| | Innovation, start-ups, problems and solutions – a round table discussion
18 October 2002
A dedicated round-table discussion (in French) will take place on 23 October from 14:00 to 16:00 in the ESA-CNES Forum in Hall 3. Entitled “Comment le transfer de technologies spatiales peut-il conduire à la création d’entreprises?”, it will focus on space technology transfer for start up company creation.
|  | Space technology serves European citizens in many non-space applications | |
“So far 150 technologies from ESA have been spun-off to the non-space sector creating 20 new companies and around 2500 new jobs in Europe. Turnover in the space and non-space sectors is expected to reach around €1 Billion by the end of 2004 as a result of this spin-off of space technology,” says Pierre Brisson, head of ESA's Technology Transfer Programme (TTP) and one of the round-table speakers. He emphasizes “today, we have a portfolio of more than 450 innovative technologies ready for transfer and licensing, so there is great potential.”
Innovation and transfer of space technology are often linked together by entrepreneurs who spot new applications of forefront technologies but do not always have the organizational or economical backing to bring the ideas into reality.
| | Nuna Solar Car - 2001 winner of World Solar Race across Australia | |
For many years ESA’s TTP has supported entrepreneurs and start-up companies transferring space technology into non-space sectors. ESA and EU took a further step this summer, when they launched ESINET, the European Space Business Incubators’ Network. ESINET consists of 20 incubators in 12 European countries and each incubator can provide seed capital, offices, logistics support, professional business services and access to ESA expertise and laboratories; all crucial elements in the start-up process.
“With the introduction of ESINET, which also includes the European Space Incubator (ESI) located near ESTEC, we want to be an active catalyst in the creation of new and innovative businesses using space technology and space systems in non-space sectors, and to accelerate this creation process”, says Bruno Naulais, European Space Incubator Network Manager, who will present ESI and ESINET at the conference.
| | WSL incubator kicks-off nine start-up companies | |
"Often we see young companies and entrepreneurs with great ideas on how space technologies can be used in a non-space application. Unfortunately, they are often prevented from pursuing their ideas by limited resources. We want to give them a hand in the start-up phase to get them off-the-ground and develop viable businesses. This is the idea behind the incubator initiative," he adds.
Other speakers will be Giovanni Roberto Visigalli (CNES, Direction des programmes et des affaires industrielles) and André Mangin (CICT, Réseau Régional de Recherche Technologique Espace et Applications). In addition, representatives from four start-up companies will talk about their experiences and how they overcame the difficulties.
Following the round table Ivan De Lorenzo-Soto from ESA will present the ESA initiative for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). In 1997, ESA set up its SME initiative to enable ESA and European space industry to tap the potential of innovative SMEs and to open up opportunities for them to work more extensively with ESA and space contractors.
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