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The ESA Φ-lab Newsletter #18 | September 2025

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

Dear Φ-lab community,

As we approach the 2025 ESA Ministerial Council, the words of ESA’s Director General, Josef Aschbacher, resonate with particular urgency: “Investing in space is investing in the future of Europe through smart answers to complex cross-disciplinary questions and challenges. Investing in space is investing in people and in the science and technology required to be a global actor.” (ESA Agenda 2025)

From monitoring climate change and managing natural disasters to optimising urban planning and agriculture, the data and insights we gain from space are vital to our collective future. This is the tangible return on Earth observation investment – and the ESA 'Investing in Industrial Innovation' (InCubed) Programme is a prime example of success.

InCubed has been the launchpad for innovative European companies like OroraTech, with their wildfire detection satellite FOREST-3; constellr with their HiVE IR satellites; Open Cosmos, with the MANTIS satellite for the energy sector; or Messium, with their tool for precision crop nitrogen management. These are some of the various InCubed-funded, real-world solutions that demonstrate how space investment translates into the well-being and sustainability of our planet. By the first half of 2024, a survey on InCubed companies that completed their product/service development has highlighted that these companies have collected way above € 350 million in private investment.

Investing in Europe’s technological sovereignty fuels a diverse ecosystem of engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs, ensuring that Europe retains its top talent and can compete on the global stage. As the world becomes increasingly reliant on space-based services, a strong and independent European space sector is a strategic necessity to secure our place as a global leader.

The decisions made at the 2025 Ministerial Council (26-27 November 2025) will determine whether Europe accelerates its trajectory and how. It is a moment to reaffirm our commitment to a future built on innovation, collaboration, and a willingness to look upwards for the solutions to our most pressing challenges.

Happy readings,

The Φ-lab team

LATEST FROM THE LAB

ESA INCUBED AMBASSADOR FOR ITALY

15 July – ESA Φ-lab and ESA Scale Up launched the InCubed Ambassador activities in Italy, with STAM appointed as the national Ambassador. As the ESA InCubed Ambassador for Italy, STAM will help startups, SMEs, and innovators access the programme by providing tailored business coaching, strategic guidance, and support in shaping high-potential business cases. Φ-labbers Piera Di Vito and Sabrina Ricci presented the InCubed programme and opportunities for ventures.

AI FOR GOOD GLOBAL SUMMIT 2025

8 - 11 July – Held in Geneva, Switzerland, the AI for Good Global Summit is the United Nations’ leading platform on Artificial Intelligence to solve global challenges. Φ-labber Sabrina Ricci presented an ESA challenge on Foundation Models for Sustainable Development Goals. Valerio Marsocci, Internal Research Fellow at Φ-lab, gave a talk on “Benchmarking Geospatial Foundation Models to advance solutions for global challenges”.

Improving precision nitrogen management with Messium

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.

With a new look and the same ambition, the rebranded ‘ESA Φ-lab Challenges’ return with a fresh momentum, inspiring the Earth observation and AI communities to drive innovation through a new series of impactful competitions.

BIG DATA FROM SPACE 2025

29 September - 3 October – The Big Data from Space 2025 (BiDS) event convenes key stakeholders from industry, academia, EU institutions and governmental entities to explore the evolving landscape of space, big data and related emerging technologies. Don’t miss Φ-lab’s contribution to the joint ESA/JRC/SatCen booth, the BiDS Award with Φ-lab’s Invest Office and ESA BIC Latvia, and lectures by Gabriele Meoni and Lorenzo Papa during the Satellites Course.

29 September - 3 October – Hosted in Sydney, Australia, the event will broaden the influence and relevance of space to adjacent industries, including emergency services, health, utilities, telecommunications, resources, manufacturing, finance, construction, agriculture, and Smart Cities. It will delve into why space is critical for both businesses and our everyday lives.

7 - 9 October – Organised by the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality of the European Space Agency and taking place in Heraklion, Crete, the event will feature an innovative coverage of policy, commercialisation, and institutional perspectives, facilitating networking among all relevant stakeholders in the field and identifying promising areas of collaboration for the implementation of Quantum Technologies for space applications.

17 - 19 October – Maker Faire Rome is the stage where imagination and creativity become reality, making innovation simple. Makers, innovators, and creatives from all over the world showcase projects in electronics, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, gaming, music, art, education, and much more.

6 / 7 December – Co-organised by Φ-lab members Ruben Cartuyvels, Valerio Marsocci, and Nicolas Longépé, the Representation Learning for Earth Observation (REO) workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from machine learning, computer vision, and Earth sciences to advance the development of robust, interpretable, and scalable models for monitoring our planet. The ‘Call for Papers’ submission deadline is 15 October.

ESA Φ-lab welcomes three new Visiting Professors!

Dr. Tat-Jun Chin (left) is a Professor in the field of Computer Vision, with a solid foundation in Machine Learning, mathematical optimisation and computational geometry. He currently serves as SmartSat CRC’s Professorial Chair at the University of Adelaide (Australia), leading a research team that conducts cutting-edge research on AI for Space.

Dr. Silvia Liberata Ullo (middle) teaches courses on Telecommunications and Electronics at the University of Sannio (Italy). She is a researcher in the field of Quantum Machine Learning applied to Remote Sensing with a solid foundation in Statistics and Signal Processing.

Dr. Damian Borth (right) is the director of the Institute of Computer Science at the University of St. Gallen, where he holds a full professorship in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML). His research focuses on representation learning of neural network’s weight spaces and deep learning in domains such as computer vision or remote sensing.

We are very happy to have you with us, Tat-Jun, Silvia, and Damian!

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD

External photos and images courtesy of Unsplash/Hunter Scott, ESA, AI for Good, Messium, ESA Φ-lab Challenges, Big Data From Space 2025, 76th International Astronautical Congress, 7th Quantum Technology Conference, Maker Faire Rome 2025, EurIPS, ESA.