In order to support the commercial utilisation of the ISS and of other flights opportunities, and to provide a more effective end-to-end service to customers, ESA has set up a network of Commercial Agents in selected market sectors throughout Europe.

The Commercial Agents offer the most important help in developing customers’ initial business ideas into feasible projects. The Commercial Agent in charge of a project will support the customer in the entire process that leads to the submission of the Commercial Proposal to ESA, including helping the customer drafting the Commercial Proposal. Furthermore, the agents will help the customer identifying the required end-to-end services and negotiate the provisions of those services with the Industrial Partners of the Co-operation Agreement.

The German company ISS LabRuhr GmbH has been appointed by ESA as its first Commercial Agent for the biotechnology, health, food and nutrition market sector. Through its management skills, as the exclusive Commercial Agent in the above-mentioned sectors, ISS LabRuhr GmbH also coordinates the European marketing and acquisition activities of its highly experienced and specialist partners, namely: Enterprise Management Technology Transfer GmbH (EMBL-EM), Germany - the commercial arm of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL); the French Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES), and the AGT Group, Italy.

The Italian company INNOVA has been appointed as the Commercial Agent responsible for the materials and processes market sector. INNOVA coordinates the Europe-wide activities of the following companies in the materials and processes sector: KB&P (Germany), ISS Lab Ruhr GmbH (Germany), Bureau BD (The Netherlands), D’Appolonia (Italy), Centro Sviluppo Materiali (Italy) and the AGT Group (Italy).