| | Location of ESA Business Incubation Centres
The Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) coordinates five Business Incubation Centres (BICs) in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and the UK.
Each BIC offers technical expertise in several fields, as well as advice and support with business development.
ESA offers business incubation at:
A sixth centre, ESA BIC Redu, is planned to open in Redu, Belgium.
|  | Aerial view of ESTEC | |
ESA BIC Noordwijk in the Netherlands
ESTEC is the home of one of ESA’s Business Incubation Centres. It is the largest ESA site and the scientific and technical heart of ESA, located at Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The majority of ESA projects are initiated at ESTEC and this is where they are managed through the various phases of their development.
More than 2000 specialists work at ESTEC on dozens of space projects: science missions, human spaceflight, exploration, telecommunications, satellite navigation and Earth observation as well as technology development.
The ESA BIC Noordwijk is located at ESTEC and offers business start-up support as well as technical expertise in most areas of space technology and know-how.
For more information, see ESA BIC Noordwijk, the Netherlands
| | Control Room at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany | |
ESA BIC Darmstadt in Germany
ESOC is the home of another of ESA’s Business Incubation Centre, specialising in satellite navigation applications.
Considering the long-standing expertise of ESA and its contracting companies in the field of satellite navigation, ESA and the regional government of Hesse (Germany) established an ESA BIC with focus on Galileo-related navigation applications. The ESA BIC Darmstadt is managed the 'Centrum fur Satellitennavigation Hessen GmbH (cesah).
The centre has teamed up with renowned research institutions, IT and consultancy firms, and key Galileo-user industries. Studies have shown that Galileo, Europe’s future satellite navigation system, will help to develop an enormous global market for highly accurate navigation and positioning solutions.
The ESA BIC Darmstadt offers business start-up support as well as technical expertise in different space related areas, and in particular in satellite navigation, data systems, software systems and navigation test environments.
For more information, see ESA BIC Darmstadt, Germany
| | ESRIN's ground facilities | |
ESA BIC Italy in Rome
In cooperation with the Business Innovation Center of Lazio Region (BIC Lazio), Italy, ESA Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) Italy near ESRIN offers business start-up support as well as technical expertise particularly in the areas of systems and software infrastructures for data handling, and integrated Earth observation, satellite navigation and communication applications.
The ESA BIC Italy is located Rome, in the vicinity of ESA's ESRIN site in Frascati. ESRIN is ESA’s headquarters for Earth observation (EO) activities.
EO satellites provide a constant stream of data which are used by scientists, institutions and industry to support the management of natural resources and the monitoring of the environment at a global, continental and local scale. The centre has close links to European industry as well as to international organisations such as the European Union, United Nations agencies and the civil protection, agriculture and environment ministries within ESA Member States.
ESRIN is a multi-disciplinary establishment, which hosts teams involved in the VEGA Launcher Programme, ESA Corporate Informatics and website, as well as applications of space telecommunication.
For more information, see ESA BIC Italy
| | Opening ESA BIC Bavaria's first centre in Oberpfaffenhofen | |
ESA BIC Bavaria in Germany
ESA BIC Bavaria is located in Germany in Oberpfaffenhofen with two branch offices in Nürnberg and Berchtesgadener Land, and is run in cooperation with the Free State of Bavaria, the German Aerospace Center DLR and German banks. The centre is managed by Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberfpaffenhofen (AZO).
ESA BIC Bavaria in Oberpfaffenhofen is located at the new Aerospace Technology Park Oberpfaffenhofen (ASTO) with its 18,000 square metres of office space. The vicinity to the scientific expertise and development network of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is unique. Internationally renowned organisations such as the DLR's institutes for robotics, mechatronics, communications, and navigation will complement local start-ups' technical development and promote both the commercialisation and use of aerospace technologies in other growth areas.
For more information, see ESA BIC Bavaria, Germany
| | Harwell Science and Innovation Campus | |
ESA BIC Harwell in the UK
The ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) Harwell is located at the world leading Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire - a focal point and cluster for the UK’s rapidly growing high-tech space community.
The Harwell Campus is home to more than 4,500 researchers, engineers and innovators from over 150 high-tech organisations including the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Medical Research Council, and many start-up companies and multinational organisations across a wide range of scientific and technological sectors.
Harwell provides a unique opportunity to access world class scientific facilities and research including that of the Diamond Light Source and STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) – home to its internationally renowned space science department RAL Space, the world’s most powerful pulsed neutron source ISIS and the Central Laser Facility.
For more information, see
ESA BIC Harwell, the UK
Last update: 11 December 2011 | |
