N° 24–2025: Media invitation: Inauguration of the European Space Deep-Tech Innovation Centre (ESDI) – first ESA presence in Switzerland

The European Space Deep-Tech Innovation Centre (ESDI) is a collaborative initiative between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, a leading deep tech country, globally renowned for its advances in robotics, nanotechnology, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology.

Located in close proximity to the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) at the Switzerland Innovation Park Innovaare in Villigen, ESDI is designed to accelerate the commercial adoption and availability of deep tech for the benefit of European citizens. To this end it designs, establishes, and runs platforms for deep-tech research in quantum, data, and materials, bringing to use technologies of tomorrow for the world of today. The first such platform is ESA Phi-Lab Switzerland, which is integrated into the organisation of PSI.

On behalf of ESA, ESDI will also work with public and private R&D actors, including higher education institutions to reinforce Europe’s competitiveness and autonomy by addressing the skills gap, but also strengthen the research potential and opportunities of those actors. A reinforced cooperation between ESA and higher education institutions will also contribute to develop national and local capabilities, help create space-related jobs and speed up the adoption of space solutions in the European economy.

The ceremony will bring together leaders from academia, industry, and government, and features keynote speeches, a panel discussion, and networking opportunities. 

Programme for 27 May 2025 

Address:  Switzerland Innovation Park Innovaare, Parkstrasse 1, 5234 Villigen, Switzerland 

10:30 Registration and refreshments 

11:00 Welcome by Park Innovaare CEO Robert Rudolph 

11:05 Ceremony opening

ESA's Strategy 2040 – Elevating the Future of Europe through Space 

Speakers: 

• Dr Josef Aschbacher, Director General, ESA
• Prof. Dr Martina Hirayama, State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation, Switzerland
• Pascale Bruderer, Vice President of the ETH Board      
• Martina Bircher, member of the cantonal government, Head of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport of the Canton of Aargau

11:25 Panel Discussion – When Deep Tech meets Space

A lively exchange about the value of deep tech for space exploration, highlighting how both fields push the boundaries of the possible, boosting Europe's growth and competitiveness by leveraging knowledge-rich technologies at the frontiers of science and engineering.

Panellists:

• Joanne Sieber, CEO, Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation
• Prof. Dr Thomas Zurbuchen, Full Professor at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
  Head of National Innovation Initiatives
• Prof. Dr Christian Rüegg, Director, PSI
• Luca del Monte, Head of the Commercialisation Department, ESA

11:50 Keynote Talk – Humanity's Next Leaps in Space

Dr Marco Sieber, Astronaut, ESA

12:05 Closing Remarks

Géraldine Naja, Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness, ESA

12:10 Open Q&A

Answering online questions collected by the Moderator

Participants:

-            Dr Joseph Aschbacher

-            Dr Marco Sieber

-            Géraldine Naja

-            Prof. Dr Martina Hirayama

-            Prof. Dr Christian Rüegg

12:25 Cake cutting

12:30 Wrap-up

Johann Richard,Head of ESDI, ESA

Networking cocktail

Media registration

To participate, please register via the ESA media accreditation form: https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form/ by 23 May 2025, 5 pm CEST.

More information: https://www.esdi.ch

Contact: media@esa.int

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About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.  

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.  

ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members.  

ESA has established formal cooperation with four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.  

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.  

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int 

About the Paul Scherrer Institute

The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI develops, builds and operates large, complex research facilities and makes them available to the national and international research community. The institute's own key research priorities are in the fields of future technologies, energy and climate, health innovation and fundamentals of nature. PSI is committed to the training of future generations. Therefore, about one quarter of our staff are post-docs, post-graduates or apprentices. Altogether PSI employs 2300 people, thus being the largest research institute in Switzerland. The annual budget amounts to approximately CHF 460 million. PSI is part of the ETH Domain, with the other members being the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, as well as Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) and WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research).

Learn more about PSI at www.psi.ch