ESA Business Applications offers Kick-Start funding and support to businesses from any sector which wish to elaborate the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services that exploit commercially one or more space assets.
ESA Business Applications offers Kick-Start funding and support to businesses from any sector which wish to elaborate the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services that exploit commercially one or more space assets (e.g. satellite navigation, satellite telecommunication, earth observation, space weather, human space flight technology).
Applications are open all year: businesses can either apply to a thematic opportunity or submit an open application (call for proposals). Kick-Start activities are funded to a maximum rate of:
- 80% by the European Space Agency for a maximum of €64K per contract for SMEs
- 75% by the European Space Agency for a maximum of €60K per contract for non-SMEs
Currently, the following thematic areas are inviting applications:
PropTech – Insurance and Urban Planning: Deadline for applications - 26 March 2021
Property Technology, or “PropTech”, is a term that encompasses the application of information technology and platform economics to real estate markets. PropTech has proliferated over the last 35 years initially due to the development of mainframe and personal computers, tools such as Lotus and Excel, then more comprehensive software solutions for architecting, engineering and construction, and finally the Internet era and online marketplaces. Recent breakthroughs in technologies spanning cloud computing, machine learning, smartphones, and improved connectivity capabilities are spurring further activity in the PropTech space.
Insurers are concerned with the management of risk and uncertainty; the more high-quality data available regarding a certain asset to be insured implies more certainty in its behaviour, a more accurate risk assessment, and thus more competitive insurance products. Risks in real estate arise in all manner of scenarios; from weather events (such as floods and fires) to operation and maintenance of buildings, security vulnerabilities (physical and cyber) and those associated with the construction lifecycle.
PropTech’s prominence in urban planning is integral to transforming current towns and cities into the towns and cities of the future. Urban planning of the future should accommodate conscientious design practices acknowledging pollution exposure, access to natural light and to infrastructure, sustainability and climate change.
If you are interested in making an application for Kick-Start funding in one of the above thematic areas or any other sector, please send us a message via the contact form under
“About us”.
New Education: Deadline for applications - 31 March 2021
Digital technologies are seen as an inseparable part of today’s learning process. As a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, remote learning has become a new reality which is likely to continue, at least in part, once the restrictions on teaching establishments are fully lifted. Technologies used in education can help reduce workload, increase efficiency, engage students and communities, and provide tools to support excellent teaching to raise student attainment.
The European Space Agency’s “New Education” Kick-Start offers support and funding to companies developing services to help improve the digitisation of education and to demonstrate the potential of space in adding value.