovative sensors, as well as for preprocessing, calibrating, and correcting sensory data to guarantee the accurate performance of AI algorithms. To cope with the limited power and energy budget in space, it is essential for hardware and software design to work in tandem to maximise energy efficiency.

To achieve these goals and with a focus on the Italian ecosystem, ESA InCubed is partnering up with IngeniArs, a company specialised in the development of innovative high-tech electronic and informatics systems, in the aerospace, healthcare, cybersecurity and AI domains. IngeniArs has been developing GPU@SAT, a hardware/software ecosystem for space systems dedicated to AI and Computer Vision applications.

This contract is focused on the rapid and responsive prototyping of core elements of smart EO payloads within the GPU@SAT ecosystem, based on joint software and hardware developments. IngeniArs will coordinate the elements of individual (sub-)activities, while ESA InCubed will oversee and expedite the approval process. IngeniArs will be responsible for managing each (sub-)activity development with suitable entities.

Italian individuals, start-ups, SMEs, LSIs, university spin-offs and any innovative entities are welcome to apply and participate in the development of EO payloads.

Activities can be developed within the following domains: algorithm optimisation and software abstraction, sensor selection and integration, onboard data compression, smart sensor management and AI-based autonomous navigation. To facilitate the development of these activities, the GPU@SAT ecosystem will be implemented on a representative device, creating a dedicated development kit – the GPU@SAT devkit. To know more about these activities and to apply, visit the dedicated IngeniArs project webpage.

Giuseppe Gentile, CEO of IngeniArs, comments: “At IngeniArs we are very proud of leading this project. It will be a very important moment to gather the Italian ecosystem around the hot topic of ‘enabling Artificial Intelligence on-board’. We will make our GPU@SAT platform available for the development of applications and modules within a fully representative space environment, and we are very excited to see the results.”

This initiative will offer the EO ecosystem a report with the overall findings, including improved mechanisms to spur innovation and possible demonstrations or pilots, followed by a technological roadmap with the remaining open questions and technical gaps.

“The integration of AI algorithms with specialised hardware and software co-design can accelerate the future of Earth observation missions, leading to substantial reductions in time, costs, and the need for human resources while improving performances, latency time, and missions’ autonomy” comments Michele Castorina, Head of the Φ-lab Invest Office. “This collaboration with IngeniArs aligns with the InCubed mission to foster innovative technologies in the space industry, improving the efficiency and agility of autonomous EO systems through cutting-edge AI techniques.”

To know more: ESA InCubed, IngeniArs

Photo courtesy of Pexels/SpaceX

Catalysing new space ventures with ESA’s Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum

Posted on by mavelar

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.

Read the full article on www.esa.int.

Unlocking Earth Observation commercial opportunities in Spain: new ESA InCubed funding cycle

Posted on by mavelar

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 the closing date for submissions is 28 October 2024 at 14:00 CET.

To know more: ESA InCubed, Spanish Space Agency, InCubed Spanish Call event by AEE

Photo courtesy of ESA