Boosting commercial Earth observation
One of the objectives of the Living Planet Symposium, taking place this week in Bonn, is to foster interaction between the institutional and commercial sectors to boost the Earth observation space economy. This is being achieved by highlighting existing partnerships, expanding the number of data users and facilitating access to private funds for companies.
With numerous contributions from industry, investors and ESA’s Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement and Earth Observation Programme directorates, the symposium has brought the business side of observing our planet to the fore. Several sessions featured the ESA InCubed programme, which helps start-ups, mid-cap and large Earth observation players bring their innovative ideas to market through commercial, technical support and investment advice.
Investing in tomorrow’s Earth observation
Also drawing on the boosting commercialisation priority of ESA’s Agenda 2025, the current edition of the Living Planet Symposium is strongly focused on how emerging technologies are revolutionising the use of Earth observation and how our planet’s climate and environment together with the economy can benefit from these dramatic changes.
“These themes are central to the mission of ESA Φ-lab, a unique innovation laboratory that aims to accelerate the future of Earth observation. Φ-lab helps entrepreneurs and talented innovators in all stages of product/service generation, including discovering and nurturing ideas based on disruptive innovation, and supporting the development of products by providing financial and technical support up to revenue generation,” said Giuseppe Borghi, Head of Φ-lab.
InCubed handles the investment side of Φ-lab, as Programme Manager Michele Castorina explains, “InCubed stands for ‘Investing in Industrial Innovation’ and is essentially a co-funding initiative. We look to invest in innovative, commercially successful products and services that build on the enormous value to be gained from Earth observation images and data.”
As some of its recent activities show, InCubed has a particularly broad scope and can provide co-funding for areas such as satellites, end-user applications or even new business models.
InCubed at the Living Planet Symposium
Φ-lab has had a strong presence at the symposium. While researchers presented results and chaired science sessions, Φ-lab business innovation experts shone a light on the activities of InCubed.
An Agora session on Tuesday afternoon gathered InCubed staff, investors and companies that have already benefited from the programme’s support. “Attending this session has been a great opportunity to both share my perspective on the investment marketplace and learn about some of the inspiring development work that is going on in commercial Earth observation,” said Wojciech Walniczek of OTB Ventures.
“The European space sector has a clear need for seedbeds that bring together entrepreneurs and funding sources, and the InCubed programme is a shining example of how providing such a stimulus can turn promising ideas into successful New Space businesses.”
A further session this morning delved into the detail of upstream missions co-funded by InCubed, with presentations on activities such as the Aerospacelab MultiSpectral Companion Mission and OroraTech’s Wildfire Detection nanosatellites.
Applying for InCubed support
The Living Planet Symposium is by no means the only opportunity for entrepreneurs to reach out to InCubed. Pitches for innovative ideas in Earth observation are always welcome, and applicants are encouraged to contact the team through the InCubed website.
