To apply, you must be a legal entity (a public law company / a private law company / an association, etc.) registered under the laws of Luxembourg. You must be headquartered in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and be fully compliant with Luxembourg tax and social security obligations.

The product developer may assign elements of work to the technology provider and/or a related customer. When acting in collaboration with other national or foreign entities, the applicant will be the sole contractor and will be fully responsible for managing the funding. To be eligible for contract award, the applicant must fulfil all the requirements specified in the Invitation to Apply.

ESA Spark Funding supports technical and commercial feasibility studies of a new product and/or service. They can involve a spin-in, i.e. the transfer of a technology originally developed for a non-space application to the space industry or a spin-off, i.e. the transfer of a space technology to a terrestrial application, e.g. in the animated film, construction, energy, health and transport sectors, etc.

Space technology eligible for ESA Spark Funding is understood as any technology that was developed or used for space applications, e.g. sensors, materials or electronics. Activities focusing solely on the utilization of satellite imagery data, GNSS data or satellite telecommunication capacity are outside the scope of spin-off activities. Other existing ESA programmes provide support in these cases.

Non-space markets include, but are not limited to, fields such as agriculture, construction, energy, environment, health, safety, transport, industry in general – in fact any market that has a direct terrestrial use.

Yes. Whilst the upper limit of ESA Funding is fixed per project (75 000€), the amount of co-funding is determined by the standard ESA rules and is based on whether you are an SME or a large company. Co-funding for an SME is 20% and 50% for a large company.

No. Applicants must declare that the submitted ESA Spark Funding project is not funded by the European Space Agency by any other means, e.g. an ESA call, ESA business incubators, etc.

Projects should last a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months.

You may submit an application at any time during the period 2024-2026. Applications will be evaluated twice a year and cut-off dates for evaluation will be announced several months in advance on the CREACTION INT website.

An Application Template can be found above on this web page. This includes the Executive Summary, the Business Case and Technical Proposal as well as an Activity Proposal and Management Proposal covering a total of 16 pages. In addition, you are invited to submit a Business Model Canvas and any letter(s) or support and other relevant information about the activity of the applicant, as necessary. A cover letter and the Requirement Checklist should be signed by an authorized representative of the entity applying.

The evaluation of all received applications is managed locally by CREACTION INT and follows common ESA Spark Funding procedures. If the application is compliant with the formal requirements, applicants will be invited to give a presentation (10 minutes) to the ESA Spark Funding Luxembourg evaluation board. The evaluation will typically take place a few weeks after the submission deadline. The evaluation board consists of representatives of CREACTION INT, ESA, LSA and other experts. Please refer to the Invitation to Apply document for the evaluation criteria used.

Applicants receive 50% of funding at the beginning of the project upon signature of the ESA Spark Funding Luxembourg contract by both parties. The remaining 50% of the total amount will be paid after approval of the final report and acceptance of all deliverables due under the contract (for a project equal to or less than 12 months) and as soon as the ESA Technology Broker Luxembourg receives the funding from ESA.

The funding can be used to cover the costs that are necessary for the execution of the project. These costs must be incurred by the beneficiary during the contract period and recorded in its accounts. Costs must exclude VAT, interest owed and duties.